Author Topic: Blurry background (Read 3603 times)

modinho · « **on:** April 03, 2014, 03:51 »

Dear microstock professionals,
I have made some pictures today with my camera and this is my first dslr, i am using the standard 18-55 on the Nikon d3100. I get blurry backgrounds when i zoom in, preview can be found here;

Code: newbielink:javascript:void(0); [nonactive]

http://oi57.tinypic.com/34eztye.jpg
Any suggestions ? Do you think the tamron 70-300mm lens will help ?

will picture like this be accepted for stock picture ?

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #1 on:** April 03, 2014, 04:21 »

Blurry backgrounds are a result of the physics, changing the aperture can increase or decrease blurriness. Go and read up on "depth of field", it's very basic stuff.

From the little bit I can see of the picture, the better agencies would probably reject it as a snapshot because of the perspective. There are lots of things pictures can get rejected for. There may be logos or company names visible in it, for example.

Beppe Grillo · « **Reply #2 on:** April 03, 2014, 05:03 »

To understand what level of quality should be your image just go on stocks and search for images similar to your.
In this case I suppose you should search for "rack, server, splitter, network"

PryorMan · « **Reply #3 on:** April 03, 2014, 13:51 »

Another thing that I have found that helps improve quality is that once you think you have your photos up to standard to submit them to the middle tier agencies. That has really helped me learn exactly what I'm doing right and wrong before I attempted to get accepted to the Top Tier agencies.

dingles · « **Reply #4 on:** April 03, 2014, 17:12 »

YouTube some basic photography tutorials, if you don't grasp the concept of shallow depth of field, I can only assume you have a poor understanding of other aspects of photography as well. Mike Brown on YouTube has some excellent tutorials covering the basics. Also it might help to get in good with a local photographer, what they can teach you in person is priceless. You might even learn how to utilize and appreciate that blurry background

.

Have fun! All the best.

dingles · « **Reply #5 on:** April 04, 2014, 08:49 »

Depth Of Field Explained Part 1 - short lens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uU9O8c7Hss

Depth Of Field Explained (Part 2) - long lenses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98-WvzWvt7M

DF_Studios · « **Reply #6 on:** April 04, 2014, 10:48 »

Seriously if you don't have a basic understanding of photography, what makes you think you can sell your images like a professional? Its like someone who just got their drivers licensing thinking they will be in the Indy 500.

disorderly · « **Reply #7 on:** April 04, 2014, 10:58 »

A different lens won't help you here. What you need is a tripod, and probably a remote release. You're shooting in a low light situation, trying to compensate with a high ISO and a wide open lens. A better lens (not a 70-300mm) with a wider aperture would let in more light, but would make the Depth of Field even more shallow. A tripod would let you lower the ISO and close down the lens to get more in focus. Oh, and you'll want to use a level; your composition isn't straight. Also, learn about White Balance; the color looks off.

icefront · « **Reply #8 on:** April 04, 2014, 17:11 »

Outside the computer-generated 3D-world, every photograph has a lot of defects such as blur, image noise, lens distortion and chromatic aberrations.
If you just started photography, keep in mind forever:
- bigger front lenses have smaller depth-of-field. Thus objects not in focus have much less clarity (blur)
- consider 50mm as a fixed point for the lens (regardless of full-frames and APS-C or other sensor dimensions) The angle of view under 50mm is wider, over 50mm is narrower (50mm being the human eye's angle of view). Wider angle of view has better depth of field (out of focus objects appear more clear) and closer angle of view has worse depth of field. Beside the angle there is the iris in the lens (aperture); closing the iris reduces the out-of-focus blur (but didn't eliminates).
- lenses have a quality factor. Everything under 1000€ consider roughly a not-so-good lens (several exceptions apply such as 50mm primes and 100mm macros).
- stock is not about photography but about design. Think with a brain of a graphic artist/designer/architect and make a photo suitable for their needs.
- to do stock, photography is about 10%. The rest is converting raw images, retouching, noise reduction, corrections, keywording, file-management, uploading, analyzing the market, and the other 51325 tasks not mentioned here.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #9 on:** April 05, 2014, 08:32 »

I thought that was a good theory when I started too. It's backwards.

