P52 Week 2: Shallow Depth of Field (Jan 8 - Jan 14)

[mollyc]

View attachment 2140402

Got some photo props yesterday, fooling around with it all now. Not happy with my 37th try. But I'll keep trying. Background balloons not coming out as wanted (whatever I 'wanted' them to come out in the first place).

Lightning is all wrong. Bought softbox with strobes - the cheap kind - but without any knowledge on them I just tried stuff out: direct lightning didn't work due to the reflection on the glass. I also put these furry sticking balls on a black surface but then the composition was all wrong. So, light bouncing off the white wall: wrong. Bouncing off the ceiling; much better. Still I don't like the lightning. Nor the blur. Nor the end result lol.

Model: NIKON D7000 (el cheapo cropped frame camera)
Lens Model: AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G
Exposure Time: 1/160
FNumber: 3,2
Focal Length: 35
Photographic Sensitivity (ISO): 100
Saturation: Normal
White Balance: Auto white balance

I think you are being too hard on yourself! This isn't a lighting challenge, and your lighting looks fine to me...You might have actually had the background balloons too far away. But as it is, you are definitely showing a DOF here with a deliberate foreground and background. ❤️

 

[someoldguy]

oh these are super fun!

Thanks ... It's afun exhibit that's done at the NYBG annually . Haven't been there for a few years due to Covid et. al. . This year it was actually inside the greenhouse rather than in a big tent like the last times I was there . The one's who really appreciate it are the little kids , 3 ,4 ,5 or so as a lot of the displays are right at ground level where they can sit and watch the action .

 

[OldMacs4Me]

So as I've been mentioning in the POTD thread, I am currently digitizng a whack of old 4x5 negs. Stumbled across this long forgotten effort from 1980. Usually with 4x5 one uses lens tip and swing to maximize depth of field, and-or control perspective. In this case I used the swing to keep the foreground left and the gnarled old sage brush in focus while letting everything else blur. Unfortunately it was heavily overcast that day, and the image was pretty much unprintable due to a lack of contrast. Now thanks to PhotoShop I was able to bring out the colors that inspired me to take the shot more than 40 years ago. No data on this one but guessing I was using the Schneider 180mm Symmar-S lens, probably at ƒ-22 or ƒ-32.

 

[mollyc]

So as I've been mentioning in the POTD thread, I am currently digitizng a whack of old 4x5 negs. Stumbled across this long forgotten effort from 1980. Usually with 4x5 one uses lens tip and swing to maximize depth of field, and-or control perspective. In this case I used the swing to keep the foreground left and the gnarled old sage brush in focus while letting everything else blur. Unfortunately it was heavily overcast that day, and the image was pretty much unprintable due to a lack of contrast. Now thanks to PhotoShop I was able to bring out the colors that inspired me to take the shot more than 40 years ago. No data on this one but guessing I was using the Schneider 180mm Symmar-S lens, probably at ƒ-22 or ƒ-32.

I know this is new as in new to be digitized, but this thread really is supposed to be newly *taken* images. ❤️ Photographed for this particular challenge. Thanks for understanding. xoxo

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

2 more from the Holiday Train Show at the NY Botanical Garden . Both shot with a G9 , 25/1.4 @ 1.4 , ISO cranked up to 1600 to get a high shutter speed and (hopefully) eliminate motion blur , as the trains were moving. Used continuous low shutter actuation and picked out the best ....

View attachment 2140383

(is that Bernie in the streetcar? ). Shot at 1/3200

View attachment 2140384

Shot at 1/800

Next time lay a piece of metal across the track when they get where you want. That stops ‘em cold! 😁

 

[eliaz]

Got one of my daughter being sweet (and not wild) yesterday. Took forever to make sure she was in focus with all the movement many of you know a toddler can somehow make even when exhausted. haha. We recently moved into a new house and I'm not *positive* where my D750 and 85mm f/1.8 is... so I shot with my newer Sony a7rIVa with the 24-70 and a flash. Touched it upon Lightroom.

ISO100 | 70mm | f/2.8 | 1/250"

 

[fauxtog]

I struggled with a subject for this week, mainly because I wanted to go out and shoot, but that hasn't happened so far. So I settled for something around the house to post for now.

Canon R w/adapted EF 50 1.2
f 1.2
ss 1/100
iso 500

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

You don't always need a fast aperture to get the result. As mentioned in the OP, if you have a longer lens, get up close--as close as the lens will allow, and have some subject separation. Not even the best example, but this is 200mm at f/6.1. The background could stand to be a bit further off, but it's pretty indistinguishable. The apple provided by me, the arrow by my 11 year old daughter. She wasn't too far away, but proud none the less.

 

[PhilBoogie]

Well, better than yesterday hehe.


