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Canon Rebel EOS T5 and close ups

mamassey40
Apprentice

Hello all

 

Before I go crazy can someone please please help me.  I have tried it all. 

 

I design jewelry and take photos so I can post online.  For some reason, I cannot get the photo to be clear.  Some of it is clear but then part of it is blurry.  I have no idea what I am doing wrong.  It's not the lighting as I have a light tent plus I have tried outside etc.  I really think it's the settings that I cannot figure out.  

 

I will say that when I first got the camera I could take some that were very clear.  Then I started playing with the settings per YouTube instructions and that is when I lost my ability to take good clear photos. 

 

Please help!!!

Thanks 

10 REPLIES 10

Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

The task that you have set for yourself is a field of photography known as Macro Photography.  I suggest that you do web searches for that phrase.

One reasonable explanation for your blurry photos is when you focus very close to the lens, your " depth of field " become very short.  Do a web search for that phrase, too.  I suggest that you visit DOFmaster dot com, and look at their tables.

I think that you are simply climbing the learning curve of macro photography.  You may need to use a technique known as photostacking.  This is where you take several photographs of an object, each shot focusing on a different part of the object, and then the series of shots are combined through software.

 

IMG_7598.jpg

 

That shot is comprised of 10 separate shots, each focused on a horizontal slice of the coin.

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"The right mouse button is your friend."

Thank you so much for the info.  I will do some research on those areas that you suggested.  Thanks again!!

I read some info that you suggested.  I am not taking photos up that close.  I design jewerly and need to take photos of my creations to put online.  This is only some of the photo as it is too big to post.  But see how some is clear and some of the photo is blurred?  That is what I am trying to figure out.  I am not talking about micro marco photos, just photos of necklaces. Thanks Necklace


@mamassey40 wrote:

I read some info that you suggested.  I am not taking photos up that close.  I design jewerly and need to take photos of my creations to put online.  This is only some of the photo as it is too big to post.  But see how some is clear and some of the photo is blurred?  That is what I am trying to figure out.  I am not talking about micro marco photos, just photos of necklaces. Thanks Necklace


Waddizzle urged you to read up on "depth of field", so I'll assume that you did that. In that picture, the difference between the distance from the camera to the lower part of the necklace and the distance from the camera to the upper part of the necklace exceeds the depth of field of that lens at that aperture. That's why the upper part of the picture isn't in focus. If you want the whole picture to be in focus, you will have to position the necklace and the camera so as to correct that situation. Use of the word "macro" (or "micro") in the description of your problem or its solution is entirely optional.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

What do you mean by "If you want the whole picture to be in focus, you will have to position the necklace and the camera so as to correct that situation"?

I am sorry, so new to this. I am not looking to be a professional at this, just want to make a good photo of my jewelry to post online.


@mamassey40 wrote:
What do you mean by "If you want the whole picture to be in focus, you will have to position the necklace and the camera so as to correct that situation"?

I am sorry, so new to this. I am not looking to be a professional at this, just want to make a good photo of my jewelry to post online.

You need to start by spending some time wiith your user manual. That is step one. From there, pick up a few books on DSLR photography or sign up for some online training. 

 

http://www.canon.com/icpd/

 


@mamassey40 wrote:
What do you mean by "If you want the whole picture to be in focus, you will have to position the necklace and the camera so as to correct that situation"?

I am sorry, so new to this. I am not looking to be a professional at this, just want to make a good photo of my jewelry to post online.


I think Bob means to not shoot at an off angle, relative to the necklace.  Try to shoot straight at the jewelry piece.  I can adjust my tripod in the above phtos to shoot straight down, which is how I photographed the posted shoot of the plate of food.

When you shoot at angle, consider the distance to the lens of the nearest part of the necklace.  Then, consider the distance to the farthest part of the neclace.  You need to shoot with a Depth-Of-Field that covers that entire distance, which is hard to do when you are very close to the necklace.

What you can do is back away a little bit, if you want to shoot at an angle.  Or, you can shoot straight at the piece, so that nearly every part of the necklace is the same distance from the lens.  Again, the second scenario is how I photographed the plate of food, because I faced the same problem as you.  I could not get the entire plate in focus, front to back.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."


@Waddizzle wrote:

@mamassey40 wrote:
What do you mean by "If you want the whole picture to be in focus, you will have to position the necklace and the camera so as to correct that situation"?

I am sorry, so new to this. I am not looking to be a professional at this, just want to make a good photo of my jewelry to post online.


I think Bob means to not shoot at an off angle, relative to the necklace.  Try to shoot straight at the jewelry piece.  I can adjust my tripod in the above phtos to shoot straight down, which is how I photographed the posted shoot of the plate of food.

When you shoot at angle, consider the distance to the lens of the nearest part of the necklace.  Then, consider the distance to the farthest part of the neclace.  You need to shoot with a Depth-Of-Field that covers that entire distance, which is hard to do when you are very close to the necklace.

What you can do is back away a little bit, if you want to shoot at an angle.  Or, you can shoot straight at the piece, so that nearly every part of the necklace is the same distance from the lens.  Again, the second scenario is how I photographed the plate of food, because I faced the same problem as you.  I could not get the entire plate in focus, front to back.


The plate is potentially harder than the necklace, because the center of the plate is closer to the camera than the rim is. If the necklace is laid out as a circle, it doesn't matter whether the center is in focus.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA


@mamassey40 wrote:

I read some info that you suggested.  I am not taking photos up that close.  I design jewerly and need to take photos of my creations to put online.  This is only some of the photo as it is too big to post.  But see how some is clear and some of the photo is blurred?  That is what I am trying to figure out.  I am not talking about micro marco photos, just photos of necklaces. Thanks Necklace


Bob, is correct about the DOF, depth of field, working against you.  Your shot is excellent.  The laws of physics are working against you, making it almost impossible to get the entire jewelry piece in focus.  This is due in large part to the proximity of the lens to the subject.

http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html

 

The link is old.  Use the default camera selection setting of "7D", because it has the same size, APS-C, image sensor as your T5.  Hopefully,, the link will help you better understand what you are up against. 

 

Try backing off, which increases the apparent DOF, so that you can crop the photo in post-production and processing to the size you want.

 

A costly tilt-shift lens could probably capture the entire piece in focus in one shot.  But, if your best path to getting the entire piece in focus in one image is either, back off the piece and crop the image, image stacking [which photoshop can do], or a T-S lens.

 

IMG_2520.PDN.png

 

Or, try to reduce the angle at which you shoot the piece.  Try to shoot looking straight down at it.  This shot is still shooting at angle, but I wound up raising the tripod, and shooting nearly straight down.

 

IMG_2015_09_280665.png

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."
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