035 Misc Photography Crew

[Corbi]

Great shots. As far as shooting in manual, I will get the tutorial up on the front page to get you started.

You're shooting with the 12 megapixel Canon T3 with the 18-55 kit lens, correct?

Ha... there is some truth to that... in the t3i and t5i they are pretty similar. Kinda jelly I don't have an articulating screen.

Yes but I have access to a T5 which is 18 megapixel as well. Both have the 18-55 lens but I also have a 75-300 zoom lens.

[DocHoss]

Nice Cassegrain.What mount?

We have a Skywatcher 70/900 Alt/Az Refractor,10mm,20mm and 3xBarlow.Made this choice for the toughness,portability and simplicity so the girls can learn to use a decent enough scope.Can get some reasonable views of Jupiter and Saturn,and ok for basic Nebulae view.When they are older I will upgrade to a larger Newtonian with EQ and remote.

It's on a fairly sturdy tripod, but with manual alt/az controls. I've got a bunch of eyepieces from 32 to 3 mm (rarely able to use that one). When I get a bigger scope I want an equatorial mount and clock drive. Then we'll be talking!

Wow, you have some impressive shots. I'll be sure to look to you for advice when my step-father gets his telescope.

Thank you! It functions as a 1250 mm lens. At that size, the sun/moon just about reach from top to bottom of the frame.

[pvsampson]

I found this which has helped me understand a few things.

http://expertphotography.com/a-begin...o-photography/

[acrawlingchaos]

I found this which has helped me understand a few things.

http://expertphotography.com/a-begin...o-photography/

I sent the 1st page tutorial edit to Trinity. When she has time, she said she will update. Good link there....

[Trinity1216]

I sent the 1st page tutorial edit to Trinity. When she has time, she said she will update. Good link there....

Done but the photo links are broken and you resend those to me. Thanks.

[Trinity1216]

I started getting into photography a few years ago....

This is what I have so far.....



I also have a Canon EOS 1N which I use strictly for B/W film. It was my first and I can't bring myself to get rid of it it. I am thinking of getting a digital attachment for it.

And here are some pictures.... remember I am an amature

[VmissileX]

Good gear trinity.



@everyone - anyone here ever tried working in a studio?

[tmonkey]

Couple shots I took on vacation in northern wi and michigans UP. I don't know crap about about any of the manual settings but am trying to learn.

I would ask why do you want to shoot in manual?

the only time I do is with the studio flashes or if i want some odd effect

you are a lot better off understanding how aperture and shutter speed change the look of a picture - its pretty simple

your camera has a aperture priority mode and a shutter priority mode. I use these modes for 95% of my pictures

Ha... there is some truth to that... in the t3i and t5i they are pretty similar. Kinda jelly I don't have an articulating screen.

I don't use the screen on my camera for anything but settings and maybe showing someone a pic i just took

[tmonkey]

I started getting into photography a few years ago....

This is what I have so far.....



I also have a Canon EOS 1N which I use strictly for B/W film. It was my first and I can't bring myself to get rid of it it. I am thinking of getting a digital attachment for it.

And here are some pictures.... remember I am an amature

don't leave that camera body open. the mirror and sensor is a dust magnet

[geek23ka]

subbing. y'all are awesome.

[DocHoss]

Another shot from my birthday last year. No processing of any kind - this is how it came out of the camera. All I've done is shrink it down. The nice thing about digital is I can take loads of pictures and chances are one turns out pretty decent. I was hoping for an Elf Owl in the hole, but no luck!

[acrawlingchaos]

I would ask why do you want to shoot in manual?

the only time I do is with the studio flashes or if i want some odd effect

you are a lot better off understanding how aperture and shutter speed change the look of a picture - its pretty simple

your camera has a aperture priority mode and a shutter priority mode. I use these modes for 95% of my pictures

I do my birding in shutter mode usually, Aperture mode for my panos, and anything I do on a tripod, I prefer to do manually.

I don't use the screen on my camera for anything but settings and maybe showing someone a pic i just took

Same here. It would make certain photos easier to change settings on though with the wide angle with a tripod, like my night time stuff.

subbing. y'all are awesome.

Hey.... Welcome.






