Help please - Why are these images blurred? 2nd attempts added

[DorsetDude]

Hi all

Took some pics this morning of this fella. They all seem to have blurred or OOF elements though? Can anyone tell me why this is?

Was using the Canon 70-300MM IS lens at full zoom for most of them, using auto focus and IS switched on. Straigh out of camera apart form tweaking in camera raw and resizing in elements, no sharpening applied.

I was about 4' or 5' away form the subject so surely the depth of field wouldnt be so shallow that part of the buttefly would be in focus and other parts not?

The antenna in particular seem very difficult to get focussed.:shrug:

Quite annoying

Any tips appreciated. Do I need to get a Macro lens?

#1 f5.6 1/250

#2 f5.6 1/60

#3 f5.6 1/180

#4 f5.6 1/125

 

[posiview]

Hi all

Took some pics this morning of this fella. They all seem to have blurred or OOF elements though? Can anyone tell me why this is?

Was using the Canon 70-300MM IS lens at full zoom for most of them, using auto focus and IS switched on. Straigh out of camera apart form tweaking in camera raw and resizing in elements, no sharpening applied.

I was about 4' or 5' away form the subject so surely the depth of field wouldnt be so shallow that part of the buttefly would be in focus and other parts not?

The antenna in particular seem very difficult to get focussed.:shrug:

Quite annoying

Any tips appreciated. Do I need to get a Macro lens?

#1

#2

#3

#4

Hi, what settings.... Shutter speed and f?

Cheers

 

[DorsetDude]

Hi, what settings.... Shutter speed and f?

Cheers

Err was hoping that would be in the EXIF?

Hang on,

ISO 400 all.

#1 f5.6 1/250

#2 f5.6 1/60

#3 f5.6 1/180

#4 f5.6 1/125

Original post updated also.

Cheers

 

[gblades]

How far away were you. You mentioned 4 or 5 feet but was that from he front of the lens? All distance measurements should be from the marking on the camera.

If wee assume its 5 ft or 150cm away and you have a aps-c crop camera then using dof calculator on my android phone we have a depth of field of 0.43cm

 

[dinners]

He's 4 or 5 feet away - not inches.

5 feet @ 300mm @ f5.6 will still be quite shallow.

I'll shoot garden birds 6 feet away at 5.6 / 400mm and it's enough to have an eye in focus and the tip of the beak out of focus.

Use a smaller aperture for greater dof. If the shutter speeds get too slow then crank the ISO up.

 

[gblades]

Yes spotted that and was in the middle of editing. So yes just under half a cm depth of field which does look to be what you are seeing in the photo. F/16 would give you 1.22cm which might just be enough. Otherwise have a look at focus stacking.

 

[BruceMo]

Quite slow shutter speeds for a long lens, especially if hand held

 

[jomike]

According to some online DOF calculators I tried, 300mm focal length at 105cm and f/5.6 on an APS-C sensor gives a DOF of 2mm, and 150cm gives about 4.5mm, which seems about right in my experience.

Also, the AF will not always lock on the right spot at this distance. In the last photo the af has locked on to the background.

I would use MF and manual mode for this kind of shot, stop down to about f/8 and choose at least 1/250s. This will mean use of flash to get correct exposure unless you have really good light.

Here is one from about 6ft at 420mm. (300mm f/4 + 1.4 TC) and flash, shoe mounted.


Small Skipper by jomike, on Flickr
Exif data
Camera Nikon D90
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 420 mm
ISO Speed 200

 

[MWHCVT]

I have that very lens and it's not been on the camera for a few months, to be honest I've found it to be a very soft lens I think that you'd be better off trying to work around f/8 as a minimum aperture, where were you focussing on for these?

Matt
MWHCVT

 

[Martyn...]

I was about 4' or 5' away form the subject so surely the depth of field wouldnt be so shallow that part of the buttefly would be in focus and other parts not?

I agree with jomike, your best bet would be to stop down the lens, and possibly back off a touch then crop.

Something else to consider is to have the sun behind you, ideally with the light coming over your shoulder so it strikes the subject at an angle, this will help with the sharpness of the image.

 

[DorsetDude]

Some really helpful replies there, thanks everybody.
Really surprised that DOF would be so shallow.

I use Auto focus because my eyesight is too poor for me to tell through the VF when things are sharp. Maybe I need to adjust the dioptre thingy.

I was hand holding for these, yes and had the stabilisation turned on. I'll try again at f8 or f16 in a mo as there are some flapping about today.

Thanks again

 

[hollis_f]

I was hand holding for these, yes and had the stabilisation turned on. I'll try again at f8 or f16 in a mo as there are some flapping about today.

One problem with shooting handheld with such a narrow DoF is that a lot of people will sway back or forward between half-pressing the shutter and finally taking the shot. That'll be enough to move the subject out of focus unless AI servo is used.

 

[Greywolf]

When you have a DoF measured in mm or parts thereof, technique becomes very important. Firstly for a butterfly with its wings open the axis of the lens must be perpendicular to the plane of the butterfly. Otherwise only a small propotion of the butterfly will be sharp. If you are using AF then only use the centre spot. With practice manual focus can be better combined with rocking body backwards and forwards rather than using the focus ring. It all takes lots of practice and macro photography of insects is not easy. Be prepared for only a small percentage of keepers to begin with.

 

[DorsetDude]

Thanks to Frank and Greywolf for more input.

Here are some from yestersday with smaller aperture and auto ISO. Still not quite there I dont think?

Thanks

#1 f13, 1/125 ISO 800

#2 f13, 1/180, ISO 500

#3 f13, 1/180, ISO 400

#4 f13, 1/180, ISO 250