Mirror on a really neat old truck

[kevinglover]

Hi guys,


I'd love to have some constructive criticism on this shot. I'm brand new to photography and I'm definitely in the learning stage


Flickr link -

mirror decent | Flickr - Photo Sharing!



Thanks,

Kevin

 

[MitchStrp]

Great shot, but my eye naturally is drawn to the background and not the mirror for some reason. The background has alot going on and not enough focus on the mirror. Just my opinion, Im by no means an expert..

 

[ceeboy14]

I want both the mirror and its reflection in focus and less of the background in focus and less of the background, period.

 

[cgipson1]

A smaller DOF (Large Aperture) would have helped, with precise focal plane alignment with the mirror. That would have blurred out the background significantly, and put much more emphasis on the mirror itself. A crop to reduce the sky above the mirror (probably 11x14 format) would help also. I would also rotate the photo prior to the crop to get the sides of the mirror perfectly straight up and down (0 degrees and 180 degrees)

 

[amolitor]

In this genre you normally have some distinction between background and the reflected image, so it's obvious what is what.

I kind of like the trompe l'oeil you've gotten here by making them so similar. Yeah, there's stuff you could have done with DoF (more DoF, less distinction between reflection and mirror supports, more of this and that; less DoF, better distinction between the reflection and the background, more traditional look).

Do I like it? Yeah, I kinda dig it. It was an interesting choice, and also a nifty technical demo about where the plane of focus is when we're shooting into a mirror. I wouldn't hang it on my wall, it falls more under the 'hey, that's cool' than 'this is something it would please me to look at over and over'. It's a little visual puzzle which, when you've resolved it, you're kind of done with the photograph. It's still kinda cool.

 

[kevinglover]

Hey guys, thank you for your comments! I really appreciate them.


So, I was shooting with the smallest depth of field I could get with the lens at the zoom I was at. Should I use editing software to blur the background even more? Or should I retake it with a smaller aperture to get the mirror and the reflection in focus? It's right down the road, so I can easily reshoot it


Kevin

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[kevinglover]

By the way cgipson, what do you mean by a precise focal plane alignment with the mirror? I'm a newbie!

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[cgipson1]

By the way cgipson, what do you mean by a precise focal plane alignment with the mirror? I'm a newbie!

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Basically a focal plane can be thought of as a flat surface (in an ideal world with perfect optics anyway).... just like your sensor is flat. Depth of field extends that flat surface farther out on both sides of the focal point. A focal plane with a very shallow depth of field should be perfectly aligned with the subject or some part of it might be outside the DOF (out of focus).

Think of the focal plane / DOF as being a piece of invisible paper that has to lay flat on top of the mirror (exactly) for everything to be in focus. If you tilt the piece of paper, wherever it is not touching the mirror will be out of focus. Now a deeper DOF won't have the same problem, since it covers a greater depth (both in front of, and behind the mirror) so a slight tilt might not affect it as much.

Does that make sense? This might help : Understanding Depth of Field in Photography

 

[cgipson1]

Hey guys, thank you for your comments! I really appreciate them.


So, I was shooting with the smallest depth of field I could get with the lens at the zoom I was at. Should I use editing software to blur the background even more? Or should I retake it with a smaller aperture to get the mirror and the reflection in focus? It's right down the road, so I can easily reshoot it


Kevin

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A reshoot with a lens that has a smaller aperture might be best. Adding blur in photoshop is difficult, as it seldom looks real.

 

[kevinglover]

Hey, thanks a bunch! I appreciate your advice. I'll have another go with a larger depth of field. For now I don't have access to a better lens, but odds are that truck isn't going anywhere in a hurry


Thanks again.

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