Deceptive screen

[mynxt]

I'm feeling a bit disheartened today. I'm wondering if I have a setting or something wrong with my camera or if I am doing something wrong when taking a picture.

Yesterday I went out for 6 hours walking amongst the rain forest on a overcast sort of day and played with the manual settings and took a few shots of the same thing with different aperature and shutter speeds to practice and learn what is best. So doing landscape type pictures. I've taken over 80 shots and I know not all of them are going to turn out well, but I do remember looking at my screen after the shot had been taken and thinking yep, perfect! It looked like a great picture and I was really quite chuffed.

Now I have come home and looked at the pictures on the computer and I'm disappointed. A lot of the pictures are out of focus for some reason. Whether I have used the wrong settings I am unsure. I do use a central focus point, but maybe I just haven't got my composure correct. This is all fine, but the thing that is really bugging me is that they all looked fine on the camera at the time! If they hadn't of course I would have retaken the picture. Those two or so pictures I thought would be the best, I can't even seem to find. *sigh*

So I guess my question is why is the screen picture not telling me the truth? Should I ignore it all together or is there a setting to change? Does anyone have any help for me??
Oh... and I am using a tripod now.

Thanks.

[Lani]

It is disappointing, but because the resolution of your LCD screen is so small, you definitely can't rely on it to check sharpness, unless you can zoom in to the image on it. I am not sure with your camera.
I am not a landscaper, but if you are using a tripod, manually focussing by using your viewfinder will probably give you better results. also it depends what aperture you have used, if you want more in focus you need a higher f stop.
If you are not sure about settings, check out the new to photography forum as there are some great tips in there.

[Steve Axford]

The screen picture is very small, so it will not really show if things are out of focus. You will have to zoom in to check that and even then, with many cameras, you will not see the full resolution. As for other things, I find that the small screen does not give you a true representation of how the photo will look when displayed much bigger. You just have to get used to that. Photography still contains some elements of prediction. ie from how the scene looks to how will it look when finally printed or displayed. It's not really WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) just yet. Nor will it ever be.

[fillum]

Definitely a disappointing experience, it's happened to me many times.

Oh... and I am using a tripod now.

Did you mean you used a tripod for this shoot, or that you are going to use one in future? My first thought was that for the conditions (rain forest, overcast) maybe your shutter speeds were a bit slow resulting in some motion blur. If you can post a couple of images with the EXIF data intact we might be able to give you some more specific answers.



Cheers.

[mynxt]

Thanks for your comments guys. I did use a tripod for this shoot. I also took my time looking through the finder and then standing back andhalf pressing the button and adjusting exposure. I did take a few with different exposures, because the correct exposure was just way to bright.

Phil, I've tried to upload the pictures to photobucket, but not having any luck. I will try tomorrow.

[Darey]

I don't know much about Canon Lenses so was wondering if you have 'Image Stabilization' and was it turned on?
Always turn off IS when you are using a tripod. I believe that when you have your Camera on a tripod and have IS turned on the lens IS mechanism constantly looks for movement and thus causes vibrations which slightly blur your images.

I hope you work out your issue and get some pleasing shots soon.

[alba100]

I'm pretty new to this - but could it be the act of pressing the shutter causes some movement at slow shutter speed, or the mirror lifting causes slight movement, even on a tripod

Might it help to use a remote or a 3 sec delay.

This is the engineer in me coming out, not the photographer

[mynxt]

Darey, I can't find any mention of Image Stabilization in my manual, so I would say I don't have it.

Dan, I'm going to look at getting a remote and do a mirror lock up and see how that goes.

I'm also going to weight the tripod and see if that helps too. I'll go back next week and have another go at things

[twister]

Darey, I can't find any mention of Image Stabilization in my manual, so I would say I don't have it.

Dan, I'm going to look at getting a remote and do a mirror lock up and see how that goes.

I'm also going to weight the tripod and see if that helps too. I'll go back next week and have another go at things

The "Image Stabiliser" should be a rocker switch on the lens next to the AF/MF switch if the lens has IS in it...on a tripod, switch the "Stabiliser" rocker to the off position...

