DoF Problem...?

[elementgs]

So I'm struggling with how to fix this (while I am taking the photo) and I was hoping someone could help me.

From what I can tell, I have a depth of field issue. With the lighting the way it was, I was combating a metering issue with the necessity to maintain a high shutter speed to capture the action and still offer that rich creamy background giving the focus directly to the golfer.

What I lost though, was the tip of the club, which doesn't appear to be a shutter speed issue as much as a DoF issue, and the ball, which may be a shutter issue as well as a DoF issue but once again I feel it's just a DoF issue.

How would I have taken this photo differently to fix that?

ISO 400
190mm
f2.8
1/1250s

 

[sscarmack]

Are you shooting in full manual? Sounds like your shooting in shutter priority and that would make your aperture to keep changing.

 

[astroNikon]

Test shoot on other golfers around.
increase your shutter speed to stop the swing club head and ball
or conversely also try to increase your DOF to f/3.2 or f4 and make appropriate changes

you can also consult a DOF calculator to determine what your DOF was at that distance to determine which of the two above could be the issue without testing.

 

[astroNikon]

For instance - with your d8x0
--> A Flexible Depth of Field Calculator

50 feet distance from golfer would give a DOF of 3.74 feet which may or may not be enough for the club head

 

[KmH]

The club head is the fastest moving thing in the shot and 1/1250 likely was not fast enough to stop it's motion.

 

[Light Guru]

What I lost though, was the tip of the club

Why does the top of the club need to be tack sharp? The tip of the club is NOT the subject of the image.

The club head is the fastest moving thing in the shot and 1/1250 likely was not fast enough to stop it's motion.

^^ that's why the tip I'd not sharp.

 

[astroNikon]

the ball is moving really super fast too

 

[Ridgeway]

The club head is the fastest moving thing in the shot and 1/1250 likely was not fast enough to stop it's motion.

At that point of the swing, the head will have slowed and the ball is the fastest moving thing.

I think the main problem is you were not square on to the golfer so the swing of the club and the diection of the ball are both coming slightly towards you and, therefore, are moving out of the dof range. If you were more square on they would have stayed within the dof. If you prefer this angle and the slight defocus of the club is an issue then increasing the dof is the only answer. The ball, however, also has movement blur so if you want to freeze the ball you also need a faster shutter speed. A higher ISO would help you achieve both.

But I think this is a great shot. I would be very pleased with it. I would be please to have captured the ball at all.

 

[Patrice]

A quick google search reveals that an average male golfer with a drive off the tee might achieve a swing speed of about 90mph and a ball speed of about 135mph. In 1/1250s the head of the club will have moved about 1.3 inches and the ball about 2 inches. So, shutter speed could very well be a big part of the problem.

If you want pin sharp images of things moving quickly at right angles to the camera, after having taken care of camera movement, you have to consider the speed of the object, the size of your pixels, across how many pixels the object can move before the degradation in sharpness becomes unacceptable and the distance to the moving object.

 

[Derrel]

How about ISO 800, 1/1250 second at f/4?

In the actual photo, the grass is frozen nicely, and wonderful back-lighted, and the ball has the slight hint of motion blur that looks great! The head of the club is stopped well, but yeah, the DOF is a wee bit too shallow for the club head, but it's acceptably sharp. What's CRITICAL is the man, and the airborne, backlighted grass...so, overall a NICE shot dude! The golf club is NOT the subject of this shot, in any way at all; this is a nice scene, and the backlighting and the guy golfing and teeing off are captured well.

 

[TheStig]

Yeah looks good to me. The subject is in focus and there is a feeling of motion because of the subtle blur. That's what most people want in this type of photo. To completely freeze the action is kind of silly, because then it looks like you're staring at a motionless scene.

 

[astroNikon]

personally I would like to see a slower shutter speed to get some club movement and more ball movement. I think it would look neat.

 

[elementgs]

Thank you all so much for your responses. I apologize for not responding sooner, I've been working on the remainder of the shots. A bit under a thousand shots for the day, I processed 170 of them. I'm fairly stoked with all of the shots but I do have some work to do. I need to learn how to take better photos...... I'm spending way too much time processing everything from brightness/contrast to white balance.. Such a waste of time when I could just take better photos.

Sigh.. So much to learn. I love it. lol...

 

[jidoe80]

Looks like a decent shot to me. When objects are moving quickly there should be a bit of motion blur for realism, no?