Reading about DOF. I'm a newbie.

[psycorpse]

This is only my 2nd photo that I have posted. I am looking for C&C. I took this around 11pm a couple of nights ago so the only light was above my stove and of course my flash. I was reading about DOF in Understanding Exposure and I thought I would give it a try. I shot this using my 50mm on Av mode with a flash. There hasn't been any PP as of yet. Not really sure what I could do with it. Also can anyone tell me why I have circles to the right of the Pibb can?

[The Ghost of FM]

Post Processing might allow you to bring down the brightness levels so that there is less of a distraction from the over exposed stove light. Generally, you want your out of focus areas to allow the main subject to stand out more.

I found a good site for learning about DOF;

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Check it out!

The circles, I would guess are dust/dirt on the lens. Perhaps make use of a soft lens cloth in addition to a blower, if that is your cleaning regime?

Cheers!

[Stav_98]

Well you've definately thrown the back ground out! The "circles" may be light entering the lense, or you're having an attach of ghostly orbs! I would have placed the can slightly higher in the frame so as not to chop the bottom of. If you're experimenting with DOF etc, it's sometimes good to place objects at varied distances. Then focus and 'snap' each one in turn to see what impact it has.