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“A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2015.”
Poet: she oozes mischief and cheek and revels in pushing the boundaries.
Try disciplining this face:
Shot on a Canon 5D mkiii with a 50mm 1.4 lens – 1/640, f1.6, ISO 500
This week I adored: the minimalism of this unportrait / the calm in the middle of the night / the beauty of these strong, gorgeous girls.
……………………………………………………………………………
Someone, on either here, facebook or instagram (I’ve forgotten and can’t for the life of me find the comment), asked me for camera recommendations. They told me they wanted a good quality DSLR that didn’t cost a fortune.
I currently use a Canon 5D mkiii which is one of the best cameras on the market. But, it’s worth a significant amount of money, it’s big and it’s heavy; I’m reluctant to throw it in my bag and take it with me wherever we go, hence I take a lot less photos than I used to. I purchased it for professional work and for Daniel’s film requirements but honestly, it’s not my favourite camera of all time.
Before I invested in the Canon I shot on a Panasonic GF1 with a 20mm 1.7 (pancake) lens. I have such a fondness for this camera – it weighs a mere 500grams, was very affordable (you can’t buy them new anymore but they are often listed on gumtree and ebay for under $500) and takes great photos. In fact, most of the photos that feature in my book were shot on this little camera – proof that you don’t need to spend thousands to get good results. The best thing about this camera? It’s sturdy and family friendly; I can easily snap photos whilst carrying a bag and holding a hand. It was also the ideal travel camera when we were in Bali. I wrote an entire post dedicated to the GF1 here.
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Sweetest face she has! I shoot with a Nikon D800 and I also struggle with it's size.. I'm doing a project 365 this year though so I've just forced myself to lug it around with me! Also, thanks so much for the feature.. Such a sweet surprise!
That face! I have the same troubles with a similar face here… x
Thank you so much for the mention, Jodi. Truly made my day today. And oh, Poet… those sweet, sweet faces of hers! Had me laughing. I really can't believe how big she's getting (and how long her hair is!) I'm shooting with a 5DMK II currently and have to agree about the size being a bit cumbersome. I've heard good things about the Fujifilm x100s too as far as a smaller, yet good quality camera goes… happy weekend to you xo
I've heard great things about the Fuji x100s too … but another camera is definitely not a priority for me right now 😉 x
She is just loving that….so very sweet. X
I love my Canon 6D. It's lighter (and less expensive) than the marks and still full frame. Though I still covet eventually owning a 5D mark iii.
I shot on the 6D for three months while Daniel was away and yes, it's a great full frame camera but I admit, it doesn't have quite the same touch as the mkiii x
Looks so much like you x
Haha! Such a great face – and great post Jodi, the photography tips are very well appreciated 🙂 x
Oh her expressions are just wonderful – what happy mischief is she plotting 🙂
I love the expressions on kids faces. They are so honest and innocent, even when they're being cheeky. These are gorgeous!
Aweosme pic. We loved the GF1 as well. Great camera.
I use a Olympus PEN E-P5 now. It is a fantastic little camera. We have the OM-D E-M1 as well which is also great (but a lot more involved, SO any options, which I find a little tiresome at times)
We've tried to go back to full frame DSLR cameras a couple of times but the size and weight really doesn't gel for me any longer.
How do you cope with it? Do you have an especially great bag? Hubby uses Domke bags which he swears by. But I haven't found one that can cope with the camera, water bottles, snacks, spare pants (the kids not mine) and the random sh!t that accumulates.
Ps the X100s is a lovely camera but very very quirky. Its focus is slow and can be very abstract. Hubby has the X100 and the the X100s and although the 's' is better its still a fussy camera (although the images have a beautiful tone). He prefers his Sony RX1 over all though.
that should have said hubby 'had' the x100 and then the x100s
Hi Jodi,
Lovely portraits as always! I love the out-takes 🙂
Just a quick photography question – how do you get so much of the image in focus at f/1.6? I'm practising really hard at getting more in focus on with wider apertures at the moment, the lowest I'll go is about 2.2 but I prefer not to drop under 2.8, my favourite is 3.5. I'm getting better at getting more in focus but can't yet seem to achieve any sort of sharpness under f/2.2. As an example, if I shot that above image lower than f/2.2, her nose would probably be sharp and that's it. How do you get her whole face in good focus?
I've got the Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens, but never use it that wide and would love to. Is it just more practise or is there something I'm missing?
Thank-you!