For those interested.... the Solar flares will be lighting the skies. Aurora Borealis can be seen tonight in much of the U.S.. Viewing time is to the north, around 1.5 hours after sunset and until the morning. Best times will be before the moon rises too far. (until midnight). There should be no major pollution (cities) north of where you are shooting.

[Geoff Richards]

Linda and I played around with some photo taking this morning as we have been planting to increase the numbers
of bees in our gardens.I found a super macro setting on the camera while still using the 'auto' mode on the main dial
and we snapped this photo which we were both happy and proud of,we know nothing of aperture settings etc so we just
leave things alone,any tips/comments/recommendations welcome

[Trinity1216]

Good gear trinity.
@everyone - anyone here ever tried working in a studio?

Thanks

don't leave that camera body open. the mirror and sensor is a dust magnet

99.9% of the time I have a lens on it. I had a brain fart when I took the pic LOL.

I do my birding in shutter mode usually, Aperture mode for my panos, and anything I do on a tripod, I prefer to do manually.

Same here. It would make certain photos easier to change settings on though with the wide angle with a tripod, like my night time stuff.

Hey.... Welcome.






For those interested.... the Solar flares will be lighting the skies. Aurora Borealis can be seen tonight in much of the U.S.. Viewing time is to the north, around 1.5 hours after sunset and until the morning. Best times will be before the moon rises too far. (until midnight). There should be no major pollution (cities) north of where you are shooting.

Ok quick question, I have tried unsuccessfully in the past to try and take pics of the night sky especially when the stars are crystal clear. And I do not get any pics worth saving. What do you guys do to get clear evening pictures.

Remember I am a total noob to this and everything I have done so far is trial and error

[DocHoss]

For those interested.... the Solar flares will be lighting the skies. Aurora Borealis can be seen tonight in much of the U.S.. Viewing time is to the north, around 1.5 hours after sunset and until the morning. Best times will be before the moon rises too far. (until midnight). There should be no major pollution (cities) north of where you are shooting.

Here's a link for the current conditions:

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html

Ok quick question, I have tried unsuccessfully in the past to try and take pics of the night sky especially when the stars are crystal clear. And I do not get any pics worth saving. What do you guys do to get clear evening pictures.

High film speed (ISO), long exposure (10-30 seconds), a tripod, and dark skies.

Linda and I played around with some photo taking this morning as we have been planting to increase the numbers
of bees in our gardens.I found a super macro setting on the camera while still using the 'auto' mode on the main dial
and we snapped this photo which we were both happy and proud of,we know nothing of aperture settings etc so we just
leave things alone,any tips/comments/recommendations welcome

Outstanding picture! We have borage too - planted it for salads, but the leaves are too hairy. Now we keep it around for the bees too.

[Geoff Richards]

Outstanding picture! We have borage too - planted it for salads, but the leaves are too hairy. Now we keep it around for the bees too.

thanks doc

we have not tried to eat the leaves we grow it only for the bees

[acrawlingchaos]

Linda and I played around with some photo taking this morning as we have been planting to increase the numbers
of bees in our gardens.I found a super macro setting on the camera while still using the 'auto' mode on the main dial
and we snapped this photo which we were both happy and proud of,we know nothing of aperture settings etc so we just
leave things alone,any tips/comments/recommendations welcome

[URL=http://s250.photobucket.com/user/geoff_062/media/Gardening/bee_zps3a217447.jpg.html][IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg243/geoff_062/Gardening/bee_zps3a217447.jpg[/MG][URL]

That is a great shot. Go back to the first post, it has been edited so you can familiarize yourself with the basics.

A "macro" lens is a lens that allows you to decrease the focus distance, thus being able to fill the frame with your subject. In essence, whereas a telephoto lens acts as a telescope, a macro lens basically acts like a microscope. Some lenses are better at doing this than others.

Ok quick question, I have tried unsuccessfully in the past to try and take pics of the night sky especially when the stars are crystal clear. And I do not get any pics worth saving. What do you guys do to get clear evening pictures.

Remember I am a total noob to this and everything I have done so far is trial and error

OK.... not so quick answer. The settings.... it depends. With nighttime photography the challenge is not getting enough light, and some cameras and lenses are better at doing that. And yes.... a tripod will be needed. The good news is, that with the age of digital, you can quickly learn how to shoot.


