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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> D*mned if I do....
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 08/12/2002 05:50:42 PM · #1
OK, judging for the "Something New" challenge has been going on for less than a day and I already have twice as many comments as I had last week.

Without going into specifics, I have some questions about the feedback I'm getting. I know it's not proper to talk about your photo while voting is on, but I would like to get some opinions before I try to shoot my pencil photo.

My issue is this. I just got a camera where I can adjust the focus and aperture and I'm playing with DOF. My last couple of photos have been macro shots (and I'm thinking the pencil shot might be), so I'm trying to figure out some techniques for getting DOF in a macro shot. My comments this week are telling me that part of my picture is fuzzy -- which is what I was going for! It took forever to figure out too.

So, does someone have tips or techniques? Or can they point me toward example shots that might explain the difference btw. "good" DOF and "bad" DOF in a close-up?

And, again, I know it's not proper to talk about your current photo. But this is a learning site and I would really like to learn so go easy on me.

Thanks!
Rob
 08/12/2002 05:56:09 PM · #2
your title says it all.

if you took a picture of a guy bending over in the background, and a hand in the foreground. say, with a glove being put on the hand. lets say you focus on the hand, people will complain about the man bending over being blurry. if you do the opposite, focus on the man, people will complain about the blurry hand
 08/12/2002 06:25:39 PM · #3
Muck,

I have had pretty good luck doing strong depth of field in macro shots by using a tripod along with aperture priority mode. I stop down as far as I can and the results are decent :)
 08/12/2002 06:27:11 PM · #4
Originally posted by clay:
your title says it all.

if you took a picture of a guy bending over in the background, and a hand in the foreground. say, with a glove being put on the hand. lets say you focus on the hand, people will complain about the man bending over being blurry. if you do the opposite, focus on the man, people will complain about the blurry hand

People seem to really hate shallow DOF on this site. I'm in the same
boat. My entry has a very shallow depth of field. It was entirely
deliberate. Previous entries I've had with shallow DoF were also
intended. I always get comments saying that it would be better if
everything had been sharp.

I think some commentors think that as photography can potentially present an
entirely accurate depiction of a subject, that it always should.


Personally I like shallow DoF if it is used well. The ones that
annoy me more are when they complain about parts of a macro shot being
blurred, when it is technically impossible to not have the blurring


 08/12/2002 06:28:33 PM · #5
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Muck,

I have had pretty good luck doing strong depth of field in macro shots by using a tripod along with aperture priority mode. I stop down as far as I can and the results are decent :)


OK, ignorance time! By "stop down" do you mean smaller aperture # or larger?

I've been playing a lot with aperture priority mode but I'm having some trouble w/ full manual mode. Hopefully time will help me improve...

Rob

 08/12/2002 06:35:43 PM · #6
Originally posted by muckpond:
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
[i]Muck,

I have had pretty good luck doing strong depth of field in macro shots by using a tripod along with aperture priority mode. I stop down as far as I can and the results are decent :)


OK, ignorance time! By "stop down" do you mean smaller aperture # or larger?

I've been playing a lot with aperture priority mode but I'm having some trouble w/ full manual mode. Hopefully time will help me improve...

Rob

[/i]

Small aperture = sharp picture,
wide/large aperture = blurred picture


however,

small aperture will need a slower shutter to let equivalent amount of
light in, thus

slow shutter = small aperture = sharp picture
fast shutter = wide aperture = quickly taken picture

Now, you can obviously play around with different combinations,
but basically you can have great depth of field, or you can
have a fast shutter, but not both. the more light (ambient or
flash), the faster you can get away with a smaller aperture.

Also, if you use a tripod, you can get away with longer exposures,
and this smaller apertures, to get sharper pictures. This is
especially handy for macro shots, where there isn't a whole lot of
depth of field to play with in the first place.

Hope I've helped rather than confused, with my rambling explaination.
The best way to learn is to experiment though - after all, the film
is free and it records the aperture/ shutter settings!

Play around, look at the results, play some more....

And if you liked the shallow DoF shots, don't feel you have to change
just because some people on here don't like them. Anything that might
be considered remotely artistic usually gets hammered by the majority
on here, least it seems that way looking at the results.

Blur is considered bad, use of DoF is considered bad. Go with what
you like, is my suggestion.




* This message has been edited by the author on 8/12/2002 6:36:17 PM.
 08/12/2002 06:37:49 PM · #7
The larger the number the smaller the aperture, the deeper the dof is, the longer the shutter has to stay open. The longer the shutter stays open the more you need a tripod.

Took me a while to understand aperture. I dont understand why it is said that you get a deeper photo useing your zoom.

Tim
 08/12/2002 06:49:12 PM · #8
personally I like a shallow DOF especially if the background is unattractive, or when doing flowers or portraits.
The aperture thing took me a while too -finally getting the hang of using some of my manual features.
 08/13/2002 09:37:31 AM · #9
Thanks for the help!

I'm going to just have to spend some time playing around. Now my big problem is trying to figure out how to lug my tripod around with me. ;) Life was much easier with my little point and shoot!

--Rob
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