Newbie Needs Help - How to Shoot this Right

Below is the current state of my experiments to get this one ornament on my Christmas tree shot. The difficulty here not only is with the lighting, but since it's a bulb, trying to get the DOF large enough to have both the stem and the middle of the ornament to still be in focus.

In order to get the whole ornament in focus your DOF will need to be deeper. Try f/16 or f/22. This will require a tripod or other solid support for your camera - a good idea anyway.

As for composition, I'd move the light that's peeking over the right ide of the ornament. And the one behind the stem, too. A light that reflects in the ornament might look nice, too...

-js

Just as important may be the distance from camera to subject. Take a step back (or zoom out) then crop a little in your editing program.

spend a little time with a DOF calculator

http://www.dofmaster.c​om/dofjs.html

Palladium wrote in post #9173381
spend a little time with a DOF calculator

http://www.dofmaster.c​om/dofjs.html

Thanks for this and the other suggestions. Will let you know if I find anything that works!

OK, following the suggestions on here, I setup a box (my current tripod isn't the right height for the shot), stepped back a bit, fixed the exposure compensation (+2 rather than -2), and then chose A-DEV to make sure I'd get my DOF right. I then framed the picture and selected the self timer for 2 seconds.

Below are the results. I haven't done anything but crop. I think it's pretty nice already, and now have something worth putting a little more time into. Thanks!

Exposure compensation definitely doesn't look like it has changed, but focus is better. I'm too lazy to look at the EXIF, but if you aren't handholding anymore, you might as well back off the ISO as well.

If i were you i would try to steer clear of A-DEV as a mode. IMHO, it is a fudge of a mode which rarely gives the required result. However it does appear to have worked here.

I would bump the exposure slightly as there is very little detail in the branches and tbh it wouldnt be a huge issue if you blow the lights out and lose detail there.

neilwood32 wrote in post #9176260
If i were you i would try to steer clear of A-DEV as a mode. IMHO, it is a fudge of a mode which rarely gives the required result. However it does appear to have worked here.

I would bump the exposure slightly as there is very little detail in the branches and tbh it wouldnt be a huge issue if you blow the lights out and lose detail there.

Appreciate the suggestions!

What aperture did A-DEP give you, Ewan?

(No EXIF in your posted pic, so I can't look for myself.)

-js

All the shooting data:
Camera Model Name
Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi
Firmware
Firmware Version 1.1.0
Shooting Date/Time
12/10/2009 20:02:46
Tv(Shutter Speed)
1/6Sec.
Av(Aperture Value)
F5.0
Metering Modes
Spot
Exposure Compensation
+2
ISO Speed
800
Lens
EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Focal Length
43.0 mm
Image size
4272 x 2848
Image Quality
RAW
Flash
Off
White Balance
Tungsten
AF mode
One-Shot AF
Picture Style
Standard
Parameters
Tone Curve : Standard
Sharpness level : -
Pattern Sharpness : -
Contrast : 0
Sharpness : 3
Color saturation : 0
Color tone : 0
Long exposure noise reduction : Disable
High ISO speed noise reduction : Disable
Highlight tone priority : Disable
Color matrix
-
Color Space
sRGB
File Size
13445 KB
Dust Delete Data
No
Drive Mode
Shooting with self-timer

FWIW

Interesting - f/5 instead of your original f/8, giving you less DOF. Guess your focus point was different. Oh, I see - you were further away. That makes a difference to DOF.

Give it a try in Av at f/16 and f/22 to get a better idea of how DOF changes with aperture...

-js