Quote:
Originally Posted by anne07876
...and I often find that while one area of the subject - in this case the tap - is the feature, and if that subject isn't all at the same distance, often times one portion of the subject is less sharp than the other. So, in this case, the tap head is less sharp than the body.
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This is actually the normal focusing behavior. When you (or the camera) sets the focus of a lens, only a narrow flat plane of the image will be in focus - this plane is always
parallel to the sensor or film. All portions of your subject that are within this focal plane and
parallel to the sensor will also be in focus.
Since the faucet in this image is not on the same focal plane as the body it will naturally be out of focus (more on that later).
Quote:
...I know that some might say that it would be a matter of changing the aperture setting, but I do have another photo here which is
56mm, F8, 1/50sec which I didn't choose simply because it looks more washed out. But, I see no difference in the actual focus area...
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I will dare to say IS an issue of aperture indeed - keep reading.
If you look closely enough at the fork and knive, you will notice on the second photo (f/8), is more clear and focused than the first. The reason for this is depth-of-field (DoF).
DoF is the area of
acceptable sharpness that extends in front and behind the focal plane where an object will be perceived as sharp by the human eye. This depends on multiple variables such as sensor size, degree of magnification and how close you examine the print.
As a photographer you have control over how wide is your DoF; there are three things you should know that will affect the DoF on your photograph:
1. At a given subject to camera distance and focal length combination, a smaller aperture will increase DoF.
2. At a given subject to camera distance and aperture combination, a smaller focal length (wider angle) will increase DoF.
3. At a given focal length and aperture combination, a greater camera to subject distance will increase DoF.
Having said that, for the subject you are shooting, you may want to go back and take the shot this time with an aperture of f/16 (or f/22 if needed) and see how it looks. If this does not yield the desired result, use the other variables described above to get more DoF on the photograph.
You can also try focusing on the faucet not the body since DoF is usually distributed about 1/3 in front and 2/3 behind your focal plane - except for close up photography where it is about equal.
One last thought: all lenses have a minimum focus distance, if your subject is closer it will not be posible to get it in focus.
Hope this helps.