I am a complete beginner at photography and have a stupid question for you.
In this photo the spider silk and stones are in perfect focus, but not the spider. I tried several shots before it scuttled away, but could not get it in focus.
Did you have you're camera on macro? I sometimes forget to switch it and my pictures turn out blurry like that because my camera will think I'm trying to take a picture of the grass instead of the little flower for instance.
That's my best guess, I'm new to photography too so I'm not sure.
Macro with a point and shot is a bit of a lottery - having had a lot of practice this year. It's knowing the focal length for your camera and the distance it's likely to be in focus, so putting the camera in the right place.
First of all, as Andrea said, you have put the macro setting on?
I found my camera liked big things to focus on, so a ladybird on a leaf is fine, a spider dangling in a web up in the air is not.
To get my camera to focus in macro I'm tending to use the spot lighting function as against the multiple sources.
I also cannot make my camera focus in macro and zoom, to get good macro shots, I have to be up close and very personal with no zoom.
It's masses and masses of experimenting and a lot of deleted shots that didn't work, I'm afraid
It is going to do that, I'm afraid. Mine always did. You could try stepping back to a bit of a distance then using the zoom lens, no macro, to bring both in close. With luck this should flatten out the difference in focus. It does seem to depend on camera, though.
Shallow DOF (depth of focus) comes from a wide aperture. If you can persuade the camera to go for a smaller aperture you will get greater depth of focus.
Your EXIF details for this shot are:
Exposure: 0.0048 sec (10/2100)
Aperture: f/5.0
ISO Speed: 64
Your ISO setting is 64 which is slow which causes the camera to want more light which makes the lens open up.
If you set your ISO to say 300 (faster) the camera will need less light and so the lens will close (higher f/number) which will give greater DOF.
I think you can change your ISO on your camera so that it overrides the auto setting.
If at first you don't succeed - try another method.
SO play around with the ISO setting.
I have an option on my camera that can set the frame of focus. I have to be very patient while my camera gets the focus right. Solid objects are first to be focused on and tiny little thin objects take some time for the camera to focus! Good cameras , really good, you can just do while are looking!
Good shot but bad luck. Auto focus works in black and white and looks for contrast. Also will go for nearest object in the shot. Can you adjust focus point or break out manual mode?
@boogie@kjarn Ooh, I'm using one of those! Mine is a Sony NEX-C3. Not a DSLR but a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. The body itself is relatively flat and small compared to my Lumix P&S. I bought a macro lens for it and it hasn't come off since. Other brands like Olympus and Panasonic have produced similar cameras calling them the Micro Four Thirds.
@boogie I can't compete with the technical answers you've received. But I found that when I took a close up of just a spider in its web, the shot was fine but when I tried to take a spider in its web close up with a background of patio furniture the camera just focussed on the table and chairs.
For maximum control use aperture priority so you can choose what is in focus (as has been said here, the wider the aperture the shallower the focus). Manual focussing will enable you rather that the camera to choose what to focus upon. With automatic focussing you might be able to point the camera at the spider, half press the shutter then move the camera to position the spider where you want it to be, then fully press the shutter button
It is possible to take good macro shots with a P&S - I take so many macros and do not have an SLR.
Below is an example of what I took 2 days ago with my P&S - I used manual settings but auto focus.
I can't really help you with your problem as I don't know your camera, but I just wanted to encourage you to keep trying and experimenting as it i possible to take clear macros with a more budget-y camera.
@agima@yrhenwr on a point and shoot? - they aren't necessarily options - the settings on mine are:
choices of lighting, (sun, cloud, fluorescent, incandescent, auto)
ISO,
burst/normal,
variations on colours (b&w, sepia, rich, normal),
spot or multi-light metering
macro or not
zoom
pre-set scenes
and if you use the scenes, you lose the options to set any of the above barring zoom
for example, for my camera, to get a long exposure (all of 1 second) means using twilight setting and living with the ISO setting, or using the programmable option ISO 100 and a tripod, but it's a bit hit and miss.
I know that there are more options on some of the more modern point and shoot cameras, but there is a lot less control on anything.
@victorypuzzle - yes, your camera is a lot bigger and nearer to a DSLR than the camera I've been using and the camera I suspect Mags @boogie is using.
I bought four cheap p&s cameras for work, to teach photography as part of an Art and Design course, and none of them has much more than mine in the way of control That's three different models and my daughter has a fourth - that one has slightly more than I do, some things I really lech after like Automatic Exposure Bracketing and some control on exposure times.
@shanne I understand the limitations of point and shoot cameras but even so you should be able to get the camera to focus on what you want, half press, recompose, then full press. To find out how the camera chooses focus you have to experiment; for example if it looks for areas of sharp contrast isn't it possible to look for those before recomposing?However as this website amply demonstrates it is possible to get what you as photographer wants, whatever the camera. I haven't yet found any lensless pinhole camea shots but I am keeping a look out!
@yrhenwr yes, you can play around with the focussing - it's still a bit hit and miss, which means when I started trying to get good macro shots I reckon it was 10 shots to one keeper,
Now, after a lot of practice with this camera, I probably took 6 shots of that ladybird and kept 3 of them and that was more the ladybird moving than me not getting things in focus. But, that was in full sunlight and not moving that fast.
Droplets of water on wire, which is something else I took shots of this week, I only got 2 out of 10 good clear shots of the scene beyond reflected / refracted in the droplet.
@boogie "It's time they produced a P&S sized DSLR with full features!!"
Yes, I use the Sony NEX-5 and it's small with all the DSLR features, just doesn't use a mirror so it's technically not actually SLR but the sensor is the same.
I posted this under the image, but I'll go ahead and post it here too.
