Between showers

Jaemie · May 24, 2012

How could I have done this better? I have no speedlight or reflectors, and the kit lens (Canon 18-55mm EF-S) is my only lens. Please, any ideas?

f5.6, 1/50s, 55mm, ISO 100, on-camera flash

Trever1t · May 24, 2012

I think a little more DOF, smaller aperture, would have benefitted here. There are elements within the subject that are OOF. Otherwise pretty shot!

Joel_W · May 24, 2012

Trever1t pretty much nailed it. You should have focused on the front buds, then checked your DOF to make sure the whole bunch was in focus. I know it's hard to really see that, so I would have then taken a series of exposures to ensure that you had the proper DOF yet a Bokeh background.

pgriz · May 24, 2012

I find taking closeups quite difficult without a tripod, with a rather low ratio of "good" photos. When I use the tripod, I can use the live-view focusing and this greatly improves the number that are decent. Both Trever and Joel are giving good advice. Given the appearance of the background, I'm not sure that you need the flash, as the background looks pretty well exposed just from the ambient. So, place camera on tripod, choose a high f/stop such as f/11 or f/16, a slow shutter speed (to get the right exposure), use live-view to focus on the near side, and use your depth-of-field preview button to check whether you got everything you needed in focus, then shoot! Now, given that you will have deeper DOF, you will also get the background in more detail, so you may need to move around a bit to select a non-cluttered background.

Jaemie · May 24, 2012

Great advice, everyone. Thank you! Yes, I see the DOF and focus issues. My camera doesn't have live-view (Canon Digital Rebel). I might go back and shoot this again today with a tripod, if I have time.

Joel_W · May 25, 2012

Jaemie said:
Great advice, everyone. Thank you! Yes, I see the DOF and focus issues. My camera doesn't have live-view (Canon Digital Rebel). I might go back and shoot this again today with a tripod, if I have time.

That's the spirit. Looking forward to your remake.

Jaemie · May 25, 2012

Joel_W said:
Jaemie said:

Great advice, everyone. Thank you! Yes, I see the DOF and focus issues. My camera doesn't have live-view (Canon Digital Rebel). I might go back and shoot this again today with a tripod, if I have time.

Click to expand...

That's the spirit. Looking forward to your remake.

Thanks.

I went back yesterday and it was bright sun and dry, not cloudy and sprinkling. More sun, today. I'm tempted to bring some water in a spray bottle and produce fake rain! haha..

Dubaiian · May 25, 2012

Jaemie said:
Joel_W said:

Jaemie said:

Great advice, everyone. Thank you! Yes, I see the DOF and focus issues. My camera doesn't have live-view (Canon Digital Rebel). I might go back and shoot this again today with a tripod, if I have time.

Click to expand...

That's the spirit. Looking forward to your remake.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I went back yesterday and it was bright sun and dry, not cloudy and sprinkling. More sun, today. I'm tempted to bring some water in a spray bottle and produce fake rain! haha..