Help with a pic using 55-250mm, please

OK, so I'm out taking some pics when I see this huge mound of tiny ants. These aren't regular ants, they're those small ones that look like snuff. Anyhow, I have my 55-250mm zoom attached (on a tripod) so I snap a couple pics. I honestly couldn't see any detail on the ants, including their legs with my naked eye. The zoom really magnified them, but the blur is crazy bad except for the very center of the shot.

Did I have a setting 'off', or is it that this lens isn't ideal for this kind of shot? I know a macro would do wonders, but I don't have one yet. (Using a T3i w/55-250mm)
Here are the pics:

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...oh yeah, here is the info from the shots:

File Name IMG_1889.CR2
Camera Model Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.1
Shooting Date/Time 3/18/2012 5:11:08 PM
Owner's Name
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/30
Av( Aperture Value ) 6.3
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 100
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
Focal Length 250.0mm
Image Size 5184x3456
Aspect ratio 16:9
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode One-Shot AF
AF area select mode Manual selection
Picture Style Auto
Sharpness 3
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Standard
Highlight tone priority 0isable
Auto Lighting Optimizer Standard
Peripheral illumination correction Enable
Dust Delete Data No
File Size 23065KB
Drive Mode Continuous shooting
Live View Shooting ON

There is a close focus limit on the lens (I don't know what it is exactly) that makes the close ants out of focus, and the "long range" ants are at the limit of the depth of field when focused as close as you are. Stopping the lens down would help the long range ants, but there is nothing you can do about the close focus limits.

In short, you have the wrong lens for that sort of stuff.

You can't expect much with a $200.00 kit lens. I'm sure that is about the best your going to get photographing something that small.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

That's kind of what I figured, thanks guys! So what lens would be able to handle a shot like that? I don't see an L lens in my future until next year, is there a decent, yet not outrageous macro available? What about the 50mm 1.8?

The minimum focus distance for this lens is about 43 inches. In other words, this lens will not focus on anything closer than 43 inches. This has nothing to do with the cost of the lens. The 70-200 f\2.8 IS has a similar minimum focus distance.

Learning how each lens works is just like learning your camera and how it works and is all part of photography.

I don't own the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS, but from what I have read about it, it is a good lens.

The 50 f\1.8 has about a 17 inch minimum focus distance and is in the $100.00 range.

The EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro might be something more along on the line of what you would want and can be found for about $500.00.

Tom_D wrote in post #14109588
The 50 f\1.8 has about a 17 inch minimum focus distance and is in the $100.00 range.

The EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro might be something more along on the line of what you would want and can be found for about $500.00.

Is the 50 f1.8 a 'good' lens for the price, and is it considered a 'macro lens'? ...and, can a macro, such as the EF 100mm f/2.8 be used for anything other than macro shots?

With that focal length and aperture (guessing at 6 feet away), your DOF is pretty much non existent. Now with the camera on the tripod tilted at an angle, you only get a little slice of the ants.

If you want to change that shot up a bit with the same lens, get the aperture up quite a bit or get the lens closer to perpendicular to the sidewalk. Honestly, the kit lens would be probably be a better option there but you'd have to get closer. The 50 1.8 is a great next step from your kit, but it won't make that shot tons better (you'd have to be much closer). The canon 60mm macro would be a good choice if those kind of shots appeal to you and it retains a good focal length for portraits and walking around.

highergr0und wrote in post #14109719
With that focal length and aperture (guessing at 6 feet away), your DOF is pretty much non existent. Now with the camera on the tripod tilted at an angle, you only get a little slice of the ants.

If you want to change that shot up a bit with the same lens, get the aperture up quite a bit or get the lens closer to perpendicular to the sidewalk. Honestly, the kit lens would be probably be a better option there but you'd have to get closer. The 50 1.8 is a great next step from your kit, but it won't make that shot tons better (you'd have to be much closer). The canon 60mm macro would be a good choice if those kind of shots appeal to you and it retains a good focal length for portraits and walking around.

That's funny, when we were walking home I said to my wife, "I should've laid down on the sidewalk to get some pics".

Today I didn't take my bag with me or I may have considered the 18-55. I've been taking both lenses, but haven't found the need for anything but the zoom (on our walks)...figures today I stumble upon an ant riot.

I don't do macro work and have not even played around with it much.

The 50 f\1.8 is a nice lens to play with and is often referred to as the "nifty fifty" or "thrifty fifty". I do own the 50 f\1.8 but don't use it much.

Another approach to macro photography is to use extension tubes on your existing lens(es). Check out and ask questions in the macro photography section and I think you will get a lot of help in this area.

Thanks Tom (and everyone else, too!)!!!

I agree with highergr0und, this seems like a DOF issue. You have 2 options here:

1) Point your lens straight down (not at an angle) - this will allow you to get the entire frame in focus instead of just a thin slice
2) Use a smaller aperture (f/11 or smaller) - this would increase the cross sectional area that's in focus

r34p3rex wrote in post #14109829
I agree with highergr0und, this seems like a DOF issue. You have 2 options here:

1) Point your lens straight down (not at an angle) - this will allow you to get the entire frame in focus instead of just a thin slice
2) Use a smaller aperture (f/11 or smaller) - this would increase the cross sectional area that's in focus

Thanks! While I won't have another shot at those critters, I will do that the next time I have a shot like that again.

i think it looks pretty good.