A different approach

[maxxremis]

I wanted to take a closeup and decided to use a small portion of my wife's embroidery picture.
Nikon D5100
Af-S Nikkor 18-55 mm (set to 50 mm)
Manual mode
f/5.6
ss - 1/15
iso - 400
Spot metering
Indoors - no flash
Sunlight through open window.

Comments would be much appreciated.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi James,

I fear you may have been a bit too close to the subject for the lens to achieve focus.

Compositionally, I'd have not cropped the wing and tail tips myself.

Good exposure and natural looking colours though.

Welcome to the CiC forums from me, Dave

[ST1]

Welcome to CiC forums from me too James. I agree with Dave regarding the clipped wings and tail.

[george013]

Or motion blur. Shutterspeed of 1/15.

George

[Dave Humphries]

Or motion blur. Shutterspeed of 1/15.

True George, or a combination of both.


I know I have fallen foul of thinking the camera had achieved AF lock when actually it was at the closest 'endstop' (and I had drifted too close).

Hi again James,

An alternative way of working, when shooting handheld with a kit lens, is to switch to manual focus, use LiveView with focus magnification on, then physically drift toward and away from the subject until you can see you've got it sharpest, then hold very still (at that shutterspeed) and take the image.

You may also be able to move it to better/more light, but not in to direct sunshine, I suggest - to achieve a quicker shutter speed.

[maxxremis]

Hi James,

I fear you may have been a bit too close to the subject for the lens to achieve focus.

Compositionally, I'd have not cropped the wing and tail tips myself.

Good exposure and natural looking colours though.

Welcome to the CiC forums from me, Dave

[maxxremis]

All right, I appreciate the great comments and advice. I have been trying to get close up photos of different things and by golly, it is difficult for me. I really can use all the expert advice I can get.
I looked at the photo of the bird and had to wonder where my head was when I clipped its tail and wings.
Again, thank you all. I am going to work on it, that's for sure.

[Wavelength]

Very welcome; yes, i bit problem with focus and framing, which you are going to deal with in your next capture; best regards

[Shadowman]

True George, or a combination of both.


I know I have fallen foul of thinking the camera had achieved AF lock when actually it was at the closest 'endstop' (and I had drifted too close).

Hi again James,

An alternative way of working, when shooting handheld with a kit lens, is to switch to manual focus, use LiveView with focus magnification on, then physically drift toward and away from the subject until you can see you've got it sharpest, then hold very still (at that shutterspeed) and take the image.

You may also be able to move it to better/more light, but not in to direct sunshine, I suggest - to achieve a quicker shutter speed.

Could also be that the lens is a bit soft at f/5.6, plus an item (the embroidery) that isn't necessarily going to have defined edges.

[xpatUSA]

I would not recommend the kit lens for macro work but, as they say in Yorkshire, "owt's better than nowt"

See: http://slrgear.com/reviews/showprodu...uct/130/cat/13

I used to use a micro-Nikkor f/2.8 60mm G for such photography, such as watches - a pretty sharp lens.

A cheaper alternative would be to get a Raynox DCR-250 which clips onto your lens and would increase the magnification at 50mm quite a bit.

Tripod almost obligatory for that particular scene.

I shot some NASA shoulder patches once and found side-lighting with two lamps at around 45 degs to be quite effective. The synthetic material fibers gained nice specular highlights which, because of the high contrast, aided the illusion of sharpness.