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Can't stop the [PHOTO]

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Posts

  • SublimusSublimus Artist. nowhereRegistered User regular
    Nice stuff! I've done a little bit of astro, and I'm trying to get better at it too!

    These are my best to-date (not great, it's super fucking hard).

    A great resource is lonelyspeck.com .

    Basically, you want a super fast wide angle lens, and as long a shutter speed as you can get before star trails start to form (unless you want star trails).

    You can also look for areas with low light pollution levels on this site, Dark Sky Finder.

    Also, to limit light pollution, you'll want to go on a night when there is a new moon (no moon), so look that up! Next one is in early August (the 11th), and I'm heading out on a shoot then.

    Another thing that helps are some phone apps to help plan the shoot. Photo Pills and "The Photography Ephemeris" are two apps that help plan a shoot. They're not free, but they have really great features. PhotoPills has an AR feature where you can see when the milky way will rise (It rises and sets through the night, so you need to know what time).

    One last note on the milky way, the Galactic Core is the money shot. It's only visible in the northern hemisphere in the summer, so the time to go is soon!

    Those are all the basics anyhow, there is a deep habit hole you can go down to try and get the best shots, but this should get you going!



    Also, on a completely different note. Does anyone have any recommendations for printing? And is it uncool to hang my own prints in my apartment?

  • CommunistCowCommunistCow Abstract Metal ThingyRegistered User regular
    Cow's yearly vacation means it is time for my yearly post in this thread.
    YAY!

    42824763965_93541bcc78_o.jpg
    Lava by CommunistCow, on Flickr
    Shooting from a helicopter is hard especially when you stuck in a middle seat of a 4 person bench and have to contend with glass. If anyone decides to do a helicopter tour and wants to take photos, I would recommend doing a "doors off" tour. I was changing lenses a lot, which certainly would have been a different experience on a copter with no doors, but I would still change lenses if it meant getting good shots. I could live with sacrificing a cheap lens to the volcano gods.


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    Pele's Hole by CommunistCow, on Flickr
    This place was cool and was one red light away from the Kona airport. I only got to shoot here for maybe 15 minutes before I had to get to the airport. I was using a 10 stop neutral density(ND) filter and it is really hard to compose those photos since you can't really see through the lens once you've screwed the filter on. It also made chimping quite a bit harder. If I could go back, I would definitely have spent more time here and been more deliberate.
    Here is a slightly different angle and I cannot decide which one I think looks better. Opinions?
    3tr3u08vqyc5.jpg

    42824766115_5fae49f743_o.jpg
    Black Bamboo by CommunistCow, on Flickr
    My friend's family lives on the big island and their land has some bamboo that is about 8 inches in diameter and over 40 feet tall. I had no idea it could get that big. I also had no idea there was a black and white variety. At first I thought it was diseased or dead.

    42824764355_c31583d4ec_o.jpg
    Lava ocean entry by CommunistCow, on Flickr

    41920065810_827b2bd5dc_o.jpg
    Mauna Kea volcano by CommunistCow, on Flickr

    43728957081_8de509bc44_o.jpg
    Lava ocean entry by CommunistCow, on Flickr

    43681024842_159fc5075a_o.jpg
    Beach long exposure by CommunistCow, on Flickr
    Again using the 10 stop ND filter. I'm too lazy to do this shit around sunset or sunrise. :D

    42824764865_2704c31dee_o.jpg
    Lava meets vegetation by CommunistCow, on Flickr

    42824763585_2453438923_o.jpg
    Mauna Kea volcano tree by CommunistCow, on Flickr

    43728957431_53f442fdef_o.jpg
    Hawaiian house by CommunistCow, on Flickr
    This was taken out of a moving car. Some trips I'll end up taking a large number of photos from a vehicle because my wife or friends just don't want to stop very often for photo opportunities. This is one of only a handful from maybe 100 photos that ended up looking good

    Full album with a few more pictures here.

