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    #1

    Toddler photos

    Hi,

    I hope I've posted this in the right place.

    I've been trying to take photos of my baby/toddler (now 16 months old) with mixed results. I am using a Canon 60D with 50mm 1.8 lens usually or if not a 28mm 1.8 lens.

    I have a lot of problems getting the pictures in focus, I tend to use high speed continuous shooting with AI servo and just the centre focus point for focusing. Being a toddler, she moves about a lot so it's hard to get the focus correct especially as she is often moving towards me when I'm taking a picture.

    What I'd like to know is would I be likely to get better results (i.e. more photos in focus) if I upgraded the camera (to an 80D or a 7D mark ii for example) and/or to a better lens? Or is it just my technique that needs improving? Or is it just normal to only get a small proportion of pictures with a moving subject in focus and I should just accept this?

    Thanks for your help.
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: Toddler photos

    I doubt if upgrading the camera would make any difference, the 60D is perfectly capable of what you are trying to do. It would be more useful to know what settings you are using, in particular what F stop and shutter speeds, also are you using flash indoors? If the lens is too wide open, depth of field may be too small, or the shutter speed may be too slow to stop the movement. Without knowing your experience level, it's more difficult to give advice. A toddler isn't that fast moving so you should be able to get most shots in focus. Those lenses aren't known for their speed of focus though, depending on which of the 50mm F1.8 models you have.
    EOS 6D, 6D Mk II, 80D, 70D, 100D, 200D, M50, M100. Canon 10-18, 18 - 55, 55 - 250 IS STM lenses, Canon 16 - 35 mm F4L, 35 mm EF-S macro, 50 mm F1.8 STM, 60 mm EF-S macro, MPE-65 macro, 85 mm F1.8, 200 mm F2.8 L II, M 15 - 45 mm, M 22mm F2, M 32mm F1.4. Sigma 24 - 35 F2 Art, 135 mm F1.8 Art, 17 - 50 F2.8 DC, 105 mm OS macro, 100 - 400 C, 150 - 600 C.

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      #3
      Re: Toddler photos

      Hmmm it sounds like your using the right modes and the right lenses ,so yes under the right circumstances a faster focussing camera MIGHT help ,but as a wildlife togger I can tell you the one thing your leaving out of the equation is light ,if your shooting indoors it's going to be hard for the camera to grab that focus .
      Rather than spending a lot of money on a camera upgrade that may or may not work try setting the 60D up for back button focussing and try that first , also try to shoot in bursts as with birds just one shot at a time never works .and I would also try with expanded point a/f to help the camera as well

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        #4
        Re: Toddler photos

        I was wondering if the combination (particularly the lenses) is actually fast enough focussing to keep up with high speed continuous? My 50 mm F1.8 II is pretty slow (and noisy) to focus. I gather that the STM is a lot faster and more reliable.

        Also, if you have all focussing points set, it might be focussing on something in front of the toddler.
        Last edited by Richard W; 08-03-2017, 11:09.
        EOS 6D, 6D Mk II, 80D, 70D, 100D, 200D, M50, M100. Canon 10-18, 18 - 55, 55 - 250 IS STM lenses, Canon 16 - 35 mm F4L, 35 mm EF-S macro, 50 mm F1.8 STM, 60 mm EF-S macro, MPE-65 macro, 85 mm F1.8, 200 mm F2.8 L II, M 15 - 45 mm, M 22mm F2, M 32mm F1.4. Sigma 24 - 35 F2 Art, 135 mm F1.8 Art, 17 - 50 F2.8 DC, 105 mm OS macro, 100 - 400 C, 150 - 600 C.

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Toddler photos

          Originally posted by Richard W View Post
          I doubt if upgrading the camera would make any difference, the 60D is perfectly capable of what you are trying to do. It would be more useful to know what settings you are using, in particular what F stop and shutter speeds, also are you using flash indoors? If the lens is too wide open, depth of field may be too small, or the shutter speed may be too slow to stop the movement. Without knowing your experience level, it's more difficult to give advice. A toddler isn't that fast moving so you should be able to get most shots in focus. Those lenses aren't known for their speed of focus though, depending on which of the 50mm F1.8 models you have.
          Thanks for the quick reply. I try to keep the shutter speed shorter than 1/100 second or 1/200th preferably with aperture around f2.2 ish and try to keep the ISO to a max of 800 where possible. Even with this combination I sometimes have to use a slower shutter speed which could account for some of the blurred pics but even with faster shutter speed I get blurring sometimes. I am using an external flash most times (430ex-III), bounced off the ceiling.

