Settings for Portraits of Newborns and Family

jbahia

I have a back to basics question. What are the optimal settings for portraits of newborns and family using a Canon 60D and a 50mm lens? When using the AV setting and f stop of 1.8, the internal meter indicates a flashing 9 and a green spot and the camera does not take a photo. What does this mean?

simoyo

For portraits, it is often desired to use wide apertures to limit the depth of field (e.g. to have the eyes/face/whole subject in focus while blurring out the background/foreground). Your 50mm lens at f/1.8 is in many ways ideal for this. Before delving into optimal settings, can you tell me what ISO setting you are using? What shutter speed is displaying in the viewfinder?

The 9 you see is the maximum burst which are pictures made in rapid succession and is not an issue with your problem at this time.

With regards to the flashing green spot in the lower right of the viewfinder, it means the lens can not autofocus on the subject. For your camera to focus, at least one of the nine AF-points must be on an area of contrast (e.g. the eye of your subject, a line, a pattern, not the skin or a featureless surface). For still portraits, try the one shot autofocus mode by selecting the central AF point and place it on one of the eyes of your subject before half pressing the shutter to autofocus. Stand at least 1m away!

Or, you could try manual focus.