For a change of pace - Flowers

[terrib]

Just playing around with the new camera today...

#1


#3

[Mike Buckley]

Glad to know your new camera arrived!

The focus in the first one seems to be on the rear set of petals. It seems to be on the forward set of petals on the second one but only at the outside edge? Is that what you intended?

[terrib]

No, Mike. In the first one, I would have liked to have the entire flower in focus. In the second, I wanted the first flower in the series in focus. Apparently I need to get out the DOF app instead of guessing at an aperture. I was aiming the spot focus on the stamen but was handholding and apparently missed even that.

[Bobobird]

Congrats on the new toy. First shots are never great with any new gear. Over time you will be getting fabulous shots especially when you get to grips with that awesome focusing system it has.

[Mike Buckley]

Apparently I need to get out the DOF app instead of guessing at an aperture.

If your camera allows you to bracket the aperture setting, that would automatically give you two or three DOFs to evaluate. Regardless, zoom the playback in the camera to 100% and evaluate the depth of field. If your camera has Live View, you can zoom in that mode before shooting to evaluate depth of field.

I was aiming the spot focus on the stamen but was handholding and apparently missed even that.

When using such small depth of fields, it's possible that even a slight breeze moved the flower beyond the range of focus. I don't shoot macros, but I'm guessing you would be better off using continuous focusing when not using studio conditions that lack wind. That would allow the camera to track the movement of the flower as it moves toward and away from the camera. That's assuming of course that your lens focuses fast enough to make that method effective.