Narrow DoF again

[John Mitchell]

Even after all these years, I'm still hesitant about uploading images with a very shallow depth-of-field. How narrow can the plane of focus be? I have a couple of close-up images of food, each with a very narrow area/band (less than 10% of the frame) in focus part way into the bottom of the frame. I've downsized them to minimum file size, and they look OK to me. Nonetheless, I still get the jitters, plus my shrink is still on summer holiday.

Edited September 20, 2018 by John Mitchell

[Reimar]

I would let them fly.  Food looks better with shallow DoF. 

As long as the part that is crisp is actually part of the food (and not a spoon or something not the "focus" of the image).

 

[John Mitchell]

7 minutes ago, Reimar said:

I would let them fly.  Food looks better with shallow DoF. 

As long as the part that is crisp is actually part of the food (and not a spoon or something not the "focus" of the image).

 

 

Thanks for the hint. These are images of baked goods -- cookies, sweet buns, etc. -- so no spoons. I'm not much of a food photographer as you can tell. However, I occasionally grab a few shots when passing by something that looks tasty.

[Michael Ventura]

I agree with Reimer, let them fly!!  I have had very narrow DofF food picks pass thru and sell!  Two yesterday sold yesterday!

[John Mitchell]

16 minutes ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

The only thing in focus here is the tip of a bit of rock about a third in

 

Wow! That's putting a fine point on things.

[Sultanpepa]

1 hour ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Wow! That's putting a fine point on things.

 

Maybe it wasn't looked at in QC.

[Bryan]

I guess that it has to look intentional. There are images for sale here where everything is blurred, speeding ambulances etc. They must have stood out during QC, even as a thumbnail, but have passed into the collection. Even so, as Douglas said, they may not have been seen by QC. 

 

I discard any shots that are obviously technically imperfect, generally due to camera shake or completely missed focus, while I also try to avoid excessive noise in plain areas, but narrow depth of field, when intentional, is another matter.

 

If you rate the shot it's probably worth the risk.

[Ed Rooney]

15 to 20 years ago, food magazines were all doing a lot of selective DoF with their tabletop food shots. 

 

I shoot a lot of food. I'm interested in cuisine. I work fast, usually doing an overhead view and a dinner's view, and most of my snaps are sharp overall. I work fast because it's my lunch I'm shooting.  But I use selective DoF sometimes, when it's called for. Here's one that works, I think:

 

 

 

 

Selective DoF has always been a way to draw attention to the more important part of a scene. 

[John Mitchell]

Thanks for all the free psychotherapy. I included one of the images in a batch yesterday, and it has already passed QC.

 

Don't know why I still get nervous about this stuff. It must be some lingering trauma from my time wallowing in the Sin Bin.

[M.Chapman]

On 21/09/2018 at 17:38, John Mitchell said:

It must be some lingering trauma from my time wallowing in the Sin Bin

Eee those were the days! Hardly hear any reports of visits there by forum regulars in recent times. Must have gone out of fashion or has QC got easier?

 

Mark

Edited September 23, 2018 by M.Chapman

[Sally]

On 20/09/2018 at 20:08, John Mitchell said:

Even after all these years, I'm still hesitant about uploading images with a very shallow depth-of-field. How narrow can the plane of focus be? I have a couple of close-up images of food, each with a very narrow area/band (less than 10% of the frame) in focus part way into the bottom of the frame. I've downsized them to minimum file size, and they look OK to me. Nonetheless, I still get the jitters, plus my shrink is still on summer holiday.

Check out the one on the home page at the moment.

[Reimar]

1 hour ago, Sally said:

Check out the one on the home page at the moment.

I think I need to start setting the saturation dial to 110.

[wiskerke]

56 minutes ago, Reimar said:

I think I need to start setting the saturation dial to 110.

 

Maybe add some keywords lots of tags also:

annual asteraceae beautiful beneficial birds black body paints bouquet bright dye fleur flora flower follow food full sun garden gorgeous green growers growing growth leaf medicinal native american indians nursery observe oil ointment orange perennial petal plant plant commercial pollen pretty red relax relaxing retail seed sun sunflower tranquil useful vibrant wholesale yellow zen

 

wim

[Ed Rooney]

4 hours ago, wiskerke said:

 

Maybe add some keywords lots of tags also:

annual asteraceae beautiful beneficial birds black body paints bouquet bright dye fleur flora flower follow food full sun garden gorgeous green growers growing growth leaf medicinal native american indians nursery observe oil ointment orange perennial petal plant plant commercial pollen pretty red relax relaxing retail seed sun sunflower tranquil useful vibrant wholesale yellow zen

 

wim

 

 

Wim, I got that Sony 28-70 zoom yesterday, an open-box item. I don't do bench tests anymore, but the walk-around I did today produced images as sharp as any of the other Sony zooms I have. So for the a6000 I now have views of 15-27 and 42 to 105 and with the other Sonys 24-200. I'm gonna let Paulette deal with the longer views, since I'm going to Spain, not Africa. They do have wild boars in Spain, but I think they are referring to men talking too load in tapas bars. 

