# 60mm macro but photo not clear :-(



## booda303 (Dec 6, 2017)

I took this picture hand held and waiting to get my tripod and by the way this forum sure did  answer my tripod questions. I did use the pop up flash and had the ISO low.  What did I do wrong ?


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## Designer (Dec 6, 2017)

booda303 said:


> View attachment 150415 I took this picture hand held and waiting to get my tripod and by the way this forum sure did  answer my tripod questions. I did use the pop up flash and had the ISO low.  What did I do wrong ?


Well, what's wrong with it?  Other than the light being flat, I see nothing wrong.

ps; what do you mean by "not clear"?


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## SquarePeg (Dec 6, 2017)

Although it's not a complete miss, it looks to me like your camera focused in on that branch top left.  What were your settings?  If you were using a shallow DOF and you moved even a smidge, your focus would be missed.


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## booda303 (Dec 6, 2017)

G


booda303 said:


> View attachment 150415 I took this picture hand held and waiting to get my tripod and by the way this forum sure did  answer my tripod questions. I did use the pop up flash and had the ISO low.  What did I do wrong ?


i tried to focus on the face like with a person but looks blurry


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## booda303 (Dec 6, 2017)

SquarePeg said:


> Although it's not a complete miss, it looks to me like your camera focused in on that branch top left.  What were your settings?  If you were using a shallow DOF and you moved even a smidge, your focus would be missed.



My camera settings were f2.8 1/250 and ISO 160 and flash. I thought it was just me thinking that branch did look sharper than his face.


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## weepete (Dec 6, 2017)

looks like a missed focus. did you have it on single point focus?


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## booda303 (Dec 6, 2017)

weepete said:


> looks like a missed focus. did you have it on single point focus?



Good , question. I just checked. It wasn't on single point


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## Overread (Dec 6, 2017)

booda303 said:


> My camera settings were f2.8 1/250 and ISO 160 and flash. I thought it was just me thinking that branch did look sharper than his face.



A few thoughts:

1) Af works by generally finding areas of change in contrast and then locking onto them; furthermore when you've got more than one Af point active the camera will always pick the closest thing to it to focus upon. So if in this case you had all AF points active then the main subject in the middle might not be the closest thing it chooses to focus on.

If you only had the middle AF point active though, then it should have had the camera trying to focus on the face area 

2) Think of focus like a sheet of paper parallel to the front of the lens. The distance is the point of focus; then the depth of field is the thickness of the paper. So a very wide aperture (small f number) will give you a very thin depth of field (thin paper) whilst a small aperture (big f number) will give you a deeper depth of field (ergo thicker paper - thus more in focus). 

Now the depth of field is also influenced by several other factors including distance. The closer you are to a subject the thinner your depth of field is. In macro f 2.8 can be very tiny; making even a slight miss focus way out. In more regular distances at, say f5.6 you get a lot more leeway to work with.

3) Now if you keep point 2 in mind consider also that when your focusing on a very close subject (ergo doing macro and close up photography) you've got 2 kinds of shake taking place. The first is the general up/down left/right motions of your body as you hold the camera and lens (which is always present when hand holding). However the second kind is back/forward motion as well. Because the depths of field are so thin this back/forward motion actually has a noticeable impact. 

This general rocking back/forth is a challenge for AF systems to tackle; because in macro its so slight that the AF can find it tricky keeping up. So with f2.8 and even with a single AF point active and your AF in continuous mode (ergo keeps focusing all the time the shutter is half depressed) you can still get a miss focus, which leads us to point 4

4) A lot of close up/macro is done with manual focusing. You focus the lens manually to get the focus on the subject then you gently rock your body back and forth to finalise it. This also lets you have the shutter half depressed the whole time without the AF engaging and causing issues. This is important because when you go the press the shutter to take the shot your hand causes motion to the camera, so the more you are gently squeezing rather than pressing , the less motion is generated. 
It takes practice to get used to the back/forth motion as you focus and learning when the press the shutter to get the shot. Sometimes a short burst of shots helps you get the shot you want. 

Macro can be a challenge, but is also a lot of fun. 
If you're getting a tripod then one thing that will help a lot is a focusing rail. This mounts between the tripod and the camera which lets you move the camera back and forward to help you focus. This is a lot easier than trying to move the tripod legs a little bit back/forward on the ground. Some focusing rail kits come with two sliders so that you can go side to side as well, again helping make it easier in many situations.

An affordable set of rails would be the Adorama focusing rails, also sold under a slew of other names (basically a single design farmed out to different logos). Searching Ebay for "macro focusing rails" would give you a whole hose of similar options (and most of the 4 way choices are good).


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## jcdeboever (Dec 6, 2017)

I would manual focus on it


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## Dave442 (Dec 6, 2017)

As Overread noted, the back and forth motion in macro while taking a handheld shot can make it difficult for the camera to focus. In manual focus I set the focus very close to where I want it and then I rock back and forth and take the shot when I see the main subject in focus.  Stop down for additional DOF, raise the ISO and keep the shutter speed up for the slight movement - at least 1/125.


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## Derrel (Dec 6, 2017)

Needed to have been shot with the lens set to a smaller aperture, not f/2.8. An f/stop in the f/11,f13,or f/16 range would have possibly been able to get the entire face into proper focus. On a close-up like that, the small f/stops, in the f/13 to f/32 range, usually work the best, especially when flash is used for plenty of light.


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## Designer (Dec 7, 2017)

booda303 said:


> i tried to focus on the face like with a person but looks blurry


There is actually a thin band of your subject that is in good focus, notably the tree branch and part of the fur ornament.  The parts that are blurry are too close or too far from the lens, given your settings and distance.  

What you have here is an example of a very shallow depth of field (depth of focus).  When shooting a macro shot, the DOF is very thin, due partly to how close you are to your subject.  By stopping down you can improve the DOF some, and by backing away from the subject and then cropping later to the finished image you will get a better result.  

When referring to the resolution, we usually say "sharp" rather than "clear".


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## booda303 (Dec 7, 2017)

Thanks everyone , learned a lot by asking this  question.  I will put all this great info to use hopefully my pictures will come out sharp.


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## smoke665 (Dec 7, 2017)

Something not mentioned is all lenses (even macro) have a minimum focus distance. You don't specify the lens, but for example the Canon EF-S 60 mm, has a minimum focus distance of 7.87". If any part of the subject is less than that and you have it on spot AF it won't focus, but if you have it on Multi-point, it will automatically pick another point,


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## booda303 (Dec 7, 2017)

smoke665 said:


> Something not mentioned is all lenses (even macro) have a minimum focus distance. You don't specify the lens, but for example the Canon EF-S 60 mm, has a minimum focus distance of 7.87". If any part of the subject is less than that and you have it on spot AF it won't focus, but if you have it on Multi-point, it will automatically pick another point,




Yes , I do have the canon 60mm. I was trying to get as close as I could and didn't realize I had  it on multi.  Makes sense that it did pick up another  point. I didn't know that could happen. Makes sense why that branch was sharp.


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