. Secure your camera to the tripod.
. Set your lens to manual, and focus.
..... Focusing at night can be tricky. The easiest way is to set your focus to infinity (look for infinity symbol on lens). Alternatively, look through the viewfinder and focus on a distant bright light, like the moon, someone holding a flashlight, or if your subject is lit up enough you'll be able to focus on that.
. Set a 2 second timer. You will be using a long shutter speed, and a 2 second shutter speed will avoid any possible camera shake.
. Now set your exposure
..... Set aperture. For stars, you want the fastest, largest aperture (f 2.8, f3.5) because you need to get as much light as possible. If your subject is a bit more lit up, like a cityscape or a moonlit night, you can use a smaller aperture (like f8-11) to get more depth of field (more of the subject in focus).
..... Shutter speed. You will need a long shutter speed, and depending on your subject, can be as long as 30 seconds. Any longer usually require a cable release. My astro work can is usually around 20 seconds, while my city stuff may only be a 1/2 second.
..... ISO, again, it varies on subject. For clean look photos, I wouldn't set it higher than 1000 unless you still fail to get enough light adjusting the other two variables (aperture and shutter speed).



If you or anyone else is interested, I have some homework for you... and sorry... there is no quick answer.



Moonrise tonight is approximately @ 2240.
http://www.almanac.com/moon/rise/NH/Merrimack/2014-09-14

Set your camera up on the tripod and try the following to start with. Set your ISO to 1000. Use a generous depth of field (the sweet spot of most lenses is the middle f8 - f13). So start with f8. Try a 15 second shutter speed. If you need more light, adjust the settings up or down as needed. You may find F8 isn't enough and may have to sacrifice depth of field and open up to a wider aperture or increase ISO to 3000 and generate noise, or maybe even both.


Quick rule of thumb for shooting stars (which usually requires absolute darkness and a big aperture (F2.8, 1.4 etc). Use the 500 rule.... Divide 500 by your focal distance to determine the slowest shutter speed. For instance, if you use a 20mm to take a photo, 500/20 = 25 seconds max shutter speed. Any faster and the stars will start to streak across the sky (which can be used for effect).

[acrawlingchaos]

This was a shot from where I was watching for the Aurora Borealis. No luck, but I got some night time practice in.

[Trinity1216]

Beautiful pics.

Yes I have a tripod, I use it quite a bit for my real estate pics, if I have a clear night sky tonight I will try playing around with it. Past few nights have been cloudy as hell so I did not get to see any of the northern lights

[DocHoss]

This was a shot from where I was watching for the Aurora Borealis. No luck, but I got some night time practice in.

Nice shots! Looks like the Big Dipper just took a scoop out of the lake


Here's a Diadasia bee on an Opuntia flower. They have cool looking eyes! Diadasia are mostly cactus specializers, but do sometimes visit other flowers. There have been times I have brought out a nicely flowering cactus from the greenhouse and with 30 seconds a Diadasia is there! They can be very flighty, but sometimes just sit there as if drunk.

[Geoff Richards]

That is a great shot. Go back to the first post, it has been edited so you can familiarize yourself with the basics.

A "macro" lens is a lens that allows you to decrease the focus distance, thus being able to fill the frame with your subject. In essence, whereas a telephoto lens acts as a telescope, a macro lens basically acts like a microscope. Some lenses are better at doing this than others.

I have been referring back to this post,thanks for posting the info,trying to take it in slowly

when you speak of a 'macro lens' are you speaking of a replaceable lens ? my camera just has a macro and super macro ( we just found) setting no lens changing

This was a shot from where I was watching for the Aurora Borealis. No luck, but I got some night time practice in.

beautiful shots !

Nice shots! Looks like the Big Dipper just took a scoop out of the lake


Here's a Diadasia bee on an Opuntia flower. They have cool looking eyes! Diadasia are mostly cactus specializers, but do sometimes visit other flowers. There have been times I have brought out a nicely flowering cactus from the greenhouse and with 30 seconds a Diadasia is there! They can be very flighty, but sometimes just sit there as if drunk.

I sometimes do this in the garden too after a few drinks

those eyes are cool !

[pvsampson]

We have borage too - planted it for salads, but the leaves are too hairy. Now we keep it around for the bees too.

