One more shot : Critics are Experts please share your views

[kaushikalex5]

Hello Forum,

I have taken this picture onweekend . Please share your views on composition and other details including the points where I could have captured it better .



I have used the kit lens that comes with Samsung NX11.

[Rasbury]

Hello Kaushik.

The main thing that i see wrong with this photo is that there is nothing really in focus.Exposure dosn't look all that bad to me and it could probably use a little crop.if you could post your exposure info on here it would help us to see where in the problem might be(not that i'm an expert).I hope you don't mind that i made a copy of your photo to see if i could sharpen it up some.I did to sharpenimg passes in CS3.The first was a high pass set to soft light,then an unsharp mask onthe overcooked side with a layer mask with a soft brush at 10% opacity to soften the edges of the flowers.I also croppede it a little too.Thanks for sharing...Ron.

[kaushikalex5]

Thanks for sharing your views Ron .

Following is the EXIF info

ISO 200
Exposure 1/45 sec
Aperture 5.6
Focal Length 55mm
Flash Used No
White Balance 0
Metering Mode Multi/Matrix

I don't know PS. Do you know any link from here I can learn on how to do sharpening and cropping in PS ? Also, I used auto focus with option 'no shoot' unless something in frame is in focus. Not sure whether it is looking bit out of focus as the picture is not so sharp .

[MrB]

I used auto focus with option 'no shoot' unless something in frame is in focus. Not sure whether it is looking bit out of focus as the picture is not so sharp .

Many of my attempts at flower close-ups result in pictures similar to this one. From what I have learnt so far, it is due to the tiny depth of field when working so close to the subject. The camera focuses with a half press of the button and assumes everything is OK, but then a slight body movement, just before I press the button completely, puts the shot out of focus. I know it would be sensible to use a tripod, but they are such a pain to carry around.

Philip

[Letrow]

Composition is fine Kaushik, but as Ron pointed out the focus is not there. You can't fix this in Photoshop I think, you will have to look at what your camera can do.

If you do close-up or macro automatic focus can lead to similar results as what you have. For a flower like this the contrast will present problems for the camera and you can sometimes see the focuspoint moving around.
I would recommend single point focus for this, that should give better results. Philip mentioned another problem you might encounter, but that can be countered by using a tripod or having good light.

I would focus on the stamens of the flower and set my aperture to F/11 or higher to get sufficient depth of field. Make sure that your shutterspeed isn't too low, camerashake is magnified when you do close-up. I shoot in M mode a lot and use F/13 and 1/250 for these kind of photos.
Have a look at the macro flower thread for some examples

[kaushikalex5]

Thanks Peter . One query : Isn't the depth of field will increase with F/11 and the background will become sharp ? In that case the flower and leaves in background will also be in focus .

Please advice

[jimpayne]

Hello, there are so many aspects to Photography, one is that it just may be fun. Or maybe you want to say something through the image you capture. In my opinion ( The flower) photo has been done more than enough, I think that some of the better works come when there is something being said in the image. So are you trying to say something through this image or is the image just a fun image with color? Hope you see what I am trying to say.
Jim

[Letrow]

Thanks Peter . One query : Isn't the depth of field will increase with F/11 and the background will become sharp ? In that case the flower and leaves in background will also be in focus .

Please advice

Kaushik, that will depend on how close you are to the flower. A real macro shot will have great bokeh, a shot from further away will have less. Below are two examples:


F/11 and 1/250. This one was shot from a bit further away. There is quite a lot of visible detail in the background (albeit blurred).



F/13 and 1/250. This one was shot at a real short distance and as you can see the background has totally disappeared.

It is possible to shoot with smaller apertures and still have great DOF as you can see. There is more information on this in a recent thread (Is the dof the same at a focal length FL and twice the distance and 2xFL.).

[kaushikalex5]

Hello Peter,

I am amazed to see and learn that we could get enough blur background with F/11. I was under impression up till now that with > F/8 we get huge DOF. Do you remember how far(approx) was the background tree in the first picture and the subject distance from Camera ?

Thanks for enlightening me .

[Letrow]

Hello Peter,

I am amazed to see and learn that we could get enough blur background with F/11. I was under impression up till now that with > F/8 we get huge DOF. Do you remember how far(approx) was the background tree in the first picture and the subject distance from Camera ?

Thanks for enlightening me .

I would say that in that photo the background was probably at approximately 30 cm and the subject distance from camera would have been between 20-30cm. This will only work for lenses that can focus a bit closer than normally, so you would have to find out what your lens can do at its minimum focus distance.
Your photo looks like it was taken from not too far away, so I would suggest experimenting a bit to see how the background turns out at the minimum focus distance with different apertures.

[kaushikalex5]

I will surely try the same . Thanks Peter .