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!

[RobertTheFat]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

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.

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Even a white sky is vastly underrated. I've found many occasions when a white sky worked better than a blue one would've.

[diverhank]

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@Chloe0317 wrote:

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! 

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Hi Chloe, that is a gorgeous picture!  Picassa apparently removed the exif info on this one so I can't tell what the settings were.  I think the saturation and brightness are perfect as is.

Since you asked for recs, I would do a couple things differently.

1. I would use M mode and set the Av to a very low number (3.5 to 5.6), ISO to 100 and then adjust the shutter speed Tv so the meter would show the correct exposure.  If Tv is lower than 1/100 then I would change the ISO to keep it at 1/100 or faster.  The ground rule for Tv is 1 over the focal length.  With the 18-55mm lens, 1/100 is quite OK per this rule (1/60 would have sufficed).

2.  Before you go panicking on using M, my recommendation is to turn on Live View and via the menu enable Live View Simulation.  With Simulation enabled, you will see on the LCD exactly what your picture will look like (except depth of field (DOF)...in order to see DOF you need to press the DOF button).  So you can change Av, Tv, ISO and see exactly the effect of each change on Live View.  It is a great learning tool, imho.  Unless I shoot action shots, I always use Live View.

The reason for step 1 is that I think the background is too clear for this picture - the background is competing for my attention instead looking at the beautiful model's face and features.  With a low Av, it will help blur the background more.  Also I would shoot this at the highest Focal Length ( 55mm) as it will help blur the background more.   Normally I always try to keep ISO as low as possible.  ISO 400 might not be necessary here.

@Later you might want to experiment shooting  the models slightly against the sun for the hairlight effect but that's a bit harder, taking more practice.  Here is an example of shooting against the sun.  Taken with a 5D Mark III, 85mm f/1.2L II lens @ 85mm; f/2.0, 1/2000, ISO 100