A boat and a rose

[tolien]

Was out and about (images link to larger versions):



(200mm, 1/1200 at f/5.6, ISO1600 - no idea why I used 1600, I didn't notice till I'd moved on past it)



(48mm, 1/125 at f/9, ISO400)

Both have been cropped, border added and auto levels in Photoshop.
On a 400D, first photo with my Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, the second with the kit lens.

Any thoughts?

 

[tolien]

Thanks for the comments. On the subject of mistakes, I'd been playing with the saturation/contrast settings as well, and the JPEGs look utterly crap - RAW saved me from that one.

I like the rose picture too, but think you should have used a faster shutter-speed and lower focal range to blur the background.

Good point. I might've played more, but I was running short on time and was wary of some dodgy bugger making off with my gear
The DOF button seemed completely useless for shots like that though.

 

[tolien]

Found a tutorial in a magazine for adding DoF with Photoshop, so thought I'd have a play:



If anyone's interested, I could summarise the process.

 

[tolien]

Thanks.

A great way to add lens blur is by using a Alpha channel and the Filter/blur/lens blur tool.

That's what I did, though the tutorial I've got uses a whole load of dodging and burning in the middle.