Project 52 by Cyndi (azsage)

[azsage]

I am very new at Photography, so I would have to say; any improvement that I can make will be a benefit to the skill. I think a first major challenge for me, would be to make note of the camera settings as I post the image.

With this image, in the desert rain is a rarity so i tried to capture the essence of a drop. Taken this past week.

f/5.6
ISO 100
55mm
exposure 1/100

[azsage]

I thought this image had uploaded with my post. (so i'll try again)
Holy Cow.. is it suppose to be this big? lol

[Donald]

Well done Cyndi, on a number of fronts:

1. Coming straight in as a member of CiC and starting up your own Project 52.
2. Setting yourself a clear target - It is hugely helpful not only to others but as part of your own learning, to record the basic exposure data

As to this particular image, there seems to be a lot of movement blur. Was that your intention? I like the range of tones in it. There's a nice subtlety to it.

[azsage]

Thank you Donald for your support.
Yes, that's me... jump right in and learn as I go. lol (intriquing site here btw)
No, it was not my intention for the blur. I was using a manual setting with automatic focus. So that was the camera, with my eye on the drop. Honestly, I see very little with my eye's.. leaving the camera to do the work. I need to learn to get away from that.
Perhaps a challenge for next week...close up without automatic focus/ all manual.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Welcome to the forum and Project 52 Cyndi. I was wondering whether or not the blur that we see in the photo was motion or whether it was a focus issue. You've given me the impression that it might have been your focus.

There's nothing wrong with auto focus but cameras systems can be quite complicated these days - my D7000 has 3 main focus modes along with another 6 sub focus modes. All in all, I can choose 13 different focus combinations which can really affect how the auto focus and how accurately the auto focus works in line with what I'm shooting. There's also how close you can focus on something, depending on the lens that you're using so it might help if you let us know what camera/lens combination you used to take this too.

As for the photo itself, it actually has a really nice, artistic feel to it. It's just a shame that bottom rain drop isn't sharp because you look like you've caught a magnificent reflection in it.

[azsage]

Thank you for your reply Mal. My focus or camera, I honestly cannot say for sure. There is much about my camera I do not know or understand at this point (im a true novice). However I do know my eyes are not that great... so, though there were a whole series of photos I took at this time, not one is really all that much clearer in respect to the water drop (I may have been too close for my lens ability). I love the water... so I will be dilligent in trying to capture a clear reflexion. ..now (being curious), Im off to check your 'moments from a life' page.

[woty87]

Hi cyndi, I noticed the camera settings and another thing you may want to consider in the future is depth of field. I agree with others that focus seems to be the problem here, but the background is quite blurry which may be a combo of both focus and a shallow depth of field. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, there is a great tutorial here under the Tutorial section.

Anyways, if your intention was for a sharper background, you may have achieved that shooting at a faster ISO(>100), smaller aperture(higher f numbers) while still maintaining a fast enough shutter speed to catch the subject. Just something to keep in mind in the future. Welcome and hope you find cic as helpful as I have.

Regards, John

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Hey Cyndi - Just looked at your photo data and it looks like that your auto focus was actually off. That might be why you didnt get parts of your photo in focus

[azsage]

Taken Yesterday {012.02.11}
I think its a 99.9% crop (ok, maybe not quite) but it's what I wanted to see. What do you think about it?

Canon 1100D
f/5.6
1/500sec.
ISO 100
55mm

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Hi Cyndi,

The orange and reds of the background contrast nicely against the greens of the leaf to draw my interest in. My eye then moves to the water droplets on the leave which look nice and sharp.

Then my eye trails down to the area underneath the leaf which is reflecting a light source - it's the largest bright spot in your photo. Unfortunately in this area this isn't as sharp as the water droplets on the leaf, I suspect due to your aperture at f/5.6 creating a narrow depth of field. I then get stuck looking between the sharp water droplets and the not so sharp area underneath.

Right now I find these two areas competing for my attention, but I think if you close the aperture down to give a larger depth of field, you'd get the bottom area sharp as well which would allow a viewer's eye to continue moving throughout your composition.

Overall, I like it - just that little bit at the bottom that I think needs a bit of work.

Hope this helps.