Very noob in need of advice

G

G4v_HD

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Name
Gavin
Edit My Images
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Hi everyone.

Im Gav, 28 from the West Midlands

I have always been interested in photography but never taken the step into in until now.

I know its not the best camera, or even a DSLR but i managed to get my hands on a PL FZ100 for quite cheep so i thought this would be a good camera to learn on.

Anyway, i have been taking a few random pics but I'm having trouble getting the fine detail right and i hope you guys can point me in the right direction.


This is on of my pics thats bugging me the most

P1010394 by G4VHD, on Flickr
I've had a play with it in LR but the sharpness isn't right at all.

Any ideas on getting this pin sharp.

My settings were as follows

Exposure 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 4.5 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
 
Hi Gavin :wave:

Welcome to TP :thumbs:

Nice first post, I would like to see the colour version also

Look forward to seeing more of your work :thumbs:
 
High ISO will typically add a fair amount of noise so can appear less sharp. Looking at the original, you can see quite a bit of noise on the disc in front and to the left of the front droplet as well as a lot in the bottom left shadow.

You seem to have focused on the front droplet. Nothing wrong with that but of course the shallow depth of field will make the rest of it look less sharp.

If you put the camera on a tripod you can pull that ISO down to it's lowest setting by ramping down the shutter speed to a couple of seconds. Tripod also should maximise sharpness by removing camera shake.

I like the idea for the image though, nice conception.
 
Cheers tricky.

My ISO was so high due to poor light and lack of tripod so couldn't do longer shutter speed..

Got tripod tomorrow so will try again.

Thanks.
 
try to include some more natural light and naturally the pic should improve immensely
 
tezmed said:
try to include some more natural light and naturally the pic should improve immensely
Click to expand...

Thank you, will also add and use this advice..

Whats the best way to add artificial "natural light" if you get my drift
 
G4v_HD said:
Thank you, will also add and use this advice..

Whats the best way to add artificial "natural light" if you get my drift
Click to expand...


Either setup your photo on the windowsill (ideal with the rubbish overcast weather we're having at the moment; you may want to avoid this if it's sunny because of harsh shadows you'd have to contend with), or try a reading lamp close to - and pointed at - a white wall.
 
Just to give you an idea, with your camera, at those settings, assuming you were say 10cm from the CD and focussed on the front water drop, the Depth of Field (DOF) is very shallow, at only 1.61cm. This means that only 0.74cm in front of the drop and 0.87cm behind the drop will be 'sharp'.

If you want a greater portion of the image to be sharp, use a smaller aperture. The same shot at f/8 would have a total DOF of 4.77cm, and at f/22 it would be up to 21cm. Note the DoF is split between both in front of and behind the thing you focus on.

Clearly as you adjust the aperture, the longer the shot will take, so you'll need that tripod you've just ordered.

There is an excellent on-line calculator for this here

As for the noise, as others have said, the ISO is to blame there - set it nice and low, again it will increase the exposure time.
 
Furtim said:
Just to give you an idea, with your camera, at those settings, assuming you were say 10cm from the CD and focussed on the front water drop, the Depth of Field (DOF) is very shallow, at only 1.61cm. This means that only 0.74cm in front of the drop and 0.87cm behind the drop will be 'sharp'.

If you want a greater portion of the image to be sharp, use a smaller aperture. The same shot at f/8 would have a total DOF of 4.77cm, and at f/22 it would be up to 21cm. Note the DoF is split between both in front of and behind the thing you focus on.

Clearly as you adjust the aperture, the longer the shot will take, so you'll need that tripod you've just ordered.

There is an excellent on-line calculator for this here

As for the noise, as others have said, the ISO is to blame there - set it nice and low, again it will increase the exposure time.
Click to expand...


Great piece of advice, very helpfull, I will try this probably again tonight.

Again, cheers.
 
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