- This topic has 14 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 9 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Did you use auto-focus for this shot? It looks to me like it couldn’t find anywhere to focus, so it couldn’t focus correctly, nothing is really perfectly sharp. That red “blob” in the background grabs my attention, I can’t figure out what it is! Is it a fruit of some sort from the plant you’re photographing? It makes me wonder what the picture would look like if you had focused on the berry, with the leaf out-of-focus. The leaf with the lines in it could be used as “leading lines” to help draw your attention to it.
Yes, I did use auto focus. It was one of the first pictures I took with my new camera (Canon Rebel t3i) so I didn’t even know about manual focus at that point. =) Thanks for the advice!
Very interesting!
I think it’s really fun that there’s this little ball of red sitting on top of the leaf. Like, it looks like it’s not attached to anything and it’s just balanced up there ready to roll off either side of the leaf with the next breath of wind. 🙂
No, everyone knows it’s just a holly berry out of focus in the background, but still, I think there’s a lot of accidental flavor that is missing in a lot of pictures these days: creativity.
I shoot a lot for beauty; portrait photographers strive to capture the moment; wildlifers are looking for action and instinct. But it’s not common to see optical illusions or compositions that cause the viewer to see something different than what’s really there.
Anyway, just rambling. Those creative photographers have to be just as skilled with their cameras and as knowledgeable about compositional technique and exposure manipulation to know how to create imagery that is both creative and artistic.
If you’re new to the DSLR world, start on P mode (that is if you are using Canon), get a feel for the many settings that are on your camera, learn about exposure enough to move over to Av and Tv, and then start using M when you find the other modes starting to fail you.
Photography is more than just clicking pictures with your camera. Have you read Get Started? You might also enjoy my blog posts on Getting Started in Portraiture and especially 3 Steps to the Perfect Picture.
You could try to recompose, get closer, and then focus on the berry making it sharp and play with your depth of field/aperture to get the look you want.
Attachments:
@James Staddon – thank you for all the advice! I now frequently use Manual Mode, since I am more familiar with camera terms and setting and all of that. Yes, thank you for the articles! I read them and pinned one on Pinterest. @timtam – Thank you for the advice!
I have a question on how you all set up your camera in manual mode and how you meter in manual mode. With and without flash.
When in M and shooting people or high contrast scenes I always set camera up with spot metering and take my exposure reading with the viewfinder using the spot placed on the part of the subject I want properly exposed. Then I set my aperture and/or shutter speed based on that reading.
When in A,S or P modes I set up my camera with exposure lock on the half press and always with back button focusing. I almost always set focus with the back button, then use spot metering, locking my exposure on the spot I want properly exposed with a half press, then frame the shot and shoot. I have my back button focus button set to continuous so I can either focus and let go to lock focus or keep holding the back button down to keep focusing continuously. If I know where my subject will be in the frame, I will move the focus point in the viewfinder to where I think I will be focusing to make framing the shot faster.
When shooting in M and with TTL flash (that’s what I usually do) I’m not sure how best to set up the metering for the TTL. I assume that the TTL system reads exposure off of the metering points the same way depending on the metering settings, but I have not played with it to see the difference. I’m mostly shooting flash indoors with moving subjects (ballroom dance couples) so perhaps I would be better switching from spot metering because I generally don’t have the time to meter and focus moving people and know what part of the subject the metering spot is on.
Any thoughts on this?
When I am shooting in M mode I use spot metering to get the correct exposure and set my other settings according to the reading I get. One question I have for you: what is TTL flash? I only have an on-camera flash as of right now, but if I don’t know the answer, then I can ask a photographer family member I am staying with. =)
TTL stands for Through-The-Lens and is basically your flash on the “Auto” setting. It automatically calculates the flash intensity necessary to properly light the subject, then fires when you depress the shutter button. I don’t actually have a flash with TTL so if someone else gives you a better description than I can, you’d better trust their word first. I only know what I have read about it.
There is an article describing the different kinds of TTL flash on exposureguide.com
I always use my flash on Manual since that’s all I’ve got 🙂 I set my camera to Manual, and set my exposure properly for ambient light, then power on the flash and do a few test shots to make sure it’s the right intensity. Of course so far, I haven’t done much action shooting with flash, so I’m not exactly an authority on the subject.
@timtam, I am going to have to experiment with your method of button combinations for exposure lock and autofocus. Sounds like a versatile system. I simply have mine set up to autofocus with the half press and then use the button on the back for exposure lock. The problem with this is that I find myself constantly having to change the autofocus mode between single and continuous.
Do you use other metering modes other than spot? I find spot metering to be “harsh”, going to extremes in both directions, blowing out highlights or grossly underexposing the majority of a scene.
As for TTL, I do very little with flash so have probably done less experimenting than you have done already. I do find that the flash never seems to make my images bright enough though (with bounce flash), so I find myself bumping the flash exposure compensation to +1 quite often.
I very often keep it on spot when I have the time to compose the shot and then I pick a neutral spot in the frame or my subject and meter off of that and then half press to lock exposure.
With back button focusing, which most pros, particularly sports pros use, it is always set on continuous focus so to lock focus just release the back button.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.