BetterPhoto Q&A
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Ujjwal Mukherjee

what went wrong ?

This picture was taken in Gimmelwald when I had been there on vacation with my family in May, 2005. While walking through the village in Gimmelwald I spotted few Tulips in someone's garden which was close to the pathway and thought it may be a great shot with the background which was itself very picturesque. However it was not the case to be, I took quite a few shots by varying aperture of f/8 to f/11 hoping that focus will be good till the mountain but almost all the shots had similar output where the tulips are in good focus but somehow loosing it's way towards the mountain background . Despite my best effort to reach Gimmelwald at the earliest , I could reach the village from Interlaken only after 11 in the morning and the sun was harsh and almost on the top, not the great setup for taking photos , that could contribute to the imaje however I also use used a circular polarizer. What I would like to know is that apart from the timing which I could not help what else I could have done in having a better photo. Did I zoom too much ? I used my Canon EOS 50 and 70-300 mm Canon Lens. Whenever I look at this photo, I think there was an opportunity lost. Any suggestion please?

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March 21, 2006

Robyn Gwilt

Ujjwal, I think the pic is rather nice, the tulips are well back-lit and look lovely. The only thing I would suggest is that you should have got your F stop higher (F32?) Not sure if your camera can go that high, as I'm not familiar with it, but as a picture, I rather like it. Possibly you could have also focused just past the tulips? Maybe someone more technical can chime in here.

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March 21, 2006

Paul Tobeck

Ujjwal, one thing that would help your image would have been using the hyperfocal distance technique to expand your depth of field. It involves moving your range of focus so that your foreground subject and background (infinity focus) fall within your selected f/stops DOF range. It was much easier to do back when manufacturers actually put the DOF marks on the lens barrels. Most modern autofocus lenses don't have these, so you have to do some calculations based on the lens you're using. Unfortunately, since I shoot mainly people and still lifes, I don't use this technique, so I'm not the best at explaining it. Do a search here at betterphoto, or go to google. I believe The Luminous Landscape website also has a good article on this.

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March 21, 2006

Jon Close

Ujjwal, that's the best that can be expected from a single image. The only ways to have both the tulips and mountains sharply in focus in this composition is (1) to combine 2 photos - one at near focus and one at far focus; and (2) to use a tilt lens to put both the flowers and mountains in the same plane of focus.

You needed a long focal length (70 to 300) so that the distant mountains were large compared to the tulips. But such long focal lengths do not have enough depth of field to render both in focus. Even at 70mm and f/22, the hyperfocal focus distance would be 9m and the tulips were likely much closer to you than 4.5m. Plus with the diffraction from such a small aperture, none of the image would have been as sharp as you'd like. Using a shorter focal length lens would give enough depth of field, but it would render the distant mountains much smaller and less dramatic.

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March 21, 2006

Ariel Lepor

I, too, think that this is a really nice picture, and nothing went wrong. If you focus on something close up, generally the background will be blurry, especially if you are talking about flowers and mountains. http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
is a site you can use to calculate DOP for different focal lengths, cameras, and focus points. Maybe that can help you out.
You probably would really need to be far away (~30 ft) from something if you want to focus on that and infinity (if you use about a 70mm focal length).

Personally, though, if I were you, I would make the mountains more blurry for a nice macro, and then take a picture only of the mountains, because I think both would be better alone. You can try some PS too, if you want to combine.

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March 21, 2006

Sharon Day

If you have a lot of money you could invest in a tilt & shift lens. For me they are just wishful thinking.

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fdlenses/35mmTS/35mmts.htm

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March 21, 2006

David A. Bliss

When shooting subjects that are extremely far from each other, like the tulips in the foreground with the mountains in the background, you are better off focusing inbetween them, instead of on one or the other. This has to do with hyperfocal distance. Even at very small apertures (more DOF), if you focus on an item that is very close, you will have trouble getting the objects in the distance into focus.

The hyperfocal distance would the distance from the camera to focus, in conjuntion with the fstop used, to get everything in the image in focus. Remember, depth of field effects both what is close and in the distance.

If your camera has a DOF preview button, you can use it to see if everything is in focus. Or, if you are shooting digital, then experiment until you have everything in focus.

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March 21, 2006

Denyse Clark

I don't have any help to add, just wanted to chime in that I enjoyed the picture! I stayed in Interlaken for a week last year on a ski trip and this brought me back, thanks for sharing, it's lovely :)

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March 21, 2006

Jon Close

tilt lenses don't necessarily cost a fortune.
Hartblei Super Rotator and Arsat tilt/shift lenses of 35mm and 80mm are available for ~$400 or less. These were originally designed for M42 screw-mount cameras, but are easily adapted to Canon EOS cameras.
http://www.araxfoto.com/specials/
http://www.rugift.com/photocameras/canon_cameras_lenses.htm
and other retailers.

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March 21, 2006

Ujjwal Mukherjee

Thanks ! I am glad that you actually liked it and realized now that I could have also used one feature of my Canon EOS 50 where in one single frame you can focus both the background and foreground subjects which are far away, I don't know why I never really used this technique much as it's not very user friendly but I guess I need to start using this more going ahead to see it really helps. Thanks for you all your suggestions as well.

BTW, since you liked this photo let me share one more that I took just above the cable car station in Gimmelwald. I liked it too but again the same picture would have looked much better had it was not shot at 12'noon.

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March 22, 2006

Ujjwal Mukherjee

Oops! forgot to attach the picture. Here it goes...

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March 22, 2006

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