depth of field, perhaps(?)
I have always been a fan of “depth of field” photographs, so today I tried my hand at a couple of photographs with my D90. I think I did okay, any pointers on how to perfect depth of field photographs(?) It took me two hours to get the size of the photographs correct; in order to fit them on the screen, as the D90 produces photos 4,500 pixels in size.
It’s back to work tomorrow. Back to; answering the phone, data entry, checking/responding to work emails, reconciling the accounts, chasing accounts receviable & acting as accounts payable. Processing payroll, superannuation, printing reports & filing. Scheduling meetings, organising freight, entering time sheets & calculating expenses. Playing receptionist, data entry clerk, PA (personal assistant) to the CEO’s, office manager, accounts officer, payroll clerk & administration assistant. It’s back to 9am – 5pm Monday to friday & after all of this .. I’m excited to be going back.
Setting the size of photos is very easy in photoshop, you have to: file ; save for web ; image size, set the size you want and save to jpg, is very acceptable and light.
With Nikon program is export which is defined as the size and quality we want. I hope help you with this tip.
Miguel Almeida
Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 10:02 pm
You deserve the slight recognition. The picture was
taken just off a side street of Lonsdale, which is one of the main “strips” in North Vancouver. A lot of apartments and a lot stores, and pretty much everything else I didn’t name you can find there! My friend Mona took the photo, that is why it’s such bad quality. You know if took that photo..there wouldn’t be a single ounce of blur! That brings up an interesting question: How do you measure blur? I replied there and here in case you weren’t going back to check up. I’m actually just about to hit the sack because I’m meeting a friend at the casino tomorrow morning to play a tournament and gamble a little! But, I promise I’ll be back to read some of your posts. Sorry for my absence, I know you miss me:P And, guess what? Guess who wants to read some of my poetry now…
freshtodeath
Monday, January 5, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Hmm…it’s also interesting to see what that book, “Tweak” finally looks like. That crease really bothers me though! lol…I’m anal about things like that..all my books must remain in PERFECT condition; no creasings, no folded corners, no writing on them, no water logged pages, etc. Yes, I know I’m weird like that lol.
freshtodeath
Monday, January 5, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Oooohhhh my God… Is that your dog? I had the most awesome dog that coulda passed for its bigger twin, and I named him Shady. He was a full blooded pit bull though, but he looked exactly like that. Same colors and everything. I’m glad to see you are enjoying your new camera. You took some great pics, and I’m glad you liked the new poem. That isn’t the one I’ve been working on though. I just jotted that one down after an experience I had earlier this weekend. I think it’s really cool that you’ve never fell into that trap!! Personally, I think it’s kinda pathetic if a girl gives it up that easy. That’s why I wrote it and had no respect for her. In my opinion, once you give that away, what else do you really have. I KNOW that you can give your heart away, and you can give love away, but once you give away your body, there isn’t anything else that is more personal. I always thought more people would feel that way, but whenever I get bored, I can go out, and easily find someone willing to make that mistake. I’ve never loved anyone other than Brandi. She made me wait quite a while, and I still love her to this day. If she woulda just slept with me the 1st night we met, she would probably be just another bitch I fucked. (Sorry if that offended you, but it’s true) Anyways… I’m glad you got a laugh out of it, so did I! Take care and keep breaking in that new toy.
Shady
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 3:05 am
Hey, I’m not really sure how to create depth in photographs I just shoot what I like and just feel the settings out more or less. No photoshop :D – On a different note – yes back to work today aswell after a two week break and it was horrible, it snowed here so I was frozen and train was then delayed and for some reason I have been thrown more or less into this very pressurised situation and have to complete a major project in short order. But its awesome aving something fun to do.
I’ll be interested to hear what advice you get Ill have to try my hand at it – all I know is – aperture settings :P
Alex Towler
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 8:18 am
p.s for resizing photo’s Microsoft do a great piece of Free software that you could try for resizing lots of images at once.
Here’s a link if your interested
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/learnmore/tips/eschelman2.mspx
Alex Towler
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 8:27 am
Depth of field is a very important thing to control in your images, and it’s great that you’re experimenting with it on, what, day two? If you really want razor-thin depth of field, drop $109 on the “plastic fantastic” 50mm f/1.8. The huge aperture will really make your backgrounds disappear (because of this, it’s a great portrait lens). Also, the closer you are to your subject, the narrower the depth of field. If you want to play with it more, try the depth of field calculator:
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
As for a circular polarzier, it is actually a filter that appears very dark and polarizes incoming light like a pair of polarized sunglasses. It will darken your skies (very substantially in some conditions) and cut reflections from non-metallic surfaces (especially useful on water). They can add a ton of drama to a scene this way. I don’t mean to overwhelm you with information, I was just curious. The deep skies in the earlier post were just timed exceptionally well.
As for me and Nikon, I think the game may be over for my Pentax gear. I listed it on Craigslist minutes ago. I went to the local pro shop today and played around with a D200 and I am completely in love. It feels like a tank, but everything about it is solid and fast. I need to see what I can get for my Pentax gear (not much, I’m afraid), pull some pecuniary strings, and get that Nikon. They’ve been on fire with their new cameras for a while now (though I have never liked the D40/D60, which is why I didn’t buy one two years ago). The D90, D300, D700 (especially that one), and the D3 are just a killer lineup. Who knows? I may join the dark side by the end of this week. No, wait. Canon is the dark side. Ick.
Anthony
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Try reversing your apperture settings, you can get some interesting shots, especially of statues, buildings or people in the background, bluring the foreground gives you an interesting perspective and drives your eye to the horizon.
