Need Help Getting Good Focus on Toddler's Eyes

When my 16-month-old daughter sits or stands still and stares at the Canon 5D Mkii camera (this happens about once a month), getting her eyes sharp is easy. Check.

However, the other 99% of the time, she's moving all over the place, as toddlers do. I need some help with getting her eyes in focus.

First of all, here's what I now do:
- I try to light the area (either naturally or artifically) as much as possible .... however, toddlers turn toward and away from the sun, run from the well-lit room to the darker hallway, etc. She rarely shows any interest in staying in the photographically optimum place. Go figure. Remember, this is NOT a newborn sitting idly on a comforter-covered beanbag, surrounded by softboxes. This is a tiny bundle of go.
- I try to shoot with the lens wide open or at least near wide open .....I want the nice bokeh, but the small f number (wide aperture) of course produces such a narrow depth of field (DOF) that any movement of hers toward/away from the camera will push the limits of that small DOF.
- I generally try to keep the ISO at low as possible, but of course in conjunction with wide aperture I need to bump the ISO in order achieve a sufficiently fast shutter speed.
- I try to use AI Servo focus mode, but herein lies the challenge. I try to set the focus point (usually center one) on her eyes or at least as close to the eyes as possible. However she is all about non-stop movement, so because I don't have a missile-tracking software alorithm embedded in my brain, there's no way I can keep the focus point locked on her eyes. Heck, I have trouble keeping it tracked on her head. This girl can move.
- I've experimented with back-button focusing, and yes it's cool. But the main problem is tracking her eyes (or face at least) with the selected focus point.

So a few days ago I took her aside, sat her down, and said in words any 16-month-old can understand, "Honey, when daddy tries to take your picture I need you to stand still and stare at the camera. When I shoot with a wide aperture I have precious little DOF to play with. If you insist on moving, I need you to move side to side so that you stay in the same focal plane. But if you move toward me with your head bouncing all around, daddy can't keep your eyes in focus, and as we all know, gettting sharp eyes is the key to a great picture." Then I started explaining the calculations of DOF at different apertures, and also how ISO, aperture, and shutter speed contribute to a proper exposure. At this point, she replied "splib", drooled on my foot, and ran away giggling. The giggling is what hurt the most.

At this point, I'm ready to shoot in AI Servo, aim for center mass (meaning her torso), and begin to spray-n-pray and hope for the best. The point of trying for the torso is that it's bigger than the eye area and thus easier to track, and also the tummy/chest area is almost in the same focal plane as the eyes.

Any help will be appreciated.

I think your problem is one of expectations as much as technique. The thought that you can use shallow DOF to get ultra bokeh on a moving kid indoors in mediocre light at low ISO is fraught with problems. If your precious is moving, one shot isnt going to cut it. AI-Servo for moving subjects. The shallow DOF look is great for posed shots, but unrealistic for a moving child. Go ahead and stop down, and raise your ISO and give yourself a chance. Without seeing your samples it sounds like you are teetering on having your shutter speed a bit too slow. Learning to embrace the proper use of flash might help too if you arent already.

Hi, I agree with gonzogolf. Kids this age are very hard to capture, particularly in doors.

I have two grand-daughters and my success rate is very low. I use AI-Servo all the time and select the focus point that will best correspond with where their eyes will be in the frame. I mostly use a 5DIII which is noted for it's ability to focus fast so the misses are down to the driver and not the car.

I recently invested in a 600EX-RT and ST-E3-RT together with a Rogue Flashbender. I have stayed away from OCF since my return to photography after a gap of over 15 years as I never found it easy to get right back in the day.

I set the 600EX up on a nearby shelf in a way that it will imitate a window light and about 90 degrees off axes to me. The family room that they play in is painted white so the walls give some degree of fill.

Using this technique has improved my keeper rate in that it eliminates the failures due to subject movement which is about half of them. It also allows a smaller aperture for a bigger depth of field.

I have attached a couple that I took on separate weekends a few weeks ago that I am happy with. Since then I again tried without flash and my keeper rate was back down to very low numbers. They were both under 2 when I took these but a few months older than yours.