Model: NIKON D7000
Lens Model: AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G
Exposure Mode: Manual exposure
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure Time: 1/200
FNumber: 6,3
Focal Length: 35
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 52
White Balance: Auto white balance

 

[oldBCguy]

.. a raku pottery 'rock rattle' - perched on an egg cup. (photo via iPad Mini 6)

 

[Snowlover]

January daffodils

Olympus E-PL1
Olympus 70-300 1:4-5.6 adapted to m4/3
Iso 200, exposure 1/1600, f4.6, focal length 158 (316).

 

[mollyc]

View attachment 2140580 Got one of my daughter being sweet (and not wild) yesterday. Took forever to make sure she was in focus with all the movement many of you know a toddler can somehow make even when exhausted. haha. We recently moved into a new house and I'm not *positive* where my D750 and 85mm f/1.8 is... so I shot with my newer Sony a7rIVa with the 24-70 and a flash. Touched it upon Lightroom.

ISO100 | 70mm | f/2.8 | 1/250"

I love this age! Thanks for participating.

I struggled with a subject for this week, mainly because I wanted to go out and shoot, but that hasn't happened so far. So I settled for something around the house to post for now.

Canon R w/adapted EF 50 1.2
f 1.2
ss 1/100
iso 500

View attachment 2140653

I've never used a 1.2 lens but excellent focus with this (widest I've ever used is 1.4). Thanks for sharing.

You don't always need a fast aperture to get the result. As mentioned in the OP, if you have a longer lens, get up close--as close as the lens will allow, and have some subject separation. Not even the best example, but this is 200mm at f/6.1. The background could stand to be a bit further off, but it's pretty indistinguishable. The apple provided by me, the arrow by my 11 year old daughter. She wasn't too far away, but proud none the less.
View attachment 2140670

Great job to both of you!

View attachment 2140739

Well, better than yesterday hehe.


Model: NIKON D7000
Lens Model: AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G
Exposure Mode: Manual exposure
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure Time: 1/200
FNumber: 6,3
Focal Length: 35
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 52
White Balance: Auto white balance

I love that you keep trying. DOF looks great here. 🙂

.. a raku pottery 'rock rattle' - perched on an egg cup. (photo via iPad Mini 6)

View attachment 2140891

Thanks for joining in! ❤️

January daffodils
View attachment 2140897
Olympus E-PL1
Olympus 70-300 1:4-5.6 adapted to m4/3
Iso 200, exposure 1/1600, f4.6, focal length 158 (316).

These just make me more anxious for spring! Thanks for contributing.

 

[mollyc]

Here are a few I took today out on my daily Halley walk. I used a manual focus lens, so I don't know the aperture of any of these, but most likely f/1.4 or f/2.

You can see with the next two how getting closer to your subject makes a difference in the background...I was standing on a boardwalk and couldn't get any closer to the leaves of the first image, but the second branch I was much closer to, and the background is much mushier.

It's not a Halley walk without a photo of Halley.

 

[tizeye]

On a hike this morning and looke for the DOF opportunity. Wish I had taken a prime with me to suppliment the since f4 zoom, but it is what it is. Not thinking I had anything, took the leaves. As processing, the very first shot I took were the solo wild tangerine tree that surprised me with the DOF as it was the brilliant orange that attracted me for the photo with an f9 aperture, no less. With both, while the leaves were at f4, it was the telephoto compression that helped and the leaves were at mnimal focus distance.

 

[cogi0490]

Best image I shot so far for the topic of this week.

F1.8, ISO 3200, 1/60 with a 50mm prime

 

[PhilBoogie]

View attachment 2141117
Best image I shot so far for the topic of this week.

F1.8, ISO 3200, 1/60 with a 50mm prime

Is it a Mercedes grill?
(Better to have a star on your grill, than on your windshield)

 

[PhilBoogie]

"Needs work"

Model: NIKON D7000
Lens Model: AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G
Exposure Mode: Manual exposure
Exposure Time: 1/250
Photographic Sensitivity (ISO): 100
FNumber: 4,5
Focal Length: 35
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 52
White Balance: Auto white balance

 

[cogi0490]

Is it a Mercedes grill?
(Better to have a star on your grill, than on your windshield)

Yes it is. Funny comment 😂

 

[kenoh]

Spiders web on a gate in the cold.

 

[tizeye]

And then there is Photoshop - before and after. While using varying opacity between layers 'painting adjustment layer' to show through and eventually 100% opacity on the bird, could probably have adjusted the transition along the stem better. While it is easy to do, I wasn't going to spend that much time on it. Just gives you an idea. I use the technique quite often in real estate photography removing reflections. The difference is that I take two (or more) photos on tripod with different lighting where one removes the reflection but overall inferior, where this one I made a duplicate background layer, applied extreme blur to one layer and added an adjustment layer to that blurred layer to paint through, bringing the lower original back to the top with various opacity sweeps...then flattening the layers.

