Trees in the Puddle

drd1135

Zen Snapshooter
Location
Virginia
Name
Steve
Nothing extraordinary here except for the contrast in sharpness between the puddle and the ground. I haven't used the A7 much at all, but I suppose the shallow dof of FF also applies to the odd focus of a reflection in a puddle. Any comments?
puddle2.jpg
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I've shot this shot before a bunch......I never used to understand why there would be stuff on the asphalt that was out of focus while the reflections which seem the same distance are IN focus.

It's a mental trick.....to focus on those tree limbs.....you are bouncing the focus distance off the water...roughly 6 feet away from you....to the tree tops...maybe another 15 feet away. If you had a focus scale on your camera or lens, you could verify it.

So when the tree branches are in focus...at around 20 feet away...the asphalt surrounding the "reflection" at 5 or 6 feet away is out of focus.

I've experience similar "issues" when focusing on a reflection in a window or mirror......and then trying to refocus on the frame of the mirror (or window).....the distances need to be great enough...but the effect is the same.

It's obviously more dramatic on your Sony full frame camera than it would be on the smaller sensor kits.
 
I just never thought about that before, i.e., the ground was blurrier due to the shallower DoF. Of course, I did have F9 but the trees were far from the surrounding ground.
 
I have no comments outside of the obvious which is that the camera has decided for you where to focus and as a consequence, emphasised the reflection at the cost of making the ground less sharp. I don't think it lessens the image, probably improves it. Considering an aperture of F9 has been used, it looks like with this camera, it is only manual focusing that will get everything sharp.
 
If the "things" are the asphalt and the surface of the water, then they are the same distance from the camera. But if the "things" are the asphalt and the image of the branches reflected in the water, then they are different distances from the camera, as others have said.

An interesting discussion, and one which makes me wonder what would happen to an autofocus camera used in a hall of mirrors. Some sort of nervous breakdown, presumably.

I'm also wondering if it's too early for my first drink of New Years Eve ...

-R
 
If the "things" are the asphalt and the surface of the water, then they are the same distance from the camera. But if the "things" are the asphalt and the image of the branches reflected in the water, then they are different distances from the camera, as others have said.

An interesting discussion, and one which makes me wonder what would happen to an autofocus camera used in a hall of mirrors. Some sort of nervous breakdown, presumably.

I'm also wondering if it's too early for my first drink of New Years Eve ...

-R
It’s never too early on New Year’s Eve.
 
A year ago tonight my sister-in-law passed away. You all saw many pictures during the last Singles in January. We had a shot of her favorite whiskey before dinner today. This whiskey was also served at her wake. Southern New England was in the midst of a blizzard a year ago and we had many takers.
 
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