What height?

Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
Hi I just thought I would share my thoughts on when taking photos that its best to get atleast to eye level of the animal that you are shooting, this results in a much 'creamier' back ground. I will post a few examples.

The below photo is me standing up and shooting down on the subject.
F2.8 1/1000 ISO 200 / 200mm
SHM_1159.jpg


And this one is me standing aswell, you can see the amount of area in focus.
F7.1 / 1/1000 / ISO 2000 / 400mm
SHM_1238.jpg

This one is me lying on the ground as you can see there is little in focus and the bird stands out from the creamy background.
F7.1 / 1/1000 / ISO 110 / 400mm
SHM_1337.jpg


And for another comparison

Lying on the ground.
F6.3 / 1/640 / ISO 160 / 400mm
SHM_1350.jpg


Sitting in vehicle
F6.3 / 1/1000 / ISO 320 / 400mm
SHM_1395.jpg
 
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Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
Another thing I guess too is that even though a F2.8 will give better low light performance and shallower DOF but if you get low to the ground you can achieve a shallow DOF with an aperture of F7.1 which allows subject separation. I am considering getting the 2 x TC just to see what the 70-200 can do at 140-400 F5.6
 
G

gqtuazon

Gear Head
Great series Scott. For the most part, I try to shoot at eye level with the subject. In sports I tend to shoot lower or kneel since I don't like standing with a heavier lens. For example, this image of a dog which had a height of no taller than 20 inches, I brought my camera at his eye level and took several shots. Luckily this was in-focus.
Nikon 50mm f1.8G by gqtuazon, on Flickr
 
T

TattooedMac

Senior Member
Great info Scott. This is one of the earliest things I realised when I took up the camera. I found the lower i got for any subject, the better the shot turned out. Gret to see the Exif as well, as this will help me in time, as I'm gathering a lot of data like this to one day Publish a eBook with it all, for referencing.

Cheers
 
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