    The Mauna Kea shots were so amazing to do because you go up so high in elevation you start driving through the clouds. I went up to the visitor center at 9,000 ft to peak around, but then I spent the vast majority of my time driving up and down a small section so I would be in and out of the clouds. If you have 4wd you can drive from that visitor center up to the peak of 13,803 ft, but honestly from pictures I've seen it doesn't seem as cool up there. If you could tour the space observatories that might be a different story, but only Hawaii residents can tour those once a month. I have many more shots from within the clouds/fog like the "Mauna Kea volcano tree" shot, but the texture and mood of the fog just doesn't come out in photos the way I want.

    No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
  • SublimusSublimus Artist. nowhereRegistered User regular
    Nice stuff @CommunistCow ! I like that foggy one with the tree, especially!!

    Now I want to go to Hawaii haha.

  • CommunistCowCommunistCow Abstract Metal ThingyRegistered User regular
    Sublimis, I wish I had seen your excellent post about astrophotography before my trip. I would have tried a few different things when I was up on Mauna Kea.

    No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
  • BlakoutBlakout Lordran's SpookylandRegistered User regular
    edited July 2018

    Some great stuff here. This might be my favorite even though it's one of the most subtle - I love the colors, the slight haze, and the dynamic range with the details visible in the shadows.

    I finally got a chance to shoot a proper supercar last week:
    43035762314_473119d309_c.jpg

    ...and a slow Maserati:
    43751849791_e93ba998b3_c.jpg

    Blakout on
  • RothgarrRothgarr Registered User regular
    @blakqout I assume the Maserati was a still shot, yes? How do you tell Photoshop to do the motion blur at the correct angle? (I understand the need to use the pen tool to mask the car, etc. I just don't know how to do that crazy motion blur)

  • DoodmannDoodmann Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Just a shot in the dark but it looks like a Gaussian Blur mask.

    Also I find it faster to paint masks instead of using the pen tool as it's less tedious and sometimes a little softness on the edges can help.

    Doodmann on
    Whippy wrote: »
    nope nope nope nope abort abort talk about anime
    Sometimes I sell my stuff on Ebay
  • RothgarrRothgarr Registered User regular
    I THINK it's a path blur. But I get some weird un-blurred artifacts between my paths.

    And I LOVE vector curves! I've been using them since Adobe Illustrator 88.

  • DoodmannDoodmann Registered User regular
    Rothgarr wrote: »
    I THINK it's a path blur. But I get some weird un-blurred artifacts between my paths.

    And I LOVE vector curves! I've been using them since Adobe Illustrator 88.

    I will bezier curve all day, and I guess vector curves work well on hard edges like a car or metal. But if you're doing skin or hair or clothing paint masking is much more natural looking.

    Whippy wrote: »
    nope nope nope nope abort abort talk about anime
    Sometimes I sell my stuff on Ebay
  • BlakoutBlakout Lordran's SpookylandRegistered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Rothgarr wrote: »
    @blakqout I assume the Maserati was a still shot, yes? How do you tell Photoshop to do the motion blur at the correct angle? (I understand the need to use the pen tool to mask the car, etc. I just don't know how to do that crazy motion blur)

    Yup, it was a still shot. The blur was made using radial/zoom blur (I tried using path blur initially but couldn't get it to look right). I cut the car out using the pen tool with a 1px feather, then cloned the environment back into the car a bit on a lower layer to reduce any edge funkiness. I used a few different speeds on the zoom blur and masked them into different sections to try and simulate some realistic depth, not sure how successful it was though.

    e: I also used a spin blur on the wheels and a path blur on the tire tread and each of the body panels. I cut each panel out with the pen tool and used a path blur to try and blur the reflections along the contour of the car. I used a really low speed on the body so you can barely even tell I did it, but it was a great exercise in wasting a bunch of time at least.

    Blakout on
  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    Worked a fundraising event at our local farm animal rescue sanctuary this past weekend, which was a lot of fun. I had a little time to myself to trek around the farm and do some portraits of some of the animals. Thought some of you guys might dig some of these handsome critters:

    GLtLpEk.jpg

    mTEPWiQ.jpg

    mNkLqhs.jpg

    w8AQQ7u.jpg

    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • BlakoutBlakout Lordran's SpookylandRegistered User regular
    An ambulance drove past while I was light painting a Mustang. I'm not sure if it's too insensitive to call it a happy accident but I'm certainly not complaining about the result.
    43843588701_a918b22791_c.jpg

  • LindLind Registered User regular
    You all take excellent photos. I'm just a noob that usually just takes the camera out when I'm going on a trip somewhere but yesturday I decided to try to shoot the night sky. Its bloody hard and not to mention the editing... Anyway, managed to get one shot I'm at least kinda happy with.

