How's this for Narrow Depth of Field ?

This is the third time today I've taken pictures of this bud.

It's dried Amnesia, harvested a little early. Amnesia = Haze x Northern Lights, supposedly.


I've always heard that more light helped to improve depth of field.

So the middle of the image - some of the trichomes - are in focus.

But parts of the bud further and closer away are out of focus.

That's like a 1 centimeter depth of field (the area that's in focus).


It's like my camera is getting presbyopia, where your ability to focus at various distances decreases as you get older. (sort of related to why people wear bifocals).


I'm using a Canon Rebel EOS SLR and it is sucking.

What are your lens and settings? The reason more light can give you greater depth of field is that it lets you use a higher f stop.

What lens are you using? To get more depth of field you want to use the highest aperture setting you can (f#) that does not slow the shutter speed enough to cause blur (that is why more light helps with depth of field). A tripod helps if your shutter speed gets too slow. Focal length and lens speed also comes into play thus the question about the lens.

St. Phatty said:

View Image

This is the third time today I've taken pictures of this bud.

It's dried Amnesia, harvested a little early. Amnesia = Haze x Northern Lights, supposedly.


I've always heard that more light helped to improve depth of field.

So the middle of the image - some of the trichomes - are in focus.

But parts of the bud further and closer away are out of focus.

That's like a 1 centimeter depth of field (the area that's in focus).


It's like my camera is getting presbyopia, where your ability to focus at various distances decreases as you get older. (sort of related to why people wear bifocals).


I'm using a Canon Rebel EOS SLR and it is sucking.

Click to expand...

Never had that much issue with macro, but I am beginner.

Perhaps pulling back an inch or two. At current distance,
you may have exceeded minimum range for focus.

Is that bud seeded?

Dropped Cat said:

Never had that much issue with macro, but I am beginner.

Perhaps pulling back an inch or two. At current distance,
you may have exceeded minimum range for focus.

Is that bud seeded?

Click to expand...

Yes it is, the dad is Candyland x A11.

Will try the photo again, on the ever-dwindling bud.

After I smoke some of it.

St. Phatty said:

Yes it is, the dad is Candyland x A11.

Will try the photo again, on the ever-dwindling bud.

After I smoke some of it.

Click to expand...

If you smoke it all, then no need to photograph it.

lol

If you smoke it all , you'll be better off with a x-ray , lol

St. Phatty said:

View Image

This is the third time today I've taken pictures of this bud.

It's dried Amnesia, harvested a little early. Amnesia = Haze x Northern Lights, supposedly.





I'm using a Canon Rebel EOS SLR and it is sucking.

Click to expand...

sucking>? Canon is a reputable brand, and the rebel is entry level, but it's not a bad camera. Are you using film or digital? What're your complaints, specifically?

To take good pictures requires good composition, and a full mastery of your equipment.

For example, I would have taken this picture of this bud vertically, against a black or dark backdrop, with the camera slightly lower than the subject. I would have used a cheap tripod, because they allow for high f stop numbers without regard to low light conditions.

A photographer who blames his camera is in much the same position as a painter who blames his brush.

St. Phatty said:

View Image

This is the third time today I've taken pictures of this bud.

It's dried Amnesia, harvested a little early. Amnesia = Haze x Northern Lights, supposedly.


I've always heard that more light helped to improve depth of field.

So the middle of the image - some of the trichomes - are in focus.

But parts of the bud further and closer away are out of focus.

That's like a 1 centimeter depth of field (the area that's in focus).


It's like my camera is getting presbyopia, where your ability to focus at various distances decreases as you get older. (sort of related to why people wear bifocals).


I'm using a Canon Rebel EOS SLR and it is sucking.

Click to expand...

Focal length, distance to subject and F-stop together determine depth of field. When shooting at very close distances, like you are, the effective f-stop is smaller than the camera might show. Some cameras automatically give the effective f-stop.
So, if you are using f/5.6 and using closest possible distance it might actually be f/8:ish.
If you are trying to get the whole bud into focus you'd have to do a focus stacking to get everything in focus.

Like BobbyIronsights said, try simplifying the background. If your subject is lighter than background it'll pop up from it and help viewer to focus on the subject. This also works with contrasting colours if you are interested in venturing into colour theory.

You can use anything, stacked books, bean bags etc. as a support to use longer shutter speeds. If using any kind of support that keeps the camera firmly in position, turn off possible image stabilization from the lens (or from camera for sensor stabilized models), the stabilization system freaks and the images will be blurry.

You don't need professional gear to get professional results, better lighting plays much more important role in the final image than the $$ spent on gear. If you know how to grow, you'll learn how to photograph. Technical part of the basics are just simple laws of physics.
Hope this helps!

you shouldn't be taking such crap photo's with an SLR, even my phone can take a better macro than that.

you need to up the fstop to the highest number and set the shutter speed to the slowest. you might wanna get a sturdy surface to rest your camera on or a tripod.

better than I get...I did better with my old camera then my Nikon d70s...one of theses days i will get it right..i even have a macro lense and still aint happy with my shots...yeehaw

Are you using set lens? Because there are top macro lenses available for SLR...