I wasn’t working outside lol I was just frozen to the platform in the early morning waiting for a packed, delayed train. I work in IT so it’s not really interesting.
Coldplay..I like some of their stuff but it’s like most of my music I like it at times and then get really annoyed by it and listen to a completly different style, really into foxboro hot tubs at the moment. What are you into?
Alex Towler
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 12:09 am
Oh, that does look painful. What an interesting find.
Honestly, the “plastic fantastic” 50mm is probably the single most recommended lens for the Nikon system. They sell around $109 USD, which is cheaper than the cheapest of cheap lenses, but their image quality is excellent. It is also very fast (f/1.8!). It will probably be my first Nikon lens (that or the 28mm f/2.8 D).
The D200 (and D300, which replaced it) really are designed for professional use. Your D90 would top a D200 (which dates back to 2006) in image quality, but the D200/D300 is a dream to handle. They seem to be designed with photojournalism in mind, as they’re both fast (5 fps, 50ms response time) and built lie bricks. The 40D, which was supposed to be Canon’s competitor, is a joke in comparison. Oh, and the D90 and 450D don’t deserve to be on the same planet.
Canon makes some great cameras (5D mk II for example), but I’d rather shoot Nikon any day. Plus, at the level that we’re buying, Nikon owns the market at the moment. People who shoot one will often insist that the other is of lower quality, but to be honest (as only someone who owns neither can), they both make great cameras. Many accomplished professional and amateur photographers choose either, and some choose neither. It is also always shifting- right now, Canon has no answer to the D90 (the 450D is far inferior). Actually, Pentax’s K20D might be the best competitor. If, in a year, Canon releases a D90-class camera, it may jump into the lead for a while. It all depends. What’s important is that you like the gear you have and use it for all it’s worth.
Anthony
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 2:54 am
The way I find easiest to think about aperture and camera’s in general is as an extension to your natural eye.
Aperture is like your pupil – it focuses on objects in the background, foreground and middle ground but only one at a time. If you were to increase your aperture to a higher setting you would focus on objects further in the depth of field, closer to the horizon as it were.
Yeah I get paid a fair ammount working in IT – what do you do yourself? – I’m kind of glad that I won’t be doing IT work when im in Aus it will be a nice break.
I absolutely love the Eagles as well and also bands like feeder and RHCP who are amaxing live, surprisingly so are Scissor Sisters
Alex Towler
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 11:16 am
you take really good pictures. it feels embarrassing that i call some stuff i captured photographs upon comparing it with yours. i wish i had a camera like yours. so detailed. :)
thedaythatidie
Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Hi Chloe!
Congratulations on your new camera! I can already see you’re taking to it like a duck to water. Your first photos with it are great!….looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Cindy
http://www.cindydyer.wordpress.com
cindydyer
Friday, January 9, 2009 at 5:04 am
I too enjoy DOF photography. I think you’re coming along nicely. :)
theworkof
Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Can you please explain the concept of depth of field. I liked the first 2 photos, especially the 2nd one of you taking a photo of yourself, in a mirror(?) Hahahah finally my turn to do one of those question marks in brackets! :P But, in the first photo…what is that your myspace page, or am I just a lost and confused soul? And 9-5 eh? I feel bad for you. I bet I’d never be able to manage that. Your job sounds like you have a lot of duties to fulfill. Who exactly do you work for, like what company? And you must be pretty high up eh?
freshtodeath
Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Wow, I’m looking at all these people giving you technical advice and now I realize how little I know :P. So I’ll just mention that I _love_ the last one. The shadows and the window in the background and the fact that your subject is a box of tissues all just create such a cool effect.
cravingoxygen
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 8:53 am
Depth of Field (DoF) is the area that is in Focus. This can be either very narrow, or very wide (exp. landscapes).
There are 3 things that control DoF:
- apperture (F-stop. exp. F/6.3): the smaller the F number, the smaller the DoF. – Try Apperture Priority Mode to control this one (On Nikon it’s “A” on the Dial)
- focal distance: the more you zoom in, the smaller the DoF
- distance to subject: the closer you are to the subject, the smaller the DoF
For practice, you can try it on the lines of a book.
Btw. Nice Blog.
Good luck with the DoF!
Emil
emilav
Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I still havent finished(going through) your blog yet. I think DoF is a good thing for me to try as well. Just like you I’m still learning the bits n pieces of photography.
And you are always welcome (for taking you back to fiji) :D
Truly thats a tall building 40 storey exactly. Most of the times the night sky is a bit dull. But I got lucky at times. There is nothing wrong! Maybe its the time..I usually clicks when, just after the sunset or just before the sunrise, thats the time when the sky is colourful and the most beautiful. and I do play with the exposure at times. If we just lower the exposure at sunset or even midday, You will get some stunning results, depending on the landscape to be honest!
Haha! I love critics!I think you’ll have lot more critics if you go back to my last year photos. yea..about the trolley..here there is no hotline! you are right about the length of the water, but I just wanted to show its actually in the sea. I do crop & resize my photos to fit in my blog. And I like cropping, coz I dont like square photographs(lol).
I take your *envy* as a HUGE compliment.(lol). Yes I took it in sports mode as I couldn’t use the shutter speed priority at that time.. it was just, so sudden, low light and I had to click it and it was on full zoom too.
Device: Nikon D90
Lens: VR 18-105mm F/3.5-5.6G
Focal Length: 105mm
Focus Mode: AF-A
AF-Area Mode: Dynamic, Wide
Aperture: F/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/500s
Digital Vari-Program: Sports
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
ISO Sensitivity: Auto (ISO 1600)
I love it in B&W. lemme see if I can get it in colour for you.
wildblack
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 10:35 pm