First Paid Photo Shoot, CC wanted

Check the soft focus in the eyes. The shirt seems to be tack sharp in almost all cases.

I used to get this type of problem when I used the center point to focus. I used to focus, hold the shutter halfway, recompose, and shoot. I missed the focus on the eyes...a lot!

Now I select the focus point that I can put on the eyes. No more recomposing. Now it's "select, focus, shoot". Result is tack sharp eyes instead of soft eyes. This frustrated me for a long time and this forum finally taught me how quick/easy moving the focus points can be.

Thanks for sharing your shots.

If you're photographing a model, really the best way is to just manually focus. Make sure your diopter is focused for your eye though. I'm usually shooting at f4 with a 70-200 on a 5d which gives you very little room for focusing to be off. Because of that, I just don't trust the camera to do what my eyes can.

The only thing that hasn't been adequately addressed here is your posing. I only looked at the images posted in the thread here, and not the others, but you can see the difference between the comfortability in the second set and the awkwardness in the first set. This is because he defaulted to his good side in the second and not the first. It's your job as a photographer to recognize their side and work them into it to get the best images possible. It also helped that he felt more badass wearing his nice clothes. You can see it in the attitude he is giving the camera. In the first set he just seemed unsure of himself. Good clothes make good models.

For a first paid assignment, you did great man. I'm just nitpicking to push you a little further.

Great critique!

Clay Kerri wrote in post #13741492
If you're photographing a model, really the best way is to just manually focus. Make sure your diopter is focused for your eye though. I'm usually shooting at f4 with a 70-200 on a 5d which gives you very little room for focusing to be off. Because of that, I just don't trust the camera to do what my eyes can.

The only thing that hasn't been adequately addressed here is your posing. I only looked at the images posted in the thread here, and not the others, but you can see the difference between the comfortability in the second set and the awkwardness in the first set. This is because he defaulted to his good side in the second and not the first. It's your job as a photographer to recognize their side and work them into it to get the best images possible. It also helped that he felt more badass wearing his nice clothes. You can see it in the attitude he is giving the camera. In the first set he just seemed unsure of himself. Good clothes make good models.

For a first paid assignment, you did great man. I'm just nitpicking to push you a little further.

Clay Kerri wrote in post #13741492
If you're photographing a model, really the best way is to just manually focus. Make sure your diopter is focused for your eye though. I'm usually shooting at f4 with a 70-200 on a 5d which gives you very little room for focusing to be off. Because of that, I just don't trust the camera to do what my eyes can.

The only thing that hasn't been adequately addressed here is your posing. I only looked at the images posted in the thread here, and not the others, but you can see the difference between the comfortability in the second set and the awkwardness in the first set. This is because he defaulted to his good side in the second and not the first. It's your job as a photographer to recognize their side and work them into it to get the best images possible. It also helped that he felt more badass wearing his nice clothes. You can see it in the attitude he is giving the camera. In the first set he just seemed unsure of himself. Good clothes make good models.

For a first paid assignment, you did great man. I'm just nitpicking to push you a little further.

I appreciate the critique. TBH, I never use manual focus but I can definitely see how it could give me more steady results. I manually chose the focus point for each picture and let the auto focus do its thing. Looking at the pictures on my pc they don't look soft, so the raw-jpeg web conversion must've done something. As for the poses, I agree totally. In the first set I let him do his thing with no guidance from me. As he loosened up I started giving him some direction, but it was definitely easier once the nicer clothes came out. I'll put the advice to work in the next shoot and if my friend is over with his gear I'll have him shoot a BTS video.

Apart from the focus issues already mentioned, not bad, but the colour inconsistency between the first two images is a bit off-putting

Well, it doesn't need mentioning again, but his face/eyes are soft. The WB also isn't consistant and is quite distracting.

For precise focusing, I prefer to put the camera in Live View mode, zoom in to 5x or 10x at the desired spot, then manually focus. It's slower than autofocus but the results are worth it.

If you use this technique, make sure to compose first, then move the LCD's zoom to your desired focus point. Focus-and-recompose can cause errors especially at very wide apertures.

Everything looks pretty good but the soft focus

Qbx wrote in post #13739927
Might have happened in conversion to web. Quick check of focus is to mount something like a flat newspaper at 45 degreeangle, focus on the middle wide open then look at the result.

I looked at the exif. focal length 87mm and shutter at 1/60th. Could be camera shake. Could be weak holding camera steady as you press the shutter.
Increase the shutter speed.

These shots are not at the level where you should accept money.

Ten Ounce wrote in post #13738754
I wonder how they could have come out soft. I chose the focus point in each picture and made it a point to focus on the eyes. How do you go about testing and calibrating that?

If you can't see they are out of focus here then maybe it's your eyes.

out of focus...do you have a 100% crop of his eyes...i can't see them being sharp on your computer, and looking that off here...

DreDaze wrote in post #13760274
out of focus...do you have a 100% crop of his eyes...i can't see them being sharp on your computer, and looking that off here...

Here is a 100% crop of the eyes in the first image.

nathancarter wrote in post #13748358
For precise focusing, I prefer to put the camera in Live View mode, zoom in to 5x or 10x at the desired spot, then manually focus. It's slower than autofocus but the results are worth it.

If you use this technique, make sure to compose first, then move the LCD's zoom to your desired focus point. Focus-and-recompose can cause errors especially at very wide apertures.

^^^ This is what I find to be the best way, too. Unfortunately my "models" won't sit still long enough, but a few times that they waited I got very sharp portraits with an old MF lens.

Just as the others said.. eyes are not really in focus. Otherwise I like it.

Hope you weren't paid much. Focus is consistently off.

Here's a huge problem:

Shutter: 1/60
Focal Length 87mm

Unless you're on a tripod and using a cable release, that's a big problem.

You should be shooting at 1/125 at least, faster if you can. Especially in a studio setting where you can control the light.