Please give feedback on Photoshop editing...

El General Mod...thank you. That actually is a super helpful way of going into shoots!!!

I have been a network engineer for 15 years now, so I thought I was pretty nerdy as I was....guess I need step my nerd game up and keep shooting.

jhaywald wrote in post #18606234
So, thank you to everyone who gave their positive and not so positive feedback. It is greatly appreciated.

I do, however feel, that somethings are being assumed here and maybe it was my wording that led to it.

As for other, more helpful posts, I do appreciate it and realize that I need to basically leave ISO alone and really learn to "master" shutter and aperture first.

So, as a general rule of thumb, what ISO do you not go ABOVE? Or is there even a general rule of thumb (should have been rule of wrist) for this?

First of all, I apologize for misinterpreting your post. Usually when someone refers to a "client" it indicates a paying customer.

I do not know how familiar you are with your camera, but the 5DIII is a wonderful camera and does a good job of handling higher ISO settings. My son has one and I've seen excellent images he has produced even when using ISO settings around 10,000 (but he does shoot in RAW). Here's a link to an in-depth review of your camera if you haven't read it already https://www.dpreview.c​om/reviews/canon-eos-5d-mark-iii. David Busch also published a book on the 5DIII (David Busch's Canon EOS 5D Mark III Guide to Digital SLR Photography) and his books are wonderful, but it may be difficult finding a reasonably priced copy now that it has been a while since it was first published.

I don't know if you are familiar with your camera's "auto ISO" capabilities and I don't normally suggest using that function for experienced photographers, but at your stage of the learning process, it would probably be a useful feature. You can set the minimum and maximum settings. In your case I think I'd start with a range of 100-1600. With your camera, this would allow your jpg images to be relatively noise free. Once you start shooting in RAW, you may want to up the range to 3200 or higher.

Again, I apologize for my misunderstanding. BTW, as a retired VP of IT, I am guilty of being in the "nerd" category.

bob_r wrote in post #18606311
First of all, I apologize for misinterpreting your post. Usually when someone refers to a "client" it indicates a paying customer.

I do not know how familiar you are with your camera, but the 5DIII is a wonderful camera and does a good job of handling higher ISO settings. My son has one and I've seen excellent images he has produced even when using ISO settings around 10,000 (but he does shoot in RAW). Here's a link to an in-depth review of your camera if you haven't read it already. David Busch also published a book on the 5DIII (David Busch's Canon EOS 5D Mark III Guide to Digital SLR Photography) and his books are wonderful, but it may be difficult finding a reasonably priced copy now that it has been a while since it was first published.

I don't know if you are familiar with your camera's "auto ISO" capabilities and I don't normally suggest using that function for experienced photographers, but at your stage of the learning process, it would probably be a useful feature. You can set the minimum and maximum settings. In your case I think I'd start with a range of 100-1600. With your camera, this would allow your jpg images to be relatively noise free. Once you start shooting in RAW, you may want to up the range to 3200 or higher.

Again, I apologize for my misunderstanding.

Bob, it's not a problem. I understand that the people that have been doing this a lot longer than me take an immense amount of pride in their work....which is why I thought about my wording in the original post.

I'll work on my wording and make sure to be concise when I can.

Ok, so had a "mini session" tonight and took El Conquistador Moderato's advice.

1) Took photos in RAW - very interesting compared to JPEG
2) Adjusted Aperture
3) Adjusted Shutter Speed
4) Adjusted ISO to 100

Below are a couple of photos...please feel free to critique. I know that, for some reason my focus is a little low (literally, low on the subject being shot).

jhaywald wrote in post #18606473
Ok, so had a "mini session" tonight and took El Conquistador Moderato's advice.

1) Took photos in RAW - very interesting compared to JPEG
2) Adjusted Aperture
3) Adjusted Shutter Speed
4) Adjusted ISO to 100

Your settings were 85mm, f/5.6, 1/50s ISO100. If you had followed the "reciprocity rule", you would have selected a shutter speed of 1/100s, however, your histograms look good.

There's a photography rule called the "reciprocity rule" that basically states that your shutter speed should be equal to or higher than the effective focal length of your lens to eliminate camera shake. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. Here's a link if you'd like to read about it: https://www.slrlounge.​com/the-reciprocal-rule/

Another rule that you may find helpful is the "Sunny f/16 rule". Here's a link: https://www.slrlounge.​com …ntials-the-sunny-16-rule/. Before cameras contained exposure meters, using this rule and the "exposure triangle" was one of the ways we arrived at our settings. Many of us also carried light meters, but by following this rule, you could normally get good exposures.

