Where to focus?

[Stephanie C]

Just wondering where the best area is to focus in a shot like this. The whole puddle had rain splashing in it, and I wanted to catch some of the drops and splashes clearly, however it still seems a bit to... chaotic, confusing, maybe? Not really sure. Any help would be much appreciated as I am brand new to this world of real photography.

(Not sure if this counts as macro? Maybe needs to be moved.)





Taken: Jan 9th 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 1000D
Aperture: 5.6
Lens: 75-300ml
Exposure: 1/200
ISO: 400
WB: Auto (oops )
On-board Flash Used.

Still getting used to DSLR and my new camera, so I'm not sure how to find any other info...

[2catsandapug]

I would have liked to see the focus on the water drops falling and the little puddles they make if possible. Maybe a faster shutter speed to accomplish this?

[JotaSolano]

I think the focusing is quite fine, (i'll get back to that in a sec)... the problem in my opinion is the point of view. You see, from this point of view, the water droplets get confused/mixed up with the grey concrete or whatever that is, If you've lowered the point of view,-that is, forcing the leaves/grass to be the background,- the droplets would've been more visible and the light from the sky would've probably impacted the spheres of water more naturally.

Now, the focus is ok, but you only focused the left droplet... this is one of those times when you should use manual focus I think. You should have also used a higher aperture cause 5.6 leaves almost no room for error ! (you know, the higher the aperture, say 11, the "longer" or deeper the focused area is).

Since it wasn't sunny, and with a higher aperture, you would've had to use a higher ISO, say 800 or 1600 if your camera can handle it and yes, as the previous reply, a faster shutter speed to capture a crisp picture and "freeze" the motion.

You can also edit the white balance in a photo editing software to improve it

Hope I helped :P

[Stephanie C]

Thanks heaps for the help. I'm still trying to re-learn everything. I did a little photography in high school, but that was 10 years ago. Now I'm going to wait for the next rain and try again.
As they say, practice makes perfect (or at least better!)