          I am using the 50mm 1.8 II.

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Toddler photos

            Originally posted by Richard W View Post
            I was wondering if the combination (particularly the lenses) is actually fast enough focussing to keep up with high speed continuous? My 50 mm F1.8 II is pretty slow (and noisy) to focus. I gather that the STM is a lot faster and more reliable.

            Also, if you have all focussing points set, it might be focussing on something in front of the toddler.
            I am using the 50mm 1.8 II, as you say it is quite slow to focus so that may be an issue.

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Toddler photos

              Originally posted by the black fox View Post
              Hmmm it sounds like your using the right modes and the right lenses ,so yes under the right circumstances a faster focussing camera MIGHT help ,but as a wildlife togger I can tell you the one thing your leaving out of the equation is light ,if your shooting indoors it's going to be hard for the camera to grab that focus .
              Rather than spending a lot of money on a camera upgrade that may or may not work try setting the 60D up for back button focussing and try that first , also try to shoot in bursts as with birds just one shot at a time never works .and I would also try with expanded point a/f to help the camera as well
              Thanks for the reply. I'll try the back button focussing (need to read up on how to do that), burst mode and expanded point a/f (at the moment I tend to just use the centre point) - if I do us expanded point a/f, won't the camera try and focus on other things e.g. the background if some of the points don't land on the toddler?

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Toddler photos

                At F2.2 the depth of field will be very small, could be the issue?
                EOS 6D, 6D Mk II, 80D, 70D, 100D, 200D, M50, M100. Canon 10-18, 18 - 55, 55 - 250 IS STM lenses, Canon 16 - 35 mm F4L, 35 mm EF-S macro, 50 mm F1.8 STM, 60 mm EF-S macro, MPE-65 macro, 85 mm F1.8, 200 mm F2.8 L II, M 15 - 45 mm, M 22mm F2, M 32mm F1.4. Sigma 24 - 35 F2 Art, 135 mm F1.8 Art, 17 - 50 F2.8 DC, 105 mm OS macro, 100 - 400 C, 150 - 600 C.

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Toddler photos

                  Originally posted by Richard W View Post
                  At F2.2 the depth of field will be very small, could be the issue?
                  It could be, the reason for using it was that if I use a smaller aperture I'd need to have a slower shutter speed and/or put the ISO even higher. I suppose I can try higher ISO's (1600 maybe) then try reducing the noise afterwards.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Re: Toddler photos

                    I assume you aren't using the flash with high speed continuous as it just wouldn't recycle fast enough, surely? Bouncing off the ceiling can't be giving enough light. As the weather is improving, it would be a good idea to try outside without flash, set say F8 aperture priority and see what happens. As Jeff said, having enough light is an issue. Also try direct flash with a reflector or soft box, again with F8 and make sure that you have set the shutter speed with flash and aperture priority to 1/200 or 1/250, not sure which it is on the 60D. On the 50D it's under Custom Function 1.7 Flash Sync speed in Av mode.
                    Apologies if you know all this already.......... I wouldn't blame the camera though, it should cope easily.
                    EOS 6D, 6D Mk II, 80D, 70D, 100D, 200D, M50, M100. Canon 10-18, 18 - 55, 55 - 250 IS STM lenses, Canon 16 - 35 mm F4L, 35 mm EF-S macro, 50 mm F1.8 STM, 60 mm EF-S macro, MPE-65 macro, 85 mm F1.8, 200 mm F2.8 L II, M 15 - 45 mm, M 22mm F2, M 32mm F1.4. Sigma 24 - 35 F2 Art, 135 mm F1.8 Art, 17 - 50 F2.8 DC, 105 mm OS macro, 100 - 400 C, 150 - 600 C.

