I'd like some pointers on evaluating technical aspects of my photos. I take a lot of pictures of animals, and some of them I ask the shop to do a crop equivalent to about an 8x10 to get some faux telephoto and remove background I didn't really want. They always look so much bigger in the viewfinder than they do in the prints. I'm not sure I've done anything that's worthy of real enlargement. But even if it looks okay in the 4x6, the crop always looks kind of blurry and grainy. So I'm wondering how to determine which effects are due to the film, the cheap optics that I use, possibly something not quite in focus at the developer, and how much is just me.
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You have several things working against you - the zoom combined with the teleconverter, the high speed film, etc.
I'd suggest setting up your rig and taking some test photos. Pick a subject that has a lot of detail, shoot in good light (i.e. bright but not direct sunlight) and test your lens at various apertures. You should to this on the steadiest tripod you can get, using a cable release, etc. Use a stationary subject with lots of intricate detail. Weathered wood, with lots of grain and surface texture works well. Make sure that the subject is relatively flat parallel to the film in your camera so you do not have things falling out of the depth of field.
Ideally, you should do this with ISO 100 slide film so you can check the accuracy of your exposures as well as the sharpness. But, if you don't have a way to make enlargements of that, use a fine grained ISO 100 print film, like Reala or Supra.
After you shoot the roll, pick the best photo, have it blown up to the size you want.
Is it still unsharp? If so, you know that your basic setup is not giving you the sharpness you want. Repeat the test without the teleconverter. If the results are then OK, think about either buying a longer lens or getting closer to the animals. For good hints on how to get close, go to a library or used book store and look for old (1930 - 1950) books on wildlife photography and cinematography. A lot of those folks were working with 200mm lenses, and so they got clever about getting close to their subjects.
If your first test looks good, you know that holding the camera stiller, and using a finer grained film, will get you the results you want. So, start working on those things. Look at using beanbags or some other way to support / weigh down your camera. Work on your timing to try to get the subject in that split second when they freeze so you can use slower film.
If you do this test with print film, at some point, you should also do a test with slide film to make sure your exposure is correct. If your exposure is off, you may get a useable print from color negative film, but the grain may be way out of wack.
Good luck!
- MCC
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Mark Cassino
Kalamazoo, MI
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Photos:
http://www.markcassino.com
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