Manual or auto focus?

[vato_loco]

Is the meat in focus?

Does the meat next to the top piece of parsley look sharp?

I did add more intensity to the green and more presence in LR

Thanks for the reply.

Michael

The meat is not in focus. You could somehow salvage it by sharpening in Photoshop but it won't be a solution, just a patch.

About the reflections on the meat, change the angle of the light source and that should be enough. For this one photo, try reducing the highlights and see if it works.

 

[killerseaguls]

Unless your f/ is correct you're going to have parts of of anything in focus but some not. Especially a 3 dimensional object. I use auto focus and then adjust manually to get what I want as the camera is going to pick what it thinks you want.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JerryPH]

In food photography... F/16 and a tripod and then DOF becomes less of an issue. That said, I use nothing but auto focus. Manual focus will NEVER be as fast and accurate compared to what today's cameras can do (note I said cameras. Some low end cameras do not have an integrated focus motor).

The sauce on the meat is filled with a specular reflection of the hard light. Get a nice softbox and place it like 2 feet or less away from the plate. That will help.

 

[TCampbell]

All of my food photography is done with "manual" focus, but perhaps I should elaborate...

Whenever I do food photography, I'm doing "tethered" shooting. I originally used Aperture, then Lightroom... but these days I use a program called Kuuvik Capture, which supports focus-peaking. This means that I use the computer monitor as I focus and I can visibly see the focused areas.

I specifically avoid auto-focus because at macro distances, you can't rely on a focus & recompose technique and focus points will not often be located precisely where you want focus.

When shooting a photo such as this, you probably either want "everything" in focus... or you want "selective" focus on your food and blur everything else. If you want "everything" in focus then you'll need a broad depth of field (high f-stop) and you may even want to use focus-stacking.

For selective focus you'll use a middle f-stop (but not low). At macro distances the depth of field will naturally be shallow even with a "middle" f-stop. Typically I test several f-stops and determine how much of a blur I want on the background (I usually want the items in the background not to be blurred so much that they are no longer recognizable because usually they are suggesting the atmosphere or items which a meant to compliment the food.). Typically it will be somewhere between f/4 and f/8. If you were to use f/2.8 or lower then the background would typically be blurred beyond the point of recognizing what it is.

 

[Ornello]

Nikon D3300

But I think it applies to most cameras too.

Auto focus will move the selected area to a nearer area of high contrast.

Used manual on this photo for the first time and the results are better than before.

What caused the ´problem' with meat left center and a little bit in other places ?

Thanks,

Michael

* I can no longer upload photos in Chrome.View attachment 112924

The meat is out of focus and the the shot is overexposed about two stops. You might try light more from the side, too, to give more depth and form, and avoid the reflection from the sauce.

Here's a good example:

http://www.thetasteoforegon.com/wp-...05/Pasta-with-Creamy-Tomato-Shrimp-Sauce-.jpg

 

[redbourn]

Nikon D3300

But I think it applies to most cameras too.

Auto focus will move the selected area to a nearer area of high contrast.

Used manual on this photo for the first time and the results are better than before.

What caused the ´problem' with meat left center and a little bit in other places ?

Thanks,

Michael

* I can no longer upload photos in Chrome.View attachment 112924

The meat is out of focus and the the shot is overexposed about two stops. You might try light more from the side, too, to give more depth and form, and avoid the reflection from the sauce.

Here's a good example:

http://www.thetasteoforegon.com/wp-...05/Pasta-with-Creamy-Tomato-Shrimp-Sauce-.jpg

Thanks for the tips and the link.

Just returned from a vacation on a Greek Island and had a great time.

Friendly,warm, and generous people and I am now thinking of moving from a town to a village, here in Portugal.

Came to the conclusion that people have more friends in villages than in towns.
Just returned from a vacation on a Greek Island and had a great time.

Friendly,warm, and generous people and I am now thinking of moving from a town to a village, here in Portugal.

Came to the conclusion that people have more friends in villages than in towns.
Just returned from a vacation on a Greek Island and had a great time.

Friendly,warm, and generous people and I am now thinking of moving from a town to a village, here in Portugal.

Came to the conclusion that people have more friends in villages than in towns.
Just returned from a vacation on a Greek Island and had a great time.
Friendly,warm, and generous people and I am now thinking of moving from a town to a village, here in Portugal.
Came to the conclusion that people have more friends in villages than in towns.

And now have to get back to my photos!