focusing on the wrong thing

[Kristen]

Greetings,

I'm finding alot of my pictures of objects (flowers/cats etc) are turning out to have the focus on the background, with the foreground (the object) sickeningly out of focus.

I tried shooting with the macro mode (flower) button pressed, but that seemed to have a lot of trouble focusing before the picture would take.

I've been using the Portrait mode most of the time as I don't really understand the P/Tv/Av/M modes and whenever I mess with them it just turns out flushed with white or much too dark.

Does anyone know of an idiots guide to either the G1 or for those settings? Any tips on the focus problem above?

[ken-w]

Kristen wrote:
I'm finding alot of my pictures of objects (flowers/cats etc) are turning out to have the focus on the background, with the foreground (the object) sickeningly out of focus.


Hello Kristen - part of your problem is likely the understanding of the relationship between ISO (film speed), shutter speed and aperture opening and how the different modes on the G1 affect these.

Basically all these have a relationship that an increase or decrease in either one will double or halve the amount of light coming into the camera. I'll skip the detailed primer, but it explains why when you fool around with some of the modes the pictures may come out too light or too dark.

Your main issue however is likely something known as "depth of field", the amount of the picture that is in focus. This is controlled by the aperture (the f-stop), the higher the f-stop, the greater the amount of the picture that will be in focus. A picture taken at f.8.0 will have much more of the front and back parts of the photo in focus than a picture taken at f.2.0. The use of Av mode allows you to exactly control what f-stop you want to use (the f-stop number will appear in the upper right corner of the top display).

The use of portrait mode actually decreases the amount of the picture that is in focus since it chooses a low f-stop. If you want to use an auto setting, the landscape mode would be better to achieve a greater depth of focus.

If you are doing closeups (i.e. flowers) you should use the macro mode (flower button) if the subject is less than 2.3 feet away. The camera shouldn't have much problem focusing (page 73 of the manual outlines some of the focusing problems). Try to shoot in good lighting if you can.

In terms of getting shots too bright or too dark in the other modes, the problem might be the settings you are using. For instance, if you pick Tv mode and set the shutter speed for 1/500 sec, but it is not very bright outside, the camera will drop the f-stop to f-2.0 (the widest it can open) but this may still not be enough light for a proper exposure and the photo will come out too dark. Same goes on a bright day if you set the camera on say Av mode with an f-stop of 2.0 - the camera will go to 1/1000 sec (its maximum) but this might still let in too much light. Almost all my shots are done using the P mode which balances the shutter speed with the f-stop.

In terms of focus, it can sometimes be an issue of the placement of the main subject. If the subject is dead centre, this will often provide the best focus (the camera should figure out what you want to focus on), but it may not be the best photo composition. In this case, try locking the focus (see p.73). You could also try the very awkward manual focus, using the LCD to estimate the best focus - but this is generally a pain to use.

In terms of macro photography, the G1 can do a very nice job. A couple of my own examples are:
www.rideau-info.com\canal\images\nature\img-columbine.html
and
www.rideau-info.com\canal\images\img-thebug.html

both of these actually illustrate a low depth of field (only a small depth of the photo is in focus, with the background blurred (to enhance the main subject).

In this one:
www.rideau-info.com\canal\images\nature\img-trillium1.html

the depth of field has been increased to place more of the photo into focus.

Note that when you do close-ups, the depth of field is reduced. For intance, at say f.5.6, you might find that an area of focus with a subject at 3 feet is from 2.8 to 3.4 feet, while if the subject was at 12 feet the area of focus would be from 8 feet to 20 feet. Also note that shooting at wide angle provides a much greater depth of field compared to shooting at telephoto with the same f-stop. So, close ups and such should be done using the camera at a reasonable wide angle setting.

Has this helped or confused?

[Kristen]

That both helped and confused! I think I'm getting the hang of it though, I'll just have to go out and practice practice practice!

I was looking at a Short Course book for the G1 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1928873146/ref=cm_wl_ovu-pg.1-pos.4/103-1370748-5657445?coliid=I15NJBX4H15ILM) - do you think something like this would help me get my head around these things?

many thanks,
Kristen.

[ken-w]

Kristen wrote:
I was looking at a Short Course book for the G1 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1928873146/ref=cm_wl_ovu-pg.1-pos.4/103-1370748-5657445?coliid=I15NJBX4H15ILM) - do you think something like this would help me get my head around these things?


Hi Kristen - a good book couldn't hurt and certainly if your having problems with things like focus and exposure some extra information would be a good thing. I haven't looked at any particular G1 book, but the description of this one sounds fine.

The basic issue is really not anything to do specifically with the G1 - it is the basics of photography, an understanding of things like ISO, depth of field, f-stops, shutter speeds, aperture openings, etc. These all control how light is exposed to film/CCD. The G1 is quite a sophisticated camera and allows the user manipulation of most of these items, giving the photographer a great deal of creative control on the photo taking process.

However, it is this same flexibility that the G1 offers that produces a bit of a learning curve on how to use it properly, even for someone with a good knowledge of photographic basics. I got my G1 at Christmas and was expected to take wonderful digital pictures of family right away (it was/is my first digital camera). So I just turned the button to "auto" and started shooting - the pictures turned out great. Later I spent time (as you note: practice, practice, practice) figuring out all the other settings.

So .. the book would probably be a good idea. It would help to to cruise the web and see if you can pick up some photography basics to better understand how things like ISO, aperture and shutter speed affect the way your photographs look. I haven't searched out any of these spots - I note that Kodak has a bit of a primer at: www.kodak.com/US/en/nav/takingPics.shtml

Have fun.

[Kristen]

okay great - thanks for all your help!

:)