Unconventional Kitchen Tool

[geotography]

Settings: ISO 100, f/4.0, focal length 33mm, Shutter Spd 1/3".
I am doing all that I know to get sharp, focused shots; however, I don't think I am hitting the target. I like to keep a light touch on post-sharpening because I do not care for the look of artificiality and breaking-down of the the photo quality. I feel I am doing the best I can with the lens I have and....hoorah!! I have purchased a second lens: smc P-FA 50mm 1.4. Needless to say, I am excited and almost cannot wait for the UPS truck to pull up in front of my home.

As always, your comments are welcome. Thanks.

[xxpinballxx]

Shots like this with multiple things in pretty much the same area almost always seem to fair better with manual focus of the lens. The auto focus for me seems to find the one thing Im not concerned about being in focus and focuses on it sharp as a tack.
An unconventional tool is an understatement.
This is a cool idea for a shot with some different lighting and better focus.

[peeperita]

unconventional is right......i like the idea behind your image....the color saturation is nice as is the overall exposure....

when i photograph a staged shot with multiple subjects at different distances from my lens, i like to use a smaller aperture to increase the depth of field....and also, i reccommend that you set your focus on the object that is the closest to you....the depth of field seems to work back from that point....

good luck and repost if you decide to reshoot...

peeper

[geotography]

xxpinballxx and peeperita,

Thanks for your tips on focus and DOF; and encouragement.

PS.

xxpinballxx: I spent some time today looking at and enjoying your fine collection of photos.

[geotography]

peeper,

Fishing around in my file, I realized that I had taken a similar image with various aperture settings including this one at f/18. I can clearly see your helpful point with this example. Though far from high standards, the photo appears better with a low arperture.

[RussHeath]

geotography -- Interesting idea for a photo shoot. The second picture is an improvment in both lighting and DOF. As Peeper pointed out, you get more DOF with a small aperture, and you proved that to us with this shot. The light is better as evidenced by a nice tone to the wood, good reflections in the tomatoes, and some creamy highlights on the brushed metal. I would have liked to see the blade flat on the board, maybe relfecting the tomatoes, but that would have also made your lighting more difficult. Thanks for sharing this.

[geotography]

Thanks newbie for your sincere support and encouragement. This was a good learning experience as are all critiques and posts.

Best,