Assignment please.

[JayJay65]

Yes, it does alot.. Its blurry on the smallest one (smaller aperture is the bigger the # in... "f/#")

So a f/1 & f/32.. the f/1 = bigger, f/32 = smaller.. but the aperture makes the backround blurry (smaller aperture (opening) = blurry backround?)

Did I get this right?? (does it also blurr the backround if its a still image, still focus?) Does aperture automaticly change the shutter speed??

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

So a f/1 & f/32.. the f/1 = bigger, f/32 = smaller.. but the aperture makes the backround blurry (smaller aperture (opening) = blurry backround?)
Did I get this right?? (does it also blurr the backround if its a still image, still focus?)

In practical terms, yes. It happens for still images also. take note, that not only the background but also the foreground would be blurry (in the images of the flowers there is no foreground, so you cannot see this effect)

To be more precise, you need to understand other stuff.

The lense can only focus perfectly on a very limited plane. This plane is parallel to the film or sensor. Further and closer to that plane, the image is not perfectly focused. This imperfection, or blurriness does not happen in a big step, but gradually. In fact, there are areas beyond and before the focus plane that appear to be in focus to the human eye. The space that appears to be in focus is what we know as Depth of Field (aka DOF). The DOF varies with aperture. Less aperture more DOF, and vice versa.

Here is an article on DOF. The first image (text on a book) shows how the foreground (text: "camera has hyperfocal") and background (text:"hyperfocal distance opposite") are blurry, while part of the image is in focus (text: "are using...to infinity").

Take a look at the whole article, but don't get lost on the formulas.

Does aperture automaticly change the shutter speed??

Good question, you are getting the hang of this...
To get the same exposure, if aperture is changed, exposure has to be changed to compensate. There is an infinite number of combinations that would give you a correct exposure.

How this is done, depends on the camera mode. In your case and the modes available on your camera, it will be done automatically.

Like I wrote before (at least this is what my automatic camera is supposed to do, I can only guess yours will do something similar)... when you set a specific mode, like portrait, the camera decides that you need a shallow DOF to get the subject in focus and the background blurry... for this, it selects a wide aperture. To compensate, it also sets a fast shutter speed.

For your "assignment", try to find an image like the one with the flowers. There should be a subject that stands out... and a background several feet away from it.

You can also try something like the book. A long, flat surface with recognizable features. In this case the camera has to be at an angle regarding this surface, so you can get part of this surface near and the rest going farther away.

 

[JayJay65]

Wow, I actually understood alot of that.. I noticed when I used the feature that (as the on camera manual said would "blurr the backround") it worked fine on bigger objects (me getting close), but on small objects, I had to get closeR to it, which made it too close...
C= Camera
~~= Object (big) (~ = small)
_ = (just to make more then 1 space come out when viewing this post, it means nothing in the diagram)

C __~~ = nice, good close up
C __~ = too far away, must get closer
C _~ = good area covered on picture, but since im so close, it gets blurry..

But, when i went far away, (same as big object) it got clear.. I get it!!!

Thank you for your time and effort.. Does the "exposure" do anything to effect the area??

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

Thank you for your time and effort..

I'm glad I could help

Does the "exposure" do anything to effect the area??

Effect the area? Sorry, I don't understand this question.

Exposure is how much light reaches the film or sensor. In simple terms, makes the image lighter or darker. A correctly exposed photo is not too dark nor too light.

As you may expect at this moment, here is an article on exposure

As you can see, wikipedia has a lot of information on these terms You can learn a lot from it, following the links provided

 

[JayJay65]

Yeah, I know that

 

[JayJay65]

Does how close you get to an object, and it blurrs have to do with the camera's MP.. because i was thinking, and, if you get close to something, the colors are harder to see (in change), and so if you have more mega PIXELS, then it would make it come out more clear.. but then, were does the macro mode come into effect?

