Playing with my new 50mm. C&C, please?

[kamerageek]

I put my 50mm f1.4 on my camera for the first time last night and took a couple of photos to get a feel for the lens before Christmas morning.

It was tough to get these guys to pose, but this is one of the better shots.

Date Taken: 2011-12-23 Camera: Canon EOS 40D Exposure Time: 0.004s (1/250) Aperture: f/5 ISO: 200 Focal Length: 50mm (80mm in 35mm)

Question: Would it have been better to open up the aperture and speed up the shutter to decrease the DOF?

Thanks and Merry Christmas, everyone.

 

[Demers18]

I like the idea of what you are trying to portray but I find it out of focus. You are also missing a part of the snowman's scarf, that should be in the picture and I also find the crop overall a little tight. Wish I could help you with the settings but I'm not quite there yet

Merry Christmas to you as well

 

[moze229]

Merry Christmas! Try this just for fun...

Set up for the same shot and get a tripod (if you have one.)

At the same distance, set your aperture at 2.2, ISO 200, shutter at like 1/160. (You'll have to play with the shutter speed to get the right exposure.) Pop the flash, but use a folded tissue in front of it or something to diffuse the light and take the shot. This is just from my mind and may or may not work, but what you want to do is get the snowmen lit up, but keep all of the extra light away from the background (the tree). You also don't want to light the snowmen up so much to completely obliterate the background either.

What might work even better is if you have an extra strand of Christmas lights, plug them in and position them close to the snowmen to light them up a little more and forget the flash altogether. This should produce the same color light as the lights on the Christmas tree. The flash is really what kills a photo like this, at least to me. If you do it this way and don't use a flash, you'll have to start your shutter at like 1/20 or something and a tripod will become more important. Just play with it and have fun!

 

[bazooka]

Focus looks fine to me given the size of the image.

However, notice how you've pretty much lost the background. You probably want to better balance the flash with the background lights. Try a slower shutter speed and/or higher ISO to get those background lights brighter. If the flash is not auto, you'll need to compensate if you change the ISO. I'd leave the aperture where it is. Also, if you have a CTO gel, put that over your flash and set your white balance to tungsten to make the color of the lights better match the color of your flash.

 

[kamerageek]

Merry Christmas! Try this just for fun...

Set up for the same shot and get a tripod (if you have one.)

At the same distance, set your aperture at 2.2, ISO 200, shutter at like 1/160. (You'll have to play with the shutter speed to get the right exposure.) Pop the flash, but use a folded tissue in front of it or something to diffuse the light and take the shot. This is just from my mind and may or may not work, but what you want to do is get the snowmen lit up, but keep all of the extra light away from the background (the tree). You also don't want to light the snowmen up so much to completely obliterate the background either.

What might work even better is if you have an extra strand of Christmas lights, plug them in and position them close to the snowmen to light them up a little more and forget the flash altogether. This should produce the same color light as the lights on the Christmas tree. The flash is really what kills a photo like this, at least to me. If you do it this way and don't use a flash, you'll have to start your shutter at like 1/20 or something and a tripod will become more important. Just play with it and have fun!

Those are great suggestions. Thanks. I have a pretty crappy tripod at the moment, but I'm hoping Santa leaves a new one under the tree for me tonight. I'd like to try this same shot with my external flash rather than the camera's built-in flash so that I can direct the light better.

I may try out one of your ideas tonight if time allows. I'll post an update when I get some good results.

 

[KmH]

Question: Would it have been better to open up the aperture and speed up the shutter to decrease the DOF?

When using strobed light (flash) the shutter speed controls the ambient light exposure, and the lens aperture controls the strobed light exposure as well as the DoF.

So the relationship between lens aperture and shutter speed is a bit more complex than when only using available light.
Speeding up the shutter would make the background of this shot darker. Plus when using strobed light there is a limit to how fast the shutter speed can be, called the flash x-sync speed (1/250 with the 40D), unless special camera and flash unit features are turned on (Canon HSS).

Opening the aperture would necessitate a reduction in the power output of the flash unit to have the same exposure on the snowmen..

 

[MacHoot]

I tried it!!

 

[moze229]

Much better! Now, what did you do differently?

 

[MacHoot]

Much better! Now, what did you do differently?

Oh...this is my first attempt at it. I was reading what you guys were talking about and gave it a shot.

 

[kamerageek]

Oh...this is my first attempt at it. I was reading what you guys were talking about and gave it a shot.

Wow. That's really nice. Not sure if I'll get another whack at it tonight, but the advice is obviously good.

 

[moze229]

Much better! Now, what did you do differently?

Oh...this is my first attempt at it. I was reading what you guys were talking about and gave it a shot.

Duh. I thought you were the OP. lol That's for me paying attention I guess.

 

[MacHoot]

It's my fault...lol I jumped in on your conversation.

 

[kamerageek]

Question: Would it have been better to open up the aperture and speed up the shutter to decrease the DOF?

When using strobed light (flash) the shutter speed controls the ambient light exposure, and the lens aperture controls the strobed light exposure as well as the DoF.

So the relationship between lens aperture and shutter speed is a bit more complex than when only using available light.
Speeding up the shutter would make the background of this shot darker. Plus when using strobed light there is a limit to how fast the shutter speed can be, called the flash x-sync speed (1/250 with the 40D), unless special camera and flash unit features are turned on (Canon HSS).

Opening the aperture would necessitate a reduction in the power output of the flash unit to have the same exposure on the snowmen..

I have a lot to learn about flash photography. For now I'm experimenting more than anything. Can you recommend any good articles on the subject?

 

[kamerageek]

I had a minute to do a reshoot using an extra string of lights for ambient lighting and foregoing the flash. There's some improvement, but I'm still not totally happy. My wife is getting annoyed, so practice time is over for tonight.

	[TD="width: 110"]Date Taken:
	Date Taken: 2011-12-24 10:49:13 [TD="width: 110"]Camera:

2011-12-23 07:37:43

Canon EOS 40D

0.1s (1/10)

f/1.4

200

50mm (80mm in 35mm)

[TD="width: 110"]Camera:[/TD]

[TD="width: 110"]Exposure Time:[/TD]

[TD="width: 110"]Aperture:[/TD]

[TD="width: 110"]ISO:[/TD]

[TD="width: 110"]Focal Length:[/TD]

[/TD]

Canon EOS 40D

0.6s (3/5)

f/4

200

50mm (80mm in 35mm)

[TD="width: 110"]Exposure Time:[/TD]

[TD="width: 110"]Aperture:[/TD]

[TD="width: 110"]ISO:[/TD]

[TD="width: 110"]Focal Length:[/TD]

[/TD]

 

[MacHoot]

My wife is getting annoyed, so practice time is over for tonight

I feel your pain. I get a lot of "What the "F" are you doing now" comments.

lol