Focus problem

I'm an amateur with a D70S, 28-105 stock Nikon lens. I've been experimenting with taking photos of trees in the woods where there's a lot of shadow punctuated by bright spots of sunlight, and my success rate of decent photos is about 10%.

On my last try, I brought along a tripod, set the aperture for f/16 and let it go with the timer (I'm lookign for some decent depth of field). Most of the photos taken this way were blurry. I also tried setting the shutter speed to 1/400 and allowing the camera to choose the aperture. These were better (more in focus), but some of the highlights were blown out and some of the shadows (which were full of reflected light) came out too dark.

Any suggestions for improvement would be mostw elcomed (please, not too technical, though--I'm still a babe in the woods, so to speak).

Some picture samples may help get you better tips. In general, a long exposure of trees will be blurry, its hard to avoid leaf movement outdoors. What metering mode? Usually matrix is best, but you could try spot metering on the trees. That might improve shadows, but will definitely blow out highlights. You can try exposure compensation, add or removing some exposure and try to make the best of it in post processing. Do you shoot raw? That will give you more ability to bring down highlights or lighten shadows.

The situation you describe is difficult. A newer camera would probably capture more of the brights and darks, there is more dynamic range with newer sensors. Some guys would use something called HDR processing, high dynamic range, a merging of bracketed exposures. I haven't tried it yet, but I think the trees would still present problems due to movement between the shots.

I found this....
Maximizing Dynamic Range

Thanks for the reply! Maybe the longer exposure at f/16 is too long, but the tree itself (non-moving) is out of focus. Maybe f/8 or f/11? I've had better luck--although very mixed--with hand-held shots at a fast shutter speed, letting the camera set the aperture and ISO. Bracketing helps (1/3), but usually I get one shot too light, one too dark, and one so-so in the middle.

I've posted a few sample shots under Sl60.

Thanks!

I forget how many focus points the d70 has, but maybe try single point focus and put the focus point on the most important item. Its hard to tell with the busy woods scenes where exactly focus might have been. Higher number f stop will give more depth of field and of course longer shutter speed. Or you could try to focus at a mid depth in the scene so you have some leeway forward or back from your actual focus point. Your sample shots look like you could improve them a bit in post processing especially if you shoot raw. Bring down the highlights and bring up the shadows. I use Lightroom, but the free Nikon ViewNX will do it too. I don't use ViewNX enough to give specific advice.

sl60 said:

On my last try, I brought along a tripod, set the aperture for f/16 and let it go with the timer (I'm lookign for some decent depth of field). Most of the photos taken this way were blurry.

Click to expand...

The tripod should have helped a lot, to steady the camera, and the trees were probably not moving around.

There is one more thing, probably not a problem, but the self timer focuses when you first press the shutter, and not again later when the timer trips the shutter. I doubt the trees changed position, but if you might have shifted the camera during this timeout, it could affect focus.

Here is a quick Lightroom edit of one of your shots. You should be able to do a lot better with the original full size jpg, or re-shoot a similar scene and try RAW. I didn't bother messing with colors or anything like that, just a quick lighten shadows and darken highlights.

Thanks to all for the resopnses!

Nick--the edit looks excellent! I can probably do the same with Gimp (I think)!

Would it be worth my while to trade in everything I have and apply to something like a D1000--or is it truly a case of, it's not the camera, but the user?

I'm not familiar with gimp, not sure if it does raw. You don't have to shoot raw, but I think it will help with shots like this. 2mb jpg file vs a maybe 6mb raw file on your camera. Lots more to work with. You will be able to pull more detail from the shadows and highlights. If Gimp doesn't do raw, try Nikon ViewNX, also free. I wouldn't trash your camera yet, but if you are really interested, an upgrade to a d7000 or a d7100 would be nice in the future. I had a d70. I shot it a lot and then my interest faded. I picked a d3100 at a good price. It rekindled my interest, but I quickly missed the d70 type user experience and I got a d7000. I'm really loving it. See how it goes, take your best shots and if you are having fun, upgrade. Your d70s will make some great shots, but there are benefits to a newer sensor.

Something to read...
Nikon ViewNX 2: raw processing made easy | N-Photo

Please check the focusing accuracy of your lens. A lot of AF lenses do not focus spot on, they either focus ahead or behind where you want. The simplest method of testing is to.
. On a table place a graduated scale at an angle (best is 45 degrees), so that the graduations are away from you at the top and towards you at the bottom
. Mount the camera on a tripod. The camera should be horizontally leveled and lense centre should be at a mark near the centre of the scale - say 6" mark on a 12" scale.
. Use the central focus point only and focus on the 6" mark at the widest aperture of the lense (that will give minimum DOF)
. Now study the shot on a computer terminal and determine where the best focus was. It is now simple maths to calculate the focus deviation.

Here are some links for D70 focusing problems
MY cure for the D70 Backfocus. 100% perfection!: Nikon DX SLR (D40-D90, D3000-D7100) Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
Nikon D70 Focusing Problem Workaround
Autofocus troubleshooting by Thom Hogan

Don't ditch the camera! Consider also (1) adjusting the viewfinder focus (on the D3100 there's a small dial by the window) so what you are looking at is actually in focus and (2) using manual focus (which I use 90% of the time). I find auto-focus restricts what I want to do quite severely (largely because I don't understand it!).