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Re: Toddler photos

                      Originally posted by Richard W View Post
                      I assume you aren't using the flash with high speed continuous as it just wouldn't recycle fast enough, surely? Bouncing off the ceiling can't be giving enough light. As the weather is improving, it would be a good idea to try outside without flash, set say F8 aperture priority and see what happens. As Jeff said, having enough light is an issue. Also try direct flash with a reflector or soft box, again with F8 and make sure that you have set the shutter speed with flash and aperture priority to 1/200 or 1/250, not sure which it is on the 60D. On the 50D it's under Custom Function 1.7 Flash Sync speed in Av mode.
                      Apologies if you know all this already.......... I wouldn't blame the camera though, it should cope easily.
                      I'm a beginner with the flash so I could be something I'm doing wrong with that, that's a good (and obvious now you mention it, doh!) point about the flash and high speed continuous shooting, probably I'm only getting the some (or even just the first) shots using the flash in a burst of shots. As I don't know much about using the flash yet, can I check that the flash doesn't affect the shutter speed the camera chooses does it?

                      I'll try some outdoor shots with the settings you mention and see how I get on.

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Re: Toddler photos

                        If you are using aperture priority, the shutter speed will be set to try to get foreground and background well exposed, which often means a slow speed. That's why I suggest you look at the custom functions and set it to 1/250, that way you are sure it will be fast enough. The flash itself will give enough light for the subject. I suspect using bounce flash just isn't giving enough. You could just experiment using the flash on camera, see if it solves the problem, then work out a method that gives a less harsh light.
                        Also make sure the flash is set to E-TTL, not manual or something else.
                        EOS 6D, 6D Mk II, 80D, 70D, 100D, 200D, M50, M100. Canon 10-18, 18 - 55, 55 - 250 IS STM lenses, Canon 16 - 35 mm F4L, 35 mm EF-S macro, 50 mm F1.8 STM, 60 mm EF-S macro, MPE-65 macro, 85 mm F1.8, 200 mm F2.8 L II, M 15 - 45 mm, M 22mm F2, M 32mm F1.4. Sigma 24 - 35 F2 Art, 135 mm F1.8 Art, 17 - 50 F2.8 DC, 105 mm OS macro, 100 - 400 C, 150 - 600 C.

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Re: Toddler photos

                          I would ensure a good depth of field with f8 or f11, set the shutter for the fastest flash sync which is probably 1/250th and set ISO to auto.
                          ...you could try to manually prefocus....I guess with a 50mm lens on 60D thats about 80mm on full frame so you must be a good 10 feet away to get them in the frame...so depth of field with f8 focussed at say 8ft should give 7ft to 9,1/2 feet in focus. 1/250th should freeze movement.
                          Use bounce flash too on ETTL.
                          And if the ISO goes really high and you have too much noise then overexpose by 1 stop...that will reduce the noise and you can reduce the exposure in post processing. It would be good if you could post some examples.
                          Brian Vickers LRPS

                          brianvickersphotography.com

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Re: Toddler photos

                            But you'll never succeed with high speed shooting and flash, particularly bounce flash which will discharge the flashgun completely, which will then take a while to recharge. I suggest single shot is the only realistic option with flash .......... unless somebody knows better (which they might do).
                            EOS 6D, 6D Mk II, 80D, 70D, 100D, 200D, M50, M100. Canon 10-18, 18 - 55, 55 - 250 IS STM lenses, Canon 16 - 35 mm F4L, 35 mm EF-S macro, 50 mm F1.8 STM, 60 mm EF-S macro, MPE-65 macro, 85 mm F1.8, 200 mm F2.8 L II, M 15 - 45 mm, M 22mm F2, M 32mm F1.4. Sigma 24 - 35 F2 Art, 135 mm F1.8 Art, 17 - 50 F2.8 DC, 105 mm OS macro, 100 - 400 C, 150 - 600 C.

                            Comment

                              #15
                              Re: Toddler photos

                              Originally posted by Richard W View Post
                              If you are using aperture priority, the shutter speed will be set to try to get foreground and background well exposed, which often means a slow speed. That's why I suggest you look at the custom functions and set it to 1/250, that way you are sure it will be fast enough. The flash itself will give enough light for the subject. I suspect using bounce flash just isn't giving enough. You could just experiment using the flash on camera, see if it solves the problem, then work out a method that gives a less harsh light.
                              Also make sure the flash is set to E-TTL, not manual or something else.
                              Thanks Richard, I will try these suggestions when I next get a chance.

                              Comment

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