DSS 62 - Will this work?

lkbart

We're on vacation & I just came up with this while walking on the beach, so it may or may not be in the ballpark for the theme. C&C is greatly appreciated.
Title for the first three will be something like Spotted at low tide, not sure about the title for 4, maybe Sand Creature?
1.

2.

3.

4.

SeascapeS

I like #2, but not sure how well they fit the theme. Maybe a better title to tie it in?

How cool to spot a sand dollar like that!

WhatSheSaw

This is really cool! I have never seen a live sand dollar.

I think #2 works best. I get a sense of reveal from it. Maybe "When the tide goes out" as a title?

angevin1

If you're still at the beach, I'd say dig a little hole and reveal one of these~

lkbart

Thanks Sandi, Whatshesaw & Tom - it was fantastic to spot a live sand dollar - and very cool to watch. It was opening & closing its mouths as the waves washed over it. Would love to be able to go back & find it or another, but it's not so easy to find them, especially alive. I'm still trying to come up with a better title for #2, but was shooting around the in-laws house last night & came up with this, thinking it might better fit the theme:
5. Fishius scubidubius

sweetharmony

I think #2 is definitely the strongest of the lot. The fish is indeed a hoot!

frewhl

WhatSheSaw wrote: »

This is really cool! I have never seen a live sand dollar.

I think #2 works best. I get a sense of reveal from it. Maybe "When the tide goes out" as a title?

I snagged one alive with my hand when I was young.
It seemed like it had a thousand legs, I kind of freaked and tossed it.

nightpixels

Is it just me or do they all seem a bit out of focus? Are they crops from much larger images?

lkbart

nightpixels wrote: »

Is it just me or do they all seem a bit out of focus? Are they crops from much larger images?

I believe you are right - they are not crops, and they do look a tad out of focus. It's not as noticeable on the small images, but zooming in on the bigger ones, it looks like the only ones that might be in focus are the ones where the water is covering the sand dollar and shells. And in looking back at my entry for the round, I think it is in better focus than any of these - guess that was just lucky cuz I didn't realize these were so oof.

I've been having the toughest time getting a spot-on focus, on almost everything seems like. I use the middle focus point & use a Katzeye split prism focus screen, and I chimp a lot (because of having so many out of focus ones once I see them on the computer) - have gotten to where I zoom in on the lcd to see if it's clear or not & try to adjust from there. Sometimes I switch to manual focus to try to get a better focus & sometimes I can & sometimes not. It didn't help on these that I was working on a little netbook & had a hard time seeing them well at all, but of course, that's after the fact during processing.

Seriously, any suggestions, tips, techniques, etc. would be greatly appreciated, cuz as I said, this has been & continues to be one of the most frustrating things for me. I really appreciate you noticing & commenting.

nightpixels

lkbart wrote: »

I believe you are right - they are not crops, and they do look a tad out of focus. It's not as noticeable on the small images, but zooming in on the bigger ones, it looks like the only ones that might be in focus are the ones where the water is covering the sand dollar and shells. And in looking back at my entry for the round, I think it is in better focus than any of these - guess that was just lucky cuz I didn't realize these were so oof.

I've been having the toughest time getting a spot-on focus, on almost everything seems like. I use the middle focus point & use a Katzeye split prism focus screen, and I chimp a lot (because of having so many out of focus ones once I see them on the computer) - have gotten to where I zoom in on the lcd to see if it's clear or not & try to adjust from there. Sometimes I switch to manual focus to try to get a better focus & sometimes I can & sometimes not. It didn't help on these that I was working on a little netbook & had a hard time seeing them well at all, but of course, that's after the fact during processing.

Seriously, any suggestions, tips, techniques, etc. would be greatly appreciated, cuz as I said, this has been & continues to be one of the most frustrating things for me. I really appreciate you noticing & commenting.

Not sure what to say. It seems like you are doing everything right. Have you had the lens checked out? What lens are you having this problem with? The auto-focus mode should do a good job. I shoot in auto-focus mode unless I want to shoot Macro which is when the lens fails to auto-focus for me. I also turn the auto-focus off when I shoot landscapes on a tripod.