I was pretty disappointed that I didn't have the time today to get a good shot of this marble.
But actually the 'technical failure' was a good reminder of 'what not to do', so thought I'd share it.
What we're talking about here is that I didn't focus the camera accurately. And I think I have a pretty good idea why.
If you draw a line from left to right in the very middle of this picture you'll see where the camera was focused.
Unfortunately it was focused on the mud. And the number one thing to remember about close-up photography is that there's little or no room for error!
When it comes to close-ups of marbles you absolutely have to be focused on that one tiny part of the marble which is literally closest to you.
In this world that small fraction of an inch is huge! What probably happened here is that the larger 'star' reflection you see to the left of the marble threw me off.
Since it stands out and is easier to focus on than a duller area, through the viewfinder the picture probably looked 'right' when that highlight came into focus.
I was focusing 'by-hand', but a camera set on 'autofocus' would probably behave the same way.
I'm going to save 'possible solutions' for another time, since I'm already talking too much. But let me quickly tell you that 'little-known' thing.
When you focus at a certain distance, there's a much greater distance behind that point where other stuff will also still look in-focus than there is in front of it.
This applies in all situations, but is more pronounced the closer you get to the thing you're taking a picture of.
So if I had to make a mistake here, focusing too close would have made a better picture than focusing too far. That doesn't happen in practice, since in these situations there isn't usually anything closer to mistakenly focus on.
A good visual-aid to this long-winded advice would be to make a point of noticing how many auction shots show blurry marbles on sharply focused tablecloths!
A happy holiday weekend to you and yours, Bob ( :
But actually the 'technical failure' was a good reminder of 'what not to do', so thought I'd share it.
What we're talking about here is that I didn't focus the camera accurately. And I think I have a pretty good idea why.
If you draw a line from left to right in the very middle of this picture you'll see where the camera was focused.
Unfortunately it was focused on the mud. And the number one thing to remember about close-up photography is that there's little or no room for error!
When it comes to close-ups of marbles you absolutely have to be focused on that one tiny part of the marble which is literally closest to you.
In this world that small fraction of an inch is huge! What probably happened here is that the larger 'star' reflection you see to the left of the marble threw me off.
Since it stands out and is easier to focus on than a duller area, through the viewfinder the picture probably looked 'right' when that highlight came into focus.
I was focusing 'by-hand', but a camera set on 'autofocus' would probably behave the same way.
I'm going to save 'possible solutions' for another time, since I'm already talking too much. But let me quickly tell you that 'little-known' thing.
When you focus at a certain distance, there's a much greater distance behind that point where other stuff will also still look in-focus than there is in front of it.
This applies in all situations, but is more pronounced the closer you get to the thing you're taking a picture of.
So if I had to make a mistake here, focusing too close would have made a better picture than focusing too far. That doesn't happen in practice, since in these situations there isn't usually anything closer to mistakenly focus on.
A good visual-aid to this long-winded advice would be to make a point of noticing how many auction shots show blurry marbles on sharply focused tablecloths!
A happy holiday weekend to you and yours, Bob ( :
