Barbwire

[BylLuvaul]

Here are a two shots i took of barbwire ... which one do you think is the best ? http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1686/barbwiresmall.jpg http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/66/smallbarbwire.jpg

[fish]

hello username-I-can't-pronounce,

since you asked...I would like to see slightly more DOF so the entire barb is in focus.

[BylLuvaul]

My username is Byl pronounced just like bill and luvaul is my last name . what do you mean DOF ... i am quite the beginner when it comes to photography

[fish]

My username is Byl pronounced just like bill and luvaul is my last name . what do you mean DOF ... i am quite the beginner when it comes to photography

Sorry. DOF is Depth of Field. It's the range of distance (measured along the lens axis) for which the subject is rendered acceptably sharp in the photographic image.

[GREAPER]

Well Said Fish.


Just in case you still dont know what he means, use a slightly higher fstop number for your aperature setting. If you shot this at f4, try f5.6 or f8. This will make the area of apparent focus in the shot deeper front to back. Understand it will also decrease your shutter speed by the same number of stops so if you shot this at f4 with a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second and you want the apparent focus a little deeper you could go to f8 but your shutter speed would drop to 1/15th of a second. This would mean you would need a tripod or some other means to steady the camera.

Hope that helps.

[ginger_55]

That about answers the question there.

Depth of Field is how much is in focus, in other words, not blurred.
It depends on your camera and the software afterwards how much control you have over that. I shoot on auto, and I am sure that the "pros" around here, do not shoot that way.

Try to find out if there is a preview button on your camera. I think that way back when, I was always checking the depth of field with a preview button, and that made me quite aware. Now I just hope and use what I get.

But I do know what it is. I just have not practiced as much with the digital camera, and I am using a dRebel since February, a little elph before then.

For some things here I have used photoshop to control the depth of field. I take what I want with the marching ants, don't know what things are called, but I do that, then go to select, click on inverse (?) and then use the Gaussein blur to blur the background. I don't think that is what you did. You were pretty close to your subject, you could probably get more depth of field just by backing up. (I am rambling, it is a slow evening).

I liked your barb wire, I wasn't wild about it, but then barb wire is not my thing, but I had no problems with the depth of field, maybe I am losing my eyes, and I did like the blk and white better.

ginger

[ginger_55]

OK, I see that the wire if soft, out of focus on my right. But if it were in focus, it would be a straight line right out of the picture, wouldn't it? Do you all think that would be better?

Maybe placing the barb wire in a slightly different composition, with the knot at exactly the right place.

The rule of thirds, with towards the upper right or left, something is leaving me a bit cold, I suspect that it is not catching my interest, and I suspect that it is a composition thing.

If the composition were straightened out, then the blurred area, the area without much depth of field, it could be brought into clear focus without the whole picture running off to the right somewhere else.

Now that I have totally torn your picture apart...............and I just do my stuff by feel, so this is a fun puzzle right here. Sorry to do it at the expense of the barb wire. I do like the black and white. And I will go away now.

Before I leave, I will say that I would overshoot a picture like that, I mean I would take a gazillion shots, until I got one that just gave me shivers of "YES!", and then I would take a few more. Of course I would delete some of those. Many, I would delete, it is, for me, one of the beauties of digital.

ginger

[pathfinder]

Here are a two shots i took of barbwire ... which one do you think is the best ? http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1686/barbwiresmall.jpg http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/66/smallbarbwire.jpg
I think they both had potential that was not fully realized by the photographer. The beautiful thing about the subject - barbed wire - is that it is not going to run away and hide or turn around mid stream. Put your camera on a tripod and LOOK through the viewfinder - see if all the important parts of the subject will be in focus with the preview button to stop down the aperature - or just take a shot and look at it - the barbed wire is STILL not going to run away from your camera on the tripod. WHen all the important parts are sharp take the picture!

I like the diagonal line of the main wire - but then I almost always like diagonal lines - just like most viewers find them exciting. But the barbs themselves, especially the frontmost barb is not sharp and that I find very distracting - a big unsharp area right in the center of interest. The fact that the wire is not sharp at the right edge of the frame is fine - I agree with GInger that it does not - should not be sharp and pull your eye out of the frame. And the background has nice bokeh which I like a great deal.