 

Thanks for the tip, Wim.

 

Edo

[wiskerke]

16 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Wim, I got that Sony 28-70 zoom yesterday, an open-box item. I don't do bench tests anymore, but the walk-around I did today produced images as sharp as any of the other Sony zooms I have. So for the a6000 I now have views of 15-27 and 42 to 105 and with the other Sonys 24-200. I'm gonna let Paulette deal with the longer views, since I'm going to Spain, not Africa. They do have wild boars in Spain, but I think they are referring to men talking too load in tapas bars. 

 

Thanks for the tip, Wim.

 

Edo

 

My pleasure.

And isn't it light and small?

It is a kit lens after all so don't expect top corner sharpness wide open.

If you look at the measurements at Dxomark (shame it's not maintained anymore) - click Sharpness > click Field map - you'll see that at 28-50mm the best apertures are 5.6 and 8 and at 70mm just 8. Which is what you would expect. Center sharpness is good to very good overall. With shallow DOF there's no need for sharp edges anyway.

The Tamron 28-75 is probably better but also weighs 550g against the 295g for the Sony. And it's 118mm against the Sony's 83.

 

Re wild boar: both wild and tame boar (pig) taste great there. It must be all the bellotta they eat.

My favorite part: carrillada. Also good in red wine. I still have to check out those in Pedro Ximenez. ;-)

Great site that. Maybe slightly dated (2015) - I can vouch for Eslava (their #3). Sorry cannot find my carrillada joint. It has bulls heads on the walls, but that's not unusual.

The general restaurant rating site is the Fork.

Ah there it is: Meson Serranito.

 

Lots of places to try out shallow and deep DOF.

 

wim

 

 

 

[Ed Rooney]

Wim, I'm wondering if you have that lens on a FF Sony? I have it on an a6000, so I only have soft edges on a few open f/stop images, where I would expect it. Otherwise I'm sharp across the frame. I've just started with it, but I think I'm really going to enjoy the user friendly feel of the lens. 

 

I'm flying out in two weeks to become a semi-Spanish person. Do I speak good Spanish? Ah, I can order a beer. That's good. 

 

Edo

[wiskerke]

50 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Wim, I'm wondering if you have that lens on a FF Sony? I have it on an a6000, so I only have soft edges on a few open f/stop images, where I would expect it. Otherwise I'm sharp across the frame. I've just started with it, but I think I'm really going to enjoy the user friendly feel of the lens. 

 

I'm flying out in two weeks to become a semi-Spanish person. Do I speak good Spanish? Ah, I can order a beer. That's good. 

 

Edo

 

Yes beer is important. Cerveza; they love their Cruzcampo. Great in summer heat I presume. It may grow on you.

I tried beer made with green tea last Friday. The jury's still out on that one. Maybe with sushi. I'll report back in 4 weeks or so. Which reminds me I'm not yet prepared. Let's hope Google translate is any good.

Yes to a FF also: A7R2. I take it when it's the only lens I take. Otherwise I have a bag with 17; 35; 55 and 70-200mm at the moment. And the RX100M6 hanging from my belt.

 

wim

[Ed Rooney]

Ah so, off to the Land of the Rising Sun, eh? Sushi can use a nice cerverza, but made with green tea? Does everything have to be healthy? 

 

I'm glad you have a good sample on the 28-70. I checked every corner of every one of my test images last night, and I too have a good one. By the way, my Sony super-wide 10-18 is super sharp, t'was a very useful zoom in NYC. 

 

Enjoy your trip East.

 

Edo

[wiskerke]

Lots of rain over there right now. ;-)

 

wim

[John Mitchell]

If the wild boar don't bother me, I promise not to bug them. Bore and let boar, that's what I say.

 

As mentioned, one of the shallow DoF images that I was a bit concerned about did pass QC, so I guess it's safe to upload a couple more from the same batch of cookies.

 

Edited September 24, 2018 by John Mitchell