Which photo should I hand in for school?

[Shambhala]

We are working on DOF.. Which photo do you think I should hand in.. Or should I take some different ones.. LOL. They are due by Tues. Thanks for helping me choose. CC always welcome.







Just a side note we are not getting graded on composition just the DOF technique. Thanks again for your help!

[Shambhala]

Sorry I forgot to say hand in for school!! Nothing professional.

[jiro]

If the assignment is basically a practice on DOF, I would consider shooting a new image with repeating elements to it like pillars of a building or a flat wall shot at an oblique angle. These sets of images would work well if the assignment is about composition. I have the old books of NYIP and they have very good examples of images dealing with the DOF assignment. Just a suggestion so you get good grades.

This one would work with DOF:


Shot with a 50mm f1.8D lens at an opening of f2.0.

[Rasbury]

All this talk about DoF for school has jarred loose something in my brain.I took one semester of photography in the mid 80"s and remember taking a photo of a brick wall.My teacher suggested that i should take photo's of parked cars as there is separation between them and you can get a better idea of how DoF works.
From the 1st photo in this series and the chipmunk photo on your other thread i don't think you'll run into to many problems in the composition classes that you will take.

[rob marshall]

Shannon

I think you would get a higher grade if you could get a shot that showed more of the degrees of fading focus, rather than in focus/out of focus. The classic shot is of a musical instrument shot end-on - like this one Themed Photo Challenge #14: Music

[Shambhala]

Wow Thanks everyone, I really do want to get a good grade!! So I think I will take all of your suggestions and re-shoot something else that doesn't move. I like all of the suggestions the parked cars, the lego men, and the musical instrument.. I think I will try all three and see which one's turn out best.. you all have been a REALLY BIG help!!

[Vandenberg]

maybe this will help you a bit
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

[Shambhala]

Thanks Vandenberg!! I am really bad at math... but have been trying to grasp the concepts. I am sure I will be reading and re-reading this many times! Thanks for posting it for me

[Geoff F]

Of the 3 that you have posted, I would say that the chipmunk works best for what you require. Although I would have preferred a lower camera angle.

But if you have time to keep shooting, see what else you can achieve. Remember to always consider the camera angle if you are able.

Wildlife shots, as I know only too well, often don't allow any 'thinking time' and it is just a case of 'look at that' and click before your subject scurries away.

[Shambhala]

My teacher suggested practicing with things like cereal boxes and stationary things.. Which I think I should probably do.. I want to run, but know I should probably learn how to walk, first so to speak. I think I will just put these pictures in my practice folder and maybe try shooting something a little less difficult.. wildlife isn't very co-operative for sure.! Thanks a lot for your input. I appreciate people taking the time to help me out and give me suggestions.. Really really helpful!!

[DavidGee]

Fill 6 tall wine glasses with different coloured liquid place them one behind the other in a row about 4 to 6 inches apart and take the shot at the same height as the middle of the first glass, spot focusing on the first glass at say the lowest f stop you can and at about 45 degrees to the left side of the glasses so that the glasses are going away from you from left to right as that is the way the eye see things, you read a book from left to right. This will give you depth of field down the row of glasses as well as possible depth of field at the top and bottom of each tall glass.
This is the example I did for an assignment for a photography course I did last year and was used by the lecturer as a very good example of DOF.

David

[Shambhala]

COOL, Thanks for the idea David, I will try this and post it when I am done Love it.

[Peter Ryan]

Of the 3 shots I like #1. Thehead is turned side on so the eyes and beak are all on the same focal plane andtherefore sharp, unlike the squirrel you posted in the other thread whose nosewas out of focus because it was so much closer to the camera than his eye.

# 2 works but is a bit clutteredand in #3 the background is too close to the subject to really show DOF. The principalthat effect DOF are camera-to-subject distance and subject-to-backgrounddistance. The closer the camera is to the subject and the further away the backgroundis the greater the DOF in a shot.

Willie is correct on hisdemonstration of what I feel the class is looking for.

[FrankMi]

I like Willie's shot much better than boxes of cereal! Point being, if you must show DOF with static items (like boxes of cereal) at least be imaginative use something whimsical. LOL! You can likely get almost as much credit for your use of imagination as you can for a properly executed DOF image and a little extra credit can't hurt!

[Shambhala]

Frank, I agree!! cereal boxes seem pretty boring, which is why I think I was being a little over ambitious. LOL, I have got so many more interesting suggestions then cereal boxes so I am going to try them.

[Geoff F]

When I saw this caterpillar, Shannon, I thought of you - Depth of Field example.



I couldn't actually get the camera angle that I wanted due to the foliage but I think something like this nicely demonstrates the principle.

This shot was actually with F14 which shows the very shallow working depth of macro photography.

[Shambhala]

HOLY COW, that is BEAUTIFUL Geoff!! That is a fantastic example.. !! If I am lucky enough to see such a beautiful caterpillar I will have to try this.. Now that I have been practicing photographing nature I know you can't always get the angle you want something is in the way or you have no where to move.. but I really like the angle of this one. The colours are so amazing!!

[ktuli]

Geoff has a real knack for finding cool little bugs... I wish I could follow him around for a few days, just so I could see some cool stuff too.

- Bill

[Geoff F]

Thanks Bill.

One photo of a hoverfly is being used by English Nature (a government funded environmental organisation) and printed in a national newspaper in a few weeks.

No payment though. I will give more details when it happens.

[Shambhala]

I am not a big bug fan ( I am a girl, lol) but Geoff definitely makes them look beautiful.. ! Even loveable.!