There may be a very obvious answer to my problem but as I'm fairly new to photography I have no idea what has caused this.
On a recent holiday to Costa Rica I photographed this little chap and as you can see there is stuff that looks like frog spawn or bubbles above his head. Can anyone tell me what it is and how can I avoid it in future
White Faced Capuchin
It looks like its light refraction. You could get rid or it in PS or Elements quite easy with cloning.
Lesley65 wrote:
There may be a very obvious answer to my problem but as I'm fairly new to photography I have no idea what has caused this.
On a recent holiday to Costa Rica I photographed this little chap and as you can see there is stuff that looks like frog spawn or bubbles above his head. Can anyone tell me what it is and how can I avoid it in future
It's not something to get rid of...it's a byproduct of an out of focus background and the particular "look" that your lens gives to blurry backgrounds; the round light circles are made from lighter areas or something reflecting light like raindrops or something. You shot it at f/7.1 and so the background isn't as blurry as it should be to make the circles of light look better...if it were more blurry they'd be more pleasing looking.
You can fix it....but really, it's just the way it is when you have light peeking through your green bushes.
Rob O'
Loc: Freakin' Hot Arizona
let me guess...you were using a mirror lens. Catadioptric lenses are famous for doughnut shapes in the unfocussed background. Of course, if I'm wrong about the lens, then you've got something else going on.
A good example of bad bokeh.
Bokeh is the quality of out of focus areas of the photos, most easily seen in the highlights.
18-270 (is it a Tamron?) lens set at 110mm @ f/7.1
Not a mirror lens, but pretty similar effect.
Once your brain realises that they are out of focus it actually draws your eyes into the Capuchin's face-try it a few times by looking away and then looking back! The secret to great photo's is to hold your attention which this does. Great capture.
Very nice capture. Not bubbles, just light that is out of focus. Your 18-270 lens just doing its' job.
Lesley65 wrote:
There may be a very obvious answer to my problem but as I'm fairly new to photography I have no idea what has caused this.
On a recent holiday to Costa Rica I photographed this little chap and as you can see there is stuff that looks like frog spawn or bubbles above his head. Can anyone tell me what it is and how can I avoid it in future
The "bubbles", as you refer to them, are simply the areas between the leaves of the trees in the background. Due to the limited depth of field of the lens you used, those areas of light are out of focus. It is a quite natural occurrence with telephoto lenses, especially.
GoofyNewfie wrote:
A good example of bad bokeh.
Bokeh is the quality of out of focus areas of the photos, most easily seen in the highlights.
18-270 (is it a Tamron?) lens set at 110mm @ f/7.1
Not a mirror lens, but pretty similar effect.
Yes it's a Tamron
I've never heard of bokeh, I'm certainly learning a lot on this site :)
rpavich wrote:
It's not something to get rid of...it's a byproduct of an out of focus background and the particular "look" that your lens gives to blurry backgrounds; the round light circles are made from lighter areas or something reflecting light like raindrops or something. You shot it at f/7.1 and so the background isn't as blurry as it should be to make the circles of light look better...if it were more blurry they'd be more pleasing looking.
You can fix it....but really, it's just the way it is when you have light peeking through your green bushes.
It's not something to get rid of...it's a byproduc... (
show quote)
Ok so if I had shot this at f/4.5 would it have improved the shot?
Thank you everyone for your help and encouragement here. This is fantastic for learners like me. Mind you the technical stuff is quite hard going sometimes
Lesley65 wrote:
Ok so if I had shot this at f/4.5 would it have improved the shot?
The lower the DOF (Depth of Field) the more blurrier the objects look which are out of focus.
f/4.5 is very less DOF, it might make it blurrier but you might still see the white spots. In my opinion, i would say keep the DOF between 11 - 16, which will eliminate blurriness and the picture should be clearer. Let us know if you get one of those photos again
blue64
Loc: Washington, Pa. USA
I played with it a little, how do you upload it back to look at?
did it!
jvo
Loc: left coast of the east coast
smaller aperture equals greater depth of field...
one option - you actually want a narrower depth of field, the sharpest part being the subject (the monkey). open up your aperture to 4.5 or more, and focus on the monkey. you would throw all else out of focus - foreground and background to isolate the subject.
it looks like the leaves in front of the monkey are the sharpest and what the auto-focus keyed on. imho.
keep shooting - good work!
jvo
Since the background was already blurred, I just took it further.
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