Camera Labs

Here is another purple flower from work. Comments are welcome.

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Canon 40D with battery grip, Canon Power Shot SD870 IS, Canon 28-135mm 3.5-5.6 IS USM, Canon 100-300mm USM, Canon 50mm f1.8II, Canon 430 Speed light with diffuser.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jzabfc/

you focused on the petals but the pollen grains became blurred! Watch out for that!

I keep having that problem when I'm doing any kind of macro photography. What is the best way of getting round this?

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Nikon D700 | 20mm f2.8 | 28mm f2.8 | 50mm f1.8 | 70-300 f4-5.6 | SB800 | flickr | serial photography

Using a small aperture, like f/16, f/22 or more. Throw your camera in aperture priority mode or manual mode, and experiment taking pictures of the same object until you get a good idea of what kind of DoF you need to get everything you want in focus. Focus on the nearest element that you need in focus, and go through your apertures and pixel peep them in your LCD screen afterwards to see what's good.

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Hardware: Nikon D80, Sigma 10-20mm, Nikon 18-55 mm VR, 55-200 mm VR, 105mm f/2.8D Micro, 35mm f/1.8G, SB-600, Manfrotto/Bogen 190CXPRO3 + 468MGRC2
Software: Aperture, Photomatix, GIMP

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exactly as sync said...the higher the aperture number the less blur effect you'll get therefore you get more focus.

OR manual focus. because the bigger the f-number the longer exposure and also the less DOF.

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Jake O'Connell, 40D Crew
Canon EOS 40D | 28-135mm IS | 50mm f/1.8 |Vivitar DF 383 | Vivitar 285hv
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"Photography isn't so much about the results as it is the collective experience, your interactions with people and with the world"

I think that's a typo there, Jake. The bigger the f-number the greater the depth of field.

On a wider point, provided the f-number is large enough to achieve the required depth of field then it can be counter-productive to go larger. Image softening due to diffraction will certainly be kicking in at f/11 or larger on cropped sensor DSLRs (some would argue that the figure should actually be f/8) and for compact/bridge cameras the required f-number will often be f/4. Have a look at the article Understanding Diffraction for why this is so. The article Understanding Depth of Field should also be useful and it includes a handy DoF calculator which handily illustrates how DoF is dependant on sensor size, actual (not full-frame equivalent) focal length and distance to the subject as well as f-number.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
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Thanks kno3, I didn't have the option to set my aperture since I was using my Canon SD 870IS point and shoot. I didn't have this problem when I'm using my 40D. I should've mentioned this in the first place before posting. Sorry all...

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Canon 40D with battery grip, Canon Power Shot SD870 IS, Canon 28-135mm 3.5-5.6 IS USM, Canon 100-300mm USM, Canon 50mm f1.8II, Canon 430 Speed light with diffuser.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jzabfc/

Thanks bob for the link. It is very usefull and beneficial to all in understanding the DOF.

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Canon 40D with battery grip, Canon Power Shot SD870 IS, Canon 28-135mm 3.5-5.6 IS USM, Canon 100-300mm USM, Canon 50mm f1.8II, Canon 430 Speed light with diffuser.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jzabfc/

You're welcome

I have had this problem also. I find the wind to be a problem. I almost need another had to keep the flower stable. I need to work with the F numbers. thanks to mention the numbers. I haven't experimented up that high yet. nice to get an idea what I might need.


Also, expecially on a tripod. I found that using Live View and magnify it 5x to get the best dead on focus if you have the time.

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Canon 40D kit Lens 28-135mm IS, Canon 50mm F/1.8, 10-22mm, 100 2.8 macro, 580 Ex.