We pride ourselves on having the friendliest
and most welcoming forums for moms and moms to be! Please take a moment
and register
for free so you can be a part of our growing community of mothers.
If you have any problems registering please drop an email to boards@justmommies.com.
Our community is moderated by our moderation team so you won't see spam or offensive messages posted on our forums. Each of our message boards is hosted by JustMommies hosts, whose names are listed at the top each board. We hope you find our message boards friendly, helpful, and fun to be on!
As you may already know, little sister-in-law has been a subject multiple times now. I did her engagements, and this week did her bridal photography and wedding. I shoot with a Canon Rebel XSi, just a regular 18-55mm lens, and it's always been GREAT for me before now. Unfortunately, SO many of her wedding pictures are out of focus, freakishly poor coloration, over exposed, or just blah. I know I can fix a lot in PP, but I'm just sick. They looked fantastic on the camera, they looked completely in focus... I shot in P mode (what I usually do, as it has never given me a problem... my own stupid fault.) My closeups are GREAT... but my long shots are horrific... and unfortunately, that means all the family shots.
I know what I did wrong when it comes to focus, it's my own dang fault... I will NEVER let my AF take over for me again, but does anyone have any suggestions for editing? I use PSP... Ugh I think I'm going to hurl. I just want these to look somewhat okay... I know that I'm the only photog in this family (her in-laws, unfortunately, are a family of photographers) so my MIL and FIL won't notice or care. But I still want these to be okay. It was our gift for their wedding... and I don't want them to be disappointed. As soon as I catch my breath, I'll add some of my images...
Oh man, I'm so sorry this happened. Taking on a wedding is such a huge thing!! Focus is one of the things that, IMO, can't really be remedied in photoshop without resorting to cheesy effects. I wish I knew a way to help!
See, thing is, I've done weddings many times before. I'm not super new at this...
I hate that it happened on THIS wedding! I mean, yeah, in many respects it would be a bigger bummer if it were a paying client, but... it's my lil-sis!
Can you post a few examples? Sorry that this happened. And I doubt it happened because of AF (I don't see how you could manually focus a wedding, I would consider it nearly impossible) - its probably low light conditions which resulted in a slower shutter speed which = camera shake and/or your subjects being OOF because they didn't hold 100% still.
I'm sorry- I didn't realize you were a wedding photog.
I do know how you feel though, with regard to it being your little sis. It always seems like things go wrong for me when I really want to give a loved one something special, photo wise. Murphy's lay of photography maybe?
The reason I was thinking it was my AF was because of the fact that it appears that things in the foreground are in focus, but the people further back, are not...
Okay, these are (IMHO) the best examples of the problem... and now I'm actually starting to wonder how much of it is my monitor... SOOC, no editing whatsoever... though I did make them a little smaller so as not to take up so much space. I will color correct, I always do... but tell me if any of you can see the focus issue?
well they really are not as bad as i was thinking at all. I could help more if you posted your settings. I am thinking its an aperture and shutter problem.
To be honest, it was SUCH a crazy day... I can't even BEGIN to tell you what settings I used. I honestly don't remember at all.
By aperture and shutter, you mean something I can actually control, right... not that my shutter itself is having issues. I have actually had that happen on a different camera, that's why I ask.
you should be able to right click on your picture, and click "properties" then click the "details" tab and scroll down and it will show you your settings.
and yeah by aperture and shutter I mean it as something you can control. I dont know much about P mode because I shoot in Manual, but if P mode sets it for you maybe your light was low so the camera set your shutter and/or aperture to low.
DOF shouldnt be an issue with f10...but it may have helped to keep your ss above 200 if you arent super steady handed. I shot a wedding recently myself and can totally relate to the crazybuzy make your head spin kind of work it really is. Its tough. I bet I got 200 good shots out of 1000 or so taken, lots with focus, wb, exposure problems, a lot of the problem is other peoples flashes...with the indoor ones you can add a little grain and make them more vintage looking, b&w is good for that too!
Good luck!
honestly, I think in the first family one, the focus fell on the wall behind them, explaining why the people look a bit soft. No judgment here, I had plenty of similar stuff myself, lol.
I was thinking about you last night and was wondering if you are toggling your focus points around or if you are letting it use the auto to decide focus? That would definately have contributed to oof issues because it chooses what it thinks you want it to focus on. Maybe you already do that...it just occured to me that I wasnt sure which you were using.
Sorry that this happened. And I doubt it happened because of AF (I don't see how you could manually focus a wedding, I would consider it nearly impossible) - its probably low light conditions which resulted in a slower shutter speed which = camera shake and/or your subjects being OOF because they didn't hold 100% still.
Linear Mode