    43256819544_00e089ba6e_b.jpg

  • FawstFawst The road to awe.Registered User regular
    So I'm going on a cruise to Bermuda in a bit over a month. Time to do what I've wanted for a while: rent a good lens. I'm looking at bringing the Canon 24-70mm 2.8 for landscapes and some portraits of my friends on the ship. Not that it matters that much, but I'm fairly stunned that there is no IS version of the 2.8; only the 4 has it.

    Also, a friend of mine is the ref for a wrestling crew in Boston. I mentioned offhand how it would be fun to shoot that sometime and now it looks like I might be able to do their Halloween event. Guess I'll see how good I can be with that 24-70 in low light situations on the cruise, because that's probably going to be what I'd wind up shooting with. I don't think the 70-200 would make sense for fast action, not when I'd be closer to the ring than away from it. But maybe I'm wrong?

  • CommunistCowCommunistCow Abstract Metal ThingyRegistered User regular
    edited August 2018
    I made a marginal effort to take some photos of the Perseids meteor shower while vacationing up in the mountains this weekend and didn't get anything. Before setting up the camera I did see a meteor that was literally 50 times brighter than anything I've ever seen. Instead of a tiny 1 pixel width line imagine a 50 pixel wide brush stroke across 1/3rd of the sky.

    Lind, you should be happy with that shot. It is pretty good.

    Fawst, do you use a full frame camera or cropped sensor? I think even on FF camera 70-200 is probably a bit too long unless you are trying to capture the wrestler's close up expressions.
    I could take a wild guess why the 2.8 doesn't have IS and that is probably cost + the benefit you get of an extra stop. I've heard that the rule of thumb with the 70-200 IS is that it lets you go about 2-3 stops slower on the shutter speed before getting some shake blur. (The average person can shoot at (1/focal length) of a second without blur. 200m lens = 1/200th of a second) So if it was 2 stops the lowest shutter speed you should probably use at 200mm is 1/50th. I'm guessing that 2-3 stops benefit is not linear with hand shake once you get to really low shutter speeds. If you can hand hold 1/24th at the low end of the 24-70mm lens I'm not sure the 2-3 stop rule would work down to 1/6th or 1/3rd of a second. The extra light you get from an extra stop of aperture is always going to be linear*.

    *and by linear I mean following the inverse square law for light fall off.

    CommunistCow on
    No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
  • KashaarKashaar Low OrbitRegistered User regular
    This is why I prefer cameras with in-body image stabilization ;) Canon and Nikon need to get with the times...

    Indie Dev Blog | Twitter | Steam
    Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.

    I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
  • CommunistCowCommunistCow Abstract Metal ThingyRegistered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Fawst, it looks like there is a Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 IS lens you could try out instead.

    I did a little googling out of curiosity on the 24-70 IS question and it seems like the guesses are:
    • wide angle lenses don't need as much IS
    • IS doesn't help with motion like sports photography unless you are panning with the subject like you do in race photography
    • shut up and use a tripod
    • some conjecture that IS ever so slightly could reduce image quality which the f/2.8 version is supposed to have better image quality than the f/4 version.

    As for in-body image stabilization I also looked a little to see what people were saying:
    • Canon and Nikon just want you to spend more money on their IS lenses
    • in-body IS doesn't help with telephoto shots nearly as much as lens IS
    • makes bodies more expensive
    • in-body IS doesn't show up through the view finder because it is behind the mirror. This can affect AF/metering since it is done off the mirror.
    • in-body IS affects bokeh on longer lens in some sort of undesirable way

    Personally, I would still like in-body IS in the Canon and Nikon DSLRs even with the above problems since the pros are quite plentiful.

    CommunistCow on
    No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
  • KashaarKashaar Low OrbitRegistered User regular
    Personally, I would still like in-body IS in the Canon and Nikon DSLRs even with the above problems since the pros are quite plentiful.

