Canon T3i Not taking Crisp Pictures- HELP

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #16953786
In the "View Full EXIF" tab, in fact, the one that reads this "Exposure Mode - Auto" is the one that has the missed focus... go figure

Interestingly enough, both pictures say they were shot in Auto Exposure mode under the full EXIF, I guess OP will have to tell us what she was shooting in, but to me it looks like a clear case of the camera selecting the wrong point.

I see. Strange... if you look at the short version of EXIF (without clicking View Full EXIF), it says Exposure Program: Not Defined, Aperture Priority (for the other photo).

I can see why it misses the focus if OP uses Auto mode.

I just went back to the original post. She did not use Auto mode.

morph2_7 wrote in post #16953794
I see. Strange... if you look at the short version of EXIF (without clicking View Full EXIF), it says Exposure Program: Not Defined, Aperture Priority (for the other photo).

I can see why it misses the focus if OP uses Auto mode.

I just went back to the original post. She did not use Auto mode.

I see, that still doesn't mean she didn't use all AF points, she never said her method for focusing (unless I missed it, I missed that she shot them in raw so it is possible... :lol.

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #16953786
In the "View Full EXIF" tab, in fact, the one that reads this "Exposure Mode - Auto" is the one that has the missed focus... go figure

Interestingly enough, both pictures say they were shot in Auto Exposure mode under the full EXIF, I guess OP will have to tell us what she was shooting in, but to me it looks like a clear case of the camera selecting the wrong point.

good catch. yes, getting out of full auto and selecting your focus point would help immensely.

KristyM wrote in post #16953299
Hello

I have a canon t3i and just bought a canon 85mm f/1.8 and went out to take some portraits but the pictures are not as crisp as I thought they were. I shot in Raw for all of them and also not in automatic I used Av, and Tv settings ( still learning). I opened them in Lightroom and when I zoom in they are blurry and even after I think they look a little fuzzy, not crisp. I have no idea why. Can someone please explain to me how I can take crisp pictures with my camera or if I am doing anything wrong?

Heya,

Looks like it's slightly front focusing to me. To confirm that, use LiveView and let it focus with that and take an image. See if it's razor sharp. For your AF points (hit the little + magnifying glass to open this option), I would select the center point and aim for the eyes. Even at F1.8, a full body portrait like that, focused on the nose/eyes should gather everything in focus fairly well. So try that to rule out that all focus points are just grabbing a knee or a finger, or grass, etc, ensure it focuses on the eyes/face. Lastly, I see you're shooting a shutter speeds like 1/160s over and over. While this is ok, I find it often still can introduce out of focus shots like this, because of natural body sway, breathing, etc, with thin depth of field, it's easy to simply move a hair and you end up softer than it was when it first nailed focus. Speed it up a bit, add some ISO to make up the exposure, the T3i can handle some ISO (400~800 is fine here, even 1600 is very doable without tons of noise). And play with your focus to exposure technique (don't use AI servo here, I would use one shot for the AF drive). Focus once on her face, to get the lens in relative focus. Release the AF. Then hit the AF and exposure in one motion so that it fine tune nails focus and immediately exposes. Compare this to just letting LiveView do the focus.

I would shoot these in AV personally, aperture wide open, or slightly stopped down depending on how you want your depth of field (I usually shoot the 85 F1.8 at F2 personally), with ISO set to 400~800, with +2/3rds exposure compensation. See if your shutter is faster than 1/400s, etc. If it is, great, get to shooting and try the above methods.

Very best,

Thank You Everyone for your help. I tried adjusting the settings on my camera and here is what I got.Let me know what you think.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/nA24​tB

looks good to me.

Now THAT is sharp! I can see purple/magenta (on the nose) and green aberration (on the edge of left cheek) that can easily be removed.

KristyM wrote in post #16954245
Thank You Everyone for your help. I tried adjusting the settings on my camera and here is what I got.Let me know what you think.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/nA24​tB Untitled by kristinamironidis, on Flickr[/IMG]
https://www.flickr.com …24400488@N02/14​168459797/

Nice, assuming the focus point is the person' left eye!

KristyM wrote in post #16954245
Thank You Everyone for your help. I tried adjusting the settings on my camera and here is what I got.Let me know what you think.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/nA24​tB Untitled by kristinamironidis, on Flickr[/IMG]
https://www.flickr.com …24400488@N02/14​168459797/

Nice, assuming the focus point is the person's left eye!

I think your first sample pictures look " flat ". No separation between objects. This is not necessarily a focus problem but exposure/ metering problem.

I shoot T3i also. In fact I have two T3i. Both want to over expose. A correct exposure will let you see " Layers ", especially if you shoot prime. I sent one of them into the shop to have it recalibrated just because the problem like your first sample pictures. The camera came back fine after calibration.

Not saying your camera is bad. just to mention that correct setting of contrast etc etc is just as important.

If you have auto lighting optimizer turned on, I would try turning it off. It is on by default.

You can also try using centre weighted metering as well as spot metering instead of evaluative.

I can not tell if your second sample is as good as the camera can get but it looks much better than your first samples which are " FLAT ".

I wish I had a 85 1.8.

Cheers.

KristyM wrote in post #16954245
Thank You Everyone for your help. I tried adjusting the settings on my camera and here is what I got.Let me know what you think.

Looks good here, if as John points out you were focusing on her left eye. Now I'm curious, what adjustments did you make for such a dramatic difference?

little johny wrote in post #16954340
I think your first sample pictures look " flat ". No separation between objects. This is not necessarily a focus problem but exposure/ metering problem.

I shoot T3i also. In fact I have two T3i. Both want to over expose. A correct exposure will let you see " Layers ", especially if you shoot prime. I sent one of them into the shop to have it recalibrated just because the problem like your first sample pictures. The camera came back fine after calibration.

Not saying your camera is bad. just to mention that correct setting of contrast etc etc is just as important.

If you have auto lighting optimizer turned on, I would try turning it off. It is on by default.

You can also try using centre weighted metering as well as spot metering instead of evaluative.

I can not tell if your second sample is as good as the camera can get but it looks much better than your first samples which are " FLAT ".

I wish I had a 85 1.8.

Cheers.

Flat lighting can't be fixed by a different exposure... flat lighting is flat, period. Changing the exposure will only change whether it's a flat dark image or a flat bright image. Contrast can't be increased by changing your exposure, you have to change the lighting itself.

Those images didn't look flat to me, they looked underexposed, which could easily be fixed either via exposure compensation, spot metering or post production. The shots were also in difficult lighting in general, without flash most of the background would have been lost with a proper exposure.

OK, so now that I can see all your photos,I'm noticing a pattern of overexposure, differing white balance, shallow depth of field. Looks like you're going for portrait photos....focus range should be the full plane of the face, and exposure can be quite different depending on scenario. I'm seeing a lot of these pictures are backlighting (the background is the brightest light). The easiest way to compress and eliminate bright background vs dark foreground is popping up a flash.