FAWWN - not bad for a noob?

sneakypete · May 27, 2015

been practicing with my first camera. Any suggestions? maybe editing tips?

LX100

fawn (1 of 1) by Dave McDermott, on Flickr

baturn · May 27, 2015

Nice! It looks like it leans quite a bit to the right and I think I would crop it differently - maybe 4X5, taking off most from the left side.

DarkShadow · May 27, 2015

Agree with the crop but otherwise its a nice well focused sharp shot.What a cutie fawn

Braineack · May 27, 2015

I would have chosen to jack up the ISO in order to get more than the 1inch of DOF in that shot. Only the tip-of-the-nose of the deer is in focus--although it looks like you front-focused just a bit.

The_Traveler · May 27, 2015

sashbar · May 27, 2015

DarkShadow · May 27, 2015

Thats about where I would have gone with the crop.

sneakypete · May 27, 2015

i love you guys! thank you!! I didn't understand the crop comment at first because it just so happens the wood pile, lawn, and tree lean in that direction, but that sample crop is really nice. thanks!

also, braineack, I was actually pointing that out to my wife. I wish I had gotten more of the eyes and ears in focus. I wasn't sure if it was just because my aperture was so open, but you are saying increasing the ISO will widen that DOF? or you mean increase ISO and f-stop?

I have a hard time with front and back focus while using manual focus. :/

sashbar · May 27, 2015

I have straightened it, sharpened, added a bit of saturation and mid tone contrast. That wood pile was so long it inevitably attracted attention. And you do not want your main subject to compete for attention with the background.

Braineack · May 27, 2015

sneakypete said:
ior you mean increase ISO and f-stop?/

increase ISO equally to every f-stop you stop-down the aperture.

so for example, you shot at 1/80, I wouldn't want to go any slower than that, so the leaves you with the aperture and iso to play with.

you shot at 2.8 which, when focused so closely significantly narrows your DOF, I might have tried f/5.6 which is two stops so then I'd raise the ISO to 800. That will leave you with the exact same exposure, but with increased DOF.

I also always try to focus on the eyes of anything I'm shooting that has eyes--I'd much rather have the tip of the snout unfocused than the eyes.