Hey all, Newb here! This might seem like a dumb question but im so frustrated with my pictures, and hope someone can help. The camera seems to be auto-set to pinpoint focus just on 1 small part of an item im photographing, while every other part of the object is out of focus. This is having the camera in AF mode. I have the rectangle showing on the screen which focuses the area, and every other part is out of focus. This is of an object laying flat with camera pointing at it. E.g not much depth of field. Evidently this is a settings issue, but im not entirely sure. I’ve ‘fiddled’ with buttons and setting, but still getting same result. Crikey these digi cams of today have soooo many settings, lost in the labyrinth of options!! How do i get rid of the pinpoint area focus rectangle and the lens actually focus on everything in the frame? i’ll attach pics to help show the issue if unclear what im talking about, but im guessing im making a rookie mistake and those more experienced will immediately know what im doing wrong! TIA for your help
Technically a lens can only achieve focus on one narrow plane, in photography we make use of the effect that a smaller aperture (larger f number) will fool the eye into thinking that that plane will have more depth and achieve a depth of focus (properly known as depth of field). This applies no matter what camera and lens you use. If you are used to using a smartphone to take photos then you will expect to see everything in focus, this only happens because a phone is using a short focal length lens which gives more apparent depth of field and you are looking at a small photograph, if you enlarge this photo then you will see that the depth of field actually diminishes and there is really only one plane in focus. The focus point indicator is a useful tool and I would advise against turning it off, although if necessary this can usually be achieved in the cameras menu. Turning it off doesn't change the way the lens focusses, it is just an indicator to allow the user to see the point of exact focus. I would suggest you do some serious reading about lenses, apertures and depth of field rather than just make blind adjustments.
Thanks Ray, I think i’ll have to try full manual mode. I seem to be getting varied results with full auto mode. Im photographing small objects of jewellery, and macro auto mode is giving me some great results and some terrible. Obviously im close-up and with an object 2 inches long laying on a flat table, it’s not focusing on it entirely unless im completely straight above it - any slight angle deviation from straight above causes out of focus areas in auto mode. Seriously out of focus, considering its just a slight deviation from straight above it, hence ive been scratching my head thinking i’ve got a setting wrong. I’ve cleaned the contacts of the lens and body in case that was causing the wildly varying results, but still getting varying results. i’ve just got back into photography after many years away, my last camera being the beloved slr film Pentax k1000! Things seem to have moved on a bit since then!
Macro photography can be difficult because the closer you get then the depth of field get smaller and the effect you explain when photgraphing from an angle is quite normal. To get maximum depth of field you will need to use a small aperture of about f11 or f16 which in turn means that you will also need plenty of light, in a lot of cases you can only achieve this by using a carefully positioned external flash. You will get better results if you use a dedicated macro lens of 100mm or greater (as opposed to a zoom lens with macro capabilities), the longer lens enables you to move further away from the subject making lighting much easier. Many people only ever use manual focus for macro, but with a lot of practise it is possible to use autofocus. You don't have to use manual exposure and AV mode is more than capable, if using flash use AV with ETTL.
Thanks so much for the tips Ray, thats really helpful. Im using a lightbox, so have plenty of light. I have recently bought extender rings for my canon, as im saving up for a macro lens, and hoped in the meantime they might help, which they have for detail shots. (I am amazed how well they work to be honest!) I’ll have to try the manual smaller aperture, with the rings, and being further away from the object.
Many of the pieces im photographing are glossy so i have a diffuser over the lightbox lights, to avoid too many high spot glares from the glossy surface. I am avoiding flash for these reasons too. My set-up is minimal at the moment!
So ETTL flash - that is an electronic through the lens metering for automatic flash calculation based on current scene and camera setting. If you have a light panel in your light tent/pop up box then you may complicate things by adding a flash. I use pop up boxes with no light then add multiple flashes. The Tent/box itself does a job of diffusing the light and softening it. LEDs or flashes are good sources of lighting, i would get used to them on their own before mixing them. AV mode is fine, I use manual so i can adjust accordingly as i find I am less than thrilled with the way the metering works inside a tent/box.
Thanks johnsey, very useful info and tips. The lightbox has a ring of LED lights above the subject - and reflective sides, it gives a nice even light. In some auto modes on my canon it was knocking back the light too much, giving darker pics. Im still experimenting with my camera really, and thought i’d try the point and shoot modes, which can sometimes turn out really nice, but realise now i need to have some manual control.
i suggest using manual so you can slow down the shutter or change the aperture as you like to under expose as needed. You could dial negative exposure compensation in as well as an alternative... I usually se this with flash for fine tuning.
