Very new to all this

[ronniex]

Hello forum,
My name is Peter and I'm not a alcoholic.
Not long got a DSLR from my wife for Christmas a canon 1100D entry level camera so the reviews say derrr.
When I look at it frightens the life out of me.
I have just been trying to capture a shot of a water droplet,using a paint roller tray and coloured paper and food colouring. trying to focus in live view as the instructions say in the magazine is not going well. I have a 18 55 lens and think i need to be a lot further away than I am.
Think I'll just have a few beers read some of the tuts on here and start again tomorrow.
Sure I'll get there in the end with a little help and endurance.

Kind Regards,
Peter

[Mike Buckley]

Very funny introduction, Peter! Welcome to CiC!

Successfully capturing a drop of water is very difficult for anyone who is new to photography, as you seem to be. I recommend trying less difficult photos until you get more experience and come to a greater understanding of the fundamentals.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Peter,

You have picked the most difficult thing to try first!
I have to say Mike's advice would be valid at this point in time.
Why not post a picture of the beers?

Could you do me a favour please?
Could you Edit your Profile and put your first name (Peter) in the Real Name field and where you are (roughly) in the Location field? - thanks.

Welcome to the CiC forums from ...

[Mike Buckley]

You have picked the most difficult thing to try first!

Let's not get him too upset about his first go at the new camera. He could have tried shooting a bird in flight, which would have been far more difficult than shooting a water droplet. Showing motion in the wings while keeping the rest of the body sharp would have been even more difficult. (That explains why I have never tried to shoot a bird in flight.)

[mknittle]

Peter, do you have a tripod? It makes shooting small things like water drops much easier. I personally have problems shooting in live view. So keep trying. Each failure is a learning experance. and believe me I have a lot of that type of experance.

[ronniex]

Okay guys point taken. Thanks for the pointers.
Dave here are the beers,i'm quite pleased with it

[kdoc856]

Using LiveView for focus adjustment will often let you down- it's not that precise and the resolution is too small. I've had a lot of pics that looked great in LiveView but were quickly deleted when I pulled up the RAW file.

[mknittle]

thats better

[Mike Buckley]

Using LiveView for focus adjustment will often let you down- it's not that precise and the resolution is too small.

I've never had that issue on my D7000 or D5100. Just the opposite, when I'm photographing glass and trying to get everything in focus, the only way I have been able to do that is to use manual focusing with Live View at the maximum magnification. It works like a charm and reliably so.

[gregj1763]

I've never had that issue on my D7000 or D5100. Just the opposite, when I'm photographing glass and trying to get everything in focus, the only way I have been able to do that is to use manual focusing with Live View at the maximum magnification. It works like a charm and reliably so.

Same here Mike with both my A55 and A99. Zoom right in with live view when going for macro shots, works like a charm.

[kdoc856]

Sorry, gents. What I said below could easliy be misleading and referred only to nonmagnifed views, chimping away briskly, and finding out later that some shots weren't as sharp as initially thought.

To clarify for Peter's sake, if I want my exposures spot- on sharp (especially on tripod) I'll often use manual focus with maximum focal length combined with 5x or 12x focus magnification on Liveview, then readjust focal length and composition. Works like a charm and all done with Liveview. It does chew threw batteries faster, but I usually carry 3, especially if it's cold outside. I've come to rely heavily on Liveview and am glad you helped clarify that it's a great tool.

[Mike Buckley]

I'll often use manual focus with maximum focal length combined with 5x or 12x focus magnification on Liveview, then readjust focal length and composition.

That method will work fine because you know what you're doing with regard to depth of field. Considering that Peter might be new at this, he should be reminded that when you readjust your focal length, the depth of field will change.

As an example, I could never use that method when shooting glass very close to my camera. That's because I sometimes lack sufficient depth of field even when using the smallest aperture. In that situation, I have to know exactly what my depth of field is at my shooting focal length. Changing the focal length after focusing could lead to very unwanted results.