Getting sharp eyes when faced with glasses?

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gingerweasel

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Hi guys, I find that often when I'm shooting people with glasses the camera clearly knows that the glass is there and seems to focus on that rather than the eye. This is a big problem when I'm shooting really shallow depth of field (most of the time).

How do I get around this?
 
But the camera doesn't know the glass is there... Give it something with a bit of detail and contrast to lock on to, like an eye, and it will go straight through.

If you are having trouble with very shallow DoF portraits, it is most likely to be movement from either you or the subject, or a focus-recompose issue shifting the plane of sharp focus.
 
HoppyUK said:
But the camera doesn't know the glass is there... Give it something with a bit of detail and contrast to lock on to, like an eye, and it will go straight through.

If you are having trouble with very shallow DoF portraits, it is most likely to be movement from either you or the subject, or a focus-recompose issue shifting the plane of sharp focus.
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Well, I've never found the camera goes straight through the glass either, Richard. No problems with focus shift without glasses, but a good 70% of my shots of people with them the camera picks up the frame.
 
I would have thought a polariser might help, or changing the lighting. A polariser helps me shoot through windscreens or drivers visors, providing they don't have an iridium visor like Lewis Hamilton.
 
I think it depends what type if glasses really. Designer narrow lens, thick rim ones are going to be caught by the autofocus unless your doing a macro of the eyeball as the af points are bigger than the for that lights up but bigger glasses with thin frames might not necessarily be a problem. Whilst a polarizer might help with glass I don't think its going to improve focus if anything as it darkens by 2 stops it may make things harder and I wouldn't generally use a polarizer for portraits myself but each to there own. I think manual focus is the only definitive answer. It may require a change in focusing screen to get it bang on.
 
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If its causing problems ask them to remove the glasses for the photo I would have thought would be the easiest thing

Realspeed
 
realspeed said:
If its causing problems ask them to remove the glasses for the photo I would have thought would be the easiest thing

Realspeed
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You can only do that if they wear their glasses part time. How would you like it if a photographer asked you to look different to how you look every day because their camera wasn't up to the job?
 
gingerweasel said:
Hi guys, I find that often when I'm shooting people with glasses the camera clearly knows that the glass is there and seems to focus on that rather than the eye. This is a big problem when I'm shooting really shallow depth of field (most of the time).

How do I get around this?
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what F stop are you shooting at?
 
The23rdman said:
Well, I've never found the camera goes straight through the glass either, Richard. No problems with focus shift without glasses, but a good 70% of my shots of people with them the camera picks up the frame.
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If the OP is shooting shallow DoF portraits, and the change in distance from the frame to the eye is an issue, then by definition he must be on a tight head shot and a single AF point will be smaller than the glasses frames. Use it carefully, shouldn't be a problem - that's always a tricky technique, but it's not a technical issue.

However, without seeing a picture, I still suspect the problem is most likely the subject moving after focusing and/or the camera moving. Or the usual focus-recompose thing.

A polariser won't help at all, unless the angles are very unusual (30-40 degrees to the surface) and polarisers have to be used carefully with portraits as they can remove the sheen from the skin which, apart from giving the face shape, makes people look like putty.

If none of that works, then it's manual focusing - and that's difficult at the best of times.
 
HoppyUK said:
If the OP is shooting shallow DoF portraits, and the change in distance from the frame to the eye is an issue, then by definition he must be on a tight head shot and a single AF point will be smaller than the glasses frames. Use it carefully, shouldn't be a problem - that's always a tricky technique, but it's not a technical issue.

However, without seeing a picture, I still suspect the problem is most likely the subject moving after focusing and/or the camera moving. Or the usual focus-recompose thing.

A polariser won't help at all, unless the angles are very unusual (30-40 degrees to the surface) and polarisers have to be used carefully with portraits as they can remove the sheen from the skin which, apart from giving the face shape, makes people look like putty.

If none of that works, then it's manual focusing - and that's difficult at the best of times.
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Not necessarily. My 85 1.2 does not require a head shot to have glasses sharp and eyes soft.
 
amtaylor said:
Not necessarily. My 85 1.2 does not require a head shot to have glasses sharp and eyes soft.
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Haha! Quite possibly. That lens is 'different' in many ways! A friend of mine, a Nikon user, borrowed one for a few weeks and told me if he was ever to change systems it would be to get that lens.

He also told me about numerous alternative focusing techniques he had to use for portraits, the most successful being manual and shifting his body back and forth very gentle, macro style. He now has a Nikon 85 1.4 but shakes his head and says "it's just not the same!".
 
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