Novice again

[b00kish]

Here is the picture


[IMG]http://i42.tinypic.com/2ytp3rk.jpg[/IM

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Here is the picture

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Just to help everyone out give you feedback, what settings did you have your camera on and about how far away was the camera lens from your subject?

[wlou]

Hello novice, I am still relatively new at picture tacking, and I prefer macro photography for it shows a world so small, not usually seen by the casual observer. Two things helped me improve my pictures quality: a good macro lens and a tripod. After a lot, and I mean a lot of picture tacking and a lot of reading, my approch to the technical side has also improved. Right here on this site you will find "tutorials" very well made and easy to understand.
That was my 2 cents worth.

[Inkanyezi]

This mushroom is rather large, so it is not really a macro shot or very closeup.

The problem I see is mainly lighting. When I take small things like this, I often use a reflector to illuminate the shadows, in order to soften the contrast a little. For sharpness, it is necessary to check that the green boxes that confirm that the camera has found focus are in the right places. Often you also might need to stop down a bit to get larger depth of field. To that end, a tripod may be necessary if you are in the woods and there is not much light.

There is a program called CHDK that can be used to enhance many camera functions, and one feature of CHDK is that you can check exposure right on screen when you take the picture. The feature is called Zebra Mode and indicates areas that are over- or under-exposed. You may also script for focus stacking, another technique, that may render very large depth of field in the final image, by taking several shots with different focus and merging them in PP.