Ah, im 16, why am i thinking so much? ahhh lol

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

Does how close you get to an object, and it blurrs have to do with the camera's MP..
/

No that I am aware

if you have more mega PIXELS, then it would make it come out more clear.. but then, were does the macro mode come into effect?

Well, if you have more pixels, you can have a larger image without loosing detail, so it can be said that both work towards the same, in this case.

Ah, im 16, why am i thinking so much? ahhh lol

I don't think age is an excuse for not thinking.

 

[JayJay65]

I totally agree, I just think that it was an appropiate time to smuggle that in there lol..

Wait, does MP effect its blurryness close up? or does that have to do with Macro mode, because i dont see much variation in macro setting with the 20+ cameras ive looked at today

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

Wait, does MP effect its blurryness close up? or does that have to do with Macro mode, because i dont see much variation in macro setting with the 20+ cameras ive looked at today

Real macro lenses have a very limited DOF, so ys, it affects. I'm not sure about "macro modes" in compact cameras, though.

 

[xfloggingkylex]

Yes, it does alot.. Its blurry on the smallest one (smaller aperture is the bigger the # in... "f/#")

So a f/1 & f/32.. the f/1 = bigger, f/32 = smaller.. but the aperture makes the backround blurry (smaller aperture (opening) = blurry backround?)

Did I get this right?? (does it also blurr the backround if its a still image, still focus?) Does aperture automaticly change the shutter speed??

I wanted to point out that this is incorrect. Larger apertures (smaller numbers) give you blurry backgrounds. Aperture effects depth of field, in laymans terms: what is in focus. Large apertures have small DOFs, whereas small apertures have larger DOFs rendering more of the image in focus. Fast lenses such as f/1.8's and 1.4's are used for very shallow DOF you see in many pictures (for instance a picture of a railing, where the first bar is in focus but the rest are progressively blurrier).

As for your question about macro photography and DOF. There are a few things that effect DOF, as I mentioned there is the aperture (most primes are at least a 2.8 or faster, faster meaning smaller number), then there is focal length. Focal length gives you the angle of view from the lens, with higher numbers being more telephoto (literally meaning far away picture) with smaller numbers being more wide angle. The longer the focal length, the shallower your DOF. 100mm is a nice length for macro, and as such you see many macro shots where a lot of the picture isn't in focus (shallow DOF). This is due to the longer focal length. My 70-300 has a 1:2 reproduction (not quite true macro at 1:1) at 300mm, and let me tell you the DOF is razor thin. I need to stop the aperture down (use a smaller aperture, larger number like f/17) just to get a decent amount of the picture in focus.

Along with those items is camera to subject distance, and the closer you are to the subject, the shallower your DOF is going to be. This is why, at 300mm and f/8 I still have a very shallow DOF, because I am under 40 inches from my subject.


"Macro mode" on a point and shoot just allows you to focus on subjects more closely than normally would be allowed. This is because macro isn't all about magnification of the subject per se, it's also about getting up close to the subject so that you dont need such a long focal length. There are plenty of macro lenses under 100mm's.

MP's wont effect the blurryness at all, unless that is the limiting factor in the image (such as cell phones with their 1.3mp cameras. they are just about always going to be blurry, macro or not)

Any questions feel free to ask. Im going to continue reading through this thread to see if I can help some more.


EDIT:

C __~~ = nice, good close up
C __~ = too far away, must get closer
C _~ = good area covered on picture, but since im so close, it gets blurry..

This is because you are getting too close for the camera to focus. Since your camera probably can't do true macro, this is the limit of your closeness. if you were taking a picture of something the exact size of your sensor, the amount of the frame it filled would be your reproduction ratio (ie. 1:6 or whatever it is) a true 1:1 ratio means that if you took a picture of something the size of your sensor (such as a piece of paper cut to the exact size of the sensor) it would entirely fill the frame, and thats all you'd see in the picture. Im not sure how clear I am being. Any questions feel free.

 

[RobinChen]

Wow I just read through everybody's post and I understand DOF and exposure alot more! Kinda feel blessed with having a camera to adjust all those settings.