Sarah x
Hi sarah,
I am, right at this moment, writing a post on aperture and shutter speed (will probably publish tonight or tomorrow). One question before I go on: what is your shutter speed when you're shooting at f2.2? Mine in the images above is 1/640 which is quite fast, hence I'm getting more in focus. If I was shooting at 1/125 it would be harder to get as much of her face and hair in focus. Also remember that this photo is downsized for web, hence it's not as clear as the full size images, so the focus can be slightly skewed because of that. Let me know x
A couple of my recent shots I wanted the background to be really blurred out. Here's some of the settings where I had the subject's whole face in focus the way I wanted (I was doing a head piece shoot)
f/2.8 shutter speed: 1/1250 ISO 160
f/2.2 shutter speed: 1/1250 ISO 100, this shot she was sitting down, her skirt perfectly blurred, looking up at the camera and her headpiece was in perfect focus, her face very very nearly in focus, I only notice it slightly out because I took the photo.
Thank-you for your reply, asking me those questions I've flicked back through photos and their setting and have seen that when I'm shooting with f/2.5 and lower the best shots have a really high shutter speed. Something I'll have to play with.
Looking forward to your post whenever you get it up x (saw your post on FB 🙂 )
Shutter speed is key when photographing children but also make sure that when your focussing and then recomposing (to get the desired composition) that you're doing it efficiently so the subject doesn't have time to move. If you using a focus-then-recompose method with an aperture of 2.8 or under it's really easy to loose focus x
Hello again!
I just wanted to comment here again to say thank-you for your help with this matter – yesterday afternoon when the light was beautiful and golden I put it into practise and learned a whole heap. I was shooting our chickens, they move pretty quickly, and using a shutter speed of 1/640 + and an aperture of f/1.8. I'm so happy with the results and can't wait to keep on practising! Thank-you again Jodi 🙂
HI Jodi
I've been using a Canon DSLR for many years (and shooting on manual settings) but was after something more compact and light to carry around with me all the time. Yourself and Georgia (documenting delight) convinced me to pick up a second hand GF1. I'm really struggling figuring out how to use it on manual though? It's so different to Canon and I don't feel i control at all! Am i missing something?! It didn't come with instructions but i've googled them and read though it so many times but just can't get my head around it and my photos just aren't working out. So frustrating as i'm sure its just a simple thing i'm doing wrong, any ideas ????!!!!
Do you mind me asking what lens you're using? One thing about the shutter speed on the GF1 – the dial moves in the opposite direction to what seems most natural…x
I have the 20mm pancake lens 🙂
I actually find the GF1's manual settings to be really straightforward. What is it about your images that you aren't liking? I find the biggest difference when switching between my two cameras is the viewfinder….when I pick up the GF1 I have to adjust to using my eyes and hands differently because I'm always looking at the screen x
Oh cheeky chops! I bet you struggle to keep a straight face. Have a lovely, restful week 🙂 xx
Oh, I love these photos. So natural!
Thanks for hosting!
I've just started a linky of linkies – to show people where they can link up their posts each week – at singlemotherahoy.com. I'd love if you'd link this one up!
Such a gorgeous little face. Thank you for hosting x
Beautiful photos and good information. I love my cannon, but also have a nikon and a samsung. Nikon jams up and samsung pictures are never just right. Cannon seems to hmmm… do what I tell it to do better.. Do what I want it to.. Does that make sense? It also seems to capture light better. Sadly I rely on my cell phone camera more and more.
Hello Jodi! Thank you for this, I take pictures with my film camera only and love so many things about film, but have often thought I would like a good, small digital camera – if anything, just to save money and be able to take more photos. I also love a very compact lens. When I search for the GF1 on ebay, I often find it comes up being called "Panasonic Lumix", is that the same one?
oh, and an additional question, if you have a chance: does this camera have a viewfinder only? I prefer to look through a camera than at a screen?
Yes, it's the Panasonic Lumix and no, it doesn't come with a viewfinder but you can buy it as an additional extra. But don't dismiss viewing through the screen before you try it….I found that it was often easier than looking through the camera as it provided more leniency in regards to angles (especially when photographing children) x
Such a sweet set of photo's! I love the black and white treatment too. Missed the linky this week but will be on time for this weekend! 🙂
Hi Jodi! I know this is an oldish post, but I am driving myself mad with trying to figure out how to put pictures in a grid, like you did up here. If anyone at all has any idea please share with me! x