I've puzzled over this for many years:
If I'm taking a picture of myself in mirror, and I'm standing 5 feet from the mirror, should my focal length be 5 feet or 10 feet?
If I'm taking a picture of myself in mirror, and I'm standing 5 feet from the mirror, should my focal length be 5 feet or 10 feet?
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SF Bay Area
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Re: Mirror shots
Sun, February 10, 2008 - 7:41 PMCheck it out yourself. Stand 5' from a mirror and then focus on the mirror. You should be in focus. Look at your lens and you should have the 5'. Continue to focus out to 10' and you should be out of focus.
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Re: Mirror shots
Tue, February 12, 2008 - 12:26 PMBob, you've gotten bad advice. It's ten feet, not five. Five feet to the mirror, and five feet back to your subject.
Imagine, if you will, a mirror placed an inch in front of your lens and at a 45 degree angle. If you take a picture of an object five feet away, would you focus at 1 inch, or five feet? The same principle is involved here. -
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Re: Mirror shots
Wed, February 13, 2008 - 6:44 AMBob, guess what.....yep it is the ten feet.... I've been shooting off of mirrors for years and always focused on the mirror and it has worked but the proof in the pudding is when you place an object on the mirror and guess what it is out of focus. Sorry about the bad advice....
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Re: Mirror shots
Thu, May 8, 2008 - 7:13 PM10 feet - I concur. You're measuring the distance the light travels (5 feet + 5 feet in this case) if you're taking a photo of yourself. Then again, if you want a nice crisp shot of any dust that may be on the mirror, then hey 5 feet will work great.
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