5 MP's really necessary for portraits?

johnd1 · Feb 23, 2003

Not to say 5 MP isn't better, but for portraits I think it can sometimes be too detailed .

I like my 717 portraits but often find myself wanting to blur or remove blemishes that appear too detailed.

This shot @ 1.9 MP's (not a 717) also shows how nice the background can be blurred with a long zoom. I took it in the shaded woods with the sun coming thru the trees at the right moment. I'm still not sure I want to remove the light source .

BTW, The great portraiture by others on STF is inspiring . I'm definitely going to start practicing portrait shooting soon.
John

Yehuda Katz · Feb 23, 2003

Shalom John,

You have shot a very nice portrait. I would change nothing in it. The central object - the kid - is excellently taken, and that should be the main consideration.

To answer your question: I own both D-770 (1.3 MP) and F-707 (5MP) and can tell you that the difference in their corresponding portraits is most significant.

Unfortunately I can't use the 707 indoors with external flash, so I'm forced to do it with my obsolete camera. This will hopefully get its remedy in April, with my upgrade to F-717.

Regards, John, and enjoy portraits,

Yehuda

johnd1 said:
Not to say 5 MP isn't better, but for portraits I think it can
sometimes be too detailed .
I like my 717 portraits but often find myself wanting to blur or
remove blemishes that appear too detailed.
This shot @ 1.9 MP's (not a 717) also shows how nice the background
can be blurred with a long zoom. I took it in the shaded woods with
the sun coming thru the trees at the right moment. I'm still not
sure I want to remove the light source .
BTW, The great portraiture by others on STF is inspiring . I'm
definitely going to start practicing portrait shooting soon.
John

DannyV · Feb 23, 2003

John,

I would tend to agree, sometimes the detail provided by a 5mp camera seems too much. Only small children and models have the skin necessary to withstand that much scrutiny

One suggestion I have would be to try -1 or -2 sharpening and see if that helps.
Daniel
Sony 717, Oly 2100, Nikon 6006, Pentax ME Super Program
http://www.pbase.com/dvogel11

Bharat J. Sutaria · Feb 23, 2003

johnd1 said:
Not to say 5 MP isn't better, but for portraits I think it can
sometimes be too detailed .
I like my 717 portraits but often find myself wanting to blur or
remove blemishes that appear too detailed.
This shot @ 1.9 MP's (not a 717) also shows how nice the background
can be blurred with a long zoom. I took it in the shaded woods with
the sun coming thru the trees at the right moment. I'm still not
sure I want to remove the light source .
BTW, The great portraiture by others on STF is inspiring . I'm
definitely going to start practicing portrait shooting soon.
John

Johnd1,

You have captured an innocent and beautiful smile which only a child can haver. I love the lipstic, I believe she is wearing one. It reminds me of the arguments my daughter and my wife had some twenty years ago. Needless to say, my daughter won the argument and put on the lipstic. She looked beautiful !!! Keep it coming.

I like more and more megapixel. I do not have the luxury and time during fast going temple activites to zoom-in for a perfect shot. I take a shot and than crop them. Many times, I end-up loosing 80% of the pixels when I get done with cropping.

I hope, this helps.

Bharat J. Sutaria

venkat · Feb 23, 2003

John,
What a nice shot! very natural and well composed.

Most of the time I dont really find use for 5Mpixel but when I do cropping 5MP is not enough. Like others said, 5MP is good only for people with perfect skin(like children). It brings out every detail which most of us dont want to see

Venkat.

johnd1 said:
Not to say 5 MP isn't better, but for portraits I think it can
sometimes be too detailed .
I like my 717 portraits but often find myself wanting to blur or
remove blemishes that appear too detailed.
This shot @ 1.9 MP's (not a 717) also shows how nice the background
can be blurred with a long zoom. I took it in the shaded woods with
the sun coming thru the trees at the right moment. I'm still not
sure I want to remove the light source .
BTW, The great portraiture by others on STF is inspiring . I'm
definitely going to start practicing portrait shooting soon.
John

--
Venkat
http://www.pbase.com/ktv

johnd1 · Feb 23, 2003

Thanks Yehuda, The shot was hurried. I was pleasantly surprised when I first opened it . I think I shot it in P mode . The Olympus C2100 UZ is also good for images right out of the camera like the Sony 7X7's .

Yehuda Katz said:
Shalom John,

You have shot a very nice portrait. I would change nothing in it.
The central object - the kid - is excellently taken, and that
should be the main consideration.

