This morning I noticed that the little buds that were trying so hard to escape in my 19th July shot had made it, and were looking like they were enjoying being free in the sunshine. I formed a picture in my mind of the shot I wanted.
I have returned three times now to sit on the front path (heaven knows what the neighbours think!) and snap off a total of 48 shots including, for the purposes of a practical demonstration to myself of depth of field, one at every aperture setting. (yes, it works really it does change the DOF!)
You can see the progress through the day of this same flower with the one white bloom that has actually opened while I've been phaffing around! I even got photobombed by a fly that stopped by for a snack!
I'm still not happy with it....any thoughts anyone?...pleeeease!
In my mind the bloom is sharp, and so are the closest buds.
(....and Happy Birthday Daddy, who is 83 today!!) x
@nicolaeastwood If I understand you correctly, you want the entire flower head in focus? Image stacking is the way to go, but you need a program like Photoshop (not the elements version) to finish it in. Start simple and work on a tripod so you are not moving your line of sight at all. Progressively take shots from front to back, use an aperture of say f/11-f/16, and to start keep it small with maybe 5 shots. Keep in mind that as you go from front to back your image is going to get tighter and tighter in the frame, so allow wriggle room at the back before firing away!
You could always back off a little and just take one shot at f/16, then crop into it in post production. If you are very close, it's hard without a tilt-shift lens to achieve focus through a subject.
I enjoyed your collage as it is. The bottom left picture is my favourite, with the fly. Only the front flower is in complete focus, your eye knows instantly what to look at. You still scan the rest of the picture, but you are brought back to the fly on the flower because of the focus.
I loved the softness of the others and the changing colours throughout the day, lovely!
@playswithlight thank you for your time....yes, I have started to understand a little more now about DOF thanks to this exercise! I have also begun to understand that there is SOOOO much I don't know about
stacking and layers and photoshop etc. I have elements but haven't used it too much yet......long way to go! Am thinking I might need to book a crash course! The collage has grown on me, now that I am not so frustrated with it. Thanks again!
Nice collage. I like the variations on a theme. @playswithlight is right, focus stacking is what you want. I found a free program called CombineZP to do it. My passion flower picture was focus stacked. I moved the camera using macro rails, but you can also change the focus, which is probably easier. If you are outside, watch out for the wind blowing the flowers around, since each picture needs to align closely.
August 9th, 2013
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You could always back off a little and just take one shot at f/16, then crop into it in post production. If you are very close, it's hard without a tilt-shift lens to achieve focus through a subject.
Hope that helps a little.
I loved the softness of the others and the changing colours throughout the day, lovely!
stacking and layers and photoshop etc. I have elements but haven't used it too much yet......long way to go! Am thinking I might need to book a crash course! The collage has grown on me, now that I am not so frustrated with it. Thanks again!