[meteorite-list] Meteorite Photography (Must read!)

[Meteorites USA]

Erik is right, The higher f-stop of 22 will increase depth of field, not 
sharpness of focus. Though it's related, it's not quite the same. Your 
focus is not controlled entirely by f-stop, only the DOF and amount of 
light allow into the camera.

This is why sports photographers use a low/large f-stop lens like f2.8 
lenses. The reason is simple, the smaller aperture only allow focus on a 
small area of the subject, blurs out the background and has a very 
shallow DOF which focuses (at distance) in the perfect zone, making the 
player seem in sharp focus. Simply stopping down to f22 you would be 
able to see everything behind the player, distracting the subject, and 
it would not be as sharp.

The distance to the subject also plays a large part in DOF focus. DOF 
can be measured in percentages to give a better idea of the range of 
focus. If point A were 2 inches in front of your subject, and point D 
was the background, then points B to C would be the area in which your 
the photo would be in focus and directly related to your f-stop number. 
Shallower is sharper, sharper is smaller, i.e. f.2.8 is will be sharper 
than f22.

When photographing meteorites, or anything, it's the same thing.

Regards,
Eric



On 1/27/2010 5:50 AM, al mitt wrote:
> Hi Erik and all,
>
> I'd think just the opposite would be correct. A higher f-stop (f 22, 
> 18 etc.) would create a better depth of field and the more open your 
> iris is on your camera (lower f stop, 1.8, 2.0 etc.) the less focused 
> your items would be. I think you just stated it backwards. Best!
>
> --AL Mitterling
> Mitterling Meteorites
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Erik Fisler" <erikfwebb at msn.com>
> To: "meteorite-list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 3:51 PM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Photography (Must read!)
>
>
>
> The third thing is auto-blending. For those of you who have SLR's you 
> will notice that shooting at a higher F-stop like F1.8 or F2.8 is a 
> lot sharper than shooting at a lower F-stop like F22. The problem is, 
> you might have to drop your F-stop to make sure the whole meteorite is 
> in focus.
>
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