40D & nifty fifty straight out of the box

Well

After many years wanting to get into the wonderful world of DSLR's & photography, I finally received my 40D today, body only - thinking "Man I need a lens fast" ended up with the 50mm f1.8 II from the local camera shop.

I know only what I've read on the forums and generally surfing the net, so I am humbly assuming the role of apprentice's apprentice if ya know what I mean. I do event videography (mainly weddings) as a part time business so I guess that helps somewhat. Anyway enough blurb but I am just so excited to finally get this camera. I haven't even read the manual yet but hey that's a mans perogative.

Here is my lovely wife acting as my first model, I'd love to know what's bad with it, what's good with it, and any tips you may like to offer.

Regards
Darren

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First off... you've focussed on the nose, not the eyes.

Thanks Matt

Just worked out how to select the focus point, as I said absolute beginner here!!!!

I see what you mean Matt about the eyes out of focus, but she has a lovely nose too

Cheers
Darren

Welcome to the forum , if i can give you a piece of advice , read the manual as soon as you can , maybe more than one time , ( i did and still readi it ) , i'm new to DSL photography also , practice as much as you can , and don't forget that this forum has a lot of people willing to help you with any questions .

Nifty fifty is great--

Also, if you are wanting to focus on the eyes, you can keep the focus point in the middle--focus on her eyes, and recompose the image while it is still held halfway--this way, you can dynamically focus on diff parts of the image.

Thank you for your feedback guys

I will read the manual, I was just like a kid with a new toy (what an awesome toy) and got a bit overexcited, I am definately a good student, so yes I will be asking lots of questions, thanks again

Cheers
Darren

youmadeaway wrote in post #6763495
Nifty fifty is great--

Also, if you are wanting to focus on the eyes, you can keep the focus point in the middle--focus on her eyes, and recompose the image while it is still held halfway--this way, you can dynamically focus on diff parts of the image.

Wouldn't focusing on the middle point then recomposing put the focus on whatever the new middle point of your newly recomposed picture will be? I am also curious on how to get the focus on the eyes easier without manually focusing because sometimes my eyes get a little blurry.

colinh810 wrote in post #6767479
Wouldn't focusing on the middle point then recomposing put the focus on whatever the new middle point of your newly recomposed picture will be? I am also curious on how to get the focus on the eyes easier without manually focusing because sometimes my eyes get a little blurry.

If you have the camera set on "One Shot" for the Auto focus setting when you press the shutter button down half way if will focus on the selected focus point and then hold that setting as long as you hold the botton down half way. You can then compose the shot the way you like and press the shutter button down the rest of the way to take a picture.

This is how I do all my shooting, I always use the center focus point and recompose as necessary. Hope this helps.

Dave

If you're shooting portraits... heres a quick tip (for beginners). ALWAYS ALWAYS focus on the eyes the recompose with the shutter held halfway. when shooting with F1.8 this can go wrong very fast.

When dealing with portraits, you might want to shoot with f2.8, this gives a nice overall sharpness of the face.

OH AND ALWAYS SHOOT IN RAWWWWWWW! (well thats what i do!) hahahha

Very nice, I love my 40D as well. I played around w/it alot before reading the manual, and you should DEF keep it close by (starting off at least). There is alot in there that will help. Also POTN is an excellent resource. Stickies, searches and members are spectacular. I was torn b/w a Nikon and a Canon and considered getting a canon solely based on my preference of the canon forum over the nikon lol Congrats on your purchase!

Thanks everyone for their responses.

Marloon, thanks for the tip on f2.8 will defn try that, will have another go with focus on the eyes and post another shot. I will look into shooting RAW also.
I need to do some more research to "de-mystify" it for me.

JackFlash19, I'm kinda in the same boat, this forum defn rocks and I'm sure I will learn heaps, I guess it is important that as a newbie, for me at least, that I feel comfortable asking questions, and I can see this is not going to be a problem here.

Thanks Dave for the pointer on the centre focus point, I have started doing this and it definately helps.

Thanks again everyone

Cheers
Darren

Marloon wrote in post #6770528
If you're shooting portraits... heres a quick tip (for beginners). ALWAYS ALWAYS focus on the eyes the recompose with the shutter held halfway. when shooting with F1.8 this can go wrong very fast.

When dealing with portraits, you might want to shoot with f2.8, this gives a nice overall sharpness of the face.

I've heard reviews about the 50mm f/1.8 being more crisp at 2.8 too.

You might want to set up a few objects on a table at various distances, set the camera on the table, focus on the front object, and shoot at every stop up to f/22 using Av to get a feel for the DOF you get at different aperture values.

Congratulations on your 40D. I was torn between that and the XSi but couldn't justify the additional cost based on my experience level. But that is an awesome camera.

Regarding your photo, this seems to have been shot indoors under ambient lighting, and looks a tad yellow to me; the EXIF data shows that auto WB was used. To get more accurate colors indoors (especially when there may be a mixture of lighting), try using custom WB and shooting a white or grey card first. None of the presets (tungsten, fluorescent, etc.) work very well for me when indoors, but using custom WB works very well.

Enjoy!

Edit: Although what I said about using custom WB is still true, the more I look at the photo, the more I think I like it as is (the color cast that is, the focus could be improved as others have pointed out). Perhaps it was your intent all along to give it that particular color tone -- in which case, I think it looks great.

fullcity - I was trying to achieve a "warm" look to match her tones (lebanese heritage) - like everyone has pointed out the eyes needed to be in focus, another will be posted shortly - this time with the 24-105mm I picked up today!!!!

Thanks
Darren