The New Intimacy

Eden Photographers Club Meeting - Tuesday, May17th @ 7pm EDT

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Contributor: Alys Alys
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Unless things change, Alys, it looks like you'll have the inside track on two $25 gift cards since Sam is ineligible.
As I said earlier, I'm sure people will start to trickle in sooner or later.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
I'd like to bring up that I tried to use that macro lens thing, and it doesn't appear to be compatible with my camera. I can try and message you more about it tomorrow.

And pish posh on being tired of Vaccinium!!
Not being compatible because it won't fit on the lens mount?
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Continuing on...

Alrighty, then. This month I wanted to delve into more specifics with regards to depth of field. Last month I posted an article on understanding depth of field and another that covered using depth of field. You all read them, riiiiiiiiight?

Well, I’m going to assume you did. The reason why it is so important to understand how to utilze depth of field (henceforth known as DOF) is that the proper application of it draws the viewer’s eyes to those aspects of a photo you want to emphasize and draws them away from areas of the photo you want to deemphasize. A photo with the apprpriate DOF “pops”, whereas one with the wrong DOF just isn’t as stimulating.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Kayla Kayla
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
10 minutes now.

Totally random, but that's a beautiful photograph!
05/17/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Not being compatible because it won't fit on the lens mount?
I fiddled with it about a week ago and can't remember clearly now. It didn't appear to be able to screw on to the body of my camera. I have a Nikon D50, and a 55-200mm lens. I would definitely appreciate suggestions for lenses that let me get a little closer to a subject.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Kayla
Totally random, but that's a beautiful photograph!
Thank you! That is on Mazama Ridge in Mount Rainier National Park, and that is the Tatoosh Range in the background.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Alys Alys
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Continuing on...

Alrighty, then. This month I wanted to delve into more specifics with regards to depth of field. Last month I posted an article on understanding depth of field and another that covered using depth of field. You all read ... more
Read them when they went up.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
I fiddled with it about a week ago and can't remember clearly now. It didn't appear to be able to screw on to the body of my camera. I have a Nikon D50, and a 55-200mm lens. I would definitely appreciate suggestions for lenses that let me ... more
Who makes your macro lens?
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Alys
Read them when they went up.
Awesome.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Continuing on...

Alrighty, then. This month I wanted to delve into more specifics with regards to depth of field. Last month I posted an article on understanding depth of field and another that covered using depth of field. You all read ... more
After reading those articles, it appears as though DOF is something that I enjoyed playing with a lot in high school. That and reflections are some of my favorite things to photograph.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Who makes your macro lens?
That I'd have to double check. It was a 15 dollar gamble off eBay to be honest with you.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
After reading those articles, it appears as though DOF is something that I enjoyed playing with a lot in high school. That and reflections are some of my favorite things to photograph.
Reflections are great. I actually have an article on them coming up eventually.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
That I'd have to double check. It was a 15 dollar gamble off eBay to be honest with you.
When you figure it out, you can buy a lens adapter that would should allow it to fit on if it was meant for another mounting system. The adapters are pretty cheap - $10-15, IIRC.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Reflections are great. I actually have an article on them coming up eventually.
Awesome! If that pops up as an assignment, in addition to taking a few new pictures, I'll try to dig up a few of the ones I took on film back in the day.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
When you figure it out, you can buy a lens adapter that would should allow it to fit on if it was meant for another mounting system. The adapters are pretty cheap - $10-15, IIRC.
I'll set a reminder to try and double check tomorrow.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
The first concept I want to discuss relating to depth of field is hyperfocal distance. Hyperfocal distance is the closest distance at which a lens can be focused while still keeping objects at infinity distance acceptably in focus. Confused? Just wait, it gets more confusing because there’s some math involved.



I can hear all of you now, “You didn’t say there was going to be math, Vaccinium!” Well, good thing for you that I’m not going to test you on this. I just wanted to scare you. However, what the equation essentially tells us is that for any photo you take, and at any given f-stop, about 1/3 the focal plane (that area of your photo that is acepptably focused) lies in front of the focal point (the point on your subject you are focusing on) and about 2/3 lies behind it. So, for landscape photos where you want everything acceptably focused, if you focus about 1/3 of the way into the scene you are shooting, everything should be in focus at F/16 if your focal point is 1/3 of the way between your lens and your subject. Granted, it’s not quite that simple, as if there is an object one foot (30 cm) from your lens, it may not be in focus, but it is still a very good rule of thumb for landscape photos.



