Nifty Fifty 1.8

Still blurry or overly soft, It was taken handheld and available light at ground level, would a tripod and flash help any?

Exif data here http://www.flickr.com …550599843/in/ph​otostream/

Tripod wil help in still air, any breeze and you get motion blur.

Acetoolguy wrote in post #15706097
Tripod wil help in still air, any breeze and you get motion blur.

Thanks Acetoolguy

Once the sun makes them stand up again ( rain has cause them to droop) I am going to pick a mess of them and try again in a light box.
Thanks

It definately looks sharper on your flickr page. You shot it at 1/4000 on the shutter, that is plenty fast enough to eliminate motion blur or hand shake. Was it overcast outside? I'm asking because I'm wondering why you shot it at ISO 400. I think that with as thin a DOF that you used (using f/2.8) a tripod would have helped steady your hand and prevent movement of the focal plane after focusing which may be an issue here. A flash could always help put more light on the flower, but you won't be able to shoot at 1/4000. Rebels are usually maxed out at 1/250 flash sync speed. By doing that you'll have to close down your aperature and possibly increase your DOF though, depending on your distance from the flower which is an unknown variable in this example. Keeping everything as it was but keeping you at your flash sync speed you'd end up with 1/250, f/11, at ISO 400...assuming a distance from your subject of 1.5 feet (MFD for the 50mm) your DOF will be about 1 inch. Move back to 3 feet from your subject and DOF will be around 5 inches (which may be too much for what you're invisioning). In that case you can do a number of things...1. drop your ISO to 200, and open up your aperature 1-stop to f/8 (DOF will be around 4 inches), 2. drop ISO to 100, and open your aperature 2-stops to f/5.6 (DOF will be around 3 inches), or 3. use an ND filter. As is right now, the exposure looks good, so perhaps instead of a flash add a reflector to bounce some light back on the flower and fill in some of the shadows.

I think in general a lower angle would help the image as well.

Since you have it in flickr already, why not embed rather than attach. Downsizing it to attach here results in some quality loss. When you are asking about sharpness and IQ that matters. All you have to do is click on the share tab, copy the BB code then paste into the image box.

rivas8409 wrote in post #15706609
It definately looks sharper on your flickr page. You shot it at 1/4000 on the shutter, that is plenty fast enough to eliminate motion blur or hand shake. Was it overcast outside? I'm asking because I'm wondering why you shot it at ISO 400. I think that with as thin a DOF that you used (using f/2.8) a tripod would have helped steady your hand and prevent movement of the focal plane after focusing which may be an issue here. A flash could always help put more light on the flower, but you won't be able to shoot at 1/4000. Rebels are usually maxed out at 1/250 flash sync speed. By doing that you'll have to close down your aperature and possibly increase your DOF though, depending on your distance from the flower which is an unknown variable in this example. Keeping everything as it was but keeping you at your flash sync speed you'd end up with 1/250, f/11, at ISO 400...assuming a distance from your subject of 1.5 feet (MFD for the 50mm) your DOF will be about 1 inch. Move back to 3 feet from your subject and DOF will be around 5 inches (which may be too much for what you're invisioning). In that case you can do a number of things...1. drop your ISO to 200, and open up your aperature 1-stop to f/8 (DOF will be around 4 inches), 2. drop ISO to 100, and open your aperature 2-stops to f/5.6 (DOF will be around 3 inches), or 3. use an ND filter. As is right now, the exposure looks good, so perhaps instead of a flash add a reflector to bounce some light back on the flower and fill in some of the shadows.

I think in general a lower angle would help the image as well.

Thanks rivas8409
I shot in AV mode, I guess it picked the shutter speed, I didn't pay attention to the ISO 400, there was a combination of clouds and sun and I was maybe 2 feet from the flower, I was trying to blow out everything except the flower and it looks like I blowed it out to.

What I have been doing is taking pictures starting out at 1.8 and going through at least 5.6 (for shallow DOF) and 2.8 seems to be the sweet spot ( as for focusing) for shallow DOF, now that you mention it maybe 3 ft would do better I will try to move back a little bit and see what happens, think I may be a little to close.
Thanks for the info I will try it out and let you know.

It looks great on your flick, maybe change up the composition though

gonzogolf wrote in post #15706621
Since you have it in flickr already, why not embed rather than attach. Downsizing it to attach here results in some quality loss. When you are asking about sharpness and IQ that matters. All you have to do is click on the share tab, copy the BB code then paste into the image box.

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DigitalDon wrote in post #15707287

IMG NOTICE: [NOT AN IMAGE URL, NOT RENDERED INLINE]

I knew I would be to DUMB to embed anything, I guess after 58 years then it gets no better, just down hill from there.

