Sark17 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Hello all! I have been enjoying photography my whole life, taking my camera everywhere, but never actually got really good at it. I take a lot of photos at once, sometimes one or two are good, and if they aren't I sort of brush it off. Lately though, I have gotten really into it, new camera (on the way), new lenses, new effort, and I am beginning to really care about my photos I am taking. I am trying to have great composition, lighting, framing, depth, focus, etc. etc, but still I am really struggling with GOOD photos that have more than one focal point.

Example: I have a lot of deer that like to hang out in my yard, I love to sit outside and shoot them (with my camera of course) and I have gotten halfway decent at ONE deer, but multiple deer.. I can't seem to get the correct settings down to have them all in focus. I don't know if it's just a struggle with the distance, if I am using the wrong lens, if it is that my camera is a decade old, or most likely, user error, hence the reason for this post.

F/5 all the way to F/32 is what I used on this particular lens (Tamron 150-600)

Here are some examples. What are your tips? I have a safari coming up in October and I know this will come in very handy! Any advice is much appreciated!

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Welcome. You need to click "store original" so that we can view your exif in order to help. Keep at it. Practice is fun and cheap with digital.

ButchS Loc: Spokane, WA

Keep working at it. Don’t be too concerned about the number of “good” photos. I’ve worked with some very good photographers for number of years. Back in the film days, they would feel lucky if they got one good shot out of a 36 exposure role.

Sark17 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Do you mean restore factory settings? Otherwise I haven’t messed with the photos other than to add a “vivid” filter on the solo deer. But my point is more that she is in focus, the background is nice and blurry. Other than the leaves being a little extra green it’s how the photo looks, the other one is (obviously) untouched 😂 I can’t restore it back because I took the single deer on my camera and it’s now on my phone, otherwise I would!

cedymock Loc: Irmo, South Carolina

What helped me was downloading dof calculator on my phone an plugin numbers to see what increases your dof for different settings.

Sark17 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Thank you ButchS! I’ve definitely got a lot to learn!

Sark17 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Thank you Cedymock, just downloaded one. Can’t wait to learn how to use it. Thank you!

TomC. Loc: Bel Air, MD

Hi, Sark
Your 1st pic is terrific. It's got a little background blur going on and that's great. The second one needs to have less blur because it's farther away from the camera. Just set your f-stop to a larger number like f-11 or f-22. Then focus about 1/3rd up the view and shoot. Remember though, since you are shooting something far away, you need to hold the camera as steady as possible or ideally, have it on a tripod. Camera shake is eliminated that way and you should have a much clearer picture.You might even try a faster shutter speed.
Your lens only goes down to f-5. For better background blur, your lens should have f-2.8, f-3 or f-4.6. They are wider apertures and do a fine job with background blur (or bokeh) as it's called. You'll need a new lens for that.
Just practice what I showed you a while and you'll probably see improvements in your pics. You could also shoot in Aperture Priority where you can easily adjust the aperture, wide to narrow and practice that way. Also, try to study up on composition (UTUBE). It will help immensely.
Once you get comfortable with that, you're on your way. Try not to get frustrated. Everybody starts out slow and after a while, great pics are being made.

srt101fan

If I might offer a suggestion: When you reply to someone's post click on the "Quote Reply" button rather than "Reply". That way everyone can see what you are replying to.

I may be wrong on this, but I think your post quoted above is directed at kpmac, who suggested you click on "Store Original". If you click on "Store Original" when you upload a picture to UHH viewers can download it to their computers. That way they get a higher resolution image along with the shooting data.

Hope this helps.

Sark17 Loc: Atlanta, GA

I hope I’m doing this correctly. Thank you for that suggestion. I am brand new to this page and still learning! And now I realize what the first response meant. I’ll try and do it that way, with the “store original”. Thank you guys again.

srt101fan

You got it!

By the way, I really like your first deer picture. The second one not so much. In a way there is too much going on and not enough; the photo is visually busy but doesn't have any real focal point or subject, does that make any sense? Hopefully others can address your concerns better!

Sark17 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Yes! That’s exactly the issue! I wasn’t really trying to take a nice photo on the second one, but more so practice getting everything in focus and I couldn’t. I don’t know why. I probably could have if I had used a different lens, but then everything would be so far away it wouldn’t really be a good photo either. I know it’s just skills I need to learn, but I can’t figure out what/how I need to adjust.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Welcome to the forum.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

No. When you post a photo, there’s another box to check that says “Store Original."

Gitchigumi Loc: Wake Forest, NC

To be clear, Jaymatt is referring to when you want to post a photo to the UHH. Clicking "Store Original" allows the original photo file to be uploaded, not just the image of it. The whole file has much more data attached that will assist others in helping you.

A caution, though, if you preview your submittal, you will need to ensure the "Store Original" is again selected before you hit that submit button.

Good luck!