Should really boil it to soften the hairs and use it like spinach,same as done for nettles.Get it wrong and you will end up with throat irritation though.Not worth it in my opinion

[Geoff Richards]

Should really boil it to soften the hairs and use it like spinach,same as done for nettles.Get it wrong and you will end up with throat irritation though.Not worth it in my opinion

don't think we will bother with eating it

[acrawlingchaos]

I have been referring back to this post,thanks for posting the info,trying to take it in slowly

when you speak of a 'macro lens' are you speaking of a replaceable lens ? my camera just has a macro and super macro ( we just found) setting no lens changing

Macro function on a bridge camera serves the same function (though it may be limited).

[acrawlingchaos]

Some shots from this past week. Most of it is just getting out and practicing.

[ChazWood]

Very nice, ACC; strong captures. I believe that you've got what's considered "the eye". The technical stuff can be learned but having the eye for effective lighting and compelling composition is innate.

Looking forward to more. Meanwhile, here's a link to a site you may find useful.

http://www.deviantart.com/photography/

[acrawlingchaos]

Yes but I have access to a T5 which is 18 megapixel as well. Both have the 18-55 lens but I also have a 75-300 zoom lens.

Just wanted to hit back on this. Here is something you can do to help you start getting the basics of manual shooting. Both of the above cameras have automatic ISO compensation in manual mode, so you can begin shooting "partially" in manual.

Here are a couple of tips.
. If you are using the LCD to shoot, start using the viewfinder.
. If the viewfinder is blurry when you focus on something, there is a small wheel next to it that you can turn to sharpen it.
. Set ISO to automatic.
. Now you only have to manage shutter speed and aperture.
..... Refer back to the first page so you know when and where to use the settings.
..... Pay attention to your light meter in the viewfinder, it isn't always perfect, but it will help you get the perfect exposure.
..... Pay attention to the iso setting in the viewfinder as well (all settings can be seen). You may notice that your ISO shots up high, in which case you may want to adjust fire to reduce noise.




Sometimes, you will find that your equipment isn't fast enough to catch all the light need. Once you start to require longer shutter speeds you will need to go hands off with a tripod.

Very nice, ACC; strong captures. I believe that you've got what's considered "the eye". The technical stuff can be learned but having the eye for effective lighting and compelling composition is innate.

Looking forward to more. Meanwhile, here's a link to a site you may find useful.

http://www.deviantart.com/photography/

Thanks.... composition isn't always the best, and I will take hundreds of photos only to come up with 2 that I keep.

I always liked the deviant art.

[DocHoss]

I'm blown away by this one. What macro did you use and how did you get close enough? Was is a cold morning so it's all sluggish?

Very nice, ACC; strong captures. I believe that you've got what's considered "the eye". The technical stuff can be learned but having the eye for effective lighting and compelling composition is innate.

^^^^ Like Chaz says ^^^^

I will take hundreds of photos only to come up with 2 that I keep.

That's the beauty of digital. I remember photographers saying they were happy if they got one good shot on an entire roll. Sending off the film and waiting for the slides to arrive - now we have instant gratification (and feedback).

[acrawlingchaos]

I'm blown away by this one. What macro did you use and how did you get close enough? Was is a cold morning so it's all sluggish?

Dragonflies are an odd bunch. Some will let you near, some won't and most like to stay just out of reach.

I was using the 105mm Sigma macro with a 25mm extenstion tube. I can get about a foot away from the subject. Once I get my teleconverter, another extension tube and a flash, I'll be in microscope territory.

That's the beauty of digital. I remember photographers saying they were happy if they got one good shot on an entire roll. Sending off the film and waiting for the slides to arrive - now we have instant gratification (and feedback).

Absolutely. The digital age has made learning photography a very quick process when you put in the time. I've only been doing this since April myself.

[ChazWood]

Absolutely. The digital age has made learning photography a very quick process when you put in the time. I've only been doing this since April myself.

Technically, yes but often the best Photographers are not the ones who know the most about the technical stuff. IMHO, the best photographs, and I'll preface this by saying it's of course subjective, but the best photographs capture the viewers imagination. Connecting with the contents, and/or subject on an emotional level.

I find that the digital era has created an emphasis on post processing; producing an over-processed, synthetic result. Post processing is important, but priority should be on composition and compelling content.