Gerbils...

Mr. Fancypants

Just got my new digital camera last week and have been playing with the macro mode. Im prity new to this photography lark but am finding it great fun. Anyhow, here's a piccie of one of my Gerbils wondering what all the fuss is about...

Sibeal

tee hee hee - your poor gerbil. On a more serious note; I like it. Best way to learn photography is (beside aperture etc - read books) is to look at photos u like & figure out what is good bout em; composition, lighting etc & try & do that in yours. Best of luck

Samson

I would make a few points on your gerbil shot.

1. Use a tripod, this will help keep everything sharp (minimise bluriness due to camera shake).

2. If your digital camera allows manual control over aperture, use it. Try setting a smaller aperture to increase depth of field (the amount/distance in focus). The reason I say this is that although some of the gerbils head is in focus, the rest is not. Decreasing aperture will keep all of the head in focus.

3. Whenever taking a photograph of a living creature ALWAYS focus on the eyes.

Sibeal

Personally I think the wide aperature was a good choice in this, a smaller aperature would have produced a distracting background - it would be messy. Anyway the ear, nose & eye is sharp & with the dcreasing aperature leads the eye to the main point of focus - the head. Sometimes a full degree of sharpness isn't always better.

Samson

Originally posted by Sibeal
Personally I think the wide aperature was a good choice in this, a smaller aperature would have produced a distracting background - it would be messy.

I agree.
However, I reckon that the eye is not particularly sharp (this is probably due to the auto-focus on the camera picking the top of the head), therefore I feel that inceasing DOF would help in this particular circumstance to get ensure that the eyes and maybe whiskers would be sharp.

tribble

Damn - thats a good camera

What is it? (the camera)

Monkey

"Whenever taking a photograph of a living creature ALWAYS focus on the eyes" - never say "always"

Mr. Fancypants

Thanks for the responses. Your correct, it was taken in auto mode and i didn't use a tripod. (Had the camera levered into their cage).

The camera is a Sony Cybershot DHC-F707. I'd certainly recommend it. Got a nice deal on it through ebay.

Samson

Originally posted by mbroaders
The camera is a Sony Cybershot DHC-F707.

Does it have any manual exposure control facilities ?

Mr. Fancypants

Sure does,

You can have full control over the aperature and shutter speed as well as white balance. Has a lovely Carl Zeiss lens on it..


You can see a full rundown of it here....

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/F707/F7A.HTM