POTD 8 November 2015 - Autumn Trees

[Mike Farley]

An overcast and wet day in the Peak District which limited the scope for photography, but I managed to obtain this in the Derwent Valley just below the Derwent Dam.

[davidc]

It looks like your focus was off here? Can't see a sharp focal point, do you remember where it was?

[Mike Farley]

It looks like your focus was off here? Can't see a sharp focal point, do you remember where it was?

That's a joke, right? It's pin sharp.

[davidc]

No, not a joke sorry. On work/home monitors and mobile it looks blurred. The sharpest region seems to be in the leaf-litter but there's more contrast there so that might be an illusion.

What was going through your mind when you shot it?

[Mike Farley]

No, not a joke sorry. On work/home monitors and mobile it looks blurred. The sharpest region seems to be in the leaf-litter but there's more contrast there so that might be an illusion.

So let's think about this for a moment. We have a subject with a lot of fine detail shot from some distance and the result is displayed in a very low resolution JPEG. Just how much information do you realistically expect to be able to see? Re your comment about the leaf litter, just what do you think sharpness is, if not the contrast between edges?

I have rechecked the original and it is as good as I would expect from the 7D (original version) and 17-55 EF-s lens I used. Based on my experience in Scotland earlier this year, maybe something like a Leica S with a top notch prime lens might have done slightly better, but that''s a huge disparity in equipment price.

What was going through your mind when you shot it?

It was taken durng the club's outing to the Peak District, so it goes without saying that the weather was poor. At least it was not actually raining at the time, just very dull. The downpour which halted proceedings came later in the day. I liked the colours in the scene, which were enhanced by still being wet from the previous day's deluge. In this case, the gloomy sky worked in my favour as it reduced the difference in EV between the lightest and darkest parts of the scene. Had it been brighter, I would have had to think about either combining two captures or using the 0.6 ND soft grad which was in my bag.

As to what I am thinking now, best not to say.

[Ronald Barker]

The problem with focus as I see it depends on the eyesight of the person viewing the image, I often look at images and think they are spot on and then someone says it is out of focus, and I cannot see it. That is the case in this image, to me it is perfect to David it is not that is matter of opinion.
Do you like the image? I do so well seen Mike.

[Mike Farley]

Thanks, Ron, glad that you like the shot. I can partially understand where David is coming from due to the amount of fine detail rendered in a relatively small and heavily compressed image. That said, there is nothing to indicate an issue with focus. If you look at the trunk on the tree on the left, for example, the large indentations running along the trunk are rendered as clearly as I would expect in the circumstances as are the small branches at the top of the image.