Natural Light and Manual Focus

[ladybugamanda]

How did I do? That manual focus thing is tricky when the wind is blowing! It's an overcast day so I thought the lighting might be good to play with.

[Loupey]

First of all, bravo to you for using natural light and manual focus - two things I preach

On this shot, the lighting looks "un"natural as it is lit from the bottom - why is that? Otherwise, the shot is pleasing. Most of the main blossoms are within your DOF. I would have liked a different angle to eliminate the background distraction.

[ladybugamanda]

I don't know why the lighting looks "un" natural - I took the photo outside and it was a mostly overcast day. Can you explain what angle you would have liked to see? I can reshoot this as the flowers are hanging in a planter on my porch. As for the manual focus - I LOVED it. Why didn't I try it before?

[Sebastian]

Hi again.

It's once again VERY saturated, to the point of losing some detail. Are you overexposing or post-processing the saturation?

[ladybugamanda]

I didn't do any post processing and the camera picked the exposures. Can you explain saturation to me? I've tried to play with it in PSE and it never looks different when I do. Heck - maybe I'm not 'doing' it right. I'm still trying to learn to use the program. Anyway - that shot of the geraniums was straight out of the camera.

[Sebastian]

See if your camera has saturation controls in any of the menus. Alternatively, try using the exposure compensation to reduce the exposure it's picking slightly.

[Greg McCary]

I'm not sure about digital cameras. Try playing around with different exposures and f/stops. Your framing is good. If you shot manual start a couple of stops underexposed and work your way up to see what works best. Also if you use a tripod try and use the timer to reduce movement. Your getting better...