bigcoz Loc: Philly

You will no doubt notice that the horses head and the riders right sleve are out of focus. I'm trying to figure out if this is do to:
1. Slow shutter speed--1/60
2. Depth of field problem--f4.5
3. Auto focus
4. all of the above
and what I should do to get a better picture the next time I have a shot like this.

Canon T2i--Canon 18-135mm,f3.5-f5.6 @ 53mm--& f4.5-- Speed 1/60-- Auto focus
I spot focused on the gold coins just above the riders belt.

gdwsr Loc: Northern California

Hi Bigcoz,

You f-stop at f4.5 doesn't give you much depth of field. I can't tell how far you were away but at 3 feet you only have 0.15 (an inch) of focus depth.

You might find the DOF Calculator handy to figure out exactly what you need. There are apps for iPhone and Android. Nice to have on hand.

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

bigcoz Loc: Philly

Thanks "gdwsr". Never heard of the DOF Calculator . Went to the sourse and it sure looks like my problem is DOF. Wouldn't that be a great in camera addition. I don't have a lot of success with my DOF previewer. I guess my eyes aren't that great any more.

kerfree Loc: Sebago and Sanibel

What a great resource!!! Explains a lot! Thank you gdwsr!

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

This is going to sound really weird, bigcoz:
I downloaded the image and magnified to view detail, and it looks like your background is in better focus than your subject!
I can't tell how large your subject is, so you'll have to check my theory because I can't.
Here it is: Your subject is simply too close to the camera and your lens is not able to focus that close. So I'm thinking you need to move your camera further away from the subject so your lens will be able to focus on it, rather than the more distant background.
Check it out and get back to us...

FilmFanatic Loc: Waikato, New Zealand

Agreed. Also when the OP says "auto focus" that is not specific enough. Different settings make auto focus work completely differently to other settings. For instance, I usually manually select a focus point, so even though I am using autofocus it's not the same as someone who has automatic focus point selection on, which would explain the background being in focus not the subject, the operator hasn't controlled the camera sufficiently

djmarti Loc: cape cod,

First make sure you have a tripod, Then make sure you set a highter apeture number since you are close to your subject. Try maybe a f/11,f/13.

rodart Loc: Comanche, TX

Looks like the focus is too far back. The door is tack sharp. Maybe the gold belt you focused on confused your camera. If I were taking this shot I would use a tripod, then aperture bracket shoot. If I had to do this faster I would choose something to focus on and still lock focus, then zoom way in on the images to verify focus. I also carry a powerful led flashlight to illuminate the subject to get focus on Canons if it is dark. I would also make sure you are on center point focus. My focal point would be the eye (rider) and recompose just like on people. Robert

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

The wood grain seems more in focus than the horse and rider

Meives Loc: FORT LAUDERDALE

[quote=bigcoz]I captured your camera specs to review. I think 4.5 gives you very little dof. I would bump that up to 8 or 16. This ISO of 800 is high enough. You could hold steady at 1/30 sec. Or buy a $2000 lens. Ha Ha. I like the shot. David in Florida.

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

I'd say "all of the above". First, the entire statue is out of focus. The sharpest part of this image is the right hand edge of the mahogany door, so either your focus point was on that or you have a back focus problem. Secondly, your aperture is way too large (small number) for a close up shot. Thirdly, 1/60 sec is marginal for a hand held shot with a focal length of 53mm. I'd try shooting this again using a tripod and manual focus - and a much smaller aperture. You won't have to worry about your shutter speed if you use a cable release, remote release, or your self timer.

Brian in Whitby Loc: Whitby, Ontario, Canada

The problem is not with shutter speed. There is no motion blur evident in the parts that are sharp, the wood grain background and the face. It appears the focus point is too far back in the photo with a shallow depth of field.
In this situation I would select a single focus point and place it on the eyes of the rider. You want those to be in focus,
You might also use a flash with a diffuser of use a tripod, taking multiple exposures with different focus settings and then use focus stacking to make a composite

http://digital-photography-school.com/an-introduction-to-focus-stacking

Jusoljoe Loc: Texas

I agree. Since we can't tell the relationship of the horse head with the rider, but the BG seems sharp, it almost has to be camera too close or unintended back focus. Would be interested what you find when redoing the shot.

rts2568

Hi Bigcos
From rts2568

Too little depth of field
You seem to have the light about right but you might like to consider using a circular polarizer. You are shooting from a tripod I hope?
Just a bit of experiential advice, move the object away from the background, well outside of the DOF.

You seem to have a light or flash at the camera position, remove it. Use a light source, positioned higher and even further to the back. If you're using on camera flash and don't have anything else, then put a white hanky over it or preferably, use a couple of bedside lamps or that sort of thing, even one or more torches will do the job for this sort of thing, three attached examples. These three were taken with two pocketable battery operated torches and using two or three pieces of A4 paper as reflectors with the ceiling mounted room light (dailight Fluro)

Experiment with lighting the subject with reflectors - nothing sophisticated necessary here - just sheets of typing paper will do; especially as this object doesn't appear to be very tall?

You are attempting a studio type photograph here so if you are going to be doing this sort of thing regularly, buy or borrow(Library) a book on lighting techniques - plenty of info on the web as well.

Experiment with variable lighting positioning - sight it and when happy shoot and assess. Digital gives immediate replay after all.

Let's see the results when you are happy.

rts2568

rts2568

To Bigcoz
From rts2568

Sorry Bigcos, my time ran out while I was trying to find the photo expamples. They are attached now.

Hope these help give you a brain stimulating idea or two?

rts2568

The Crystal


The Jug


Nebula