Unfortunately, things begin to break down if you are trying to limit the amount of depth of field. I could tell you that there are charts and calculators that will tell you precisely where to focus your camera if you want to get the precise depth of field you’d like, and if you are interested in that I’ll be happy to share the links with you, but in this day and age of digital cameras, the easiest thing to do is what I do: guess. If you want a limited amount of depth of field, try shooting at f/5.6 and then bracketing it with shots at f/4 and f/8. It wouldn’t hurt to try it at f/2.8 either. One of them is bound to be where you want it, and all you did was spend about 10-20 seconds getting all those shots when consulting a chart or looking at a calculator would take you far more than 10 seconds.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Kayla Kayla
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
That I'd have to double check. It was a 15 dollar gamble off eBay to be honest with you.
I need to get a non-Point-and-Shoot camera, but I just don't throw enough time into my photography to justify that.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
I'll set a reminder to try and double check tomorrow.
The adapters make it so you can't use through-the-lens metering, so you'd need to fiddle with the settings a lot, but it's a cheap way to get that lens to work (hopefully).
05/17/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Kayla
I need to get a non-Point-and-Shoot camera, but I just don't throw enough time into my photography to justify that.
I had a film SLR way back in the day, and I really enjoyed using it. So I looked around online and built a nice kit. But putting the time in can make a difference. I thought about selling mine earlier this year because I just haven't done much with it
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Kayla
I need to get a non-Point-and-Shoot camera, but I just don't throw enough time into my photography to justify that.
P and S cameras aren't all bad. They have their limits, of course, but there is still a lot you can do with them. Actually, the more advanced P and S cameras can do pretty much everything an SLR camera can do (except change lenses, of course).
05/17/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
The adapters make it so you can't use through-the-lens metering, so you'd need to fiddle with the settings a lot, but it's a cheap way to get that lens to work (hopefully).
Am I bad if I admit that I use auto focus for a lot of things, and don't pay attention to my f-stops and the like when I use a manual focus?
05/17/2011
Contributor: Alys Alys
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
The first concept I want to discuss relating to depth of field is hyperfocal distance. Hyperfocal distance is the closest distance at which a lens can be focused while still keeping objects at infinity distance acceptably in focus. Confused? Just ... more
Um, so I've heard all that before, but it made as much sense then as it does now. *sheepish grin*
05/17/2011
Contributor: Kayla Kayla
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
I had a film SLR way back in the day, and I really enjoyed using it. So I looked around online and built a nice kit. But putting the time in can make a difference. I thought about selling mine earlier this year because I just haven't done much ... more
I have some neat photography equipment on my Amazon wishlist, but again, I just can't justify purchasing it. My gosh, would I love to learn though!
05/17/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
P and S cameras aren't all bad. They have their limits, of course, but there is still a lot you can do with them. Actually, the more advanced P and S cameras can do pretty much everything an SLR camera can do (except change lenses, of course).
Have you seen the new 3-D P&S camera?
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
Am I bad if I admit that I use auto focus for a lot of things, and don't pay attention to my f-stops and the like when I use a manual focus?
A lot of people use autofocus. I'm actually in the minority in that I use manual focus. You should consider moving away from the auto exposure feature, though. You simply can't control depth of field well if you use auto. Try switching to aperture-priority and seeing how you do. It's not that difficult a leap, and I can coach you through it.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Alys
Um, so I've heard all that before, but it made as much sense then as it does now. *sheepish grin*
"Sheepish", heh-heh.

What exactly doesn't make sense? Obviously hyperfocal distance is somewhat complicated, but if I didn't explain the rest of it well, I'd like to do so now.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
A lot of people use autofocus. I'm actually in the minority in that I use manual focus. You should consider moving away from the auto exposure feature, though. You simply can't control depth of field well if you use auto. Try switching to ... more
I don't have my camera here with me for reference, but I'd be willing to learn. I do manually focus on occasion, but I've always played my photography off of what looked right to me and not what settings said. Drove my high school photography teacher nuts, lol.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Alys Alys
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
A lot of people use autofocus. I'm actually in the minority in that I use manual focus. You should consider moving away from the auto exposure feature, though. You simply can't control depth of field well if you use auto. Try switching to ... more
I love manual focus, but my digital only does autofocus *pout*
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
Have you seen the new 3-D P&S camera?
I have not. That's pretty cool. I figured they'd come out with those sooner or later. Of course, the resulting photos can't be printed out without having a stereoscope to look at them.
05/17/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Alys
I love manual focus, but my digital only does autofocus *pout*
Yeah, that would drive me nuts.

Short drive, yes, I know.
05/17/2011