Almost there. Make sure to copy the BB code from the share wind and not the URL code.

gonzogolf wrote in post #15707321
Almost there. Make sure to copy the BB code from the share wind and not the URL code.

Thanks gonzogolf
If it had ah been a snake it would have bitten me, right before my eyes and didn't see it.
Thanks

I still think something is wrong with my camera, Still flat, unfocused, can see in focus around the base, looks like the flowers would have the same in focus as the base.

I was 44 to 45 inches away from the flowers, camera on tripod, make shift light box with a 4 foot shop light over the top, and noticed the flash fired.

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Your photos looks fine. Are you expecting 5DIII type photos from your T3i?

What is probably happening is that the AF can't focus on the low contrast of the flower petals and instead is focusing on the higher contrast base of the flowers. I'm assuming your using the center AF point? Keep in mind that just becuase your intended focus point is under the center point doesn't mean that the camera's AF will focus on it...it needs contrast in order focus and it'll find the closest part of the frame to your AF point with enough contrast to focus and focus there. I would suggest trying manual focus for a shot like this if you're not happy with your results.

Unless your soldering iron stand goes straight down, the flower base and the flower petals are not on the same plane. WIth your settings and distance at 45 inches your DOF is about 2 inches. I'm sure there's more than 2 inches of horizontal movemet in that stand between the petals and the flower base.

rivas8409 wrote in post #15712977
Your photos looks fine. Are you expecting 5DIII type photos from your T3i?

What is probably happening is that the AF can't focus on the low contrast of the flower petals and instead is focusing on the higher contrast base of the flowers. I'm assuming your using the center AF point? Keep in mind that just becuase your intended focus point is under the center point doesn't mean that the camera's AF will focus on it...it needs contrast in order focus and it'll find the closest part of the frame to your AF point with enough contrast to focus and focus there. I would suggest trying manual focus for a shot like this if you're not happy with your results.

Unless your soldering iron stand goes straight down, the flower base and the flower petals are not on the same plane. WIth your settings and distance at 45 inches your DOF is about 2 inches. I'm sure there's more than 2 inches of horizontal movemet in that stand between the petals and the flower base.

No I know the T3i is what it is and is not capable of doing what the high dollar cameras will do.

Thanks to you the pieces of the puzzle are coming together, "it needs contrast in order focus" that explains why the kid with the smooth skin, dark eyes, etc. that I take pictures of never looked like the eyes popped but the clothes and his hair did, I know one or two of the pictures of the flowers that I took I did play around with the AF points ( they locked on everything but the flowers) and not understanding that the AF 'it needs contrast in order focus" I just took it that where ever the red square was is where it would focus, another piece of the puzzle I couldn't find laying on the table was the pros and cons I have read about AF points, I am beginning to believe that the AF points are only good for picking somebody out of a crowd without having to move the camera.

I will try MF today in live view zoomed 10x because there is only a gnats eye lash difference in the amount that I can adjust the focus and my eye can't pick it up looking through the view finder, I should be able to understand DOF and focus because with my reading glasses and an arms length from the computer my focal range is only a few inches, Yes the soldering iron holder is in an angle and probably throwing it off too.

Would you suggest some setting I should try in Manual mode to keep the back ground out of focus and a couple of inches in front of the flowers in focus?

I really thank you for you help, who knows maybe an old dog can LEARN some new tricks
Thanks
Don

Don,
Another thing to consider here is the quality of light. Both of the shots you have presented are in totally crap light. Direct sun, and a combo of flash and tube light in the second don't really provide the subtle shading and contrast that helps you get an overall impression of sharpness and detail in an image. If you are comparing your images to well lit shots with L lenses you will likely always be a bit unhappy with your results. Find some large soft window light and try again. One of the problems of a $100 lens is that the color rendering and contrast will not match up with a more expensive lens. Its still a pretty good lens, but it probably wont wow you straight out of the camera at first.

DigitalDon wrote in post #15707201
... What I have been doing is taking pictures starting out at 1.8 and going through at least 5.6 (for shallow DOF) and 2.8 seems to be the sweet spot

It's good that you ran a test. Most lenses are sharpest about 2-3X (f-stops) stopped down from wide open. After that, diffraction will start to degrade the image as you get up toward f/16.

DigitalDon wrote in post #15713658
...Would you suggest some setting I should try in Manual mode to keep the back ground out of focus and a couple of inches in front of the flowers in focus?

Why not use Manual mode? It might have reminded you that there was no reason to use ISO 400?
This is what I might have used for exposure: Need an exposure crutch? keeping in mind that it's a starting point depending on what's going on in the image.

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