Narrow DOF at the Safari Park

[Chris Dodkin]

Went with the grand-kids to the safari park - I decided I'd use one lens all day (85mm) and try shooting a whole load of images at f1.6 and see what happened.

Well, what happened was a lot of OOF images!

Getting the subject sharp with such stupidly narrow DOF is a bleepin nightmare - especially at closer quarters.

Moving subject, moving photographer, focus and recompose errors - not the usual hit rate for me, and quite frustrating.

I crunched the numbers when I got home - at 4 feet I'm getting 0.72 in DOF, at 12 ft I'm getting 6.8 in.

Anyway - I clearly need to think about the interaction of the subject and an appropriate f-stop, and I need to practice more!

I did get some keepers - and I'm happy with these, so it's not all a downer - in fact, a good result makes it all worth while

Addy drools

Tree rat

Posing tree rat

Checking the globe

Walking Addy

Walking Alyssa

Everyone heads home

Canon shooter

 

[Brodie Jackson]

This lot came out great, Chris!
Looks like a lovely day was had

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Thanks Brodie - had a great time

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Whoa!! This is DOFtastic!! The picture of (your wife I believe) the canon shooter really shows how difficult it can be with such narrow DOF! Fab set!

 

[Darren Turner]

i am defo loving the oooooof factor..........especially like the Alyssa with presumingly your OH in black & white shots.

Great work

Daz

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Thanks guys - the long shots really seem to work well - the separation of subject from the background is extreme but very effective.

Dan, yep, when you look at the camera my wife is holding, I focused on the 30D logo, and you can see that the Canon logo on the top is already going OOF.

So it's a powerful tool, but with that comes a really steep learning curve!