200mm f/5.6 in Aperture Priority
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P52 Week 2: Shallow Depth of Field (Jan 8 - Jan 14)
- Thread starter mollyc
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200mm f/5.6 in Aperture Priority
you guys have been busy! i’ll be back later with comments. but my heart is full to see so much participation. ❤️
Your focus looks good and the DOF being this shallow is fine for me (it's quite similar to the image I posted of my dog), but I do think you had a bit of camera shake from your shutter speed being only 1/100. I'd try to keep that up to at least 1/125, and some people need 1/250 to eliminate camera shake.Only guy willing to pose for a portrait shot in our household
View attachment 2142476
CC is welcome, I think there is a bit of camera shake and maybe 1.4 for that distance is too shallow, thanks.
Thanks for participating!
Two excellent images! I love seeing you work with a wider DOF, it's different from most of your work, but I can still see that it is very much you. We are going to talk about this a bit in Week 3, and trying to shoot images that stretch you but also work within your own voice and body of work.
My mom has a very similar copper kettle that I had forgotten about until I visited briefly last month. Very nostalgic for me. 🙂
This is great for portrait mode! I think the algorithms have been improved in newer phones, because my 8+ always leaves weird artifacts and makes things look super fake. This is a really good use of the feature; thanks so much for sharing.
I'm so happy you found us!
Yes, having a lens that opens to f/1.8 is fun and does allow for a shallower DOF, but you've done well working with your existing gear here.
On a composition basis, for the first one, I'm not sure what's going on in the upper left, and it kind of draws my eye away from the subject. I'd prefer if that were a bit cleaner. I also think the WB could be warmed up slightly, but your focus is spot on.
For the second, my only complaint is the reflection of your light source in the porcelain. Mostly just because it goes through the decorations; if the glaze was a sold color I wouldn't think twice about it....however, lighting something so shiny is a completely different skill set than shooting in focus for a shallow DOF, and that aspect of the challenge you did really well with!
Whatever game this is looks fun! Half moons and space ships?? 🙂
Your first image was fine, but this is lovely too! This has a better WB, and I like that you thought creatively to pull out a longer lens to help separate your subject. 🙂
Thanks for the CC: I didn't think about the reflection on the porcelain, you are so right and yes the first one has that part on the left too dark. I thought about cropping it but didn't do it: too much focused on the DOF . WB is on auto but I should have changed it. All things to remember for the next time
About the reflection : how to get enough light from outside and not have the window come back to bite me ?
Not using the flash, and today it's cloudy and grey
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I actually don't have a lot of experience photographing shiny objects. It might work if you had a sheer curtain over the windows; you'd have to increase ISO since the light would be cut down but I think the light would be softer overall. If I have time I'll try to experiment with this sometime this week; but there are definitely ways to light objects without harsh reflections.
It’s a puzzle game, get the ship through the asteroid field by moving tiles. Good for when the kids get bored.
Edit: Aaargh! Missed the deadline. I was planning on posting these last night, but work got in the way.
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In before the end… hope these two still qualify… 🙂
I tried to get the detail of the bowl — the middle ground I suppose.
![DSC06324.jpeg]( "DSC06324.jpeg")
Manual Focus
Ricoh XR Rikenon 50mm F1.7
Sony A6000
A test on dealing with foreshortened objects…
![Wooden Bowl 2.jpeg]( "Wooden Bowl 2.jpeg")
Manual Focus
Vivitar 28mm F2.8
Sony A6000
****************************
In before the end… hope these two still qualify… 🙂
I tried to get the detail of the bowl — the middle ground I suppose.
Manual Focus
Ricoh XR Rikenon 50mm F1.7
Sony A6000
A test on dealing with foreshortened objects…
Manual Focus
Vivitar 28mm F2.8
Sony A6000
you aren't late and these are lovely!
honestly, real life is allowed to get in the way of photographing and/or editing. don't stress and just post when you are able. 🙂 (ps if it makes you feel better i posted week 3 early)
I took this one Saturday but am only just now posting it.
