{"id":822,"date":"2007-04-22T01:04:56","date_gmt":"2007-04-22T00:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/822"},"modified":"2013-11-26T21:24:21","modified_gmt":"2013-11-26T21:24:21","slug":"its-a-small-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/its-a-small-world\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s a small world"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

I'm still getting used to macro photography and the results so far are somewhat hit and (mainly) miss. That means I'm deleting vast quantities of misses, and keeping a few 'ok' shots. I took about 70 shots of ants today and have nothing really usable, and just a couple that look like ants. Mind you they were rushing around like crazy, making it even more difficult to compose a shot. This is probably par for the course, but shooting digitally means that wastage isn't a problem. <\/p>\n

<\/span> Ant<\/span><\/p>\n

The two aspects that I'm having most difficulty with are camera shake and focusing. Almost any movement shows up, and the only way to eliminate it (other than setting up a tripod, which I don't have) is to use a very fast shutter speed. I can manage that by using a large aperture (low F-setting) and pumping the ISO up to 800 or even 1600. But the large aperture reduces the depth of field (how wide a range will stay in focus). This means that unless everything is perfectly line up, part of the image will be out of focus. I'm focusing manually as it's actually more successful and quicker than the autofocus. The margins are minuscule as illustrated in this photo of a fly.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Note how the far side of the fly is out of focus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, focusing isn't made easier when you're aiming at a moving target. So that means several shots (assuming a lens a few inches from its face doesn't scare the subject away). Even a light breeze causes problems when photographing plants. Increasing the aperture gives very slightly more depth of field, but slows the shutter speed to compensate. I may need to experiment with different settings. Or buy a tripod.<\/p>\n

<\/span> Apple blossom<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Buttercup, proving that flowers are easier than ants.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> But sunsets are even easier \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[991,1022,1],"tags":[237,40],"class_list":["post-822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insects-2","category-sunset-landscape-2","category-uncategorized","tag-macro","tag-photography","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t