Raw File/Focus advice

Seajay

Seajay

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Cathy
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Hi all,
Took myself off to Turnberry to try once again to capture some nice shots of the lighthouse.

Anyway i went for the first time tonight an hour before sunset and stayed until 30 mns after.

I tried a few different settings but stayed mostly on shutter priority and Av.I had taken my shots on raw only and used auto to try and focus one third of the way in then back to manual ,sounds like i know what I am doing but truly I don't.
Question is all my pictures look very grainy and not in focus is this because the camera was setting up for me and used a high iso if so how would i have sorted this or is it because they are raw files and not jpg.Or is it just because I am new to this and not getting the focus right.Probably is me but would like your thoughts.
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blunder1 by cooriedoon, on Flickr
 
I don't know the focal length or aperture you've used but it sounds like you're trying to use hyperfocal like technique and are not happy with the results.

Perhaps a good starting point might be to study some DoF tables or have a think about using Merklinger method.

I don't know how long the exposures were either and if the light was low and the shutter speed long that could have been part of your issue. Or where you using a tripod...
 
Alan

I just took my canon 550d with kit lens and mounted it on my tripod
I set the camera to TP and sometimes AV
I used a cable release to take the actual pictures and took the lens off auto after each set up.
I did slow down the shutter speed to try and soften the water but put it back up when finished.
I was using f22 when sun was up then around f11-f16 I think after.
 
Had a look at the exif on Flickr, the image above was taken at f22, 0.8 sec, ISO 100 in shutter speed priority AE. The grained look is not down to ISO being too high as it was ISO 100.

Focus distance was 3.49m which suggests you focused on the rock in foreground at the bottom of the image. Have a look at depth of field too, for this image the DoF should have been infinite but I would say the f22 aperture would have caused a problem. Many lens are best at f11-16 for sharpness, defraction causes problems in images above this this at the f22 setting you have used.

I'm not much of a landscaper but I normally use aperture priority so I set the aperture and ISO and allow the camera to change the shutter length to get the correct exposure. If you have the camera on a tripod with cable release (like you have done) the shutter length can be open as long as needed as you have a stable platform. To get nice creamy water you need to have the shutter open for a long time, many use ND filters to stop as much light getting to sensor to lengthen the time the shutter has to be open for to get the same exposure.
 
Rob this is great info for me as my next question was where to find the info for this snap.

I will have a look through my other shots and see what I was doing. I thought I might have at least gone one shot using different shutter speeds and exposure.
I also took a few of the same shot and adjusted the exposure to lighten and darken but lol! no luck:)
I took many from different areas around the scene so guess I just need to go back and try again
Thank you for your very welcome advice.
Cathy
 
Steve thank you I see it now.

Never had need of it before but see if i need to ask about an image it would be better to give this info.
Cathy
 
you could try the free trial of dxo, i think some of it is defraction if its at f22, processing might help it quite abit, maybe you missed hyperfocal by just a lil bit too
 
I would guess some of the sharpness issue was a SS of 1/8. That's pretty slow for anyone to handhold. Also, you shot in raw and raw files always require some sharpening. Combine that with some diffraction @ f/22 and it's not surprising.

I think a lot of the noise is from "demosaicing" the bayer layer. It's very common in blue areas because only one out of every four photosites(pixels) is blue. The other "blue pixels" have to be "calculated" from the other surrounding pixels and there just aren't enough of them that are blue to make the calculations/conversions accurate.
 
Ok taking all this info on board and will remember it for future.

Went back last night again just for practise and set my camera to raw plus jpg
It was not a great night sky was rather boring and the tide was out but it gave me time to really look at each shot before moving to try another etc
I will get my Turnberry photo one day to print out but really would love to capture it with a beautiful dramatic sky During sunset.
Thank you everyone!
Cathy
 
some lenses have a sideways 8 (infinity) as a focus marker so you could set that.

Additionally you could shoot in aperture priority to also ensure you get the front to back depth of field you need and use an ND filter / polariser to reduce the light hitting the sensor to get the camera to set a longer shutter speed and get the milky water effect you seem to be trying to create.

If you use a high ISO then, subject to the abilities of the camera, this is no doubt the key reason why you have a grainy image
 
Warren thank you .

i was trying the blurry water look but only on a few shots
When I went back I stayed with just getting a picture :)

All advice has been very helpful. Truth is I should meet up with someone who knows what they are doing and just watch lol! :)
 
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