Camera Labs

Hey folks,
I have a question regarding this picture I snapped. On close inspection it appears that the kittens eye nearest the camera is slightly out of focus. The settings used were.

Exp 1/50
F4.5
ISO 1600
FL 36mm
It was shot on a Canon 550d



Now the question. Keeping that focal length what setting adjustment would need to be used to get the whole of the kittens face in focus? Does that make sense?

Any info will be appreciated. [/img]

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Why is it if you scream your' head off in a library people tut and stare at you but do it on an aircraft and they all join in?

The quick answer is to stop down the lens a bit more.

Long answer: make sure the eye is in focus by selecting the central AF point and aim that to the kittens eye. If you have a subject's eyes in focus (being a kitten or a person) the picture will look better.

If you are not happy with the results, you could try both (i.e. ensure the eye is in focus and stopping down the lens).

Cheers for that, I am happy with the shot but I feel it would have been better if both eyes were in focus. So when you say "stop down" is that the "F" settings or Exposure settings? Sorry but I am complete newbie.

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Why is it if you scream your' head off in a library people tut and stare at you but do it on an aircraft and they all join in?

It's the "F" settings. Increase it to reduce the aperture and thus increase the amount of things that stay on focus.

Camera exposure values are named (for some reason) stops.
Aperture (f numbers) stops are 1.4 , 2 , 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11,16,22
The camera lets you set values in between the stops (1/3 0r ½ stops depending on settings in the camera)
The larger the f value the smaller the aperture is because f values are in fact ratios (1/1.4 ,1/2.8 etc)
Because of this, the beginners confusion about the f values and the terms used.
Stopping down aperture means getting a smaller aperture, that is larger f number.
A smaller aperture increases the depth of field (DOF) , that is, the space in which everything is in focus.

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Radu
Canon PowerShot S100
Canon 50D , SIGMA 10-20 f3.5 ,Canon EF 24-105 L IS USM, Canon EF 100/2.8 macro Canon EF 50/1.4 ,Canon EF 85 f1.8,Canon EF-S17-85 4-5.6 Old Tamron 28-300 inherited from my Canon Rebel G film camera
Canon580EXII
http://www.errre.net

Thanks guys, I understand it now, you've been a great help.

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Why is it if you scream your' head off in a library people tut and stare at you but do it on an aircraft and they all join in?

Awkward light level for the shot - You've taken it at F4.5 and really need to stop it down to F8-F11 at that distance to get the whole cat's head in focus.

Here are the 1/3 stop increments from your shot settings:

F4.5
F5
F5.6
F6.3
F7.1
F8
F9
F10
F11

So that's between 5 and 8 x 1/3 stops, or roughly 2 stops to get to F9.

Now you shot at ISO1600, so to get to F9 you'll need to bump the ISO to 6400 to get the same shutter speed. So you'll end up with the effect you want, but with a lot of noise.

Short answer - F9 and bounce flash, keeping the ISO low to maintain good image quality...

Cheers everyone.

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Why is it if you scream your' head off in a library people tut and stare at you but do it on an aircraft and they all join in?