To answer your question: I own both D-770 (1.3 MP) and F-707 (5MP)
and can tell you that the difference in their corresponding
portraits is most significant.
Unfortunately I can't use the 707 indoors with external flash, so
I'm forced to do it with my obsolete camera. This will hopefully
get its remedy in April, with my upgrade to F-717.

Regards, John, and enjoy portraits,

Yehuda

johnd1 said:

Not to say 5 MP isn't better, but for portraits I think it can
sometimes be too detailed .
I like my 717 portraits but often find myself wanting to blur or
remove blemishes that appear too detailed.
This shot @ 1.9 MP's (not a 717) also shows how nice the background
can be blurred with a long zoom. I took it in the shaded woods with
the sun coming thru the trees at the right moment. I'm still not
sure I want to remove the light source .
BTW, The great portraiture by others on STF is inspiring . I'm
definitely going to start practicing portrait shooting soon.
John

Click to expand...

johnd1 · Feb 23, 2003

DannyV said:
John,
I would tend to agree, sometimes the detail provided by a 5mp
camera seems too much. Only small children and models have the skin
necessary to withstand that much scrutiny One suggestion I have
would be to try -1 or -2 sharpening and see if that helps.
Daniel
Sony 717, Oly 2100, Nikon 6006, Pentax ME Super Program
http://www.pbase.com/dvogel11

johnd1 · Feb 23, 2003

Thank you Bharat.

The way you guys have been posting such nice portraits made me want to look back to see if I had any good ones. I only have a few but hope to get more eventually.
I appreciate your comments.
John

Bharat J. Sutaria said:
You have captured an innocent and beautiful smile which only a
child can haver. I love the lipstic, I believe she is wearing
one. It reminds me of the arguments my daughter and my wife had
some twenty years ago. Needless to say, my daughter won the
argument and put on the lipstic. She looked beautiful !!! Keep it
coming.

I like more and more megapixel. I do not have the luxury and time
during fast going temple activites to zoom-in for a perfect shot.
I take a shot and than crop them. Many times, I end-up loosing
80% of the pixels when I get done with cropping.

I hope, this helps.

Bharat J. Sutaria

johnd1 · Feb 23, 2003

Hi Venkat,

Thanks for the nice comments. I agree with your skin thoughts/issues especially with older people. I think many older females (in particular) hesitate to be in the picture for those reasons.
John

Venkat said:
John,
What a nice shot! very natural and well composed.
Most of the time I dont really find use for 5Mpixel but when I do
cropping 5MP is not enough. Like others said, 5MP is good only for
people with perfect skin(like children). It brings out every detail
which most of us dont want to see
Venkat.

venkat said:
johnd1 said:

Not to say 5 MP isn't better, but for portraits I think it can
sometimes be too detailed .
I like my 717 portraits but often find myself wanting to blur or
remove blemishes that appear too detailed.
This shot @ 1.9 MP's (not a 717) also shows how nice the background
can be blurred with a long zoom. I took it in the shaded woods with
the sun coming thru the trees at the right moment. I'm still not
sure I want to remove the light source .
BTW, The great portraiture by others on STF is inspiring . I'm
definitely going to start practicing portrait shooting soon.
John

Click to expand...

--
Venkat
http://www.pbase.com/ktv

dgd684 · Feb 23, 2003

To the comment of picking up to much detail. I use a softening filter-I think thats the name-and that smooths out and/or dimminishes skin problems. I recommend using that, works very well.

johnd1 said:
Venkat said:

John,
What a nice shot! very natural and well composed.
Most of the time I dont really find use for 5Mpixel but when I do
cropping 5MP is not enough. Like others said, 5MP is good only for
people with perfect skin(like children). It brings out every detail
which most of us dont want to see
Venkat.

Click to expand...

johnd1 said:

johnd1 said:

Not to say 5 MP isn't better, but for portraits I think it can
sometimes be too detailed .
I like my 717 portraits but often find myself wanting to blur or
remove blemishes that appear too detailed.
This shot @ 1.9 MP's (not a 717) also shows how nice the background
can be blurred with a long zoom. I took it in the shaded woods with
the sun coming thru the trees at the right moment. I'm still not
sure I want to remove the light source .
BTW, The great portraiture by others on STF is inspiring . I'm
definitely going to start practicing portrait shooting soon.
John

Click to expand...

--
Venkat
http://www.pbase.com/ktv

Click to expand...

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5 MP's really necessary for portraits?

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