Australian_Photography_-_June_2016_

AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 79

Go macro
“I would love to improve future shots of this subject,”
writes Lyn Forbes. “I was up and about earlier than
normal following an Anzac Day dawn service.
I diverted into the local botanic gardens where
I noticed a dandelion covered in frost and took many
shots until the sun started to melt the frost. I love
the shot but feel it could be clearer. I prefer a more
shallow depth of field that blurs the background, but
want the details of the frost sharp.”
You are not using the right lens for the result you
want. You really need a macro lens to do justice to
close-ups of small stuff like f lowers and insects. One
possible advantage of a macro lens  – or disadvantage,
according to your point of view – is the shallow depth
of field that forces you to focus on the key point of
interest to get that sharp. A macro would provide
a much better chance of good clarity of detail in
those frost droplets. You also need to get in much
closer, bend down, frame out the scraggly parts of the
dandelion and focus on the best section which looks
to be the bottom quarter of the plant.

SA I M A’S T I P: A big zoom is not a silver bullet for all
situations and subjects and if you want to get the best
possible results with specialist subject matter, the right
lens is key.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Lyn Forbes
DETAILS: Sony SLT A57, 18-200mm lens @ 200mm,
1/100s @ f/8, 100 ISO.

AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY JUNE 2016

Devil in the details

Steve Pethers took this shot at Palm Beach

Queensland early one morning after a

storm: "Luckily the couple paused for a

moment to look at the birds which had just

taken off as I took the shot," he writes.

You have some classic ingredients for a

sunset shot (sea, sky, clouds and couple)

but it hasn't quite come off. That beach

with the dead bush and messiness is a

little grubby-looking, and combined with

the grain or noise does not make the best

foreground! You probably needed to shoot

from a lower angle up against the sky so

that you could crop the grungy beach.

The hole burnt by the sun into the centre

of the frame is also not a winning feature.

If one of those figures could have been

placed in front of the sun when the shot

was composed, that would have stopped

that. There is also an issue with the odd

colour in the sky and sand and some strange

highlights around the couple. Some colour

tweaking and noise reduction are in order

but it won't help that messy foreground.

S A I M A'S T I P: If the foreground in a scene

is not the best, the rest of the image is going

to struggle.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steve Pethers

DETAILS: Nikon D80 @ 11mm, 320 ISO.