First portrait, 7D, EF 85mm

OK, let me have it. I have a tough skin and know I have much more to learn... (As long as you don't forget the "constructive" in CC...)

The setup: 6 p.m. EDT, 45 deg. N, ambiant light (which is overcast, with a setting sun over Sylvie's right shoulder.) EXIF tells me 1/100 at f1.8, 100 ISO. Shot in jpg. Minor PP done in LR3 (a bit of WB adjustment towards the blue, a bit of toning, saturation was dropped down. Basically, your newbie PP by the seat of the pants, hoping that the adjustments look good.)

With such a shallow DOF, I have one eye in focus, the other OOF.

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

I see her shoulder being in focus and her face is pretty much out of focus.

I hate to break it to you, but neither eye is in focus. Your focus landed on her hair and around her shoulder.

Close down your aperature, increase your ISO, and speed up your shutter a bit. On a 7D, that 85mm is seeing around 136mm, so if you stick the shutter with the 1/focal legnth "rule", 1/100 that you shot at works except that your camera is actually seeing 136mm...so I would suggest to increase your shutter to at least 1/150, or better yet 1/200.

So at 1/200, not you have to incease your ISO to ISO 200 to get the same exposure you've got (which to be honest looks a little underexposed). The 7D's got some good high ISO performance from what I've seen with the little experience I have with it so don't be afraid to increase that up to ISO 400. You could then close down your aperature 1 more stop to increase your DOF and get both eyes in focus.

Thanks!

I will have other opportunity to try again: she's willing to be my guinea pig. (Don't expect anything in N&G, though...)

My experience with the 7D shows it will handle the ISO but you had best get the image well exposed. Yours is a bit dark/under exposed. And I would definitely stop down a bit along with checking your focus point. The shoulder is definitely where the focus landed as far as I can tell. It should be on the eyes.

OK, so if I understand, it's

Rule #1: get the focus right
Rule #2: if Rule #1 is not followed, there's not much point in Rule #2.

Corbeau wrote in post #15709743
OK, so if I understand, it's

Rule #1: get the focus right
Rule #2: if Rule #1 is not followed, there's not much point in Rule #2.

Esentially.....yeah. If the focus is slightly off you may be able to save shot with some creativity in LR or PS. But generally...if rule #1 wasn't followed it goes to the trash bin.