have one thing that is very obviously needing to be fixed. :)
This was my entry in lens cap --
YES, I needed deeper depth of field. Contrary to what it looked like, I was using f11. I wanted to go deeper, but it didn't help a lot. The lens cap was about 25 feet away from the Jeep. Then, to get the correct perspective, I was lying down (on gravel, thank you very much. this confirmed my husband's opinion that I am a few watts shy of a full lightbulb) about 5 feet from the lens cap. Also, it was shot at dusk, and because my tripod won't go this low (:)) and sitting on the rocks was a bit unstable, I had to use a fast enough shutter speed to hand hold it.
If I were to reshoot, I would --
1) choose a grass field, not my driveway
2) figure out how to force the camera to focus on both elements
3) shoot earlier in the day to have more light
Thanks for all the comments. And glad I made some of you smile. :)
AFTER it was shot, I found a couple of things that might have made it (the JEEP) more in focus, but I'm not sure it would have.
Another thing that would help would be simplifying the image. Crop out the trees in the background and anything else that doesn't contribute to the lenscap/hubcap idea. Maybe get in real close and shoot with a wider lens.
To get them both in focus use a longer lens, be further away, tighter aperture, and manual focus somewhat between them.
I would also say that to complete the illusion you would have to have similar rocks in the foreground and background. As it is now they don't match so it looks like what it is, a lens cap on some rocks and a car in the background.
Another trick to get bot in focus is a 'split field' lens.
Add it to a lens of choice (that fits) and play with the dof, and your angle of attack, and make sure the top, and bottom fields are in focus, and voila, magic.
To get them both in focus use a longer lens, be further away, tighter aperture, and manual focus somewhat between them.
I would also say that to complete the illusion you would have to have similar rocks in the foreground and background. As it is now they don't match so it looks like what it is, a lens cap on some rocks and a car in the background.
Excellent tips. "Tiny" gravel or sand supporting the cap would have helped the illusion tremendously IMO.
Hmmm, all those are stored away for future reference. The only one I really don't would work is moving further away. When I moved either myself or the cap, the whole illusion was busted. :)
Your camera has an A-DEP mode. Using it, the camera automatically sets a focus distance and an aperture such that all focus points that light up will be "in focus". I rarely use it. But it's kind of handy at times.
To get them both in focus use a longer lens, be further away, tighter aperture, and manual focus somewhat between them.
I would also say that to complete the illusion you would have to have similar rocks in the foreground and background. As it is now they don't match so it looks like what it is, a lens cap on some rocks and a car in the background.
Excellent tips. "Tiny" gravel or sand supporting the cap would have helped the illusion tremendously IMO.
Using a longer lens would result in a shallower DOF, not deeper.
The easiest way to make this shot work, DOF-wise, would be to shoot with a wider-angle lens from the same position, and crop. That's what I'd have done, given that the final image is destined for 640 pixels and probably is of no other earthly use to Karmat.
Using a longer lens would result in a shallower DOF, not deeper.
If that was the only difference, yes. However, moving further away increases the depth of field, smaller aperture increases the depth of field, and the longer lens crops the view. Since the depth of field extends in front of and behind the point of focus you can shift it even further back by focusing between the two objects. More than one way to skin a cat and this is just one.
