DSLR camera tips, techniques, photo sharing, etc

[FE135]

Spent the day in Owens Valley yesterday. Thought I would share a few interesting shots.

I stitched together about 7 shots from my cell phone to make 1 panorama of Olancha dunes.

Not my favorite sunset but I cranked up the fstop as high as could to accentuate the rays from the sun. That was the whole idea for this shot.

This was a long exposure with some light painting of the obelisk. I wish I knew what it said. Since it is located in a cemetery, I was going for respectful prominence by centering it in the shot and placing the camera in about a knee high position. I didn't go to long cause I wanted the background visible but dark.

This shot was moderately edited. I used a fill flash since the side I wanted was in the shade. Still, the cameras metering, didn't read my mind and made the whole thing a little darker than I wanted. Most of the editing is to bring the lower half brighter without over cooking the upper. It is a cool sign so I wanted to save the picture.

[FE135]

Sometimes I just can't resist getting a shot of a hot chick in a red dress. She is a little large for me though.

[vegas style]

always fantastic neal!

[dunefreak]

Very impressive shots, Neal. I always wonder how you get the metering just right to be able to get such detail out of the sky without overexposing it.

[FE135]

Very impressive shots, Neal. I always wonder how you get the metering just right to be able to get such detail out of the sky without overexposing it.

Thanks!!

Sometimes that’s the hardest part. What I do is constantly change the exposure compensation and find a happy medium. Usually the sun will always be blown out but you can find a point were its ok in that situation. I also will use a neutral gradient filter on occasion to even further prevent the sun from washing out the rest of the shot. It’s a pain though, I use it handheld and need a third arm. You can use software to fix these problems later but that will introduce noise. Ultimately it’s a matter of balance that’s acceptable to the photographer.

Edited July 26, 2010 by FE135

[FE135]

Here are two interesting shots that used the same technique. The first is two long exposures each light painted slightly different. Using the cameras overlay function, I placed them together to form one shot. No software was used, just the camera. The rock looks like a tug boat.

The second is a long exposure overlayed on a flash shot. The flash was needed to freeze the subject but you can still see the long exposure effects in the quads flag.

These were done on a Nikon camera. I don't know if Cannon has this function. This could also be accomplished in photoshop using layers.

Edited July 27, 2010 by FE135

[FE135]

Here is another technique I used. Long exposure, wait a little while, then walk over and place a blue light on the obelisk. Since it was a long exposure, I wasn't in one place long enough for the camera to see me.

I'm on the fence whether I like this shot or not. What do you guys think??

Oh yea, one of my bosses at work is Japanese. He liked the shots and put my mind to ease that I was respectful and not violating any cultural customs. Even more interesting, his father was in an internment camp during the war.

The translation on the stone roughly is "Monument to console the souls of the dead".

Forgot to mention the Obelisk is at the Manzanar Japanese internment camp in Owens Valley.

Edited July 27, 2010 by FE135

[FE135]

Has anyone on here done or does IR photography? If so, I have questions.

[FE135]

"And now for something completely different", My first Infrared photo. Taken with a Nikon D40 modified with an IR sensor, no filter. I'm still not 100% sure of what I'm doing but it looks cool. Can't wait to try it at Dumont!

Edited July 31, 2010 by FE135

[FE135]

The rest of this week there will be the Perseid meteor showers. Best view time is after midnight (bummer). I don't think I'll be staying up late for this but for those that do, look in the northeast sky away from city lights and you should have a pretty good show. The moon won't be washing them out this year.

I have found setting my camera on manual with an 5.6 Fstop and about a 3 to 5 minute shutter works well for catching them and you will get star trails. Using a wide angle lens helps. If you have the north star in the left side of your frame, the stars will rotate around it making a cool shot. If you go longer on the shutter, the trails will be even cooler.

If you don't want star trails, go smallest Fstop (lowest number) you can and no more than about 20 seconds on the shutter and hope a meteor zings by.

Wish I didn't have to work, the show last year was cool.

[bp-guy]

Finally got my CS5 back up and running.

I was playing with a picture I took a while back near the Zoo.

[dunefreak]

After the storm tonight the skies were full of clouds & color at sunset.

[FE135]

Still playing with Infrared photography. This one is what is refered to as a false color shot. I swaped the red and blue color channels and played around to get some interesting color into a regular IR shot. This storm is probably the same one that Dunefreak got the sunset picture of but a few hours earlier while still in California.

[Bryan M]

ya know I dont know if Im a fan of the IR...its very cool in a artsy way...but not sure I like it...did you take this pic in a "normal" mode also? if so I'd like to see what it came out like!

[Bryan M]

Finally got my CS5 back up and running.

I was playing with a picture I took a while back near the Zoo.

cool pic

[FE135]

ya know I dont know if Im a fan of the IR...its very cool in a artsy way...but not sure I like it...did you take this pic in a "normal" mode also? if so I'd like to see what it came out like!

By "normal" mode I will assume "what it looks like out of Camera". The camera can only take IR shots since the filter covering the sensor has been replaced with an IR one. Directly out of the camera they always look bad since the Bayer(sp) filter is trying to get it right by assuming a normal color shot. The white balance is always off. These pictures always need lots of work. If you set the camera to black and white, they come out fairly well since that is the IR standard. Anyway, not for everybody. I traded something and got the camera so I'm experimenting with it.

Here is the out of camera shot.

[Bryan M]

my fault Neal..I meant did you take a normal shot with a normal(dslr) camera...I know a few guys experimenting with IR and theyll shoot the ir and a normal camera simultainously...sometimes all the work you put into setting up its nice to get your experiments and still get some "normal" photos...

[FE135]

my fault Neal..I meant did you take a normal shot with a normal(dslr) camera...I know a few guys experimenting with IR and theyll shoot the ir and a normal camera simultainously...sometimes all the work you put into setting up its nice to get your experiments and still get some "normal" photos...

No, I didn't bring a regular camera with me that day. I wish I did.

[FE135]

I think I finally have an Infra Red photo that I really like. This one was edited in photoshop to bring out some texture to a fairly flat shot. Tell me what you think.

And, per Bryan M's suggestion, the same train taken with a color camera. It was taken about 15 minutes earlier.

[bp-guy]

Sweet as hell. Nice shot

[Jakster884]

I second that bad azz.

[Bryan M]

I think I finally have an Infra Red photo that I really like. This one was edited in photoshop to bring out some texture to a fairly flat shot. Tell me what you think.

And, per Bryan M's suggestion, the same train taken with a color camera. It was taken about 15 minutes earlier.

now theres a shot good job Neal

its nice to be able to compare the shots...infared def. won out!

Edited August 27, 2010 by Bryan M

[FE135]

Thanks guys !!!

[FE135]

We had some weird weather today and the clouds completely covered the mountains. Here is the shot from the IR camera:

Here is the Bryan M comparison (named for Bryan M):

I don't like the color shot much and it was a wider angle shot, but I wanted to show the difference. I know IR light cuts through haze and such but for clouds, it's amazing. Hope ya all like it.

[FE135]

Here is something for you guys that are more minorpixel than megapixel. My IR camera is only 6 megapixels. I took 4 shots vertically and stiched them together. After cropping, I wound up with this shot at 11 megapixels. Basically, I could take more shots and add to the overall photo size to meet any large print requirements.

Obviously, I shrunk this down for posting.