Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

[Chloe0317]

I have been using a Canon Rebel T5 recently & I am not sure if the settings are incorrect or if the blurriness is due to camera shake. Would someone be able to tell me just by looking at one of the pictures? I am new to this, so appreciate any help. Thanks!

[Chloe0317]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate all your help!

[diverhank]

I saw this a bit late but I'll add a little bit on what others have said.  Not sure what mode you used to take this picture but there are a few things you could have chosen to improve the picture.

You shot at 1/200 with flash on (my guess is the built-in flash).  With the built-in flash, you can't use high speed sync so the fastest is 1/200 for this camera.  At FL 18mm, 1/200 is plenty fast and I don't think this is a problem.  Even though I shake a lot, 1/200 never causes me any problems.  However, your ISO was set to 800 while your f/stop was set to f/14!

f/14 is totally unnecessary here.  As a matter of fact, it contributes to your picture being not as nice as it should.  Beyond f/11, many lenses start to exhibit sharpness degradation due to diffraction error so unless you have to, try not to go beyond f/11.  Since this is a person's picture (i.e portrait), I'd shoot this at f/2.8 or f/4 for nicer background blur.  If you have shot this at f/4, your ISO would be very low like 200 or something instead of 800.  For this camera, ISO 800 starts to show noticeable degradation in IQ, imho.

For this particular picture...tough lighting, ISO 800 and f/14 all contribute to the picture not looking as nice as others with more optimum settings.

[Chloe0317]

Thanks so much! I was in Portrait Mode and thought their default settings would be OK - I will set the settings manually in the future and see how it turns out.

[BurnUnit]

According to your EXIF data...

Camera Model: Canon EOS REBEL T5
Lens: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
Image Date: 2014-02-05 04:04:25 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 18mm
Aperture: ƒ/14.0
Exposure Time: 0.0050 s (1/200)
ISO equiv: 800
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Portrait Mode
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: Yes (Auto, return light detected)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Software: Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384

I'm surprised to see that shooting in "Portrait" mode sets the aperture to f/14. But as already mentioned it's trying to compensate for the high ISO and strong backlighting. Usually, auto "Portrait" mode settings will try to keep the aperture opened up to keep the subject in focus and throw a bit of blur into the background to make it less distracting.

Next time try switching to AV mode, zoom in to 55mm, open the aperture to f/5.6 and maybe cut the ISO back to 400 or 200. Try to find someplace with more even foreground and background lighting. Move in closer to your subject and turn off the flash. Keep the background uncluttered if possible. You should still end up with a shutter speed that will allow you to shoot hand-held. Post a couple sample shots here and we'll take another look at your results.

Oh... And you should probably set the clock and calendar on your camera.

[Chloe0317]

LOL! I told you I was helpless. I will absolutely take everyones' tips into account when we do our next photo shoot & will post a picture of the (hopefully) crystal clear final product! Thanks again for all your help and time on this, what a great resource this site is!

[BurnUnit]

Nah... You're not helpless. Helpless would be trying to shoot with the lens cap on. You're just a little overwhelmed by the upside of the learning curve.

[Chloe0317]

Ha, I'm certainly guilty of having done that as well!  

OK, after taking all your tips into consideration, we used AP mode for the latest shoot. Since it was cloudy, I turned the ISO to 400 & played with the different f-stop settings you all had recommended. My face is looking a lot clearer. I am happy with this, but will still edit with the saturation & brightness. Any other recs? THANK YOU!

[Waddizzle]

Nice.  Actually, I have taken some of my best photos on brightly overcast days.  The clouds act like a giant diffuser, which tends to eliminate any parts of the photo from being overexposed, or frequently underexposed.

[Chloe0317]

We are going to try and shoot on cloudy days (not difficult in Chicago) since it does seem a lot easier.

You guys are all great - I am sure I will be back, LOL!

[BurnUnit]

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@Chloe0317 wrote:

We are going to try and shoot on cloudy days (not difficult in Chicago) since it does seem a lot easier.

You guys are all great - I am sure I will be back, LOL!

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Indeed, there's nothing wrong with shooting on cloudy or overcast days. It helps eliminate harsh shadows which can be a real plus for portraits. The exposure looks fine, skin tones look very natural. But if you feel it needs a bit more saturation, do it sparingly. If anythinng, to my eye the lighting looks maybe a little on the cool side. I'm guessing this was shot with Auto White Balance, which I find works surprisingly well on my 60D. But shooting with the Shade or Overcast setting might have produced a bit warmer lighting. The beauty of shooting in RAW is that you can change the W/B setting after the fact, but you don't need to worry about that for now.

As far as prepping shots to post here, you might want to go back to the software you used on your first picture. It is handy for us to have the EXIF data available to help sort out problems and some software will strip this info from your image file.