Reverse Engineering a Photo: I think it's very helpful to reverse engineer photos. What I mean by this is that I look an at image and try to figure out what caused the flaw(s). I...

Nightski

I think it's very helpful to reverse engineer photos. What I mean by this is that I look an at image and try to figure out what caused the flaw(s).

I recently took an image that is OOF. It took me the longest time to figure out why. Was I lacking DOF, was my focus was in the wrong place, or was there was camera movement, was it diffraction, or was it because I just didn't have the crisp look I wanted because of the mist rising off the water. Or ... was it something else???

Focal length 100mm
F/32
6 second exposure

Go ahead and guess. Feel free to ask me questions about how I took the image. And please ... feel free to post an image that has a flaw!

I think this could be a fun game, a good exercise, and a learning experience for all.

The ice crystals are not sharp.

(Download)

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

In my case, it is always my fault.
I'm the one who pushed the shutter button.

(It's the sharpest photographs that are elusive to me.)

But even a blind mouse sometimes find the cheese. ;)

I did download your image to see if my program could find a focus point. I couldn't.
But it appears the sharpest point I could find was the "black hole" just about 5 O'clock of center frame.

And who is GrahamSmith, Sandra? :?

YoungEsqr Loc: Minnesota

Hello neighbor from St. Paul. ;-)
I believe you were in a barn or tree somewhere up there in Detroit Lakes. :-)

Nightski

Sonny .. you crack me up ... I know I did something wrong .. and I know what it is .. you're supposed to guess. It's a game. :-D You like games, don't you?

Nightski

YoungEsqr wrote:

Hello neighbor from St. Paul. ;-)
I believe you were in a barn or tree somewhere up there in Detroit Lakes. :-)

That's entirely possible ... did you see me?

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

My vote is for camera motion. Did you use a remote release or the self timer? did you use mirror lock up?

Nightski

birdpix wrote:

My vote is for camera motion. Did you use a remote release or the self timer? did you use mirror lock up?

I did use a tripod and I did use the self timer. I didn't use mirror lock up. I never have. My photos come out fine or at least much better than this. I will try that though, but there is something else that caused it. It was caused by camera movement .. but why?

MMC Loc: Brooklyn NY

Where was your focus point. Did you use remote, cable or pressed shutter button, did you use back focusing button, how good is your tripod? It was auto or manual focusing?quote=Nightski]I think it's very helpful to reverse engineer photos. What I mean by this is that I look an at image and try to figure out what caused the flaw(s).

I recently took an image that is OOF. It took me the longest time to figure out why. Was I lacking DOF, was my focus was in the wrong place, or was there was camera movement, was it diffraction, or was it because I just didn't have the crisp look I wanted because of the mist rising off the water. Or ... was it something else???

Focal length 100mm
F/32
6 second exposure

Go ahead and guess. Feel free to ask me questions about how I took the image. And please ... feel free to post an image that has a flaw!

I think this could be a fun game, a good exercise, and a learning experience for all.[/quote]

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Nightski wrote:

Sonny .. you crack me up ... I know I did something wrong .. and I know what it is .. you're supposed to guess. It's a game. :-D You like games, don't you?

OK, my guess would be you got "Sonnyitus". :shock:

One of the tell-tale signs is the picture comes out wrong, but the reason is very elusive. ;)
I'd say you were shivering.

Graham Smith Loc: Cambridgeshire UK

SonnyE wrote:

In my case, it is always my fault.
I'm the one who pushed the shutter button.

(It's the sharpest photographs that are elusive to me.)

But even a blind mouse sometimes find the cheese. ;)

I did download your image to see if my program could find a focus point. I couldn't.
But it appears the sharpest point I could find was the "black hole" just about 5 O'clock of center frame.

And who is GrahamSmith, Sandra? :?

That's what I want to know Sonny :?

Nightski

MMC wrote:

Where was your focus point. Did you use remote, cable or pressed shutter button, did you use back focusing button, how good is your tripod? It was auto or manual focusing?

I used manual focus. I was about 6 to 10 feet away. I used the self timer. It's too hard to set up the remote on icy rocks out in the water .. just one more thing that could get dropped into the water. I have a solid tripod .. manfrotto. Manual focus ... 10X in live view. I was focusing on the closest crsytals on that formation out in the water.

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Nightski wrote:

I did use a tripod and I did use the self timer. I didn't use mirror lock up. I never have. My photos come out fine or at least much better than this. I will try that though, but there is something else that caused it. It was caused by camera movement .. but why?

You were on the ice and it was moving.

LundyD43 Loc: Dayton, OH, USA

At f/32, I'm sure diffraction was a factor - maybe the most significant one - in blurring the tiny ice crystals. Also, with a six second exposure, there's a good chance SOMETHING moved, even with a good tripod. So my guess is a combination of diffraction and either tiny camera or subject movement.

Nightski

Graham Smith wrote:

That's what I want to know Sonny :?

Graham Smith tried to make me feel better by editing it. LOL So I suppose he left his metadata on it.

Nightski

birdpix wrote:

You were on the ice and it was moving.

This is what we thought for about three days. Then I figured it out next time I went to shoot something ...