Redo of the daughter in the tree pics. C&C if you want. :)

[Robin Usagani]

If you use aperture priority, your background will always be blown if you have bright background. You need to start using manual, meter it to the background, and then use flash (use shutter for 1/200, and keep making the aperture smaller until you meter the bright background)

 

[Robin Usagani]

Also... You are only using 50mm. 1/200 is plenty fast!

 

[ababysean]

lol not for kids.
Those buggers are faster then the speed of light!
But I think her softness is due to the AI issue, not her shutter speed.
Because in the pictures you can almost see where she intended to focus before recomposing

 

[sam_justice]

Yes they're a lil soft. I'm her mom so i love them.

Do you have a suggestion for fixing it or just pointing that out?

Do you know what shutter speed you used ? also try using just the center focus point and recomposing, if i have any soft focus shots it does not matter if it is my kids, partner,dog they get deleted i never save them

Completely disagree on this one, deleting a nice composition because of a small technical glitch is over the top imo. Even Zack Arias uses images for clients he has taken that might be slightly ghosted, if the composition is there then keep it.

Do you have a suggestion for fixing it or just pointing that out?

Also for tips on getting less ghosting and a sharper image, find an aperture you're happy with to get the depth of field you want. Then if you find the shutter speed is too slow then push up the ISO, everytime you push up the ISO it'll give you one full stop to play with which is more than enough to get the fast shutter you need in those conditions. But like schwettylens says above, in those conditions meter your camera to the background and use flash to bring out the subject, it's what it was made for!

 

[sam_justice]

Here's one I just took to help explain, extremely bright day, extremely dark dog. I metered the shot to the fence (zoomed in to the fence and set the correct exposure, I had an aperture in mind but I had to throw this out the window, I'll explain why).

I flicked open the flash and the camera automatically locks to 1/200 of a second due to that being the cameras sync speed for flash. So in effect I only have 1/200 of a second (or slower) to play with. Now this would've been fine had I had a powerful flash unit to light up the background, but I would've needed something to contend with the light the sun was putting out! I also had to light up the extremely dark dog (but that's more of the on flash being not powerful enough). This restricts me greatly as the background could be suitably shot in 1/3200 of second, which is why my aperture gets chucked out the window, I now have to push my aperture as far as possible to meter the fence again to get the correct exposure, which as it turned out was F22 (still not perfect as you can see on the right hand side of the fence the highlights begin to blow out a bit). Now had I taken the photo with the dog there, at the original shutter speed and aperture, you wouldn't of been able to see her at all, she would've just been a silhouette.
I then was able to use my flash to fill in the incredibly dark dog, still the on camera flash is not perfect or powerful enough to light all of Millie (the dog) up as she is so dark.

I know this doesn't really help the ghosting (soft) images you're getting, that's due to the fast movement of the child, but this will certainly help you get a nicer exposure.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Good explaination man.. That's what I have been trying to tell her on this thread and some other threads

 

[gsgary]

hum... didnt we school you about your ISO with your donkey thread? haha j/k
Bring that ISO up to 200 girl, you will be able to use a faster shutter speed and they will not be so soft.

She was using the pop up flash so 1/200 is the fastest she can use

 

[Robin Usagani]

Better get that external flash soon miss! You need to start practicing since you are doing a wedding soon! :er:

hum... didnt we school you about your ISO with your donkey thread? haha j/k
Bring that ISO up to 200 girl, you will be able to use a faster shutter speed and they will not be so soft.

She was using the pop up flash so 1/200 is the fastest she can use

 

[gsgary]

alright, so my focus options are...

AI Focus AF:
One shot, AI focus, and AI servo. I should be using one shot, right?

I should shoot shutter priority and always make sure my shutter is 1/250 or faster?

And use the shade WB or user selected WB when shooting in this spot?

Or try back button focus, you also have to remember when mixing flash and ambient, shutter speed control ambient and aperture controls flash, uping your ISO will also let more ambient light into the shot, so if you want a darker background meter ambient and flash and use a higher shutter speed or lighter use a slower shutter speed (shooting on manual)

 

[gsgary]

You get so many mixed information miss... YOU CANT HAVE YOUR SHUTTER SPEED BE FASTER 1/200 if you use your built in flash! Maybe there is a way to do HSS.. but i dont know.

Not sure if HSS can be used with pop up because i have never used a pop up, but hss is good for fill flash, this shot was taken a mid day bright sun light at 1/250 HSS

 

[Robin Usagani]

I love HSS because sometimes i still want shallow DOF.

 

[Early]

Personally, I like the color, along with the exposure, comp and dof. The first one may be a little on the yellow side, but perfectly acceptable IMO. Nice work.

 

[gsgary]

Here's one I just took to help explain, extremely bright day, extremely dark dog. I metered the shot to the fence (zoomed in to the fence and set the correct exposure, I had an aperture in mind but I had to throw this out the window, I'll explain why).

I flicked open the flash and the camera automatically locks to 1/200 of a second due to that being the cameras sync speed for flash. So in effect I only have 1/200 of a second (or slower) to play with. Now this would've been fine had I had a powerful flash unit to light up the background, but I would've needed something to contend with the light the sun was putting out! I also had to light up the extremely dark dog (but that's more of the on flash being not powerful enough). This restricts me greatly as the background could be suitably shot in 1/3200 of second, which is why my aperture gets chucked out the window, I now have to push my aperture as far as possible to meter the fence again to get the correct exposure, which as it turned out was F22 (still not perfect as you can see on the right hand side of the fence the highlights begin to blow out a bit). Now had I taken the photo with the dog there, at the original shutter speed and aperture, you wouldn't of been able to see her at all, she would've just been a silhouette.
I then was able to use my flash to fill in the incredibly dark dog, still the on camera flash is not perfect or powerful enough to light all of Millie (the dog) up as she is so dark.

I know this doesn't really help the ghosting (soft) images you're getting, that's due to the fast movement of the child, but this will certainly help you get a nicer exposure.

The main reason her image is soft is because she was shooting at 200mm and the flash is not powerfull enough to freeze the action

 

[Robin Usagani]

I think she shot it with 50mm gary..

 

[gsgary]

I think she shot it with 50mm gary..

Oh **** it must have been another shot i was thinking about