Which one is better I think depends on what your purpose was - I find them both appealing and if the barbs were all sharp I think these would be very nice images - as they are - close but no cigar....http://www.dgrin.com/images/icons/Laughing.gif I am fond of good B&W tho.

[fish]

I just thought of something else affecting the impact of the image. About half of the subject is nicely lit with the sun and the other half is blacked out by shadow. I think this aggravates the DOF issue.

I would prefer the entire barb be equally lit against a darker background. You might want to play with exposure compensation...maybe underexpose by 2/3 to 1 full stop and diddle the contrast in photoshop. Or...the entire barb could be in shade against the light background. The half/half thing is troublesome.

[ginger_55]

Could you have taken some wire clippers out of your pocket, you know the wire clippers that all photographers carry, could you have taken those out and cut off that part of the knot that is dark, so out of focus, a bit to the left and coming out towards me. It just really bothers me.
I am being facetious, but I did go back and look at it, I think it was fish who mentioned the light and dark, I would agree with that, and then I noticed that part of the knot, and it really bothered me.
Things like that drive me nuts, even when they are a twig, they can be difficult to break off. I am going to have to start carrying clippers, too. 'night all.

g

[BylLuvaul]

Here are more pics ... On the first one i cut the one peice that was out of focus , but it is still out of focus . the last two are different barbs

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/1476/smallnewbarb.jpg

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/6663/smallnewbarb2.jpg

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/2792/smallfuzzybarb.jpg

The last one looked ok big , but when it was resized it got fuzzy

[pathfinder]

Here are more pics ... On the first one i cut the one peice that was out of focus , but it is still out of focus . the last two are different barbs

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/1476/smallnewbarb.jpg

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/6663/smallnewbarb2.jpg

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/2792/smallfuzzybarb.jpg

The last one looked ok big , but when it was resized it got fuzzyThe second image is getting sharper, but now the image appears overexposed and the background is too light/bright for my taste. Are we never satisfied, Bill is beginning to thinkhttp://www.dgrin.com/images/icons/Wicked.gif

I think you are getting the barbs in better focus - did you use a tripod? I do not think cutting off the barb is the solution and the background needs to be less blownout - overexposed. Third time is the charm
http://www.dgrin.com/images/icons/lickout.gif

[BylLuvaul]

I dont have a tripod i just leaned on the fence to keep my arm from shaking any ...lol . ill take some more pics of the barbwire with your advice

[BylLuvaul]

This one looks cool too http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/239/smallcoolbarb.jpg

[fish]

You're getting there...

[ginger_55]

I was being facetious when I said we all carry wire cutters, but truthfully, even though whats his name didn't think cutting the wire off was the solution, well, no, it probably wasn't. Finding another knot might have been better.

But with that thing sticking out like it was I don't think you were ever going to get it. And I actually did not mind the shot after you cut that piece out. The blur off to the side was fine with me too. And I don't remember the bad background, I was so busy thinking, "well, I'll be darned, cutting that thing off really helped". So it was getting closer. Then the last one I liked. I wasn't jealous or anything, but this is all subjective. To be honest I didn't agree with all the challenge winner picks, and I was shocked at some that were not included, so all I can say is it is better tonight than last night. And better in the last shot than the first. When do we reach perfection???
Smile, grin, ginger
(What do you think? It is your picture.)

I just came back to say that on a second look at the last one, the skeleton looking wire with the blue background, I really like it. How did you do that?

[Steve Lear]

This one looks cool too http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/239/smallcoolbarb.jpg
Hi Byl.

This is the one for me. I really like it. And guess what? I personaly dont give a rats about your DOF. And I would also like to know how you did that.

Steve.

[pathfinder]

You're getting there...
I like the blue background better too. And you do not have a big blur in the center of interest any longer either.http://www.dgrin.com/images/icons/lickout.gif Well done!

[BylLuvaul]

Well i downloaded some program called PhotoImpression and then i just messed with the color of the picture on there . i like the the one with the blue the most ... even before i messed with the color .