Probably would make a good "worms eye" view for the current contest.

After adjustment

Original source

 

[bunnspecial]

Here's my stab at it-it's turned hectic and I haven't really made it out of the house, but thought this might make at least for an interesting attempt.

Normally in macro photography I try to make the background as insignificant as possible, but keeping with the theme I thought I might instead make it interesting. To that end, I actually stopped down...quite a bit...to get some definition in the OOF areas.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro, f/45(yes, really, f/45 and not 4.5), ISO 100

 

[r.harris1]

Crazy week at work, "nothing but work", so why not photos from work? I wanted to make sure I played this week.

Wasn't too happy with the first as there's nothing really that draws the eye. Oh well. The 2nd and third are variations of the same image obviously. The second one is at a somewhat wider aperture (low 2.somethings) than the 3rd, which is wide open (1.4) (75mm). The second one still has a touch of detail in the trophies behind the first and I sort of like that, I think, although I like the third one's slight composition change better (relationship to the background trophies). The first one is 50mm, wide open (1.0). Focus on each lens was at their respective minimum focus distances. Hopefully one or two more once I get a some time this weekend, perhaps on a much longer lens.

 

[mollyc]

On a hike this morning and looke for the DOF opportunity. Wish I had taken a prime with me to suppliment the since f4 zoom, but it is what it is. Not thinking I had anything, took the leaves. As processing, the very first shot I took were the solo wild tangerine tree that surprised me with the DOF as it was the brilliant orange that attracted me for the photo with an f9 aperture, no less. With both, while the leaves were at f4, it was the telephoto compression that helped and the leaves were at mnimal focus distance.
View attachment 2141112 View attachment 2141111

Jealous of your green leaves. It's been relatively mild here so far, but gray and brown everywhere. Thanks for sharing the sunshine.

View attachment 2141355

"Needs work"

Model: NIKON D7000
Lens Model: AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G
Exposure Mode: Manual exposure
Exposure Time: 1/250
Photographic Sensitivity (ISO): 100
FNumber: 4,5
Focal Length: 35
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 52
White Balance: Auto white balance

I'm not sure if the "needs work" references the title of the image, or your skills, but you are doing just fine with this challenge. 🙂

 

[mollyc]

Spiders web on a gate in the cold.

Lovely details on the spider web. Your DOF definitely draws the eye in. 🙂

And then there is Photoshop - before and after. While using varying opacity between layers 'painting adjustment layer' to show through and eventually 100% opacity on the bird, could probably have adjusted the transition along the stem better. While it is easy to do, I wasn't going to spend that much time on it. Just gives you an idea. I use the technique quite often in real estate photography removing reflections. The difference is that I take two (or more) photos on tripod with different lighting where one removes the reflection but overall inferior, where this one I made a duplicate background layer, applied extreme blur to one layer and added an adjustment layer to that blurred layer to paint through, bringing the lower original back to the top with various opacity sweeps...then flattening the layers.

Probably would make a good "worms eye" view for the current contest.

After adjustment
View attachment 2141518

Original source
View attachment 2141519

It didn't even really occur to me to do "portrait mode" in PS or a larger editing program, so thank you for mentioning that!

 

[mollyc]

Here's my stab at it-it's turned hectic and I haven't really made it out of the house, but thought this might make at least for an interesting attempt.

Normally in macro photography I try to make the background as insignificant as possible, but keeping with the theme I thought I might instead make it interesting. To that end, I actually stopped down...quite a bit...to get some definition in the OOF areas.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro, f/45(yes, really, f/45 and not 4.5), ISO 100

View attachment 2141677

I love that you are capturing and sharing this little important bits about yourself for these challenges. It's crazy how small a macro lens can stop down.

Crazy week at work, "nothing but work", so why not photos from work? I wanted to make sure I played this week.

Wasn't too happy with the first as there's nothing really that draws the eye. Oh well. The 2nd and third are variations of the same image obviously. The second one is at a somewhat wider aperture (low 2.somethings) than the 3rd, which is wide open (1.4) (75mm). The second one still has a touch of detail in the trophies behind the first and I sort of like that, I think, although I like the third one's slight composition change better (relationship to the background trophies). The first one is 50mm, wide open (1.0). Focus on each lens was at their respective minimum focus distances. Hopefully one or two more once I get a some time this weekend, perhaps on a much longer lens.


View attachment 2141802 View attachment 2141801 View attachment 2141800

So I suppose the second two images hit the mark better for this challenge, but I actually love the first one the most, with the window in the background and just a bit more space to hint at location and storytelling. 🙂 (PS - not a critique on the Lucite images at all)