An endless road

[Bo_]

I took this picture at Horsens art museum (they did not have any "no pictures please"-signs:rolleyes:). The artist Christian Lemmerz made a city of paper (it filles a table of aprox. 2 by 4 meters) - and it looks like there has been a nuclear explosion. He calls the art-work "City og God. (Chp)".

I placed my camera close to the table (ground level) and set it in macro mode and shot some pictures. I did not have my tripod with me (shame on me:() - so I had to support the camera on the table. I had the hope that it would get a cool look.

Question: Is the DOF to small?
Any idea how to improve the picture (how to get it more live like)?

EXIF: Exposure: 0.125 sec (1/8), Aperture: f/2.7, Exposure Bias: 1/3 EV and ISO 100

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8217061@N04/2269905662/" tit-le="Endless road by bo_2007, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2210/2269905662_de64679f55.jpg" width="500" height="357" alt="Endless road" /></a>

[geotography]

Bo_,

Sorry for a tardy reply. Perhaps DOF should have been more mid-range, 11'ish. When I look at the image, I am uncertain as to what you wanted to capture in focus as your subject part of the scene. Of course, your choice for aperature was likely hinged on your need for light.

I am not entirely certain what you mean by how to get it more live like. I think you mean realistic. That may be tough to get a paper sculpture/model to look real. If it were me with this photo, I would strive for surreal. And, if I were playing with it, I would try some different things like desaturation, tints...I would just play with it. It certainly can't hurt. I always learn something when I play with a photo in post-production...and occasionally I end up with something I really like.

Finally, I think the idea of this subject is cool and worth more exploration if you can get back to the museum.

Best,

P.S. Maybe you could really get outside the box and place some really bazaar, out of place object in the middle of the road when you shoot it again.

[clockdoc]

Hi Bo,
In addition to using a smaller aperture as Geo suggested, depth of field is also controlled by where you focus withing the scene. You need to think about focusing at a point one-third of the way into the zone you want to be acceptably in focus. It may also help to shoot from farther away and then crop the image in the computer. Depth of field for a given f/stop or aperture diminishes as you get closer to the subject. In this shot, I like the way the background has fallen out of focus.