Which lens should I bring for D&D

[David Kwok]

here is a personal example.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/3093802516_142447492e_o.jpg

I targetted its eyes and then re-composed to add more leaves in the composition but forgot to adjust aperture or rather i forgot i left it at F/5.6 on extreme zoom. by right shouldnt be a problem, by left the subject was slightly blurred but the leaves were okay.

Let me see. You are actually quite far away from the subject right ? You zoom in to a focal length of 250mm ? I read into the EXIF unless I'm mistaken. At f/5.6, the DOF is quite shallow. SO basically your recompose shifted the angle of the focal plane and hence the eyes becomes infront of the focal plane because you recompose from left to right. In this situation, I recommend you shift your focus point instead of recompose. That's normally why some people complain about backfocus or front focus for prime lens of f/1.4 because they didn't realise that while they recompose, the focal plane changed in angle and it's a different situation altogether. That's not to say those claims about back and front focus ain't true, just that it's hard to differentiate between a technical issue and a technique issue at times.

 

[Reportage]

Let me see. You are actually quite far away from the subject right ? You zoom in to a focal length of 250mm ? I read into the EXIF unless I'm mistaken. At f/5.6, the DOF is quite shallow. SO basically your recompose shifted the angle of the focal plane and hence the eyes becomes infront of the focal plane because you recompose from left to right. In this situation, I recommend you shift your focus point instead of recompose. That's normally why some people complain about backfocus or front focus for prime lens of f/1.4 because they didn't realise that while they recompose, the focal plane changed in angle and it's a different situation altogether. That's not to say those claims about back and front focus ain't true, just that it's hard to differentiate between a technical issue and a technique issue at times.

depends what is to be accomplished, i wanted to do a full picture in focus. Most of the time it works just that this time i forgot. Ah well, best thing is the picture as it is still quite useable.

 

[HTCahHTC]

haha. i'm not TS. i happen to have a graduation event to cover tml. btw i really don understand some things even though after reading from DOFmaster.
is it true that i focus on the background, and recompose the shot with shutter half pressed to people in the foreground, i can get everything in focus?[/QUOTE

In the DOF table, where you focus determined the distance between your subject and your sensor.

The near distance from your sensor and far distance create a region of IN FOCUS.
As simple as that. So where you focus doesn't matter. The camera don't care

seriously, i suck at this. what if i wan everyone focused at f/5.6? what do i do? i seriously seriously don get it.

What did you don't get it ? It's not rocket science isn't it ? Of course once u do a few times, u will know roughly what f/stop to use for your aperture will get most pple in focus. When you are standing like 2m away from them. Observe the table and understand the relationship between distance from the subject, focal length and DOF. You will find a nice pattern. If you find that u can keep everyone in focus at 50mm when u are focusing a particular person. You will find that they MUST BE IN FOCUS when you zoom out to perhaps 24mm. because the DOF increase when your focal length get shorter and the distance between u and the subject maintains.

This should be what u ought to be learning, then when you get into the actual ground, u learn to make assessment fast enough so that u don't need to always refer to a chart for assistance.

okay, i'll try this tml. zooming in and focus, and zoom out to recompose the shot. it's the words that are confusing me, which led me to failure of understanding the whole structure. esp hyperfocal... sorry for the trouble...

here is a personal example.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/3093802516_142447492e_o.jpg
I targetted its eyes and then re-composed to add more leaves in the composition but forgot to adjust aperture or rather i forgot i left it at F/5.6 on extreme zoom. by right shouldnt be a problem, by left the subject was slightly blurred but the leaves were okay.

depending on what you want to do, can do some tricks on photoshop as well for the bokeh effect.

Normally what i would do is simply do test shots before the event...heck if your event doesnt end too late or too far away, i dont mind coming by as a secondary if you are the primary photographer since not much on tmw.

for what i said earlier,
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/3102995418_2a28de114b_o.jpg
soft focus. its a popular yet free method for portraits.

LOL. if i were the primary photographer, forget it. they wont get any good shots.
i'm just being invited as one of the guests, but they requested me to bring my camera along. so, yeah. they have a official photographer, i think...

 

[Reportage]

okay, i'll try this tml. zooming in and focus, and zoom out to recompose the shot. it's the words that are confusing me, which led me to failure of understanding the whole structure. esp hyperfocal... sorry for the trouble...

LOL. if i were the primary photographer, forget it. they wont get any good shots.
i'm just being invited as one of the guests, but they requested me to bring my camera along. so, yeah. they have a official photographer, i think...

In my experience, usually that entails that the official photographer could only be doing official shots plus a few group shots of the VIPs and guests. Basically what happens during and in-between as well as candid shots will be up to the guests and whatever image capture devices they may have. My free offer is still on till i can find something to do tmw that doesnt cost too much money .. Arrgh i hate saving up for glass!!!!

dont worry about the words..it took me thousands of photos to understand the application of the words and i had read the f..king camera manual. Youtube has some nice videos on DSLR applications but nothing is a replacement compared to actually doing it yourself.

 

[nanasan]

Our D&D photos came out, comparing official photographer's photos (with flash) and my own photos(without flash), I still prefer the no flash light photo! :heart:
And better use the raw format, just edit the exposure if some photos are not bright enough.
But make sure don't shake your hand when taking the picture.

 

[David Kwok]

Our D&D photos came out, comparing official photographer's photos (with flash) and my own photos(without flash), I still prefer the no flash light photo! :heart:
And better use the raw format, just edit the exposure if some photos are not bright enough.
But make sure don't shake your hand when taking the picture.

You enjoy, did u ?

 

[hairyharry]

you shoot at 18mm and so you can achieve the lowest f at 3.5.
at that aperture, you can achieve nice bokeh too if you subject
is really close to you. If its dark, its ok to bump up the iso and
you can also appreciate to use high noise photos. But i really
think you should bring both lens and quickly get yourself
an external flash! hehe.