Photographing your work - Questions

[Jeff Moffett]

So I just set up a light tent lit from the side with two halogen work lights and am using NIkon D40 with 18-200 mm lens at about 80mm focal length and cannot get a 10 inch bowl in focus front to back using aperture priority and the highest f
Stop about f32 it will let me. Any tips?

Skott, Google "depth of field calculator". The first one that comes up for me is http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html. Plug in your variables to the calculator:

Camera = Nikon D40
Focal Length = 80 mm
F-stop = f/32

If you play with the last variable, "subject distance", you'll find that 46 inches from your piece will give you 10.1 inches of depth of field or the area that will be in focus.

[John Beaver]

A quick tutorial on Depth of Field

1. Longer lens equals less dof. A 50mm lens has more dof then a 120mm
2. Lower f-stop has less dof. F4 has less dof then f11
3. Generally the closer to the lens you get the less dof you have.
4. With in a given dof - 1/3 in front is in focus and 2/3 in back is in focus.

When shooting bowls I recommend a 50mm-75mm lens set around f8 - f16.
If you can't get the whole thing in focus, try rolling the focus slightly towards the back and see if that helps.
Lastly, you can always shoot the shot a little wider, (back off and/or use a wider lens) to achieve more dof, and crop it in your photo program.

Jeff's recommendation for www.dofmaster is a good idea. Make sure you have the correct settings for your camera. The size of the sensor also affects the dof.

[skott nielsen]

Aha! You guys are great. I was about 18 inches away. Will try again tomorrow. Went for a close up as that composed well. Guess I can crop in when I get it focused right. Thanks a lot

Skott

[Don Nurmela]

Where do you guys get your graduated paper backgrounds? I was sort of stunned when I found prices of $30 for a sheet of paper. Is there a reasonable price outlet somewhere or is this just another of the 'feature$' of the vortex?

[Roger Chandler]

Don,

Here is where I purchased mine from. The one I have is on a pvc material, and is much more durable than paper. Hope this helps!

http://www.phototechinc.com/graduate.htm

[Don Nicholas]

Thank you all for a very informative thread. One question I have when using your light tents, do you take your photos with the room/shop lights off.
I have a Canon Xsi and still am in a learing curve. My light tent looks the same as the one Roger is showing.
Thanks for sharing!!