Enjoy photographing them as they grow and change so quickly. I is a joy to me that I took so many of my two when they were growing up in the '80s.

Lastblackdog wrote in post #16649253
Hi, I agree with gonzogolf. Kids this age are very hard to capture, particularly in doors.

I have two grand-daughters and my success rate is very low. I use AI-Servo all the time and select the focus point that will best correspond with where their eyes will be in the frame. I mostly use a 5DIII which is noted for it's ability to focus fast so the misses are down to the driver and not the car.

I recently invested in a 600EX-RT and ST-E3-RT together with a Rogue Flashbender. I have stayed away from OCF since my return to photography after a gap of over 15 years as I never found it easy to get right back in the day.

I set the 600EX up on a nearby shelf in a way that it will imitate a window light and about 90 degrees off axes to me. The family room that they play in is painted white so the walls give some degree of fill.

Using this technique has improved my keeper rate in that it eliminates the failures due to subject movement which is about half of them. It also allows a smaller aperture for a bigger depth of field.

I have attached a couple that I took on separate weekends a few weeks ago that I am happy with. Since then I again tried without flash and my keeper rate was back down to very low numbers. They were both under 2 when I took these but a few months older than yours.

Enjoy photographing them as they grow and change so quickly. I is a joy to me that I took so many of my two when they were growing up in the '80s.

These are phenomenal!

You may want to evaluate how you photograph children. The way that children relate to their surroundings makes for interesting photos, so you do not necessarily want to be "in their face" all the time. Save the close ups for a time when the child is calm. If you're cropping close, you may be cropping out the story.

Good post.

Yup. Just let them have fun and take pictures at that. Posed photos for this age will look artificial. As with anything in this age, take lots, and delete lots

If you have a 5D3, then pick your af point and use servo. On the 5D2, no such luck unless you're using center point.

Use a longer lens

This is 35mm F/2 on a 5D:

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First let go the idea of shooting wide open. You can still get great bokeh at f4 or 5. Second embrace the idea of using hi ISO. You don't have a film camera and you can still get lots of keepers even @ ISO 1600. Remember we have softwares that can correct most of the noise.

And of course shutter speed...even though rule of thumb is no less than 1/125 but I rarely drop under 1/200. It helps me keep the motion blur away and if the images under exposed I bump my ISO up. This way it I get more light plus freeze the moving kids movements.

I shoot with 6D so I have the luxury of using hi ISO and I have shot some of my little boy's pictures between ISO 12.500 and 25.000.

Thank you technology.


f/ 4.5, ISO 8000.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …_photography/12​080417983/

HeyBear wrote in post #16647784
When my 16-month-old daughter sits or stands still and stares at the Canon 5D Mkii camera (this happens about once a month), getting her eyes sharp is easy. Check.

However, the other 99% of the time, she's moving all over the place, as toddlers do. I need some help with getting her eyes in focus.

First of all, here's what I now do:
- I try to light the area (either naturally or artifically) as much as possible .... however, toddlers turn toward and away from the sun, run from the well-lit room to the darker hallway, etc. She rarely shows any interest in staying in the photographically optimum place. Go figure. Remember, this is NOT a newborn sitting idly on a comforter-covered beanbag, surrounded by softboxes. This is a tiny bundle of go.
- I try to shoot with the lens wide open or at least near wide open .....I want the nice bokeh, but the small f number (wide aperture) of course produces such a narrow depth of field (DOF) that any movement of hers toward/away from the camera will push the limits of that small DOF.
- I generally try to keep the ISO at low as possible, but of course in conjunction with wide aperture I need to bump the ISO in order achieve a sufficiently fast shutter speed.
- I try to use AI Servo focus mode, but herein lies the challenge. I try to set the focus point (usually center one) on her eyes or at least as close to the eyes as possible. However she is all about non-stop movement, so because I don't have a missile-tracking software alorithm embedded in my brain, there's no way I can keep the focus point locked on her eyes. Heck, I have trouble keeping it tracked on her head. This girl can move.
- I've experimented with back-button focusing, and yes it's cool. But the main problem is tracking her eyes (or face at least) with the selected focus point.

