HELP PLEASE--- issue with sharpness

Good morning... My granddaughter was over yesterday and I was trying to shoot pictures of her just using the light light coming through the patio door... but that's really here or there.. my problem my pictures are never as sharp as I would like them to be... the eyes always look kinda weak..

I'm shooting a Canon 40D with a 24-70mm L lens... for the picture I've posted here I was shooting at ISO 800 and F10 and the Focal Lenght was 42mm

Thanks for looking and I welcome ANY HELP...

William

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Sorry to say it's user error "Camera shake" and it's under exposed I'm afraid..

TTk wrote in post #11971780
Sorry to say it's user error "Camera shake" and it's under exposed I'm afraid..

Camera Shake is a very possible.. I was having to work fast... Thanks

Agree with shake...you were using Shutter Speed of 1/80 sec, and if you were hurrying, that's likely too slow. But you're already at ISO800 on your 40D, so maybe just not enough light to do a good job. I'd try to get shutter speed up to 1/200 minimum for such a shot. One more thing - you were using pattern / multi-segment metering - maybe try using spot metering and get it zeroed in on the closest eye.

What is your shutter speed? Babies are wiggly so you need fast enough shutter to stop the motion blur. Try opening your lens a bit wider (I shoot toddlers at around 5.0) and increase the shutter speed to 200 if I have decent light. Also, face your subject towards a bright, open light, like a sliding glass door or a big window.
You have a killer lens that should do a great job with the right settings. Good luck and keep shooting and posting the results.

It could very well be camera shake BUT I sold my 24-70L due to softness issues, no matter how hard I tried the images where never sharp enough....only lense I ever had the issue with, maybe have it looked at.

face look OOF arm in focus.

not knowing the SS I would guess camera shake as well

Maureen Souza wrote in post #11971858
What is your shutter speed?

jenirose3 wrote in post #11972101
not knowing the SS I would guess camera shake as well

As already noted above and also as shown in EXIF, SS was 1/80.

definitely camera shake

ok thanks for feed back... i'll try again... my biggest worry was it was the lens.. i had heard others talking about the lens... and i when i got it i was trying to buy the best i could

Try on a tripod (or a tabletop, if you don't have a tripod), and focus on a static object (not a moving person), to see if it's your lens.

Stargazerfrank wrote in post #11971940
face look OOF arm in focus.

Looks that way to me also. We may be seeing a combination of a little shake and a slightly missed focus.

Some tips:

Baby's move. If you're doing the focus -> recompose thing (focusing on the eye for instance, waiting for the beep, then recomposing and finishing the shutter-depress) .... don't. The baby will swap in and out of the focal plane. With kids or any moving object, I use the proper focus point in the viewfinder and hold the shutter all the way down from the get-go.

Open up your aperture. Why f/10? f/5.6 would have almost quadrupled your shutter speed and should still provide adequate depth of field to get the baby in focus.

I recommend a monopod. A hi-quality monopod will run you less than $100 and is invaluable as far as I'm concerned, especially when shooting children at their level (in other words, when squatting down to their height). The weird contortions/positions you put yourself in to get down to a child's height tends to leave you shaky/unsteady. My monopod is very useful here.

Try F2.8 or f4 that is all you need for this type of shot and then you can decrease the iso and still get a faster shutter speed= success.

Spot focus on the inner section of the closest eye.