ISO Issues

[mozanne]

I am a beginner and this is one of my first shots. Wanted the moon to be crisper, but turned out blurry. Also, it seems the grain elevators are not focused either. I didn't pay attention to ISO and fear this was a problem. How could I improve the shot?

[mozanne]

Sorry...here's the shot info. which is included at Flickr:

Camera Olympus EP-2
F-Stop f/22
Exposure Time 1/5
ISO Speed 200
Focal Length 42 mm

Thanks!

[EOBeav]

Handheld? If so, 1/5 sec. is pretty long to not use a tripod. If you did use a tripod, it might be some focusing issues with your lens.

[ericalynnea]

I doubt that ISO is the main issue with getting the desired parts of your shot in focus. ISO has to do with the grainy-ness of your shot and not focus. What you should be worried about instead for focus is your depth of field and f/stop. If you want majority of your image to be in focus, which in your case you do, you want a large depth of field and high f/stop. Although high f/stops make for a smaller aperture so your camera will require more light and you'll have a longer shutter speed so like EOBeav suggested, using a tripod(or something else stable to reduce shake) will also help.

[sk66]

For what you wanted, you should be using hyperfocal distance.
For your camera, 42mm, f/16, focused at 25ft everything from 12 ft to infinity would be in acceptable focus and you would have 1 stop faster SS than you had at f22.
With your settings: f/22, 42mm, focused at 12 ft the DOF is from 7ft to 36 ft. (your exif showed subject distance of 3.8m)
Your settings but focused at 18ft (hyperfocal distance for those settings) everything from 9ft to infinity would be in focus.

That said, SS would be my main thought for the lack of focus overall.

[mozanne]

Thanks for the comments! Yes, I used a tripod, but I had my camera on AF. Maybe next time I should just switch to MF to ensure the detail I want is there? Is the composition interesting enough?

[mozanne]

Thanks sk66! That's very helpful info. I need to brush up on hyperfocal distance calcs. obviously. Any recommendations on what I should be reading?

[sk66]

Online Depth of Field Calculator

I have one for my I-phone.

[Doug Sundseth]

Two more issues: At f/22, diffraction softness can be an issue as well. Your sharpest aperture is probably in the f/8 to f/11 range.

The moon looks significantly overexposed as well. Overexposed small subjects will often look blurry. In general, you can treat the moon (illuminated by direct sunlight) like any other subject illuminated by direct sunlight. Sunny 16 applies, so f/16 at around 1/ISO should give you a decent exposure, though the moon is a pretty dark gray, so you might want to go to f/11 or so. This means that to get a decent exposure of both moon and oil tanks, you're probably looking at exposure stacking/HDR/tonemapping.

[mozanne]

Also very helpful, Doug. Thank you. I assume that stacking/HDR/tone mapping are all post-production techniques that I need to learn in time as well?