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12-16-2012, 04:25 AM   #1
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soft or too soft?
Lens: S-M--C Takumar 50mm f1.4 Camera: Pentax K-5 IIs Photo Location: Sydney ISO: 80 Shutter Speed: 1/8000s Aperture: F1.4 

Here's a shot I took yesterday of my son whilst playing about with my newest lens addition.

What do you think? Something tells me it's a great photo, but is it too soft for this scene? I am after all biased towards liking any photo of my son, so thoughts either way are welcome!



12-16-2012, 04:44 AM - 1 Like   #2
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More DOF?

Hello Douf,
Yes, it's a fine photo and well worth keeping.
But personally, I'd prefer more DOF, so the area from the tip of his nose to the full (front) facial features are all in-focus.
You have plenty of shutter speed to spare; 1/8000 at f/1.4 equals;
1/4000 at f/2.0
1/2000 at f/2.8
1/1000 at f/4.0. That would be my choice. You would still have a reasonably shallow DOF and soft background, but the frontal face features would be sharper.
JMO, nice capture in any event!
Ron
12-16-2012, 07:07 AM - 1 Like   #3
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I don't think it's too soft but I do think the lights and shadows need to be adjusted a bit for more contrast. He and the background are a bit too close in tone.
12-16-2012, 07:46 AM - 1 Like   #4
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Agreed that it's not too soft ... and with the previous advice ... Bottom line = if you like it, then it's a good image! J

12-16-2012, 10:46 PM - 1 Like   #5
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Hard not to have an attachment to your own photos especially if it's your own son. However I'd have to say there are a number of issues. First I do find it soft, in particular the eyes aren't sharp, I would say the sharpest part of the image because of the shallow DOF is the nose. The second is it's too dark and lastly I think a square crop would work better. I did a quick edit to show what I mean and posted it here. Suggested edit of photo by Douf | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Not trying to harsh just offering some things to consider. Just my 2 cents worth.
Regards
Greg
12-18-2012, 08:13 AM - 1 Like   #6
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I agree with Gregory_51 on all his points and will add the following:
It looks soft because it's front focused by 2cm. The forehead is in focus, not the eyes.
You might want to clone out the red mark on the side of his nose.
You might want to clean up the green finging around the collar.
Finally, he should be smiling or grinning to make it a 100% keeper.

Keep the shot, you'll enjoy it for many years to come.

Regards,
--Anders.
12-18-2012, 10:08 AM   #7
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I was never able to focus with the takumar on the k5 unless using live view and a tripod, and that's really annoying, especially at 1.4 where the lens is soft already.
This is out of topic but that doesn't happen anymore with the k-01 I just got, if you have a lot of manual glass it is a really useful tool!!

With the shot I would brigthen it and give it some creative filter, cute kid btw

12-18-2012, 06:09 PM - 1 Like   #8
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Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by rbefly Quote
You have plenty of shutter speed to spare; 1/8000 at f/1.4 equals;
1/4000 at f/2.0
1/2000 at f/2.8
1/1000 at f/4.0. That would be my choice.
Thanks for this - good to know.

QuoteOriginally posted by asp1880 Quote
You might want to clean up the green finging around the collar.
Yes I find that a little distracting too.. will have a play with this later on as well as a bit more contrast to the background.



Thanks to eveyone for all your points, the main reason I put it up was my wife didn't like it so much but I thought there was still something to it.

I had other keepers from that day that were sharper but was also playing around at 1.4 for the sake of playing at 1.4 (fastest lens I now own..) - very hard to get your child to sit still enough to get the focus point exactly right!

For now though edits will have to wait.. he's just waking up!
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