testing the limits
I always want my images to be sharp. Well, unless my "artistic" desires lead to some different creation that is!
By and large though, sharpness is key. And one of the elements in achieving a sharp image is the choice of aperture. Most lenses reach peak sharpness when stopped down a little, so the f2.8 lens I used for today's image reaches optimal sharpness at around f5.6.
Of course, shooting close up at that sort of aperture renders a very shallow depth of field. Normally I would overcome this by shooting bracketed images, each at a slightly different focal points and then using software to blend those images later.
For this image though I wanted to try something a little different, and shot it at f22! This should render the image as a slightly soft "mess", but I have to be honest when I say that I can't really notice any significant image degradation. Maybe if I really magnified it and "pixel-peeped" I could, but to my eye it's just fine.
Trouble was the shutter speed. At that tiny aperture this shot took 25 seconds to expose. Good job there was no wind!
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| Nikon Z6, Micro-Nikkor 55mm f2.8 AiS 25 seconds at f22, ISO 100 tripod, self timer release |
A fine demonstration what a small aperture and some elemental wizardry can accomplish.
ReplyDeleteI need to try shooting more scenes this way. I usually do event photography in poor lighting conditions, so most of my work ends up being very selectively sharp and mostly a lot of grades of softness and mush; giving myself a challenge to go in such totally different direction could be... refreshing.