Mags, it has to do with your camera's single focus point. If you go to page 69 of your user's manual you will see how to select which AF mode to use depending on what you want to take a picture of. I have a feeling you are using "multi" which looks for areas of high contrast. Those brightly lit rocks could be considered as high contrast and the more grayish spider on the gray rock, not so much contrast. So, it chose the rocks to focus on. When you are focusing, a box should appear on the screen showing where the focus point is and that will tell you where the in focus part of the image will be.
Anyway, check out page 69 of your manual. Also, page 31 and page 50. HTH.
One of the problems is many pocket cameras will not let you choose where they will focus. If you wish to upgrade, this is a consideration. Another, and this can be true of budget DSLRs as well, is the size of the focus area. In many cameras. it is fairly large. This means even if you do get it pointed at the correct area, it may well ignore small objects for the background.
If you wish a pocketable camera with DSLR like features, the best choices would be the Canon G12 or the Nikon P7100. I've the G12, it is a fantastic camera. I've also the G1x, but it is not pocketable. This is also a problem with the 4/3 cameras. They only truly fit in a pocket with a small lens, which is not the macro.
I just got a new p&s & went out to try the macro settings yesterday...I had a few shots where mine was doing this as well but I try to point the spot where the camera wants to focus (the center usually) on in this case the spider, press the button halfway to focus on the spider & not the rocks, and then move the frame how I want it while keeping the halfway press on the shutter so it doesnt refocus on the rocks after I've moved the frame to include them again. It works sometimes!
@boogie Hi Mags! My camera is an old P&S with a mind of its own at times! I sometimes find that if I aim the camera at a different angle (eg to the far right of your photo, looking back at the spider) it can put the desired bit into focus, then swing gently around to the angle I prefer and press click (keeping the same distance away)... and sometimes it keeps the right depth of focus. A bit fiddly but one way around my camera's limitations. I guess a similar way is to take the shot with the spider in focus and crop it afterwards to get more of the view you were hoping for. Playing with something tiny (and something big nearby) could help you to get the right way for your camera for when the spider creeps back...! Happy playing :)
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Is it because the stones were brighter than spider and slate?
That's my best guess, I'm new to photography too so I'm not sure.
First of all, as Andrea said, you have put the macro setting on?
I found my camera liked big things to focus on, so a ladybird on a leaf is fine, a spider dangling in a web up in the air is not.
To get my camera to focus in macro I'm tending to use the spot lighting function as against the multiple sources.
I also cannot make my camera focus in macro and zoom, to get good macro shots, I have to be up close and very personal with no zoom.
It's masses and masses of experimenting and a lot of deleted shots that didn't work, I'm afraid
It's time they produced a P&S sized DSLR with full features!!
Your EXIF details for this shot are:
Exposure: 0.0048 sec (10/2100)
Aperture: f/5.0
ISO Speed: 64
Your ISO setting is 64 which is slow which causes the camera to want more light which makes the lens open up.
If you set your ISO to say 300 (faster) the camera will need less light and so the lens will close (higher f/number) which will give greater DOF.
I think you can change your ISO on your camera so that it overrides the auto setting.
If at first you don't succeed - try another method.
SO play around with the ISO setting.
http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Nikon-1-Cameras/index.page
More on the mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirrorless_interchangeable-lens_camera
Micro Four Thirds:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system
Below is an example of what I took 2 days ago with my P&S - I used manual settings but auto focus.
I can't really help you with your problem as I don't know your camera, but I just wanted to encourage you to keep trying and experimenting as it i possible to take clear macros with a more budget-y camera.
choices of lighting, (sun, cloud, fluorescent, incandescent, auto)
ISO,
burst/normal,
variations on colours (b&w, sepia, rich, normal),
spot or multi-light metering
macro or not
zoom
pre-set scenes
and if you use the scenes, you lose the options to set any of the above barring zoom
for example, for my camera, to get a long exposure (all of 1 second) means using twilight setting and living with the ISO setting, or using the programmable option ISO 100 and a tripod, but it's a bit hit and miss.
I know that there are more options on some of the more modern point and shoot cameras, but there is a lot less control on anything.
and from yesterday
Nice macro shots btw. :)
I bought four cheap p&s cameras for work, to teach photography as part of an Art and Design course, and none of them has much more than mine in the way of control That's three different models and my daughter has a fourth - that one has slightly more than I do, some things I really lech after like Automatic Exposure Bracketing and some control on exposure times.
Now, after a lot of practice with this camera, I probably took 6 shots of that ladybird and kept 3 of them and that was more the ladybird moving than me not getting things in focus. But, that was in full sunlight and not moving that fast.
Droplets of water on wire, which is something else I took shots of this week, I only got 2 out of 10 good clear shots of the scene beyond reflected / refracted in the droplet.
Yes, I use the Sony NEX-5 and it's small with all the DSLR features, just doesn't use a mirror so it's technically not actually SLR but the sensor is the same.
Mags, it has to do with your camera's single focus point. If you go to page 69 of your user's manual you will see how to select which AF mode to use depending on what you want to take a picture of. I have a feeling you are using "multi" which looks for areas of high contrast. Those brightly lit rocks could be considered as high contrast and the more grayish spider on the gray rock, not so much contrast. So, it chose the rocks to focus on. When you are focusing, a box should appear on the screen showing where the focus point is and that will tell you where the in focus part of the image will be.
Anyway, check out page 69 of your manual. Also, page 31 and page 50. HTH.
http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/manuals/pdf/index/z/finepix_z3_manual_01.pdf
If you wish a pocketable camera with DSLR like features, the best choices would be the Canon G12 or the Nikon P7100. I've the G12, it is a fantastic camera. I've also the G1x, but it is not pocketable. This is also a problem with the 4/3 cameras. They only truly fit in a pocket with a small lens, which is not the macro.
Some trials I did yesterday...