Lantana

[Frank73]

I am experimenting with my new Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens. I read reviews and even seen some of the photos (close-up shots of flowers) people took with this particular lens, so it's obvious I am doing something wrong. I set it on Landscape mode. I would appreciate some helpful advice.

Thanks,

Frank

[Maooose]

Frank,
I am a novice photographer and there are others who could give you more technical advice than I can but here are my two cents. I love to photograph flowers and lantana happen to be one of my favorites to shoot. First of all I would get in as close as possible and try setting your camera to either macro or portrait mode. I find those are the best for flower shots. Also, try to really isolate a set of lantana if possible to really make it the focus of the picture. Here are some of my favorite lantana shots that I have taken. I hope they will help give you some ideas.

[Frank73]

Originally Posted by Maooose

Frank,
I am a novice photographer and there are others who could give you more technical advice than I can but here are my two cents. I love to photograph flowers and lantana happen to be one of my favorites to shoot. First of all I would get in as close as possible and try setting your camera to either macro or portrait mode. I find those are the best for flower shots. Also, try to really isolate a set of lantana if possible to really make it the focus of the picture. Here are some of my favorite lantana shots that I have taken. I hope they will help give you some ideas.

Thank you for replying! I didn't think I would after so many views, lol. I don't have a macro setting (atleast I don't think), but I can set it on portrait and see how it turns out. Great shots by the way! How did you make the background blurred?

[kcoppock]

Originally Posted by Frank73

I am experimenting with my new Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens. I read reviews and even seen some of the photos (close-up shots of flowers) people took with this particular lens, so it's obvious I am doing something wrong. I set it on Landscape mode. I would appreciate some helpful advice.

Thanks,

Frank

There's your problem.

As stated, you can switch to the macro mode (denoted on the dial by a flower), or more preferably, switch to Aperture Priority mode (might be labeled "A" or "Av" on your dial). Without going into a huge amount of detail (there's a near infinite amount of information a google search on "aperture priority" away), you can widen or narrow your aperture, which will affect both the amount of light entering the lens, as well as the depth of field. This is how you'll achieve the blurred background Maooose posted. The wider the aperture (the lower the f-number), the narrower your depth of field is. Set to f/1.8, you have a very narrow depth of field, so your focus needs to be spot-on, and most likely the whole flower isn't going to be in focus. You can step it up to about f/4 or f/5 -- just experiment -- to get more or less of the subject in focus.

[Frank73]

Originally Posted by kcoppock

There's your problem.

As stated, you can switch to the macro mode (denoted on the dial by a flower), or more preferably, switch to Aperture Priority mode (might be labeled "A" or "Av" on your dial). Without going into a huge amount of detail (there's a near infinite amount of information a google search on "aperture priority" away), you can widen or narrow your aperture, which will affect both the amount of light entering the lens, as well as the depth of field. This is how you'll achieve the blurred background Maooose posted. The wider the aperture (the lower the f-number), the narrower your depth of field is. Set to f/1.8, you have a very narrow depth of field, so your focus needs to be spot-on, and most likely the whole flower isn't going to be in focus. You can step it up to about f/4 or f/5 -- just experiment -- to get more or less of the subject in focus.

I took the advice from the both of you. I've been experimenting with the f/ and the images came out good until I noticed the the main focus blurred out and the background sharp. I think what I was doing wrong was clicking the shutter button until the red light appears, then moving in closer and pressing the shutter button completely down. When I first go in close to take the shot after all settings have been adjusted, the camera goes in and out of focus while the shutter speed adjusts.

[kcoppock]

Originally Posted by Frank73

I took the advice from the both of you. I've been experimenting with the f/ and the images came out good until I noticed the the main focus blurred out and the background sharp. I think what I was doing wrong was clicking the shutter button until the red light appears, then moving in closer and pressing the shutter button completely down. When I first go in close to take the shot after all settings have been adjusted, the camera goes in and out of focus while the shutter speed adjusts.

Pressing your shutter down halfway locks focus. If you move forward or backward at that point, the plane on which you're focusing changes respectively. If you can't lock focus when you're in close, you're probably in too close for your lens to focus. On your lens somewhere it should have the minimum focus distance marked.

If you want to focus and recompose, just make sure you're only moving side to side and not forward or backward. You can always try manual focus as well.