JA Warrior
New member
Thanks all. I was beginning to think along the same lines. It means cropping, but I tend to do that anyway. This would just make the crop bigger than usual. I'll use the largest size set for Fine and give it a whirl.
Depth Of Field Problems w/18-55mm AF-S Kit Lens
- Thread starter JA Warrior
- Start date
Thanks all. I was beginning to think along the same lines. It means cropping, but I tend to do that anyway. This would just make the crop bigger than usual. I'll use the largest size set for Fine and give it a whirl.
I bought a Nikkor AF 55D f2.8 micro for taking photos of my pens, you can check out my progress in this thread - http://nikonites.com/project-365-daily-photos/7645-ironwoods-pen-journey.html#axzz2SsLyV0wG
I think pens will be similar to your figurines, ultimately you want as much as possible to be in focus, and the photo to be as sharp as possible and showing true colours.
I have found getting all of my pen in focus at the same time to be near on impossible, I have used f16 on most of the photos in that thread, as I am told smaller than that will start to introduce diffraction. Lately I have tried some smaller apertures, and I think I prefer to have the deeper DOF, I can't notice any loss of image quality as a result, but a more experienced eye might see something that I can't.
Your 18-55 will yield quite good results, but a better lens will give you sharper photos. I have some comparisons in my pen thread if you want to check them out.
As others have already said the further you are away from the subject will increase your DOF, so getting back a bit and cropping later does help.
Edit- not sure if you are using AF , if you are turn it off and manual focus, you will get the best results possible.
Not sure how much trouble you want to go to for each photo, but another option is focus stacking, I have seen some close-ups of flowers, with the whole flower in perfect focus, there are some examples in various threads on the forum. DaveW has a thread with some great looking photos using focus stacking. It is something that I want to try, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
I think pens will be similar to your figurines, ultimately you want as much as possible to be in focus, and the photo to be as sharp as possible and showing true colours.
I have found getting all of my pen in focus at the same time to be near on impossible, I have used f16 on most of the photos in that thread, as I am told smaller than that will start to introduce diffraction. Lately I have tried some smaller apertures, and I think I prefer to have the deeper DOF, I can't notice any loss of image quality as a result, but a more experienced eye might see something that I can't.
Your 18-55 will yield quite good results, but a better lens will give you sharper photos. I have some comparisons in my pen thread if you want to check them out.
As others have already said the further you are away from the subject will increase your DOF, so getting back a bit and cropping later does help.
Edit- not sure if you are using AF , if you are turn it off and manual focus, you will get the best results possible.
Not sure how much trouble you want to go to for each photo, but another option is focus stacking, I have seen some close-ups of flowers, with the whole flower in perfect focus, there are some examples in various threads on the forum. DaveW has a thread with some great looking photos using focus stacking. It is something that I want to try, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
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You don't want to shoot products with a wide angle because of the distortion. And that's not good for product photography. The correct way is to use a normal or short tele, give yourself some distance, light it well, and use a small aperture.
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Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
Correct. Shooting from 5 feet at f/11 with a focal length of 55mm gives a DOF of just over twelve inches with an even split between front and rear focus or, roughly, 6" both in front of and behind the point of focus.
Dropping down to f/16 at the same 5 feet and using the same 55mm focal length increases total DOF to just over 18" with a 60/40 rear/front split, again rounding the numbers slightly.
Using 55mm at f/16 we can also move in a little closer, say three feet from the subject, and still have 3 or 4 inches of DOF on either side. Any closer than that and DOF begins to get really dicey.
Voila.
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JA Warrior
New member
Brad, thanks for the info. Yes, I am manually focusing. I like the focus results you achieved with the pens, and will try the same method.
BTW, I agree that most products are best showcased on their own, but there are exceptions which pretty much are self-evident when you do them - like a bottle of wine, for example (flower, glass, condensation water droplets, etc.).
If I'm focusing from a longer distance, and will crop it PP, it seems it will be more difficult to focus since the image will be so much smaller in the viewfinder or screen. I think I can press the + button to zoom in on the focus point in live view to be sure it's sharp (my eyes are old).
BTW, I agree that most products are best showcased on their own, but there are exceptions which pretty much are self-evident when you do them - like a bottle of wine, for example (flower, glass, condensation water droplets, etc.).
If I'm focusing from a longer distance, and will crop it PP, it seems it will be more difficult to focus since the image will be so much smaller in the viewfinder or screen. I think I can press the + button to zoom in on the focus point in live view to be sure it's sharp (my eyes are old).