You've got me at it now Hama

[Albedo]

Hi H

 

those are fantastic, thanks for posting and explaining the way you took them.

 

I showed some stuff I'd done on aperture priority earlier in the thread, so I knew a bit of what your'e saying and not other bits.

 

What became clear last night is that I didn't understand what I was adjusting in terms of what it does for the image.

 

I have done my homework and am just preparing the post right now Boss:001_smile: hang on a min.....

[Albedo]

OK H.

 

First thing this morning I read through all your posts and wrote out a few of them verbatum so I could digest at leisure and keep a record of the advice.

 

Then went out and set up some bottles and did the exercise (everything today in shutter priority).

 

I wrote down the shutter speed and the F stop selected by the camera and named the photos accordingly and started to see differences. I found the range of shutter speed that was not so slow that it was washed out by bright light, then worked there on general quality and DOF versus speed and aperture.

 

So I did a table showing (to my number dyslexic brain cell) what it all means.

 

As I changed from 1-25 (at first 4 stops at a time, then 2 stops at a time as I found the acceptable range) up to 1/250 I wrote down slow to fast and for the f stops I wrote down small to big aperture. I have to visualise numbers in this way.

 

So for example 1/25 F8 = Slow and Small

and 1/160 F2 = Fast and Big

 

I am beginning to get to grips with this now and can see myself taking 100s of pictures of these bottles as I play around.

 

There are other bits of your advice that I also need to experiment with, but also had to work a few hours today and only had time for this so far.

 

 

The first is 1/15 F8 and the second is 1/160 f2 I did about 6 goes with 15 or so shots in each so this is just an example ... learning loads:thumbup1:

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

LOL, I like it!

 

Now, when you repeat this excersise, try pressing the focus/ae lock button then focusing on the nearest bottle, then re composing the image as it is here then fire the shutter, this way the nearest bottle becomes the focal point and not as in this image set, the second bottle in the row, this is THE trick youll learn to capitalise on later.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

you can cheat this by going into the menu and changing focal point position, but no need to, as the AE lock button enables the same, it can also be done even quicker and easier by pressing the shutter button half way to focus, keeping your finger on it and recomposing as I said and then firing fully, as keeping your finger on it half pressed maintains the focus lock whatever you do to move the framing.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Think of depth of field as a imaginary cube of space in front of your position, the focal point is the front edge of the cube, the rear of the cube is the drop off in DOF by increasing your distance from object the cube gets bigger, by decreasing your distance the cube gets smaller, at F8 and a focal point 1 feet away i reckon (macro) you have a 1 foot cube in which you can maintian depth, this is very good it has to be said

[Albedo]

LOL, I like it!

 

Now, when you repeat this excersise, try pressing the focus/ae lock button then focusing on the nearest bottle, then re composing the image as it is here then fire the shutter, this way the nearest bottle becomes the focal point and not as in this image set, the second bottle in the row, this is THE trick youll learn to capitalise on later.

 

Cheers H, thats my next job. (How did you know that the second bottle was the one I focused on, can't get away with anything:blushing:)

 

I'm still analysing all the stuff from last night and today so plenty to do.

 

I hadn't discovered the focus ae lock button till you mentioned it, I'm glad you bought this camera. Would do it now but have flattened the battery today, just going on charge now.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Cheers H, thats my next job. (How did you know that the second bottle was the one I focused on, can't get away with anything:blushing:)

 

You have to remember when i view an image it is with eyes that are well trained, i see every flaw every detail, and no, you wont "get away with it" because I know you dont want to.

 

one day i will meet up and teach you in one day every trick in the book:thumbup1:

[Albedo]

Think of depth of field as a imaginary cube of space in front of your position, the focal point is the front edge of the cube, the rear of the cube is the drop off in DOF by increasing your distance from object the cube gets bigger, by decreasing your distance the cube gets smaller, at F8 and a focal point 1 feet away i reckon (macro) you have a 1 foot cube in which you can maintian depth, this is very good it has to be said

 

This is good H, an its going in the book, its the kind of picture painting that youv'e done here that I can understand

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Ive got a better way of visualising depth of field!

 

imagine you have a ring in your hand that is say 6 inches round, this at arms length.

 

when you pull it towards your eye it shrinks to the size of a wedding ring, all that is encompassed inside the void of the ring will be in focus (macro), now imagine throwing the ring 100yds, it would become a 1000ft in diameter, or infinate focus as in landscape photography.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

If there was a thousand people in a room and the ONE person you wanted to pick out within the image was in the middle ground between you and the wall at the back, you would select F2 and a long focal length, this would ensure his her face was pin sharp but all else in front and behind was not and hence the eye would be drawn to the persons face in the image.