C&C Tree bud shots!

[CAG76]

Ok these I thought turned out kind of nice. You can give me YOUR opinions. What would make them better? Normally people take pictures of pretty things that are nice and clean, bright, and beautiful, however, these are taken dead of winter and they... are dead. At least for now. It kind of reminds me of a photographer who takes pictures of dirty things. I first saw her work on the cover of a magazine and she will take macros of a person's (usually a gal's) body with dirt, as if rolled in mud, and and beads of sweat or water on their skin. And the photography is great! Some of you may know who I am talking about but I forget her name. Anyways check these out!

-Christopher

 

[CAG76]

Look up Marilyn Minter's photography! Her stuff is kind of weird but it's an interesting style.

 

[Samanax]

The pictures aren't too bad...you got some nice stuff going on in them. Of course you have a nice shallow DOF in both and you simplified the image by getting in nice and close to the subject.

I don't care for that dark diagonal area in the first shot. Watch your backgrounds.

The second image has a lot of stuff going on in the background that is taking attention away from the main subject. Again, watch your backgrounds.

I noticed these were shot with a focal length of 34mm...what lens are you using? Try zooming out all the way next time...you'll blur the background even more and it may help to isolate the main subject more.

 

[CAG76]

It probably doesn't look so hot because it's the Canon XSi kit lens. The 18-55mm lens. I am looking to get the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens so I can get better macro, and possibly a better blur. Yeah those are just branches that give that background a diagonal look. I know they could be blurred more and I believe that lens would do it.

Another thing I see is that on the bottom one, I could have adjusted the aperture so that the whole bud was in focus. I didn't think about it then and parts are in focus and parts are out of focus. At least the parts I like best are in focus.

-Christopher

 

[Samanax]

To get more of the bud in focus you would use a higher aperture setting to increase your depth of field. It may reduce the amount of background blur going on though. If you zoomed all the way out it would help to increase the blur in the background. It's a combination of a large aperture opening, focal length of the lens, the distance to the object (you want to get as close as you are able to focus from) and the distance between the subject and the background (further back means more blur).

With real macro photography the DOF you work with is really thin because you work so close to the subject. Manual focusing is often used in these situations and I hear it's a real challenge.

 

[CAG76]

I love to focus manually. I never get what I want with auto focus. Sometimes but definitely not all the time. Yeah I think a good macro lens would do the trick. I am actually zoomed as far as it will go and as close as I can possibly get. This lens can take decent macro but I don't believe that is it's specialty. I takes a fairly good wide angle as well.

Yeah I can't wait to get my new lens, but it won't be until May. I spent lots of money on my camera, two lenses, a bag, an extra battery with battery grip. I just love the battery grip. Makes my XSi feel so much bigger, and I have big hands. Plus I take so many vertical shots so it helps a lot.

-Christopher