Focusing On The Nose

[wagsalot]

I took a few shots of Riley today and in every portrait type one his nose is out of focus :rolleyes:

I used auto settings for all these (portrait setting) and switched between 2 lenses, and got the same problem with both.

Any ideas what I did wrong?

nose by shellandriley, on Flickr

nose2 by shellandriley, on Flickr

nose3 by shellandriley, on Flickr

nose4 by shellandriley, on Flickr

[kja]

Have you had a look at the other thread? The same issue is in there and there's a link to a DOF calculator that lets you put in your focal length and distance and aperture so you can get a feel for what you need.

It's a depth of field issue - you need a BIG depth of field to get the whole snout and eyes in focus straight on.

So, use a smaller aperture, use a wider focal length and/or move back.

:rolleyes:

Edited February 10, 2011 by kja

[wagsalot]

So I should stop being lazy and go back to manual :rolleyes:

I didn't see the other thread, but will check it out.

[kja]

LOL I find it far less effort to just tell the camera what I want to do rather than hoping it will figure it out and then having to reshoot stuff :rolleyes:

You can try Av mode on the Canon - set your aperture and let the camera have a punt on the shutter speed.

[huga]

Switch to manual, or at least AV.

Set the ISO and the aperture. Try around f5.6 as a starting point. Not sure, I'm too used to flat faces :rolleyes:

[kja]

And don't forget it's not just the aperture - it's also the focal length and distance from your subject :rolleyes:

[wagsalot]

For the last few months I've been shooting mostly manual, but today I just couldn't be bothered :rolleyes:

So serves me right for having a out of focus nose.

I shall go back to manual