How to improve these pics please help! :)

[skitterbug]

I finally had the chance to go to a nature reserve for some light hiking today. I took my Canon T3i with the 55 - 250mm lens that proved comfortable to carry along. (yea)

My disappointment is that my pics are not as sharp as I would like them to be. And yes, these are frog pics.....
Notice that the head and body seem okay but the feet are a bit off. I used the AV mode, F5.6, ISO Auto. Auto focus with AF point selection - Manual - one point chosen - that I "think" I centered on the frog's mug (tried for eye). And I shot them in RAW hoping that I'd have a chance to recover anything that seemed decent.

I use the view finder for my shots but I review them on the little screen (on the camera in the field). It is hard to tell what is perfect when looking at these shots on that little screen so when I finally get them loaded on the computer, it is disappointing to see results that aren't as I had hoped! In fact, it is frustrating!

I haven't tried any PP on these since I thought to post them just as they are.

Any suggestions for improvement will be very appreciated!

Thank you!

[Manfred M]

Sandy - it looks to me like a combination of focusing on the wrong area + depth of field issue.

If you have a careful look, the sharpest areas of focus appear to be the leaves in front of your subject. I suspect you used some form of multi-point focusing and the camera just happened to pick the wrong things to focus on. I tend to shoot something like this using a single focus point and once I get focus lock, recompose to frame the image properly. You should be focusing on the frog's eye; so long as it is sharp, a bit of softness elsewhere is not going to be that much of an issue.

Given that you are quite close to the subject and are shooting at a moderate focal length, your depth of field (DoF) is going to be quite shallow. A smaller aperture (larger number) is definitely going to help.

I suggest you look at a DoF calculator to see how little margin of error you have:

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...calculator.htm


With that camera / focal length / aperture setting and shooting from 3 ft away you have slightly more than 1/2" DoF, so you can't get the whole frog in focus, even if you have focused perfectly.

Unfortunately, the screen on your camera is too small to pick this up. I don't know the Canons that well, be suspect you can zoom in on part of the image when you are reviewing it. That might help a bit, but viewing on a large screen is really the only way you are going to be able to confirm sharp focus.

[flashback]

Sandy, the photos are clear enough to identify them as toads, and most likely the Eastern American Toad (Bufo americanus americanus). As to sharpness, what Manfred said.

[Mike Buckley]

When you view the image in your camera's LCD, zoom in to at least 100% display of the file. Once you do that, you should be able to tell which areas are in focus.

A wider aperture is definitely going to help.

I'm sure you mean a smaller aperture (a larger aperture number).

[rpcrowe]

Often, when you use a long focal length lens and when you are not totally used to shooting with that focal length, it could be handy to use center point focus. That way, you can be pretty well sure that the camera is focusing on the important area you desire in focus.

[Manfred M]

When you view the image in your camera's LCD, zoom in to at least 100% display of the file. Once you do that, you should be able to tell which areas are in focus.



I'm sure you mean a smaller aperture (a larger aperture number).

Yes - fixed in the post. Thanks for pointing that out Mike.

[Shadowman]

I'd just try to get the eyes in focus, the rest of the body tends to be easily recognizable by most viewers.

[Stagecoach]

Sandy

An extremely good job of getting the focus correct on No 1 is demonstrated by both the near and farther eye being sharp.

As for suggestions for improvement, taking No 1 as an example how about cropping (the IQ is present to enable this) to accentuate the toad in it's environment and also toning down the highlights on the leaves a bit?

I hope you do not mind but I had a play, here's an example.



P.S There's also the possibility of adding a slight vignette

[Ziggy]

That is a tough shot, you did good.

Any small subject that blends with the leaves under bright light is a challenge.

[Saorsa]

For a start, you said you were shooting with a 55-250 lens. I don't know the canon gear but the EXIF shows the pictures taken at 100mm. I don't know how much these were cropped but you could have filled the frame a lot better at 200mm or 250mm.

I don't generally shoot at the extreme end of a telezoom but I do try to fill the frame before pushing the button. Leaving a little of the environment is a good thing. Leaving too much detracts from the image.

I tried to crop this to what a 200mm might have shown and got this.



Being this tight might be a bit much but you would have had a lot more frog pixels than leaf pixels and the metering would have included almost all subject instead of extraneous elements.

Oh, edit to add, the popup flash would have made for some nice fill light at the hindquarters.

[skitterbug]

So see if I understand DOF better. I needed an aperture setting more like f/11 to get the entire critter in focus? I studied the linked info and that was the conclusion I arrived at.

As you said and I have gamely tried, I've been aiming at the "eyes". That task is more difficult than one would think!

I really want to figure this out. I'm tired of pics that are "not quite right".

Tks!

[skitterbug]

Sandy

An extremely good job of getting the focus correct on No 1 is demonstrated by both the near and farther eye being sharp.

As for suggestions for improvement, taking No 1 as an example how about cropping (the IQ is present to enable this) to accentuate the toad in it's environment and also toning down the highlights on the leaves a bit?

I hope you do not mind but I had a play, here's an example.



P.S There's also the possibility of adding a slight vignette

Hi Grahame

I don't mind a bit that you had a go at PP. I had a good laugh at myself when I was contemplating what IQ might mean and finally realized that it was Image Quality and not intelligence quotient. All my pic tries are taken in RAW format so there is enough "data" to work with if the picture is worth the effort.

I really like the color and texture of this toad (rather than frog). I think it is more "brown" because it recently came out of hibernation. Just a guess. Plus I believe the toad tends to try and match the surroundings. Anyway, I like your effort and now it gives me the incentive to try my hand at PP!

Thanks for the encouragement!

[skitterbug]

Hi Brian,

I did try and zoom in a bit more but that put my subject totally out of focus so I backed out until I had what is shown in the picture I did capture. I do understand what you suggest and maybe if I'd have had settings set a bit differently, I could have accomplished the task. It will be awhile before I can return to the nature reserve and give it another try unfortunately.

I like the idea of using the flash because I noticed that the right hind leg wasn't as clear as I had hoped. But too maybe setting the aperture differently may have given me better results too. So much to learn.......

Thanks for your feedback! I appreciate all the helpful suggestions this thread has given me!

[rpcrowe]

I cropped this image and I increased the structure using NIK Viveza and placed a vignette using NIK Color Efex Pro 4

[skitterbug]

This little toad probably doesn't realize he looks this good! I like your results.

Like so many others, I've downloaded the NIK tools but in my case, I have to figure out how to use them. I've been watching the videos for what information I can gleam from them.So far though, when it comes to PP, I usually try and make it look like I want it to be and I don't really know what I really should be doing yet. As you've figured out, I am fresh into this hobby and I'm scrambling to try and have good results!

Thank you for your patience and your help!

[IzzieK]

Now I know yellow toads really do exists! The last one I saw was from the shot of my little grandchild's pretend camera (old cellphone.)