Wild Berries

[photog1107]

Here is a question... in a situation like this one, where I am shooting in bright sun, should I have done something artificial to make my background more uniform and less distracting? I was working on my manual exposure technique, also, so if anyone has any exposure feedback, that would be appreciated too. Thanks!

[martha36]

What is the exif info on this?

[photog1107]

Sorry.. here you are:

Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200

[martha36]

I'm really no expert on this, and I've been playing around with manual-only exposure myself, but I'm wondering if you shot this wide open, maybe you would have had a more blurred background? Also, in my own experience, I get nice soft backgrounds with my 200 but it never seems to work out as well with the 50, so maybe to focal length is part of the problem. I like the subject and the composition.

[peeperita]

strangely enough, i just took some shots of this very same weed a few days ago.....

Flickr Photo Download: _MG_0323

Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/16.0
Focal Length: 42 mm
Exposure: +0.45
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire


like you, i took it right in the middle of the day as i was experimenting with shooting in the bright sun.....i was exposing for the highlights so i swung around until my berries were against a light background......and let the scene as a whole be underexposed.....no matter what i did the berries would always be black and not the nice rich deep purple that they really are.....

peeper

[photog1107]

Yes, I think you are right about the 50 mm, but I had tried it with my 200 earlier, but without an extension tube or macro, I was just too far away to fill the frame like I wanted. And yes, I agree that less DOF can be achieved with a wider aperture... but I felt that I would risk not having ALL the berries in focus. So perhaps I'll mess around with the same composition again (the benefit of backyard photography) and see what happens. Thanks for the feedback!