In all fairness, with IS or VC (what ever the chosen lens mfg calls it), I am not one to believe in a 1:1 FL to SS. I can take very sharp images at 500mm on my Tamron 150-600mm at 1/125 if not longer (now that I am getting MFA dialed). Or on my Canon 70-200 at at 200mm and 1/30.

Sure the rule is a great starting point, but learning what you are shooting, how you shoot, and what the lens you are shooting with will tolerate with you behind it is advantageous.

With that said I agree that for still or slow moving subjects aperture --> shutter --> iso is the way to go.

For moving subjects I believe shutter --> aperture --> iso is the way to go.

Shaun Liddy wrote in post #18606526
In all fairness, with IS or VC (what ever the chosen lens mfg calls it), I am not one to believe in a 1:1 FL to SS. I can take very sharp images at 500mm on my Tamron 150-600mm at 1/125 if not longer (now that I am getting MFA dialed). Or on my Canon 70-200 at at 200mm and 1/30.

Sure the rule is a great starting point, but learning what you are shooting, how you shoot, and what the lens you are shooting with will tolerate with you behind it is advantageous.

With that said I agree that for still or slow moving subjects aperture --> shutter --> iso is the way to go.

For moving subjects I believe shutter --> aperture --> iso is the way to go.

Shaun, I agree that IS changes the reciprocity rule and even though the article I supplied the link to was an old article, it did cover IS/VR. The OP was shooting with an 85L prime which does not have IS and is a very heavy lens with a lot of glass and slow focus. I had version 1 of the lens and the OP has the newer version, but I believe it still retains most of the same properties as version 1. Since the OP has only been shooting about a year, I'm not sure of his shooting technique and since he stated that he has focusing issues, I think the rule would be beneficial for him.

At this stage of the game following the 1:1 rule will help you. Once you lock down your shooting style and holding the camera firmly and still, you can cheat that rule.

Your first shot of the little girl the focus appears to be at the front of her cap, not sure where you had your focus point, may need some MFA on that lens if your focus point was on her eye (which is should have been). To me the exposure is off on both of them as she is under exposed where the background is correct which tells me you most likely were in wide area exposure settings. I normally use spot or center weighted when shooting portraits.

This histogram on the 2nd girl image shows that the exposure was just fine.

Bob, thank you for the links. I have actually never seen ANYTHING mentioned in the reciprocy rule.

P.s. I wish I have been shooting for a year, then this might be a little easier. I've only been at it for a month ish.

Dagol, that's what's interesting, my focal point was on her nose / between her eyes. I'm still trying to play around and figure out why my camera isn't focusing correctly, or inversely what I'm messing up.

From a womans perspective...She is an absolutely beautiful little girl. I am not sure if she has tilted her head down or in, but if you could have her look up somewhat it might alleviate her little double chin. Believe me she will appreciate that when she is older. Regardless she is very pretty.

bob_r wrote in post #18606516
Your settings were 85mm, f/5.6, 1/50s ISO100. If you had followed the "reciprocity rule", you would have selected a shutter speed of 1/100s, however, your histograms look goof.

So question regarding this, I'm understanding the reciprocy rule....almost.
So for an 85mm lens, you would want to be around 1/85, but since that's not an option go to 1/100. I get that, however, where do you start your aperture at in this equation? 2.8? 1.2? 5.6?

Again, thank you for the help guys and gals.

jhaywald wrote in post #18606774
So question regarding this, I'm understanding the reciprocy rule....almost.
So for an 85mm lens, you would want to be around 1/85, but since that's not an option go to 1/100. I get that, however, where do you start your aperture at in this equation? 2.8? 1.2? 5.6?

Again, thank you for the help guys and gals.

You set the aperture to your desired DOF and then set your iso for the correct exposure.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #18606636
This histogram on the 2nd girl image shows that the exposure was just fine.

He actually did follow the Sunny f/16 rule for these shots. His settings were 85mm, f/5.6, 1/50s ISO100. The shots appear to have been taken in "Open shade" since there are no shadows. The aperture setting for the Sunny f/16 rule for these conditions would have been f/4. He shot at f/5.6, 1 stop less light, but he also shot at 1/50s, 1 more stop of light than his ISO setting which makes his settings conform to the Sunny f/16 rule.