Softness issues...

[MN Shutterbug]

Old geezers need their beauty sleep.

The exif is readable here, also. This shot looks plenty sharp.

[Steve Foss]

So now can you post the original two images in the same way as this last one, with the exif intact, so we can start up where we left off lo those many days ago?

I just got back from a wedding, and I'm knackered! So, once again, old geezer signing off to go to bed, once I have all the day's images downloaded and backed up on three separate hard drives.

[fishinchicks]

I have to wait 45 minutes for my coffee cake to get done baking, so I'll go back and repost those through Photobucket. I had a date with my hubby tonight for our 23rd Anniversary, so I'm a little late on doing my baking for church tomorrow. Hoping I'm not during the service!

[fishinchicks]

[MN Shutterbug]

Shutter speed shouldn't be an issue, especially in the second one at 1/1000 second. You have a pretty narrow dof in each shot and I'm thinking the focus is missing the subject. I know you said earlier that all the focus points were on the girl in the second pic, but maybe you moved just a tad before you snapped the shot? Unless shooting a landscape, I always use just the center focus point. You are also better off setting the camera to Av instead of portrait mode and setting the aperture to something around F8 if the light allows for a decent shutter speed. Also, an ISO of 200 on sunny days or 400 with clouds is as low as you should ever have to go. The higher ISO setting will allow you to use a higher value aperture, which will give a broader dof and also a faster shutter speed, both of which are nice to have for portaits.

It must have been pretty dark conditions in the first shot. Even at your ISO of 400 and F1.8, you still weren't getting a real good shutter speed. Here is where your flash would have saved you, and I know you have one.

You are always better off not letting the camera do the thinking for you and avoiding the programmed exposure modes.

[fishinchicks]

Thanks, Mike! I didn't want to use the flash in the arena, and spook Laura's horse. Rainy May was a little unruly that day, anyway. No use adding to the problems.

I changed my focus point to center focus already. I think I'll need to make a checklist before any major events with all of the help you guys have given me. When it gets crazy, I tend to forget one major setting...

[MN Shutterbug]

When it gets crazy, I tend to forget one major setting...

I find that happening lately also, considering I haven't been using my camera much this summer. It's real easy to get out of the groove and forget to check the ISO or some silly thing.