Depth of Focus question

[naznomore_92]

I went down to the Marina the other day and decided to get a couple of snaps in before work. I took this picture of flowers with a boat in the background. As you can see the flowers are blurred and the boat is clear (I have another one that is the exact opposite). I have a Nikon Coolpix L18 and after reading a few photography books from the library I read that P&S cameras usually keep everything in focus. So what are some if any of the tricks I can do to get both images in focus. Thanks for any help.
Snap it up
Naz

[A.M.D.A.]

Hi,

Assuming that you want both flowers and boat in focus:

#1. You can adjust the aperture to a smaller opening (larger number). That would increase your depth of field.

#2. Also, try stepping back from your subjects and set the zoom on the camera as wide as possible.

#3. Try to focus on a point between the flowers and the boat, I don't know if there is anything in between them. Maybe another passing boat or a log?
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The coolpix L18 might not have a program for changing the aperture. If there is a "scenery" or "landscape" mode, set it.

Aim to get the highest number possible: It will be something like f/8.0.

Hoping this helps, :thumbsup:

[jbaldocchi]

Hi Naz, I think part of the problem is your camera doesn't have a manual setting in which you can adjust the speed and the f/stop for dof. You could try using a tripod and an iso setting of 200 or greater for more dof but there will be a grain/noise trade off. You might be better served knowing the camera's limitations and not trying to shoot both in the same shot. If you crop out the foreground the image looks pretty good.

[mn shutterbug]

You received some good answers, but I like the flowers blurred in the foreground. Your main focus is the ship and the flowers help frame the shot.

[freygr]

Unless you can set the aperture of the lens you will have either but not both in focus. If you zoom wide you will get more Depth of Field and also the larger F stop number the more Depth of Field you will get.