Focus through branches at night: Hi all, I took this pic (plus some others) last night but could not get the moon pic's (yeah I know not again) in focus as well as the branches. Does...

Haveago Loc: Swindon, Wiltshire. UK.

Hi all,
I took this pic (plus some others) last night but could not get the moon pic's (yeah I know not again) in focus as well as the branches.

Does anyone have any answers as to how this might be possible to do both at the same time at night or should I superimpose 'in focus' pic's one upon the other?

Settings for both are :

F Stop 5.2
ISO 400
Shutter 1/200
Flash Yes, as I couldn't see any of the tree in any other shops I took without the flash.

Thanks for any help.

Baz

No 1 with branches

No 1 with branches cropped

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

To get both you need to set a small aperture, and be far back enough so that they both are in focus....(reasonable focus that is)

Check out the depth of field calc to see what distance and settings you need to make it happen.

Haveago Loc: Swindon, Wiltshire. UK.

rpavich wrote:

To get both you need to set a small aperture, and be far back enough so that they both are in focus....(reasonable focus that is)

Check out the depth of field calc to see what distance and settings you need to make it happen.

Thanks for that rpavich I will try that next time round.

Baz

Stargazer Loc: South of Watkins Glen, NY

You might want to try this. Camera on a tripod, IS turned off, autofocus turned off. Set lens for f22 or smaller if you have it. Then using the little window on your lens, set it for app. 5ft. Everything from app. 5 ft. to the moon should be in focus.

Haveago Loc: Swindon, Wiltshire. UK.

Stargazer wrote:

You might want to try this. Camera on a tripod, IS turned off, autofocus turned off. Set lens for f22 or smaller if you have it. Then using the little window on your lens, set it for app. 5ft. Everything from app. 5 ft. to the moon should be in focus.

Sorry to sound a total muppet but IS?
AF off
Set to F22 :lol: :lol: mine goes to F8.
Little window set to 5ft, do you mean Manual focus?

Baz

Stargazer Loc: South of Watkins Glen, NY

Sorry, I just asumed that you were using a DSLR camera. Those instructions I gave then probably will not work for your camera.

Haveago Loc: Swindon, Wiltshire. UK.

Stargazer wrote:

Sorry, I just asumed that you were using a DSLR camera. Those instructions I gave then probably will not work for your camera.

It's a DSLR a Lumix (Panasonic) FZ48.

Baz

Stargazer Loc: South of Watkins Glen, NY

When I want to shot a sceen with a large depth of field, I set camera on tripod. Turn off image stableisation(IS); then turn off autofocus(AF). I have interchangeable lenses. I set my lens to f22. I have a distance window on these lenses. I set this for 3 or 5 ft.(manuael focus). Every thing from 3-5 ft. to infinity is then in focus in the image.

Haveago Loc: Swindon, Wiltshire. UK.

Stargazer wrote:

When I want to shot a sceen with a large depth of field, I set camera on tripod. Turn off image stableisation(IS); then turn off autofocus(AF). I have interchangeable lenses. I set my lens to f22. I have a distance window on these lenses. I set this for 3 or 5 ft.(manuael focus). Every thing from 3-5 ft. to infinity is then in focus in the image.

Thanks Stargazer it's deemed as a bridge DSLR but I will try yr suggestions as best I can.

Baz

edgorm Loc: Rockaway, New York

Baz, google hyperfocal distance and you will find all sorts of info on keeping the foreground in focus.

Haveago Loc: Swindon, Wiltshire. UK.

edgorm wrote:

Baz, google hyperfocal distance and you will find all sorts of info on keeping the foreground in focus.

Thanks for that edgorm guess I have a bit of reading to do.

Baz

Weddingguy Loc: British Columbia - Canada

Haveago wrote:

Hi all, br I took this pic (plus some others) last... (show quote)

To focus on the moon behind all of those branches you have to do one of two things . . . use manual focus . . . or get a camera with a brain. You really cannot expect the camera to know which you want to have in focus.

Effective moon shots are usually taken with a telephoto lens, so even at F/22 you will not have both in focus with a telephoto len's shallow DOF (depth of field)

Hope that helps . .

Haveago Loc: Swindon, Wiltshire. UK.

Weddingguy wrote:

quote=Haveago Hi all, br I took this pic (plus so... (show quote)

Thanks for yr tips Weddingguy I will add yr help to the other comments coming from other helpful UHH members.

Baz

2dogz

You can use a small f-stop such as 16 or 22 but you'll cut down on the amount of light and need a long exposure. Since the moon is moving constantly, a longer exposure than .5 sec is going to give you a white disk of a moon. take 2 shots and sandwich them in Ps.

Haveago Loc: Swindon, Wiltshire. UK.

2dogz wrote:

You can use a small f-stop such as 16 or 22 but you'll cut down on the amount of light and need a long exposure. Since the moon is moving constantly, a longer exposure than .5 sec is going to give you a white disk of a moon. take 2 shots and sandwich them in Ps.

Thanks 2dogz I will give that a try aswell, try anything once or even twice.

Baz