Here's the problem. Middle tier and down and even some up to the top two, will take all kinds of things, that the top two won't. So finding out what Middle agencies take, is a waste of time, when you want to go for the Top Agencies. (where most of the money is made)

Rather the opposite is most educational. If SS and IS will take it, there's a very high probability that any of the rest will. Make a collection from what the top agency SS takes and pretty much be sure, that's what all the rest will accept.

Example. I think I had 100 shots that Lucky Oliver, Snap Village, BS, DT and FT had all taken.

I uploaded them to SS and IS, based on which ones were accepted and didn't upload the rejections. Well, guess what? Maybe four got accepted on SS and IS.

So assuming = there's some educational path to learning, by what's accepted at other agencies, that can be applied to the top four, isn't a valid theory.

Rather, than get accepted and sell nothing, be disappointed... which is what the lower agencies will do. Instead, get files accepted at the more difficult reviews, and they will have a better chance of selling on all agencies.

Quote from: PryorMan on April 03, 2014, 13:51

Another thing that I have found that helps improve quality is that once you think you have your photos up to standard to submit them to the middle tier agencies. That has really helped me learn exactly what I'm doing right and wrong before I attempted to get accepted to the Top Tier agencies.

Silken Photography · « **Reply #10 on:** April 07, 2014, 00:32 »

Valid for SS, but IS now take anything and everything. No more learning to be done there, which is a shame because it used to be good for that.

gillian vann · « **Reply #11 on:** April 09, 2014, 01:08 »

Quote from: DF_Studios on April 04, 2014, 10:48

Seriously if you don't have a basic understanding of photography, what makes you think you can sell your images like a professional? Its like someone who just got their drivers licensing thinking they will be in the Indy 500.

I confess I wrote something similar but deleted it because I didn't want to be negative. I still make sales from images I shot whilst I was studying, but they were all shot at 100ISO on tripods with the utmost care/paranoia (college professors can do that to you). There's a lot to grasp and selling stock, despite the peanuts paid, has high standards.

MichaelJayFoto · « **Reply #12 on:** April 09, 2014, 02:12 »

Quote from: gillian on April 09, 2014, 01:08

Quote from: DF_Studios on April 04, 2014, 10:48
Seriously if you don't have a basic understanding of photography, what makes you think you can sell your images like a professional? Its like someone who just got their drivers licensing thinking they will be in the Indy 500.
I confess I wrote something similar but deleted it because I didn't want to be negative. I still make sales from images I shot whilst I was studying, but they were all shot at 100ISO on tripods with the utmost care/paranoia (college professors can do that to you). There's a lot to grasp and selling stock, despite the peanuts paid, has high standards.

Well, there is a difference: Submitting to microstock or making serious money? I don't think we can blame anyone for trying to make a buck after microstock has advertised with "everyone can upload their holiday snapshots" for a decade now.

DF_Studios · « **Reply #13 on:** April 09, 2014, 15:19 »

I don't know. I'm thinking new cameras come with ads for the microstock sites in the box. Maybe its how they sell cameras these days - Earn thousands with this camera - TODAY!

DF_Studios · « **Reply #14 on:** April 09, 2014, 15:35 »

When I started selling microstock or at least trying to sell stock - I read every book there was on microstock, read every forum post I could find, read all the information on the agencies web sites, read books and magazines on photography to improve my skills, studied the photographs that sold regularly on stock sites, learned from every rejection and put every dollar I made back into equipment. It was a long and slow learning process. There are no short cuts. Every artist has to go through the process to develop their own unique vision.

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Author Topic: Blurry background (Read 3603 times)

modinho

BaldricksTrousers

Beppe Grillo

PryorMan

dingles

dingles

DF_Studios

disorderly

icefront

Uncle Pete

Silken Photography

gillian vann

MichaelJayFoto

DF_Studios

DF_Studios

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