May i ask a technical question? With shooting portraits, obviously we generally focus on the eyes, i tend to switch into the single focus point in the center and use that alone, focus then recompose. With a long tele lens, say at 100mm, and a wide f/stop, would this technique of focus and recomposing affect the focus much at all? would it be better to switch to another focus point that's closer to the intended eye to be in focus?
What you really do is focus on the chest area... or focus on the face, recompose so the face is on the top portion of the frame. This is how I did it. I found out after my first portrait shoot that most of my shots were too high but the close up face shots were more or less spot on. I worked with centre focus throughout that day and in one shot mode (which you can't select on your 300D but AI Focus won't jump to AI Servo that quickly).
You could also (again, not available on your 300D) is to set a 2nd focus point on the right (not extreme right) for portrait shots so the focus is on the face. This can be done on my 10D via a button or 20D with the joystick but wouldn't take too long wiith the focus button and then rolling the roller to the right one notch.
Come on Richard.. more background photos since you were the "official" background photographer.
I ended up shooting more photos of the subjects.... need another camera body for the wide lens... lots of good shots of you guys were missed with the 70-200.
rwwlee wrote:
May i ask a technical question? With shooting portraits, obviously we generally focus on the eyes, i tend to switch into the single focus point in the center and use that alone, focus then recompose. With a long tele lens, say at 100mm, and a wide f/stop, would this technique of focus and recomposing affect the focus much at all? would it be better to switch to another focus point that's closer to the intended eye to be in focus?
Never focus and recompose when you know the depth of field will be shallow (eg, large aperture, closest focus distance). The depth of field for fast lenses will be so shallow that the shot will go OOF the further you swing the lens away from your focus point.
To simplify it, just stretch your arm straight out and touch something with your finger. Then move your finger away to the left or right without moving your body. You'll see a small gap.
Now, if you think about this in terms of the focus plane, you'll see that with very shallow DOF you're going to get an OOF shot.
Thanks smelly and ed for the tips. So, how can u avoid not to recompose a shot if ur subject's eyes are at the right and top 1/3 of the frame, my camera doesn't have a focus spot there?
But then, the dof which gives acceptable focus would generally be larger than the recomposed change in distance, say i'm using f/2.8 at 70mm 2m from the subject, the dof would be 8cm.
rwwlee wrote:
Thanks smelly and ed for the tips. So, how can u avoid not to recompose a shot if ur subject's eyes are at the right and top 1/3 of the frame, my camera doesn't have a focus spot there?
Get a 1 series camera
rwwlee wrote:
But then, the dof which gives acceptable focus would generally be larger than the recomposed change in distance, say i'm using f/2.8 at 70mm 2m from the subject, the dof would be 8cm.
Yes in that case the dof is relatively large, so it doesn't matter.
Ed W wrote:
Never focus and recompose when you know the depth of field will be shallow (eg, large aperture, closest focus distance). The depth of field for fast lenses will be so shallow that the shot will go OOF the further you swing the lens away from your focus point.
Agree which is why "generally" the chest is at the same focal plane as the face... otherwise, if you want the face to be in focus. Square up the centre to the face, recompose and shoot. As Ed said, just be aware say the ears and half way back of the head will be OOF.
rwwlee wrote:
Thanks smelly and ed for the tips. So, how can u avoid not to recompose a shot if ur subject's eyes are at the right and top 1/3 of the frame, my camera doesn't have a focus spot there?
But then, the dof which gives acceptable focus would generally be larger than the recomposed change in distance, say i'm using f/2.8 at 70mm 2m from the subject, the dof would be 8cm.
Just set the focus to the right of centre (not the right most point) for portrait shots and centre or the top one in landscape orientation but it depends on what effect you're trying to get. (i.e. do you want the face to be in focus or another part of the body/background).
You know the 70-200IS was quite "useless" for me this time and I had to stand really well back to get some shots as most of mine ended up half body shots.
One thing I did read (correct me if I am wrong) is that using a short lens would make the model larger than they really seem because you need to be so much closer to fill the frame. If you have a look at my EXIF info, most of it was taken at 75mm. Should have stuck Ed's 85mm on it and give that one a go.
SmellyTofu wrote:
Agree which is why "generally" the chest is at the same focal plane as the face... otherwise, if you want the face to be in focus. Square up the centre to the face, recompose and shoot. As Ed said, just be aware say the ears and half way back of the head will be OOF.
Sound right Ed?
Yeah, you'll get a pleasing shot as long as the plane of the eyes is directly in line with the chest. If the person is leaning forward or back then you'd have more trouble...
SmellyTofu wrote:
One thing I did read (correct me if I am wrong) is that using a short lens would make the model larger than they really seem because you need to be so much closer to fill the frame.
Yeah, perspective distortion... used effectively with fish-eyes to get that bulging face, tiny body effect.
The closer you are to the subject, the greater the ratio between the distance of the features of the body and the lens... which means that the nose will stick out more from the face and the face will stick out more from the body. It's definitely not a pleasing effect if you're shooting women, and will earn you much slapping of face.
btw, I laughed when I saw someone on FM advising people to shoot portraits with a 17-40.
Unless they wanted a really close up shot with that distorted look... but not portrait. You couldn't possibly fill the frame without virtually sticking the lens up their nostrals.
Yeah, Richard, if focus is critical and DOF is shallow, I tend to switch the AF point and try not to recompose after focus. A bit of cropping might be necessary thu...
I need a hair cut.
