Flower shot

[synthesist]

I took this monday evening at Glenmore park in Calgary. Shot with a Rebel XTi at f/5.6, 1/400, iso800. The only thing i did to it is play with curves in photoshop a bit. My only complaint is that it doesnt seem as shark as id like it to be. Is this because i shot it in jpeg instead of RAW, or is it the lens i used (kit lens)? Tips to improve sharpness would be greatly appreciated.

[terryjoey]

I would shoot it at a slower ISO 200-400 max, anything above 400 you start giving up sharpness, thats what I think, but Im no pro.

[synthesist]

That could be it. It was arround sunset time and i thought iso 800 would be the most appropriate for the conditions. There is a lot of night photos out there that are still incredibly sharp however. How is that done?

[Saralonde]

Did you take this handheld or on a tripod? That could be part of the reason it isn't as sharp as you want. If there was a slight breeze that could also make a difference. A lower ISO and faster shutter speed could both improve sharpness. If you haven't already, try a little unsharp mask in photoshop.

[jiminyClickit]

synthesist,

terryjoey said what I've been finding true, also. My Fuji stays around ISO100 and I'm getting some very sharp closeups.

Saralonde, too, echoes another need: to protect subject from unexpected wind.

[clockdoc]

Hi,
Please tell us a little more about how you shot this. Is the kit lens wide open at f/5.6? If so you are playing with very little depth of field to begin with. Did you manually focus or rely on auto focus? Were you in the "macro" mode? How far away was the subject? Sorry for all the questions but I think having some of those answers will helps us to better help you. Do you have other exposures of the same flower you took around the same time? I'll be happy to help where I can.

[synthesist]

I think the lens goes down to f/3.5. I dont think it was in macro mode either. This was shot handleld on my way back to my car after sitting on the side of a cliff with a very chilly wind for a good 45 minutes. I saw this flower on the ground as i was walking back and snapped only 1 photo, which ironically enough turned out to be the only one i liked. It was shot handheld with the camera in one hand and the flower in the other. I find it a huge hassle to carry a tripod wherever.

Hmm, i guess i just answered my own question from writing the above.

Just one quick question left then, what does the unsharp mask do? It doesnt seem to sharpen it in the way that I want. This thread is an excent example of what i would like to achieve A touch of green..

[Murtasma]

Ok I know the Kit lens quiet well. First off I'll just get this out of the way the Kit lens is pretty poor at taking macro photos of small flowers like that with out a maginifer (diopter I think it's what's its called I have one but don't quote me on the name) I have no idea how far you were from the flower but based on what I quickly breezed over you were holding it in one hand and taking the photo with the other hand. There are minimum focusing distances on lens at certian focal lengths. The image says you were at 49mm which is pretty far out on that lens. I am not sure on the minimun focusing distance on that lens at that focal length but I believe it's fruther then the 2 or so feet away from the lens the flower was most likely taken at. Your shutter speed was 400 sec which is plenty fast to get a nice sharp image reguardless of the wind or your movement as long as you weren't going buck crazy or it was really windy out. So my best guess is if you want to take a sharper picture of this image drop the lens down to at least f 8 - f 11 and put the flower further away or get a magnifer for the lens they are cheep if you get one of those you can get really close but you will need a tripod and shoot the flower with some nice difused light at F16 - F22 on that lens.

As for what you could have done better to get that image sharper hold it a little further away then you can with your arm have someone else hold it perhaps with both hands. Go to F8 at least and go all out of the focal length at 55 mm then select your iso based on your lighting conditions. Shooting that flower your going to need some decent amount of difused light, perhaps a flash light and a peice of white paper would do the trick.

Just my two cents

Good luck it takes time to get the hang of macro photos. Get yourself a cheep light tent i got one for 20 bucks and i love it or make one yourself which is a hassle I wish I didn't make one and got the light tent to begin with.

Welcome to the forums

BTW that lens goes to 3.5 at 18mm once you go a little past that it can only go down to 5.6 you were shooting at 5.6 btw. That's why lens that don't have a variable apature are so expensive on the lens it should say something like this.

18-55mm / 3.5 - 5.6

those match up side by side so 18 mm you can go down to 3.5 and a little past there you get screwed into shooting at 5.6 at the max.

Don't worry the kit lens is pretty good for what it costs. You just gotta know it's weaknesses and work around them. Personally I really like the kit lens sure it could be a lot better but, I've taken many great pictures with it so it is possible keep it up, you'll get the hang of that lens. It's fickle sometimes the thing I hate most about it is the aweful threads on the lens for filters god I really hate them that's why I want to upgrade now just because of the darn theads. I use a lot of filters like polarizers, infrared, intestifiers and colored filters along with wideangle converter and the close ups so you can imagine my frustration with that lens somtimes.

[synthesist]

Wow, thanks for taking the time to write all that

[Murtasma]

HAHA well I gotta chime in when I think I may have something to help someone esp when you have the same gear I got. Besides they will break my legs if I don't. Been shooting with it for 3 months now.