So happy to be here & need a bit of H-E-L-P

[PBugJulie]

So great to be a new part of this wonderful forum. Hello!
I am using (and learning slowly...) the Canon 20D. The lense I have on it right now is the Canon 100mm f/2.8EF USM Macro. I am wonder if any of you might help me with a query.
It is this:
I am photographing, on a flat surface, a chestnut seed, which is large and about
1 1/4" or 31.9mm in length. You probably know what they look like... So, in photographing them I need to include in this shot, a metric ruler.
The photo is taken, the seed is in focus, but the ruler is OUT OF FOCUS time and time again.
I realize I can fix this, but at the moment do not know how.
Might anyone help me?
My thanks are yours,
PBug

[minimeeze]

Hi, and welcome to the forums :) Sounds like you need to change the aperture size on your camera...this may help...

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

[matty]

Hi and welcome!

someone will be along with an answer for you soon im sure, though if you post the question in the correct forum section im sure it will get answered quicker!

[RobertP]

Hello and welcome :)

Sounds like you have discovered the 'Depth of Field' is quite a short distance for close up (macro) photography. The wider open the aperture (or f2.8 with your lens) the shallower the distance that is actually in focus. there is a Depth of Field preview button on the 20D which will show you how your picture will come out. It is diagonally opposite the shutter button on the camera front.

Shut the aperture down to say f22 and you will get a bigger depth of field (more in focus depth) - use Av - Aperture priority mode and let the camera choose the shutter speed. The shutter speed may be slow so you may need a tripod and/or increase the iso setting.

Sometimes you can feel other replies coming while you type... bound to be some links to further reading :)

[RobertP]

I recently got a macro lens. Take a look at the test shots of a remote control that I took at f2.8 and f22 in this thread (http://www.thephotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6230). Not great photos but shows the depth of field well :)

[ed34]

hello and welcome :)

[..MD..]

howdy pbug welcome to the forum..

[whitewash]

about
1 1/4" or 31.9mm in length.

welcome to the forum, sounds like you need a smaller apature on your picture to increase the DOF.


i also love the way your "about" size is more accurate than most rulers :clap: ace!

[PBugJulie]

Thank you so much for all your help! Whewwww!
Matty - I will take your suggestion and post in another forum section as well, good idea. I just thought I should start with the "Welcome" area.

RobertP - Tried the DEP button, and it seems all I get is a darkened preview...hmmm. Will have to play with this. As to the "AV" and the f22 setting, it worked for one shot wonderfully, then I couldn't get the shot again, no matter how I tried and now I'm going home. Has that ever happened to you?

ed34 - Hello!

Monkeydave - To you too, sir!!

Hope I can figure this out.
Best,
Your PBug

[digitalfailure]

Hi Pbug

As the others have mentioned, it sounds like your shooting with a wide aperture, can you post the exif details of the shots?

I think i'd be setting the camera to P mode for the time being and making sure that you have as much of the frame in focus as possible before pressing the shutter release.

A good stable position would be helpful too, camera shake might well be causing the soft out of focus for you.

[RobertP]

RobertP - Tried the DEP button, and it seems all I get is a darkened preview...hmmm.

Yes it will be darkened but it will let you see what is in focus and what isn't. when you just look normally you only see a narrow depth of field that you have with the lens wide open for viewing. The f22 setting only happens when you press the shutter (or DOF preview buton)

[Warspite]

Welcome aboard:thumb:
:wave2:

[jewel]

:wave3: Pbugjulie

Welcome to the forums!

Jewel

[Matt]

Welcome to the forums Julie.

DoF (depth of field) can be effected by how close the lens is to the subject,
So if you are closer to the subject on your latest attempts you may struggle
to get the ruler in focus.

If for example your subject was 1.5 metres away from the focal plain,
and you are shooting at f8, the near/far limits of acceptable sharpness
would be 1.47m/1.53m, this equates to 6cm of acceptable focus.
If you had reduced the distance of the focal plain to 1 metre,
the acceptable distances would change to 0.99/1.01m, this equates to 2cm of acceptable focus which could be the reason your ruler is not in focus.

If you don't understand the above, just move the camera further away from
the subject until you get the result you are after.

HTH

[Glen]

Hi Pbug :)

[Witch]

Welcome aboard! :D

[daveyuk]

Hello :wave4: :wave4:

[PBugJulie]

Hello All and Thanks so much for the L-E-S-S-O-N. So much to do and so little time, you know how it is. I know what I want, but I can't quite get it yet. I'm just in the studio now, so I will try what you all have suggested. I am shooting these seeds with a Manfrotto 3021Pro.
Hope this works! Thanks for your help.

BTW, Digitalfailure -
I don't have the EXIF Data (don't how to upload it here with finess...yet), but I do have the exposure time & F-stop:
#1 - 2"5 f/22 (just right)
#2 - 3"2 f/8 (yellow/red)
#3 - 1"3 f/5 (same as above)
#4 - 2" f5.6 (over exp)
#5 - 1"6 f/5 (same as above)
#6 - 1/5 f/2.8 (pretty good)
#7 - 3"2 f/9 (good)
#8 - 1"3 f/6.3 (pretty good, but OE)
#9 - 2"5 f/8 (OE)
Hope this helps. I'll be watching out!
Best,
Your PBug

[SammyC]

Sounds like youre running it in full manual mode! You don't want to be doing that yet if you are having problems with what DoF is.

Just turn the dial until its on Av, then you only have to worry about the Apperture (f number). The camera will do the rest for you.

, oh, and welcome.

[PBugJulie]

Thanks so SammyC!
"AV" it is.
Down to work now.
Best,
Your PBug
Oh, and thanks...again

[digitalfailure]

Pbug
Don't worry so much about posting exif data, if your using something like photoshop the exif data can be viewed on screen. copy and paste the details into your post.
If your still in My pics, right click the file, select properties/summary/advanced and you'll see all the info of the shot.

Hope that helps.....and keep on clicking :)

[PBugJulie]

Hello digitalfailure - Right, got it. Way easy. I will post.
Thanks,
Your PBug

[Joe T]

Welcome! :D

Hope you get your pics sorted soon. :)

[PBugJulie]

digitalfailure - need your help. I did get to view the exif data as you mentioned in My Pics, and I just did a "Print Screen" to get these. Then went to PSCS2 and went to File then File Info and found the data, but I could not copy and/or paste it anywhere. Is there something else I'm not doing?
Many Thanks and hope to hear,
Your PBug

[digitalfailure]

Pbug, your not doing anything wrong, you can't copy and past the info directly from windows or CS2

So, you'll either need to make a note of the important details like shutter speed and aperture, flash fired ? and post them into a thread or do and ALT+ Print screen and paste that info in as an image, but for that you'll need to upload the image onto your webspace in order to get the image to show in a thread.

i'd go for a quick note of the important bits in this instance, sorry if I made it sound easier than it was.
There are probably some software packages that will allow you to export the exif data out, but I only use CS2

[PBugJulie]

dig -
I'll try that and get it to here shortly. Thanks for the words. Feel a little better now.
Your PBug