[ricktas]

Post one or two of the photos here and we can usually find the cause and solution once we can see exactly what the results look like. You will find you will get to the crux of your issues a lot faster if we can see examples!

[yummymummy]

The "Image Stabiliser" should be a rocker switch on the lens next to the AF/MF switch if the lens has IS in it...on a tripod, switch the "Stabiliser" rocker to the off position...

not all Canon kit lenses have IS on them, mine don't so don't stress yourself if you don't have it.. the non IS ones work just fine, and I've taken many good shots without IS.

[stoogest]

+1 on what Rick said. Post up one of the photos. We won't bite....(well...except Mongo perhaps...).

Andrew.

[mynxt]

I did try to upload photos yesterday but really was not having any luck. I have put a few up on Photobucket and hopefully this link will work. ... Nope, link button won't do anything for me. So I'll paste it.

http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o...ezuma%20Falls/

[Longshots]

Photobucket would have appeared to have stripped the Exif data - which is the information that tells us your shutter speed, your aperture and choice of ISO. If you can provide that for say the last shot on Photobucket, people will be able to give you more help.

[mynxt]

Yes, I am going to look at a new hosting site today. Not at all happy with Photobucket.

Photo 1:f/11, 1.6sec, ISO-100, 24mm focal

Photo 2: f/8, 0.8sec, ISO-100, 24mm focal

Photo 3: f/8, 1/2sec, ISO-100, 24mm focal

Photo 4: f/8, 1/2sec, ISO-100, 21mm focal

Photo 5: f/5.6, 1/2sec, ISO-100, 21mm focal

Photo 6: f/5.6, 1.3sec, ISO-100, 21mm focal.

[Cage]

You certainly picked a challenging subject with a deep shaded area on the left and a well lit area on the right. Interesting subject but probably the wrong time of the day.

I could not pick your focus point as the whole image looks OOF and the low ISO and big aperture is not helping. If you went to ISO 400/800 or maybe even higher, and used a smaller aperture you would get a huge increase in your DOF. I don't know how your particular camera handles high ISO's, whether it would be too noisy, but it's worth a try.
If you are using centre spot focusing try to pick a focal point near the middle of the area you want to be most in focus.
I feel your frustration because I'm going through the same learning curve.

Keep plugging away. I keep telling myself it will be worth it in the end.

Cheers

Kevin

[mynxt]

Thanks Kevin, definitely is a learning curve and that is why I do take so many with the different aperture and shutter speeds. Why would you use a faster ISO? I have used them before and haven't noticed too much noise, so I will try it when I go back next week.

I also thought f/11 was a good aperature to use. Should I have gone 22 maybe? I am really really still learning these I think and I'm wondering if I should drop back from complete manual and just work on one at a time. But, then the auto parts don't always work either.

When I focus I do use the central point. I'm beginning to think that I shouldn't always use this one, or I should learn to use the focus lock.

But yes, I will get there in the end

[ving]

no f11 is fine. you are using a tripod as you say but are you using a remote too? just pressing the button can shake the camera and cause blur at long shutter speeds. the central focus point will give you the most accurate focus but use which ever one suits the scene. if you are using the cameras af assist (assuming canon has this) you have to use the center focus point.

shame really, thats a nice looking scene.

also if you were using the central focus point then the background trees would be your focus point and the forground may very well look OOF. Id have focused on the rocks under the bridge, locked the focus there by switching to manual focus, then take the shot.

[ving]

btw, going to f22 would cause diffraction softness. like i said f11 is fine... no higher than f16 is my recommendation.

[Cage]

I agree with ving, f11 (or maybe f16) should be optimum for that scene and that will give you significantly more DOF than f5.6.

Also recommend using a remote release.

As I said previously, that shot was always going to be a challenge with the two different light levels.
If you can, have another go at it either early AM or late PM, depending on it's aspect relative to the light, so the whole shot is getting the same amount of light.

Cheers

Kevin