Damselfly - DOF Question

[mjbpics]

Hi, can anyone give me feedback on this shot. I am trying to decide if the focus can be sharper across the entire insect. I took this shot without a tripod on a sunny day. I know a tripod will help with shaking but would a smaller aperture also help in this instance. .



Thanks for your feedback.

Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 200
Lens Model EF75-300mm f/4-5.6

[kheerand]

I really like the composition of this image. The almost plain background makes it a strong image for me.

One thing I do know about the EF75-300 lens is that it is a very soft lens. I have never had much success with it in taking sharp pictures.

I think a smaller aperture would have helped a bit in getting the closer wings into focus.

Regards
Kheeran

[Doug Sundseth]

At 1/500, you probably don't need to worry overmuch about hand holding a shot, especially if your lens has IS/VR (I don't know that lens, sorry).

That aperture might be a bit softer than f/8 - f/11, but I wouldn't expect to see a big difference in sharpness from a fairly minor aperture change.

As far as DoF, your tradeoff here is depth of field for softness of background. If you increase your DoF, your background will be less soft.

That said, at 300mm with an aperture of f/6.3, your DoF is somewhere in the 1/8" to 1/4" range (3 - 6 mm) depending on how far you were from the subject.

Going to f/16 will about double that DoF (still less than the full wingspan of the insect), so you might not pick up any noticeable increase in background complexity.

Much beyond f/16 and you start picking up diffraction softness, so even though the DoF increases, the sharpness might not increase.

It's certainly worth trying a variety of apertures with that lens and camera. It might be more convenient to try that on a non-moving subject so you'll have a better idea what you want to use the next time you shoot a more, shall we say, flighty subject.

The only other comment I have is that I would generally try to give more space in front of a subject than behind it.

[mjbpics]

Thanks for the feedback. I took this shot lightning quick and with a good bit of luck. However, I am working hard at DOF and beginning to understand how focus works across smaller subjects like insects.