    Especially since if it hurts, you can just, you know, disable it ;)

    One of the exciting side-effects of ibis in my Pentax K-3 II is the Astrotracer feature - using precise GPS calibration, the sensor shifts to compensate for the Earth's rotation when shooting long exposures of the night sky. Apparently I can get up to a 5 minute exposure with my 10-20mm lens.

    Sadly, it was rainy and overcast this weekend - it was a new moon and I'd have loved to try shooting stars again -but I plan to try that out at the next new moon!

    Indie Dev Blog | Twitter | Steam
    Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.

    I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
  • CommunistCowCommunistCow Abstract Metal ThingyRegistered User regular
    Kashaar wrote: »
    One of the exciting side-effects of ibis in my Pentax K-3 II is the Astrotracer feature - using precise GPS calibration, the sensor shifts to compensate for the Earth's rotation when shooting long exposures of the night sky. Apparently I can get up to a 5 minute exposure with my 10-20mm lens.

    That is a pretty fucking cool feature.

    No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
  • SublimusSublimus Artist. nowhereRegistered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Just pulled the trigger on a Tamron 70-200 G2.

    I'm both doing a little dance, and sweating about buying expensive things lol.

    I'm sure it will be all dancing when it gets here though. :D

    [edit] Also, does anyone here do food photography? Is there any kind of standardized focal lengths? something in the middle (50mm?) seems about right, but I don't know.

    Sublimus on
  • FawstFawst The road to awe.Registered User regular
    Couple of pics I was pretty happy about.

    My daughter at a "Touch a Truck" event earlier this summer

    2z2dine5jrgt.jpg

    4th of July in Squantum, MA looking over at Boston

    iz1rxwt2afva.jpg

  • muninnmuninn Registered User regular
    Wow, this thread (and forum) still lives!
    Its been a while. Glad to see it going!

    Here is a photo:

    29359294217_83c41705c6_c.jpgDSCF0708 by Muninn, on Flickr

  • djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
    Some photos from a recent trip to Scotland:

    AdKerBO.jpg

    ZAD9S2D.jpg

    RJORvoT.jpg

    MqF5zHw.jpg

  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    Really beautiful shots!

    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • SublimusSublimus Artist. nowhereRegistered User regular
    Agreed! Nice!

  • ProspicienceProspicience The Raven King DenvemoloradoRegistered User regular
    Man this page is rockin'!!! Amazing photos all around....

    @Sublimus that first starscape is beautiful, dig the rock outcropping lining up with the galaxy! Also can't wait to see what you do with that zoom lens, I've been taking my 150-600 out whenever i can and forcing myself to use it. Lots of time I won't take it because it's so damn huge, which can be a valid excuse.

    @CommunistCow missed having your photos here, that whole set is gorgeous. At least you got one amazing shot out of that helicopter tour! For real though, the curved line that lava river makes is mucho pleasing to my eyes, great framing. My first snap opinion on your Pele's hole photos is that i liked the second better of the two... but then I really dig the moss on the left side of the frame on the first one and now i understand why you couldn't decide on the two haha. That volcano tree is by far my favorite of the set. The fog creating the cool tones, coupled with the shape of the tree are stellar, plus i love a good lonesome tree framed well in the middle of a photo haha.

    @Fawst Beautiful shot of your daughter! Like the colors you got in that sunset, I've had similar colors when shooting sunsets in Oklahoma. It pretty humid in Boston? Wonder if that has something to do with it.

    @djmitchella Puffin photo is awesome! Love the green in all of them. All these travel photos make me just wanna go everywhere...

    @muninn Love it as always man, always inspire me to do more BW.

    I've been shooting quite a bit these last few months but haven't been sharing a whole lot as I felt in a bit of a creative slump. The Collective podcast has definitely lit a little fire under my ass though. Wish I'd come across it sooner, but probably really came across it at just the right time.