So a few days ago I took her aside, sat her down, and said in words any 16-month-old can understand, "Honey, when daddy tries to take your picture I need you to stand still and stare at the camera. When I shoot with a wide aperture I have precious little DOF to play with. If you insist on moving, I need you to move side to side so that you stay in the same focal plane. But if you move toward me with your head bouncing all around, daddy can't keep your eyes in focus, and as we all know, gettting sharp eyes is the key to a great picture." Then I started explaining the calculations of DOF at different apertures, and also how ISO, aperture, and shutter speed contribute to a proper exposure. At this point, she replied "splib", drooled on my foot, and ran away giggling. The giggling is what hurt the most.

At this point, I'm ready to shoot in AI Servo, aim for center mass (meaning her torso), and begin to spray-n-pray and hope for the best. The point of trying for the torso is that it's bigger than the eye area and thus easier to track, and also the tummy/chest area is almost in the same focal plane as the eyes.

Any help will be appreciated.

Wow, seems like you're making this very hard for yourself. I can see you're frustrated and I'm not surprised. My daughter is 17 months old. I know exactly what you're talking about.

Most of your difficulties are coming from shooting indoors; so just stop shooting indoors - go out to the garden / park / wherever.

• Outdoors is all lit, so you won't have the trouble of her running from well lit room to dark hall -- as fast as toddlers run, they do not go fast enough to outrun the sun.
  
• Tehn stop down a bit -- at f4 or f5.6 you can just aim for centre mass if you need to;
  
• Once you're outside and you can use abackground 100's of feet behind your subject, rather than 3 feet behind, you can shoot at f4 or 5.6 and still get very nice seperation
  
• Once you're outside and you have lots of light you can still shoot at f4 or 5.6 and not need ISO 1million
  
• Once you're outside you will have more room to move and get ahead of your daughter. Indoors she can move faster than you. Outdoors you will outrun her easily. If not then get yourself to the gym. This will be good for you in general
  
• Also, once she's outdoors and there are new things to look at - a stick, a puddle, a tree, a leaf etc, she may actually pause to look at stuff and give you some lovely opportunities to shoot wide open. These are generally the moments I look for

Take a MILLLLLLLLLLION photos and you will get one or two that are sharp lol

No really, I agree with all that is said. It seems like you have your bases covered as far as equipment and lighting, you just have to be patient because kids are tough to manipulate sometimes!

Good luck!

I like this thread. Lots of good advice. I'm in the same boat as the OP. I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old and try to take a lot of photos of them inside and out. I'm actually frustrated right now because I looked at the photos I took today of them outside, and most are not sharp. I was using the 50 and was at 2.8 a lot. I thought that was enough when I was standing back 10-12 feet, but I guess it isn't.

Inside I'm getting better results using flash. You know though, when I asked long ago what lenses to get, everyone recommended fast primes. So I have the 30 and 50. The problem is you can't shoot kids at 1.4 or even 2.8.

timrocks311 wrote in post #16812475
I like this thread. Lots of good advice. I'm in the same boat as the OP. I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old and try to take a lot of photos of them inside and out. I'm actually frustrated right now because I looked at the photos I took today of them outside, and most are not sharp. I was using the 50 and was at 2.8 a lot. I thought that was enough when I was standing back 10-12 feet, but I guess it isn't.

Inside I'm getting better results using flash. You know though, when I asked long ago what lenses to get, everyone recommended fast primes. So I have the 30 and 50. The problem is you can't shoot kids at 1.4 or even 2.8.

Your 50 doesn't focus all that fast. I'd put that 85 on and take another couple of steps back

Lots of good advice here. Never underestimate the difficulty of the shooting situation. Toddlers are fast and your camera can only do so much. Narrower apertures, extra light for faster shutter speeds, and faster focusing lenses are your friends.

I read a good tip that works sometimes for getting them to hold still (well...) for a little while, which is to have a prop for them to gravitate to. Make it interesting enough to hold their interest for a few minutes (okay, seconds) and pretty enough that it's okay to have in the image. Or crop tightly enough to exclude it. It works sometimes for my 1yo. When I get really lucky he gets excited about the prop and looks up at my with his "Christmas came early" grin