Opinions on this please

[letitbleed]

Took this pic this morning.Found this chap sitting there as I was about to cut the grass .
Would value all criticism as I am complete novice at this DSLR lark.
Taken with following
Canon 350d
Sigma 70-300mm
f5/6
1/500

[stevegreen]

Could have been a really nice picture but i'm struggling to see the focus point to be honest. The back legs are difficult to make out and all of that portion of the rear of the toad/frog/cursed prince is confusing because of the focus issues.

Lovely colours though

[letitbleed]

I agree about focus issues,picture taken in hurry !!
Any tips for focussing on this type of subject

[StevieDvd]

Focus, though you may be able to improve that in software a little. The other thing would have been to change your angle, if you had taken a side shot with the eyes in sharp focus it would have looked as if he was thinking of something outside of the picture.

I presume the rule of thirds is still a thing to aim for. Imagine having the image spilt into 3 equal vertical areas with the eye of the frog on one of the boundary lines.

If that's dated sorry, but it's been a while since I did any serious stuff myself. Just bought a Canon 350D myself this weekend and getting back into the swing.

Hopefully you realise that a subject like that needed several shots and that most would be deleted but a good one might just be among them. It sounded mad when I was told at college that one decent picture on a roll of 36 was a good ratio to achieve. But when you realise how many pictures from a film would be good enough to enlarge, frame and put on display it does make sense. Even more so now the pictures can be deleted with such ease.

Heck I'm getting old and been through a lot of cameras, darkroom equipment and new fangled gadgets - best I shut up now!

Steve (first camera - pin-hole cocoa tin and photosensitive paper)

[letitbleed]

This is probably the best of the shots I took from side


Edit: Had a play around in PSP ,a bit of improvement

[stevegreen]

Again, the focus seems to be out of cock with the body of the frog in focus and the remainder out of focus, a higher f-stop would have given better results.

[letitbleed]

thanks guys.
Guess I need loads more practice.I need to get out of the P&S habit & think more of what I am actually shooting

[JohnG]

It's not easy taking good photos of things that keep moving When I've been out trying to photograph wildlife (I'm not good at it, just learning) I tend to take a quick shot as soon as I can and then try and compose it properly and take a few different shots. When I 1st started I was that busy playing around with the camera the thing was long gone before I got a single shot !

[StevieDvd]

Originally Posted by JohnG

It's not easy taking good photos of things that keep moving When I've been out trying to photograph wildlife (I'm not good at it, just learning) I tend to take a quick shot as soon as I can and then try and compose it properly and take a few different shots. When I 1st started I was that busy playing around with the camera the thing was long gone before I got a single shot !

I know what you mean I was about to take a snap of a tortoise but by the time I'd worked out what all the buttons did it was 5 miles away! And that was a disposable camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RobertP]

It looks to me like the camera is choosing an AF point on a blade of grass. The exif says you are using manual exposure but I can't tell how you are setting the focus. Are you using the default mode (at least it is on the 20D) of 'pattern' where all 7 AF points are active and the camera chooses which one to focus with?

Once I turned that off an only used the middle AF square my focusing problems were over. You can always focus with the centre and recompose the shot with the button half pressed.

Exif also says iso 800 and f5.6 was it a bit dark?

[letitbleed]

RobertP
Yes I was using AF you describe,also ISO was set at 800 as I was rushing shot(had to go get camera,returned to take pics no CF card in camera ,back indoors to get card ...
Will try your tip about focus points

[longleyc]

Strange, but to my eyes, its not focused properly, anywhere.
These shots tend to look better if you use the Portrait setting (wide aperture) and a some zoom. Use Spot af/ae on the point of focus you want. That model prob has flexi focus where you can set the focus point in the frame somewhere rather than centred.
And yes, thats a high ISO for a daylight shot? 1/500th should freeze the frame adequately enough.