Sunset Web

I don’t often use manual focus when shooting, and I suppose it’s a skill that I would like to try more as time goes on, but it’s so darn easy to use autofocus that I wonder if I will ever actually make myself go full manual. Still, it’s times like this when focusing by hand can really come in handy. I was playing with my kids outside when I saw a few tiny spider webs in the low-hanging branches of our backyard Chinese Pistache tree, and thought it would make for an interesting photo especially with the impending sunset. Trouble was, I couldn’t get my lens to focus on the web closest to me so I had to do my best to compose the shot manually, and while it mostly worked out you can see that the foreground of the web isn’t quite as crisp as I would like it. Even at f/4 the depth of field is simply too shallow, or else I needed to be a bit more careful when shooting. I don’t think it’s a bad photo, but I do think I missed out on what could have been a much better picture had I taken a few more shots or at least taken the time to check things in camera. But then every minute I spent fiddling with my D200 was a minute not playing with my kids, and if that means I don’t get the exact picture I’m looking for, it’s a tradeoff I sure can live with :)