A question of Focus

[RAGIII]

I just took some quick photos of the Manta German Pilot. color balance and lighting seem good. The focus of everything BUT the face is good. What settings do I need to adjust?

pilot 009_crop by ragfokker, on Flickr

RAGIII

[Jacek]

Try using a multi-measuring mode.

[eindecker]

Appears your camera's autofocus picked up on the wing and roundel in the background. I'd think there is a setting in your camera to force focus where you want it to be. And, simply, set your figure on a monotone background, like a piece of blue or white poster board. That should take care of it.

[RAGIII]

Appears your camera's autofocus picked up on the wing and roundel in the background. I'd think there is a setting in your camera to force focus where you want it to be. And, simply, set your figure on a monotone background, like a piece of blue or white poster board. That should take care of it.

Thanks for the suggestions. Like I said, This was a Quick shoot. I am going to try a better set up in the next couple of days so we shall see.
RAGIII

[IFF1418]

Hi Rick,

What our friend Eindeckersaid is right! You can leave the auto-focus mode and focus manually. Else if your camera has multiple focussing points choose the one which comes close to the point you really want to be sharp. Best thing is to leave totally the auto mode of your camera and choose pre-set of diafragm. If you choose  opening f.i. 16 then you will get a better sharpness all around, but also a slower time, so a tripod might be necessairy. I hope I explained clearly my friend(you know I’m not English speaking).

Kind regards
Patrick

[RAGIII]

OK, Here is the latest. Not perfect yet by any means but I think better?
RAGIII



SE5a 027_crop by ragfokker, on Flickr

[RAGIII]

ya needa switch to the 'macro' setting on your camera, this is indicated by a tulip shaped icon. Depress your picture switch about halfway the camera should show a small square where the focus is aiming, wait till the square stabilize's and the press the switch fully. Try that.

Thanks, I will give it a try!
RAGIII

[PrzemoL]

I am afraid it is also a question of field depth. With macro photography you need a smaller aperture (f16 at least, the larger number, the smaller aperture) to achieve the field-depth, and this in turn requires longer shutter times making a tripod indispensable. Generally, it is not easy to get nice macro photos with field depth big enough using a simple camera.

[Flugzeugwerke]

I am afraid it is also a question of field depth. With macro photography you a need smaller aperture (f16 at least, the larger number, the smaller aperture) to achieve the field-depth, and this in turn requires longer shutter times making a tripod indispensable. Generally, it is not easy to get nice macro photos with field depth big enough using a simple camera.

Yep.

[RAGIII]

se5 014_crop by Richard Geisler, on Flickr



se5 012_crop by Richard Geisler, on Flickr

I took this a few days ago on Super Macro. I think I am getting very close to where I want to be.
RAGIII

[Des]

That's looking heaps better Rick, you are getting very close now.

Des.

[Flugzeugwerke]

Agreed!

[RAGIII]

That's looking heaps better Rick, you are getting very close now.

Des.

Thanks for the comment Des. Also thanks BO, you guys have been a big help in my experimenting and learning to use my Cameras features.
RAGIII

[hrcoleman66]

Hi RAGIII.

You're experiencing a problem that photographers who dabble in Macro Photography battle with constantly.  And also those of us that photograph birds and other animals.

In Macro, we want sharp focus front to back, but due to physics that's not possible.  And the higher your magnification and the closer your subject, the more extreme the problem.

With long lenses and wildlife, we battle with lens shake and the camera focusing in front of or behind the eyes of the subject.

There are two things that can help you with your specific problem.

1.  Lighting.  The more light you can put on your subject and the more diffused, the better your camera will be able to focus.  I always use manual focus for my macro, but if you are using A/F, try to set your camera to a single focus point and use the toggles on the back of the body to move the focus point to where you want it.

2. Use a tripod.  Always try to keep your camera as still as possible.  That way, if you need to close the aperture down to F/16 or smaller, thus slowing your shutter speed, you can maintain a steady camera and avoid softness due to camera shake.

3. Focus stacking.  If you have Photoshop, then you can take more than one image on a track focusing at different points and then blend them in photoshop to get a broader depth of field.

Best of luck,

Hugh

[Bughunter]

Some remark, you may not need Photoshop.
Modern cameras, like the Panasonic GX80, are able to do Focus stacking and also Post Focus.
The cam takes 30 pictures with a different focus setting. You can select afterwards, which of the 30 should be stored (Post Focus) or merge them into one picture as focus stacking.
My GX7 do not support this yet, but with the H-HS030 HD Macros the pictures are great. I should upgrade my body one day.
Some Panasonic support also Focus Bracketing with up to 999 pictures, but this is not working inside the camera but with special software.

As you wrote, always stop down as far as possible to get a wide range of sharpness. If I'm not using a tripod the I increase until I got shutter time of 1/40 sec, which I can hold with stabilizing by lens (in A mode).
 
Cheers,
Frank