What did I do wrong?

[MrsWolfman]

Still portrait of my son. Using my canon 80d with my canon 50mm lens. Golden hour and settings were 180 / 4.0 /250 and my image is blurry when blown up.

Shutter speed to slow?

Help!

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

I'm pretty sure that the reason the focus may not be as sharp as you'd hoped is two-fold.

One, the shutter speed is fairly low, only about 1/80 of a second.  Camera shake may be an issue.  The shutter speed isn't really fast enough to freeze any motion that your son may have made when the shutter fired, either.

Two, if you used the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens, it lacks Image Stabilization to remove camera shake.  That is a pretty good lens, once you learn what it can and cannot do.  Just use a fast shutter with it.  I like f/2.8 aperture for that shot, too.

[TTMartin]

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@MrsWolfman wrote:

Still portrait of my son. Using my canon 80d with my canon 50mm lens. Golden hour and settings were 180 / 4.0 /250 and my image is blurry when blown up.

Shutter speed to slow?

Help!

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What did you do wrong.

You had the car in the background.

You have a backlit subject with no fill flash so the background is blown out.

And you pixel peeped the photo zooming into 100%, which is like watching as 70" TV from 18" away and worried that it is soft.

The biggest issues with that photo are not whether it is sharp or not.

[MrsWolfman]

Wow...that was a little harsh. Thank you for your input though. As someone who has just started trying to take better pictures and is slowly learning that was a little rough but I put it out there.

[TTMartin]

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@MrsWolfman wrote:
Wow...that was a little harsh. Thank you for your input though. As someone who has just started trying to take better pictures and is slowly learning that was a little rough but I put it out there.

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Yes, it is harsh. 

But, the reality is that long before you worry if the photo is sharp enough or not, there are other things that impact the photo much more than the sharpness.

By the way the photo is plenty sharp, get an 8 X 10 print done for $3 at Walmart and you'll see that it isn't sharpness you need to worry about. 

 If you posted the photo and simply asked how to make it better, no one would have mentioned the sharpness. 

They would have mentioned the things I did.

Another thing you might try a larger aperture (smaller f/number) to help blur out the background even more.

[RobertTheFat]

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@MrsWolfman wrote:
Wow...that was a little harsh. Thank you for your input though. As someone who has just started trying to take better pictures and is slowly learning that was a little rough but I put it out there.

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"Harsh" isn't the right word. It was critical, but that's what you asked for. Look at the title you gave this thread; it isn't "How great a photographer am I?" You'd be wasting your time here if all you were looking for was praise. We're all in this together, and we're all trying to make each other better. Those who have to be stroked are off somewhere talking to their headshrinkers.

[MrsWolfman]

Thank you so much for your reply! I greatly appreciate your kind input.

[ScottyP · Accepted solution]

Using flash in sun is actually great. It would let you equalize your shaded subject with his bright background. 

I would set the center autofocus point only, and of course put that point on the subject's face.  If you let the camera choose which of the focus points to use it may choose the wrong thing to focus on. 

Yes, a faster shutter would be good for avoiding hand shake blur.