what am i doing wrong..

I've started taking photos, i'm total amateur, but i love it when a photo turns out right.. but lately it gets really frustrating when the photos don't end up being sharp.. What am i doing wrong lol..

Picture A was at a work award banquet. It was crazy trying to get a decent shot in a dim ballroom I had a flash on it was 1/60 F4

No.1 is good. You may be able to give it a bit of a lift in levels. No.2 clearly your focus was on the banner in the BG. The lettering is completely in focus.

I won't comment much on the first shot, either.

The second shot, though, is a technical mess (sorry to be blunt but it's true). You shot in harsh sunlight at ISO 800 @ f14 and 1/125.

First of all, there was probably no reason to stop down at all, but especially not to f14. When shooting people, almost always shoot at f4; it's already a pretty small aperture. If you need more DOF, maybe as high as f5.6 but I almost never make it up that high.

Second, when shooting outdoors, especially in sunlight, set ISO at 100 and forget about it. There is more than plenty light for ISO 100.

Third, your shutter speed should be much faster. No reason to introduce the possibility of shaky hands or moving targets if you don't need to.

I have to differ with randizzle here... f/4 would be too wide, no way both the dogs and the banner would be in focus... not even at f/5.6. I think the issue with #2 is that it's underexposed, and possibly, you were not holding the camera steady, or maybe your lens's IS has a problem. I had that happen with a Tamron lens and this is what it looked like. The banner is sharp and the pit in front is sharp, but the people look a bit fuzzy.

randizzle wrote in post #17720235
I won't comment much on the first shot, either.

The second shot, though, is a technical mess (sorry to be blunt but it's true). You shot in harsh sunlight at ISO 800 @ f14 and 1/125.

First of all, there was probably no reason to stop down at all, but especially not to f14. When shooting people, almost always shoot at f4; it's already a pretty small aperture. If you need more DOF, maybe as high as f5.6 but I almost never make it up that high.

Second, when shooting outdoors, especially in sunlight, set ISO at 100 and forget about it. There is more than plenty light for ISO 100.

Third, your shutter speed should be much faster. No reason to introduce the possibility of shaky hands or moving targets if you don't need to.

He needed more DOF than f/4 would provide. With that setting, he would have about 1 foot in front of his subject and 1 1/4 feet behind his subject in focus (I used 12 feet for this calculation since the shot looks like it was taken between 10 and 12 feet). This clearly is not enough DOF to get the dogs in focus and since the people are not all on the same plane, probably not enough to have all of them in focus either. If he had focused on the middle dog, he probably would have had all of them in focus at f/14 (3 feet in front and 6 feet behind the focal point). Also, 1/125s shutter speed at 67mm should be fast enough for most people to avoid camera shake.

I'm not sure if the OP had any options, but shooting in the sunlight during mid-day without flash is rarely going to give you acceptable results. Were no alternatives available?

People are defending f14, 1/125, and ISO 800 for a family shot in midday sun. I'll just go ahead and check out of this thread.

You can absolutely get acceptable results in midday sun with no flash, but not with those camera settings.

The second one needs more light. I would be at ISO 100, maybe 200, no higher than that, especially when outside. Then I would start at f4.0 and 1/125 and take a test shot.

Depending on how it comes out I adjust the f-stop or shutter speed, very rarely the ISO. If I still don't like it, I will use fill flash.

What bob_r says here is true. Look up the numbers on any DOF calcultor. The only number we don't have here is the distance from camera to subject but 10-12 feet would probably be close. Given this info: Canon 5D Mark II | Canon 24-105 f/4L IS @67mm | 1/125 | f/14 | ISO 800 the DOF calculators for 12 feet away has a total DOF to be around 9 feet. If an aperture of 4.0 was used this drops the dof down to 2.3 feet which is too shallow. A 5.6 would get you to 3.35 feet, probably still a little too narrow. It looks to me more like the depth could have been closer to 6-7 feet and been fine which would mean the aperture could have been closer to f/10 - f/12 ish. This would have allowed for lower ISO and/or faster shutter.
Now even though I agree that 1/125 should be fine to hand hold a 67mm focal length steady the other factor is the movement of the subjects so faster would be better. This image is acceptably sharp for smaller prints and digital media. If it were to be printed large it would likely need to be a bit sharper. It's difficult to know why it's not tack sharp all the way through. Like mentioned the pit in front looks sharp as does the banner but people are a little soft. Are all the shots from this session exhibiting the same?
Other factors could come into play... is the lens clean? If there is a smudge on the lens or dried water drop stains this could come into play at f/14. Diffraction 'may' start to come in at f/14 as well, usually not, but maybe. The smaller aperture starts to diffract the light to where stray light could cause softness in areas as well.

randizzle wrote in post #17720360
You can absolutely get acceptable results in midday sun with no flash, but not with those camera settings.

I would love to see your family portraits taken in the midday sun without using flash or reflectors. Please include your exif info so I can learn the secret.

Ray Marrero wrote in post #17720390
The second one needs more light. I would be at ISO 100, maybe 200, no higher than that, especially when outside. Then I would start at f4.0 and 1/125 and take a test shot.

Depending on how it comes out I adjust the f-stop or shutter speed, very rarely the ISO. If I still don't like it, I will use fill flash.

It would not be possible to get everyone and the dogs in focus at f/4 unless you changed the pose. There's simply not enough DOF available.
As for the ISO, I agree that he did not need ISO800. These were shot in the midday sun and according to the "Sunny f/16 rule", ISO100 should have worked fine for a shutter speed of 1/125s at f/14.

bob_r wrote in post #17720429
It would not be possible to get everyone and the dogs in focus at f/4 unless you changed the pose. There's simply not enough DOF available.
As for the ISO, I agree that he did not need ISO800. These were shot in the midday sun and according to the "Sunny f/16 rule", ISO100 should have worked fine for a shutter speed of 1/125s at f/14.

I agree and thought about this... the ISO800 makes no sense to me here... Is the OP SURE about the settings... is this exif data or hand typed in info we got for the image?

randizzle wrote in post #17720458
Are any of these great? Absolutely not. Are they acceptable? I guess that's relative, but I haven't heard any complaints. Not a single one used any flash or any modifiers.

Personally, I'd rather add a flash or reflector if I absolutely have to shoot in midday sun than to accept the eyes squinting or in such deep shadow from their eye sockets.
BTW, the third shot is not a family portrait and the last one was not taken in the midday sun. The only way to avoid the deep eye shadows is to have your subjects turn their
heads up towards the sun (as you did in the third image) and when you're taking a family portrait, you'll have at least some of your subjects squint their eyes so much they'll look like they're closed (much like your subjects did in your first image). I'm sorry, but I think I'm still looking for the secret.

randizzle wrote in post #17720360
People are defending f14, 1/125, and ISO 800 for a family shot in midday sun. I'll just go ahead and check out of this thread.

You can absolutely get acceptable results in midday sun with no flash, but not with those camera settings.

I don't think people are defending ALL the settings... primarily just the aperture. It really does look like focus was on the banner. I'm wondering if everything is in auto mode?

it was all done in manual...i don't think f14 was needed in that shot...could've probably gotten away with f8, it's not like the banner in the background has to be in perfect focus

also i'll address your first shot since nobody else is...don't shoot in ai-focus, it's terrible...use one shot if it's stationary, and ai-servo if it's moving, use ai-focus if you want headaches