Odd focus

[flicker]

Still getting to grips with all the settings and things and been testing stuff out on the cats. I took this one and part of the face is out of focus and I am a bit confused about why.

I liked this one but it still looks like the average happy snaps type of picture

Any advice about what I should be looking at working on (apart from 'everything') - like how do I get my pet photos to look as "WOW" colourful as this: http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=200261

 

[tiler65]

1st one is possibly suffering from camera shake or too close shooting,

2nd is very passable and the exif shows everything to be about right for the Depth of Field.


The linked shot of the dog has some nice golden light, I feel, which is helping it no end and it has been sharpened too. (a bit ott IMHO)

If you want me to try an edit with one of your shots let me know and enable the edit my shots option in your control panel.

 

[Nikon Dave]

I can only put the soft shallow depth of field down to you having the aperture at f/2.8 and being close to the subject

 

[Gordon Scott]

I think you need to use AP or Manual mode on the camera and take control of the camera settings. The first photo lacks light, so the camera has selected a large aperture and long exposure which means a tripod should be used and a shallow depth of field will occur. The second image uses AP and has better lighting, but the cat is not at the best angle and the background is not very good.

 

[flicker]

tiler65 - feel free to edit away!

So if the hole (aperture) is big I should be far away from the subject and if it is small I should get closer?

And just to clarify something...when people say large aperture, does that mean large hole, not large number? e.g. f/2.8 = large aperture and f/5 = small aperture?

I am struggling to find subjects and decent backgrounds to practice with - all the rooms in my house are small and there is shelves and cupboards and stuff on every possible background and the windows are full of condensation.

 

[tiler65]

How is this



A little sharpen and a slight vignette to the window.

 

[Chumpalot]

And just to clarify something...when people say large aperture, does that mean large hole, not large number? e.g. f/2.8 = large aperture and f/5 = small aperture?
(

It can be interpreted both ways. Generally a larger aperture (meaning allowing more light to enter the lens) will mean anything from f1.4 to say f4. Any number 'higher' than this and you're restricting the amount of light you get, making it necessary to increase the shutter speed.

A smaller aperture (higher number) will give you a greater depth of field whilst a larger aperture (smaller number) will give you a more restricted depth of field.

 

[Gordon Scott]

tiler65 - feel free to edit away!

So if the hole (aperture) is big I should be far away from the subject and if it is small I should get closer?

And just to clarify something...when people say large aperture, does that mean large hole, not large number? e.g. f/2.8 = large aperture and f/5 = small aperture?

I am struggling to find subjects and decent backgrounds to practice with - all the rooms in my house are small and there is shelves and cupboards and stuff on every possible background and the windows are full of condensation.

If the aperture is large, then the depth of field is shallow, this is more obvious the closer you get to the subject.

Large aperture does mean large hole - yes.

I suggest you go outside and play, indoors adds the problem of low light that will make life harder when you are fairly new to things.