I liked the concept of my earlier one but wasn't satisfied with the execution. The pen nib shown had ink stains(impossible to avoid since it was currently inked), had some blown highlights, and I wasn't totally happy with how defined the back ground was.
Here it is with a pen with the same basic nib but larger and more visually interesting(I think) and I cranked back the lights so that I could go to f/16.
D800, 105mm Micro, f/16, ISO 100. I'm intentionally not listing a shutter speed because this was shot with strobes. This was a dark-ish room with just the modeling lights on the strobes for artificial ambient illumination. Shutter speed matters to the extent that it's below the sync speed of the camera, and not slow as to allow ambient light to provide appreciable light. This is a concern with relatively low powered on-camera lights, but studio strobes are powerful enough that they very much overpower most ambient light.
As a little bit of a side note, these ancient strobes(probably 1980s, maybe a bit newer) by my measurements(using a Nikon D1, which interestingly enough can sync at any shutter speed, changing the power affects not just the absolute power output of the strobes but also the length of time they are illuminated. In the past, I've found that a 2000 w-s power pack cranked up goes down to about 1/600s, and at lowest power is more like 1/1000. These were taken with my much smaller(physically) 800w-s pack, and I've not actually measured flash duration on it.
![week 2 shallow DOF 2_.jpg]( "week 2 shallow DOF 2_.jpg")
I liked the concept of my earlier one but wasn't satisfied with the execution. The pen nib shown had ink stains(impossible to avoid since it was currently inked), had some blown highlights, and I wasn't totally happy with how defined the back ground was.
Here it is with a pen with the same basic nib but larger and more visually interesting(I think) and I cranked back the lights so that I could go to f/16.
D800, 105mm Micro, f/16, ISO 100. I'm intentionally not listing a shutter speed because this was shot with strobes. This was a dark-ish room with just the modeling lights on the strobes for artificial ambient illumination. Shutter speed matters to the extent that it's below the sync speed of the camera, and not slow as to allow ambient light to provide appreciable light. This is a concern with relatively low powered on-camera lights, but studio strobes are powerful enough that they very much overpower most ambient light.
As a little bit of a side note, these ancient strobes(probably 1980s, maybe a bit newer) by my measurements(using a Nikon D1, which interestingly enough can sync at any shutter speed, changing the power affects not just the absolute power output of the strobes but also the length of time they are illuminated. In the past, I've found that a 2000 w-s power pack cranked up goes down to about 1/600s, and at lowest power is more like 1/1000. These were taken with my much smaller(physically) 800w-s pack, and I've not actually measured flash duration on it.
I didn't dislike your other one, but really love this version. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries to get what we are really after.
Thanks! Like I said I liked the concept but wasn't really happy with the execution.
I've got to get better about posting on time 😂 but I promise they were taken during the appropriate timeframe.
in the in-between by Howard Elam, on Flickr
CC
Canon EOS R5 24.0 - 70.0 mm ƒ/2.8 70.0 mm 1/800 500
A little late and after the window, playing catch-up (blame the FDIC
) The original is also on Flickr if you have any comments about the before an after
It's completely fine that you posted a bit late! Thank you for sharing....btw, I'm pretty good with identifying flowers, but not so much food - what are you growing in the first image? Baby eggplants? Olives? (I don't think olives because I do know those come from a tree.)
Thanks for joining in!![]()
in the in-between by Howard Elam, on Flickr
CC
Canon EOS R5 24.0 - 70.0 mm ƒ/2.8 70.0 mm 1/800 500
A little late and after the window, playing catch-up (blame the FDIC
I like how you darkened the street in the background from the SOOC, but I personally would have kept a bit of brightness on the can/trash since that's your subject. It's a little hard to make out in your edit, IMO. 🙂 But it's all up to interpretation, and maybe the darkness is intentional to convey a sense of mystery.
They are actually some kind of cherry/grape tomato! I call them my tiny eggplants because they really do look like it.