OK, so I understand the basics of aperture, but I am having a hard time understanding why I couldn't get theis whole photo in focus. This is f/11 and ISO 100. It was a bright, sunny day, so I could have increased my f-stop. However, I thought that f/11 would be enough. This is processed as an HDR, but all of the bracketed shots do not have the entire scene focused. Any thoughts?
The interesting thing about focus and using your F stop to blur or not blur something also has a lot to do with the distance you are to the object in focus.
I would have a guess that the fence was really close?
Here is what I do...
If I want the effects of the F stop to really be apparent I will get as close to the subject as possible and in doing so will magnify the effects.
Here is an example.
I this shot at F2.8 and really really close.
When I shot this I was also at f2.8 but standing back some 3-4 meters:
Now if you look at the first shot there is only about 2mm of the image that is in focus where the second image has around 2 meters in focus.
Now how does all that relate to your photo.
I would suggest that because of the distance your barn is away from the focus point (fence) you will need a much greater f stop to ensure complete focus is transferred through the image.
This is also why it is good practice to focus 1/3 into the image so that the front of the image is in focus as well as the rear.
I'm no expert, but I'm guessing it's because the area in focus is so close to the camera and the barn is so far back that it fell out of the area of focus. Not sure that's the correct terminology and I'm not sure if f16 or f22 might have worked better. Or maybe focusing on the field about halfway between the fence and the barn might have helped?
Ah, I see Brendan and I posted about the same time. Much better detailed explanation.
I am going to ask a few questions to help out this discussion. Did you use manual or automatic focus? What was your focus point? It looks like your focus picked up the post in the foreground and not the barn.
Just my take if i understand this right. It looks like your focus point is only a couple of feet away. So a couple of feet past your focus point your image starts to blur. Since your barn is so far back no way it could stay in focus. In order to keep everything in focus you need to focus on a mid point. Take several shots and see how it turns out. Check out this dof guide.
@agima@mikehamm That does help guys. Thanks a bunch! @cirasj Manual focus. I tried focusing on the barn in one and the fence in another.Here is the one with the barn in focus. Also f/11.
Thanks for starting this discussion @egad.
My get pushed challenge last week was to take a photo with forced perspective and I fiddled with aperture and also focus but couldnt get anywhere near having foreground and background in focus... the aperture is only f14 but I tried f22 and it still wasn't right.
So I guess what is being said here is that I was too close to the foreground.
Could someone please clarify how I could have got them both in focus? @hollandcrew@cirasj@mikehamm@agima
@egad Now if you look at your last picture the wire would almost be in focus if you set your focus point to be around the 1/3 into the image.
What you are trying to achieve is not having the complete image tack sharp, just sharp enough that you have the same level of sharpness throughout the image.
One thing to remember about depth of focus. If you focus on a particular point, regardless of the f stop, of the area in focus one third will be in front of the focal point and two thirds behind it. e.g. if you focus on a, say, a post and your DOF is 9 feet, three feet in front will be in focus and 6 feet behind.
Now, the DOF is dependent on two things, the f stop and the focal length of the lens. In short, the smaller the aperture (bigger f number) the wider the DOF. A wide angle lens will have a greater DOF than a telephoto.
Whatever though, if one or more of the points you want in focus are outside the DOF you cannot make them all in focus. So step back al little, even 3 or 4 steps and you may get what you want, then crop on the computer.
Confused?? I know it is a lot to take in. BTW, if one of the objects is at infinity if you focus short of that you will make the near focus closer.
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I would have a guess that the fence was really close?
Here is what I do...
If I want the effects of the F stop to really be apparent I will get as close to the subject as possible and in doing so will magnify the effects.
Here is an example.
I this shot at F2.8 and really really close.
When I shot this I was also at f2.8 but standing back some 3-4 meters:
Now if you look at the first shot there is only about 2mm of the image that is in focus where the second image has around 2 meters in focus.
Now how does all that relate to your photo.
I would suggest that because of the distance your barn is away from the focus point (fence) you will need a much greater f stop to ensure complete focus is transferred through the image.
This is also why it is good practice to focus 1/3 into the image so that the front of the image is in focus as well as the rear.
Does that help?
Ah, I see Brendan and I posted about the same time. Much better detailed explanation.
http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html
@cirasj Manual focus. I tried focusing on the barn in one and the fence in another.Here is the one with the barn in focus. Also f/11.
My get pushed challenge last week was to take a photo with forced perspective and I fiddled with aperture and also focus but couldnt get anywhere near having foreground and background in focus... the aperture is only f14 but I tried f22 and it still wasn't right.
So I guess what is being said here is that I was too close to the foreground.
Could someone please clarify how I could have got them both in focus? @hollandcrew @cirasj @mikehamm @agima
If I took that shot I would of wacked on a long lens (400mm) and stood back some 15 meters or so.
The longer lens would also compress the photo bringing the building in closer.
This is a subject worth playing around with as it has a lot to do with distance.
What you are trying to achieve is not having the complete image tack sharp, just sharp enough that you have the same level of sharpness throughout the image.
Now, the DOF is dependent on two things, the f stop and the focal length of the lens. In short, the smaller the aperture (bigger f number) the wider the DOF. A wide angle lens will have a greater DOF than a telephoto.
Whatever though, if one or more of the points you want in focus are outside the DOF you cannot make them all in focus. So step back al little, even 3 or 4 steps and you may get what you want, then crop on the computer.
Confused?? I know it is a lot to take in. BTW, if one of the objects is at infinity if you focus short of that you will make the near focus closer.