Beginner Auto mode & ISO400 - a question for the landscape guys

sparker said:
Good afternoon,
Out this afternoon for an hour with my D3100 "trying" a landscape or two. When in Auto mode the camera was giving an ISO reading of 400. If I want to try shooting at ISO100, I believe I will need to take it out of Auto and shoot in one of the manual modes. Should I use the Aperture mode and let the camera sort out the shutter speed? I only have kit lenses, using the 18-55mm where should I start with the aperture size? I seem to remember "the bigger the f/stop the longer the depth of field".

Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

As a starting point, try Aperture mode and stick to f8, try a few shots focusing on different areas of the scene for maximum depth of field - I believe the rule of thumb is about a third of the way in. At f8 you should have a relatively quick shutter speed in daylight and get most of what you want acceptably in focus.

I took this yesterday (still learning myself), trying to get the sign and the background in focus with the above settings:

 
Last edited:
Unfortunately because we use highly technical cameras to take photos these days it's easy to think that photography is a science, unfortunately it's not and pretty much everything has variables than need to be taken into account so hard & fast rules for anything don't really exist.

The best thing to do is understand the technical aspects of how the camera works and then adapt them to suit exactly what you're trying to achieve.

Here are a couple of really well written articles that should help with the technical stuff... once you've got this then just experiment with the different settings. No one can tell you where to focus for optimum results as they're not taking the photo you're seeing.

https://photographylife.com/what-is-exposure-triangle

https://photographylife.com/landscapes/hyperfocal-distance-explained

https://photographylife.com/landscapes/how-to-take-sharp-landscape-photos


Personally when focusing I use a "rule of thumb" of focusing at twice the distance of the closest object that needs to be sharp... but adjust the focus point as necessary for the results I prefer,

Simon
 
Last edited:
sparker said:
This is my first go, iso100 F8 at 1/60thView attachment 116350
Click to expand...
It looks to me like your lens might be on the long side for getting really deep DOF... shorter FL's help.

For example, an *APS camera/lens set to f/16 the hyperfocal distance in feet is the focal length as a percentage of itself... i.e. the HFD for a 50mm @ f/16 is 50% of 50, which is 25ft. And if you focus at 25 ft the DOF will extend from 12ft to infinity. At f/8 the hyperfocal distance is doubled (50ft).
For a 25mm lens at f/16 the HFD is 25% of 25, ~ 6.25ft. And the DOF would be ~ 3ft to infinity.

If you use a ROT (like 1/3 into the scene) and focus beyond the HFD the near limit rapidly moves back towards the HFD, but it never really goes beyond by much... so using the 1/3 ROT the DOF w/ a 50mm @ f/16 would be more like 25ft to infinity instead of the 12ft to infinity possible.

For those using FF cameras the functions are the same, just start from f/11 instead.


*the calculations have a little more error if the APS camera is not a 1.5x crop factor, but it's still accurate enough for use in the field.
 
Is that the 55mm end of the kit lens(or close to) ? I would have thought you'd be able to squeeze enough depth of field out of it at f8 to get that shot. I think what you may be struggling with here is speed? Depending on how still you can hold the camera there might be some blur at 1/60th, especially if there was any breeze that has possibly lost you some fine detail in the background.
 
Last edited:
Forkbeard said:
Is that the 55mm end of the kit lens(or close to) ? I would have thought you'd be able to squeeze enough depth of field out of it at f8 to get that shot.
Click to expand...
With an 85mm the closest you're going to get in focus is about 72ft unless you use really small apertures... at f/8 on APS it would be a bit about 145ft.
The far side is w/in the DOF I think... the issue is environmental.
 
sk66 said:
With an 85mm the closest you're going to get in focus is about 72ft unless you use really small apertures... at f/8 on APS it would be a bit about 145ft.
The far side is w/in the DOF I think... the issue is environmental.
Click to expand...

Do these distances apply both ways, both in front and behind the subject your focusing on?
 
Forkbeard said:
Do these distances apply both ways, both in front and behind the subject your focusing on?
Click to expand...
No. As long as the focus distance is equal to/greater than the HFD the far DOF will be "infinity." However, I mistyped... 72ft is the HFD for 85mm@f/16 and 145ft @ f/8... the near DOF limit would be half that.
 
sparker said:
Thanks for the replies, I think I need to spend more time practicing.
Click to expand...

As Steven said, environmental issues also come into play, give yourself a break and try again on a clear day :). You might be pleasantly surprised.
 
I think the theory is starting to over complicate the application here.

Focussing in liveview as it is on Nikon or mirrorless, or with depth of field preview button depressed on canon makes it a very quick empirical exercise.

Using experience, based on sensor size, focal length, distance from foreground and required depth of field select a likely suitable aperture.

Pretend you think you need f8, zoom in 100% liveview, go to the background manually adjust focus until you get it sharp. Then, pull your focus closer until it just drops out then focus a fraction away again. What you have just done for that aperture is found the closest point you can focus at whilst achieves good critical sharpness of the background.

Now, nice the 100% zoom box to the closest part f the foreground. Is it pin sharp? You may need to rock the focus ring closer then further away again to check. If it was already at critical focus on the foreground, great, your f8 aperture was sufficient. So repeat the exercise to make sure it's spot on, (but you might as well get foreground sharp and focus towards infinity this time as the box is there). Then move the zoom box to the background again for visual confirmation that is sharp.

However, if you find you have to pull the focus towards you to get the foreground sharp when it is already as close as it can be whilst keeping the background sharp then you need more depth of field. You can either;

A. Focus stack.
B. Stop down.
C. Accept the entire scene is not in focus and I would recommend prioritising the foreground as the details will be so much larger and what people look at first.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top