Peackock close up - advice please??

[jon_porter]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on W.A.B and being very new to photography I am after all the help and advice I can get. I have a Panasonic DMC FZ18 which I love, and am trying to avoid using the idiot proof 'intellagent auto' mode to learn the ins and outs of photography.

Anyway.....here is a pic I took of a peacock at a local petting zoo (in Jesmond Dene, Newcastle upon Tyne.) I managed to get close enough to take this without any cropping, and have as yet not done any photoshop work or anything as i am clueless. Any digital darkroom help/tips will be greatly appreciated.

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by jon_porter

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on W.A.B and being very new to photography I am after all the help and advice I can get. I have a Panasonic DMC FZ18 which I love, and am trying to avoid using the idiot proof 'intellagent auto' mode to learn the ins and outs of photography.

Anyway.....here is a pic I took of a peacock at a local petting zoo (in Jesmond Dene, Newcastle upon Tyne.) I managed to get close enough to take this without any cropping, and have as yet not done any photoshop work or anything as i am clueless. Any digital darkroom help/tips will be greatly appreciated.

Sorry Jon but your post has a broken link to your image.
Peter

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by PeterD

Sorry Jon but your post has a broken link to your image.
Peter

That's cos I've just deleted it!

Sorry Jon but pictures for general discussion like this should be uploaded to the Image Library. The Gallery is only for the best images of UK wildlife and uploads there must be correctly titled with "Common Name - Scientific name". I'm afraid it's not possible to move them between galleries but please do re-upload it to the Image Library.

One other point - Gallery images are moderated so it's best not to add them to forum posts before this has happened in case a nasty old Gallery editor deletes them.

Hope all this hasn't put you off. Welcome to WAB!

Dave P.

[jon_porter]

Hi guys,

sorry thats just my ignorance (and lazyness not reading enough when uploading)

.........anyway......here is the pic.

Comments apreciated,

Jon

[Kayleigh]

This is a stunning pic..Love the colours of him he is a beauty..

[PeterD]

I accidentally posted the reply below against your image in the library.

I repeat it here.
Thats a lovely image Jon. Well done. I tried to look at the exif data but nothing was there.

From your post, you want some advice so I shall try to help you but please remember, this is my opinion which may not be shared by others and I think this image is very good for a novice as you describe yourself.

I suspect that your point of focus was the peacock's chest. The body is perfectly in focus and very sharp. I do not know what aperture size nor the distance you were away from the peacock. However, the depth of field (dof) is too shallow. Focus is lost as you approach the beak. As a 'general' rule I use f8 unless I want create soft oof backgrounds. Things to bear in mind which affect dof are as follows:-

1. Aperture size (the smaller the greater the dof)

2. Focal length and distance from the subject. With a telephoto lens and a close subject, the dof is small whilst the opposite is true for a distant subject.



Hope this helps



Peter

[jon_porter]

Peter,

thanks for your post. I had the camera on auto focus which i thought was focused on the eyes as they seem sharp to me. The exposure details etc seem to have been lost when i reduced the file size-is there a way to keep these attached? I was only a foot or so away from the peacock's face, lucky he didnt lunge at me through the bars.

Anyway here they are:

FSTOP: F/4
EXPOSURE TIME:1/50 SEC
ISO: 400
FOCAL LENGTH: 24MM
35MM FOCUL LENGTH: 144

I dont really understand the difference in the two focal lengths, must be that my camera isnt a DSLR, just a bridge camera.

Jon

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by jon_porter

Peter,

thanks for your post. I had the camera on auto focus which i thought was focused on the eyes as they seem sharp to me. The exposure details etc seem to have been lost when i reduced the file size-is there a way to keep these attached? I was only a foot or so away from the peacock's face, lucky he didnt lunge at me through the bars.

Anyway here they are:

FSTOP: F/4
EXPOSURE TIME:1/50 SEC
ISO: 400
FOCAL LENGTH: 24MM
35MM FOCUL LENGTH: 144

I dont really understand the difference in the two focal lengths, must be that my camera isnt a DSLR, just a bridge camera.

Jon

Jon,
I had not realised you were using a bridge camera but are you able to adjust the aperture size or is this automatic? I am impressed at the sharpness you have achieved at 1/50s. I am sorry but I do not know enough about gridge cameras - perhaps someone else on here can help Jon.

The difference in quoted focal lengths is due to the size of the sensor as compared to the size of a 35mm film frame. My camera is the Olympus E3 DSLR which is a 4/3 system camera. The lens I connect to it has say a focal length of 500mm but the effective focal length often expressed as efl) is 1000mm compared to 35mm film.
Peter

[jon_porter]

Yes i can have it in apeture priority, shutter priority, or fully manual. I cant remember if this was taken on automatic or one of the above as i was playing around with the settings all day long. As the only successful shot it was prob on automatic .

Jon

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by jon_porter

Yes i can have it in apeture priority, shutter priority, or fully manual. I cant remember if this was taken on automatic or one of the above as i was playing around with the settings all day long. As the only successful shot it was prob on automatic .

Jon

Jon,

That's good. Looking at your aperture setting I think it was too wide although, judging from your shutter speed and ISO settings light was a problem?
If this this is so, for this type of shot, you could use flash. This would push up your shutter speed and you may get away with f8. Not sure if others would agree.

Peter

PS Try Aperture priority.