Perthshire at it's best

[Daisy M]

IMG_9732 by David Miller, on Flickr
IMG_9726 (2) by David Miller, on Flickr

[ColytonJohn]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

Both great compositions The second has a bit more zing to it and a touch of brightness to the first should make it just as nice.

I notice both are at f20 which is very slow which has a bearing on the need for such slow shutters on both and the high ISO of one. You'd probably have been better off at f8 (AKA "The Sweet Spot") which would have permitted a lower ISO and faster shutter. That's all just technicalities to help improve the next pictures as these don't appear to have suffered as they're already very nice indeed

Cheers,
John

[Daisy M]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

Thanks John, you know I am a newbie, would having a lower f number affect my d of f ?

[tesarver]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

Lovely fall colors that have been captured well.

Tom

[ColytonJohn]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

Thanks John, you know I am a newbie, would having a lower f number affect my d of f ?

Yes but not at f8 nor to any degree you'd notice on a scene and distance like this. If you had someone standing on the bridge with you and you wanted both them and the background in focus then a high f number (small aperture) would be appropriate. If you wanted that person in focus but the background a blur ('bokeh') then a small f number (large aperture) would be appropriate - which is why lenses of f2.8 or smaller are so popular in portrait photography where bokeh is good.

The downside of a small aperture is that it lets in far less light so the shutter speed must be slowed (making subject blur a possibility) or a higher ISO needed which risks 'noise'. These three settings you have at your command (Shutter, Aperture and ISO) are known as "The Exposure Triangle" and learning how they interact is easier now we use digital as it's simply a case of taking lots of experimental images at different settings to see the effect they have.

This may help too: < here >

Cheers,
John

[Daisy M]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

Did help thanks John

[Nathaniel]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

Lovely colours David. I would have taken this shot using TV 125-160,auto AV, ISO 400;auto WB. Other experienced members would also advise.
I personally find it very helpful to know details of your equipment and perhaps you might like to add it on the signature field below.

[Richard W]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

There is another neglected issue with regard to stopping down the aperture and that's the massive loss in resolution that occurs. Any APS-C (crop) sensor camera will resolve far more poorly below F11 and is generally best at f5.5 - f8. With full frame sensors you have about one stop more before the effect is as noticeable. Resolution is generally measured in line widths per picture height (LW/PH) which doesn't have to mean anything so long as you know that the higher the number, the better the resolution. I've copied some figures from a test of the Canon 100 mm macro, i.e. a very good lens with high resolving power. Centre resolution at f5.6 LW/PH = 2445, f8 = 2368, f11 = 2196, f16 = 2057, f22 = 1504. In other words, at f22 the resolution is only 61% of what it is at f5.6. This fall off is typical of every lens, many are worse, it's down to the laws of physics and there is very little lens designers can do about it. Most lenses don't go below f16 for that reason. A lot of people still seem to think that by using a smaller aperture they get better resolution because the depth of field is greater, but that isn't the case. When people used large or medium format film cameras, they would set f32 or f64 without problem, but the smaller the film or sensor the greater the problem of diffraction becomes. It's something to be wary of if your equipment doesn't seem to be giving the resolution you expect and is one reason why f8 is often the "sweet spot" for lenses.

[antoeknee]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

If you have a smartphone there are plenty of apps that will help with calculating DOF and determining the hyperfocal distance.

If this is a term you haven't heard of there is plenty of info on the web that will explain how this can help you achieve good DOF.

[antoeknee]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

Ok, see your first image was taken at 75mm. Now if you use this focal length on your 700D and use f8 as recommended the hyperfocal distance is approx 40m then the DOF would extend from just under 20m all the way to infinity.

[@imagesBV]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

If you need to control depth of field, which generally you do for all but action photography where fast shutter is the priority, then Av is probably the best mode in my opinion....you just need to make sure the camera doesn't select a shutter speed so slow that camera shake spoils the image.
As a rule of thumb on an average dull day f5.6 125th/sec ISO100 is going to give a reasonable exposure - and good to keep in mind - from this datum point you can judge if Av mode whether the shutter will be fast enough before you have to resort to raising the ISO.

[Daisy M]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

Wow, a lot to absorb, but I will copy the advice down & take it with me to put into practice. Thanks everyone.

[antoeknee]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

Here's an online DOF calculator

http://www.photopills.com/calculators/dof

There are loads of others

And here is an interactive tool so you can play with different settings and see the effect on DOF

http://canonoutsideofauto.ca/play/

[Skyelines]

Re: Perthshire at it's best

A cracking pair of images.