Please I need help from any photographers online STAT!

[gsmith31]

Hello,

My friends asked me to shoot some photos for them for their engagement website and I've come to learn that they will also be engagement photos.  I agreed because they only because they also asked to do it at my stable with my horses..  (I know you are all shaking your heads).

Here are my devices options MacBook Pro Sierra 10.12.3 or iPad  10.2 and a Microsoft  Surface Pro 3. Adobe CC on my devices

Cameras: Nikon d700 and a Nikon d70. Unsure of firmware versions.. I've never updated them.

Problem 1.  Vision is shot. I shoot photos and they seem fine until I upload and realize they are blurry.

Problem to my potential solution:  I don't know that heck I'm doing.. I want to wirelessly view the photos as I'm shooting as if it were tethered (which I also don't know how to do).

Million $ Question. Does Adobe CC have something comparable to the app Camera Control Pro 2?  I am hoping to just download something and not need additional wires or gadgets.

All this is happening tomorrow..and Ive just entered panic mode!

[Nattacat1224]

Regarding problem 1: Why not use AF? A photograph doesn't need to focused manually to have value. Also, have you adjusted your view finder? You should have a dial next to your viewfinder that you can use to adjust it to your particular vision. I don't have your camera bodies but this is standard on DSLR's and there should be plenty of information in your manual on how to adjust the viewfinder so that the shots come out focused. Good Luck.

[gsmith31]

Thank you! I will do just that.

[Just Shoot Me]

Problem 1: Are the shot completely blurry or just parts of the image.

Cause of that is a wide open aperture, lower number f/stop. The lower the f/stop the only thing in focus is the actual subject, IE things at the exact distance that was focused on. Thing in front of and behind will be slightly, more and less, out of focus depending on the distance in front of and behind the actual focus point.

Using a larger f/stop number, Smaller Aperture, will make things in front of and behind the actual focusing point be more In Focus.

Please note the best f/stop to use is somewhere in the f/5.6 to f/11 with f/8 being the sweet spot for most lenses

[gsmith31]

Thank you for your time and suggestions.

[ManiacJoe]

Trust the auto-focus system. The Nikon D700 has a great AF system.

Make sure you are using an aperture that is appropriate for the depth of field you need. This can easily result in the need to increase the ISO to keep the shutter speed fast enough to compensate for your shaky hands. A flash might be handy, too.

[gsmith31]

Thanks for your response. I'm confident about the aperture but I will pay more attention to where the indications are focusing.

[Conrad C · Accepted solution]

If the photos are blurry because they're focusing on the wrong thing, and your proposing to solve it by seeing the image bigger by tethering to a larger screen, that might not be the best solution.

Increasing the depth of field might help, but it won't help nail focus. And it won't help if you want a narrow depth of field because they're portraits.

What might help the most is to make sure you know how to read the focus points in the camera viewfinder. On a digital camera, using focus points is often more accurate that focusing by sight alone. For example, if you're shooting a portrait of a person in the left side of the frame and one of your horses on the right, when you press the shutter button halfway watch for which focus point lights up. What you want is for a focus point to light up as close to the eye of the subject as possible. If that focus point lights up anywhere else, like over the horse, or over a stable post four feet behind the subject, then your subject is not going to be in focus.

You might find that when you use autofocus, the camera often wants to put the focus point in the wrong place. At this point you have some choices. You can switch to manual focus mode and try to get the focus point to light up over your subject's eye that way. But you might find it easier to learn how to tell the camera which focus point to use. I like to compose the frame and then use one of the controls on the back of the camera to select the focus point closest to the subject's eye. (I use Canon so I'm not exactly sure how it works on your Nikons, but I know they can do it.)

On many of the old film SLRs, you did have to judge focus by sight and the film viewfinders did that well. However, the viewfinders on digital SLRs aren't built the same way and they aren't very good for focusing by sight alone. Digital SLR viewfinders are designed to help you focus using the focus point indicators, so mastering how to use the extremely accurate focusing system in your camera is much more critical than trying to find a better way to focus by sight.

[gsmith31]

Thank you so much for your advice!  It turns out that it is overcast today so I have borrowed time to experiment.