No Aptitude for Aperture C/C

[dslrchat]

No Aptitude for Aperture

Well I am trying to get a hang of Aperture mode. (and Macro)
These came out blurry (as usual) and out of Focus.
I didn't use a Tripod, which I regret now!!

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[Overread]

Well you have already worked out your first problem - lack of a tripod. Unless you are using a really fast lens for macro I would stick to tripods, especially in the early stages. Its also good for allowing you to keep your ISO really low *in no wind you can easily go to 100 without any problems - and a few sticks and bin bag ties can be used to hold a plant in place if you want to shoot in wind (remembering of course to take the ties away with you)

The other thing is that whilst f5.6 is good for things such as people and animals, its not really that good with macro - once you go into macro mode the depth of field reduces considerably. From what I have found f8-f16 is a good range to start working in depending on your angle on the subject.
Its really good that whilst you did not get the shots that you were after that you were able to identify an area of weakness in your method which you could solve! Keep up the good effort!

 

[createnetwork]

I would agree with the previous post, but add that the framing of the shots is nice and you seem to be getting decent color.

Keep it up.

 

[tirediron]

You may see a theme in my responses Yep, you gotta love the tripod! Seriously though, as Overread mentioned, it really is almost a necessity for macro work, BUT you did achieve nice composition and colour. When do we get to see a re-shoot?

 

[LaFoto]

In the macro settings of a lens, f5.6 gives you a razor thin DOF only, which means you can "fall out of focus" by only just breathing, or having a heart beat (which are two things that you cannot avoid, ok, you can hold your breath, but hold your heart beat????? Not quite). So yes, I think overread is right in saying that a smaller aperture is better for the macro settings. You will STILL get a blurred background, it's not like DOF becomes metres deep in the macro settings!

However, with that smaller aperture, you automatically get a slower shutter speed. In case you have to work with a fully extended zoom lens in order to get to that lens's macro settings (like I have to do), slow shutters can easily, very easily cause camera shake. More so, if your flower in question is in the shadow.

While I, up to now, have never ever so far taken any of my macros with the camera on the tripod, it is recommendable, I cannot but agree! (I find it to cumbersome to haul my tripod into our flowerbeds, in amongst bushes and twigs and all, but that doesn't mean it would not give me better results if I did!)

Much of it is practise and more practise. You can also learn to get a steady hand, to really hold your breath for the time you need to focus. Today, you don't have the bin full of blooper prints any more in order to practise and practise more. Was different with film and prints ... boy, I cannot count the bloopers I shot and had to pay for just so I could throw them away...