rainforest24 Loc: Hermiston Oregon

This was taken today Oct 28 at 12PM. It was overcast and kind of a dark dreary day.

The camera is a Nikon D40, ISO 1600, f/18 RAWF aperature priority. I see that it is a bit blurry. Should I have opened it up more or a slower shutter speed...what?

Thanks for any comments you may have.

Murphy

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

It looks like you have plenty depth-of-field, so I probably would have opted for a higher shutter speed, aka- faster shutter speed, aka- shorter shutter speed, aka- shorter shutter duration. OR...if you were at 1/60th sec. you might have gone to 1/125th sec. and widen the lens aperture one stop. I like the photo, though!

rainforest24 Loc: Hermiston Oregon

Thank you for your input. I liked the photo too, a testament to my somewhat lazy mini aussie!

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

If you were to do it over- I think a wider aperture-Shallow depth of field- would be better, separating the dog from the background. You wouldn't have had to use iso 1600 (noisy) and could have had a faster/shorter shutter speed/duration.
Metadata says iso 1600 1/80 f 18

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I agree. 1/80 is a little slow on a dog that is moving. I see the dogs muzzle moving. Looks like shes yawning. In aperture priority just open up until the shutter speed is faster. Take more than one shot since you can take as many as you like and it costs you nothing. If you open up to f8 your shutter speed will double. Open up another stop and your shutter speed doubles again. So you could have easily been shooting at 1/160th or 1/320th of a second and captured the dog with a little movement just fine. Try to keep focus on the animals eyes. The more you open, the more critical your focal point will be.

Mudshark Loc: Illinois

It appears to my beat up old eyes that perhaps the larger problem was exactly "where" you focused. I think you or your AF focused just slightly behind the pooch. Or perhaps on her left paw. Look at the leaves....and the left paw...The others are also correct...this would have benefited from 1/125 shutter speed or considerably faster with a larger aperture.

twowindsbear

You don't give your shutter speed with your ISO & f-stop. . . However, I don't think movement is your problem. It looks to me that maybe your auto-focus 'saw' the tree in the background rather than the dog.

Just IMHO, of course.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Need to read the other posts:
metadata says iso 1600 1/80 f 18

rainforest24 Loc: Hermiston Oregon

Oh yes, why did I not see that. I agree, a shallow dof would create a much more pleasing photo. Thank you so muc!

rainforest24 Loc: Hermiston Oregon

I see what you mean. and I totally agree. Thank you very much!

rainforest24 Loc: Hermiston Oregon

Oh thank you! All of you are giving me great tips. I'm sort of new at this, and sometimes forget just where to focus, and feeling rushed, also forget to change the aperture/shutter speed. This has been most helpful.

rts2568

Hi there rainforest24
From rts2568

Well now, I think he is just perfect - Love him to bits I'll bet?
Other than a quick crop, there's not much to suggest. I'll bet Murphy hasn't complained?

As to this shot, at an 80th of a second it is a bit slow for a hand hold and to stop the movement of a yawning head, which is more blurred than the rest; even with a 20mm DX focal length. I'd suspect that you were leaning over as well, that wouldn't have helped?

I'm sure that many will offer contradictions about this but so be it. I would also suggest that you didn't need the DOF that you were getting for this shot, a much shorter/narrower DOF would have helped. In this particular instance, the subject is your dog Murphy's yawn, not the Autumn leaves. Whatever your largest aperture is on that lens, would have been just fine for this shot, taken at that distance. Less ISO too, this would have allowed that crisper result from a faster shutter speed; no matter what the cloud cover at the time.

Still love it anyway, and this is one that you will admire for some time to come.

A sort of PS. having thought about it a bit longer and the'EDIT' being still available, I'd suggest you PP out the fence in the background. I've just done it on the work copy I have on my desktop and this increased the perception of depth. Just a suggestion though.

Process your Raw in 'ViewNX2' first, if you have the RAW file, you will get a bit more benefit in PP.

rts2568

Murphy wants to go home dad.

rainforest24 Loc: Hermiston Oregon

Yes, I plan to photoshop the fence out and ok, I will try to increase dof too. I was kneeling actually, but shot in a hurry, (my excuse) so I'm sure I moved the camera. All in all I like the yawn capture tho. I will try your suggestions. Thank you so much!

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

You should decrease depth of field, not increase.
Hey, you got the yawn, no matter the settings.
Sometimes you just have to react on instinct.

rainforest24 Loc: Hermiston Oregon

Oh yeah, I meant DECREASE...gulp. I did say I was new to this, right? I love the yawn, he's such a ham too. Thank you for the correction!