    Speaking of zoom lenses, this is a 7 shot pano i grabbed with my sigma 150-600. This whole area reminds me of someplace out of a ghibli movie. Near Crested Butte, Colorado.
    42454979210_b7016d1d77_c.jpgDreamscape by Lee Stonehouse, on Flickr

    41943052510_b48c1f8775_c.jpgAbove it All? by Lee Stonehouse, on Flickr

    44044699724_5b408a5efa_c.jpgEstes Elk by Lee Stonehouse, on Flickr

    Just got an olympus tg-5 for some underwater stuff coming down the pipeline. Trying to get some practice in with it before i take it underwater.

    43854131485_58034124f7_c.jpgHigh Voltage by Lee Stonehouse, on Flickr

    29826583727_46ab61f1a6_c.jpgDaVi by Lee Stonehouse, on Flickr

    44763695841_d090417059_c.jpgThoughts from a Home by Lee Stonehouse, on Flickr

  • bombardierbombardier Moderator mod
    Damn, I'm catching up on this thread and there's a ton of good stuff last few pages. I really like that portrait @Blakout with the colours. Everyone keep it up!

  • djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular

    Those are great. I love cool architectural photography. Two of my most popular photos on Instagram have been architecture-related. It's weird -- I like them and think they're good photos, but wouldn't have expected them to get so much more traction than other stuff.

    I don't think I've shared these here before:

    XEzsPjv.jpg
    Stairway at MoMA

    tqkNC0Z.jpg
    Escalator at The Oculus

    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • oldmankenoldmanken Registered User regular
    Have been steadily taking photos over the last few months, but have not had a chance to do anything more than instagram things up until today. Fall is properly setting in here in Maine, so we had a chance to go out for a walk in the woods today, and managed to get some edits done when we got home.

    https://kennethdhughes.myportfolio.com/hadlock-forest

    I'm partial to the first shot in particular.

  • djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
    Couple of shots from hiking a few days ago -- not a lot of photographic technique needed here, mostly a matter of being there in the first place. The view from (almost) the top of the Lady MacDonald trail in Canmore. (there's more hike along the ridge, but the weather station/abandoned helicopter landing pad is a sensible place to stop)

    XIUgzDV.jpg

    (it's worth clicking through to the full-size image, it needs more hscroll than the forum gives it)

    and on the way, we saw a rocky mountain bighorn sheep without very big horns:

    wWuMOtX.jpg

  • SublimusSublimus Artist. nowhereRegistered User regular
    I just secured my first press pass to shoot an event! Excited! :D:D

  • djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
    If anyone uses Flickr for image hosting, they're changing the limit on free accounts. Currently it's 1TB, next year it'll become 1000 photos. (and they'll just delete all but the 1000 newest photos, so make sure you've backed them up if necessary).

    (Their reasoning is that they want to attract people who want to use flickr as a photography community, not just somewhere to put photos. Which is fine, but as I'm in exactly that second group, I'm going to have to find somewhere else to put our general family photos, as I've got to 7 times beyond that limit over the last few years).

  • SublimusSublimus Artist. nowhereRegistered User regular
    I think the reasoning is also "our free product is too good and no one is buying the pro version".

  • ProspicienceProspicience The Raven King DenvemoloradoRegistered User regular
    @minor incident Digging the different angle you used in that escalator photo, also really liking the use of negative space in both of those photos. That staircase is fantastic, the angles of the panels on the ceilings really makes it a beautiful composition man.

    @djmitchella beautiful photo of that little horned sheep, looks like it was somewhat midday sun, but the light still looks great.


    Realized I hadn't posted here in a while! Been trying to get ready for my gallery show in February... it's a lot of work and I've barely started besides picking photos. I found a great print shop in Northern Colorado, which I'm going to have do a few aluminum prints and a couple acrylic, but besides that I'm going to try to use my friend's large format printer and do the rest myself (or at least attempt to).

    Here's the most recent couple I've posted on flickr. I'll post a few more smaller thumbnails here later today or tomorrow depending on how my workload goes today...

    30835137077_96b33f45a0_c.jpgUFO by Lee Stonehouse, on Flickr

    and one of Denver, from the same perspective I've been trying to capture through all the seasons. This one being fall.
    43284261460_70f2084b44_c.jpgSkygod Sunrise by Lee Stonehouse, on Flickr







  • djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
    Took a quick weekend trip to Yellowknife, and we got lucky with the weather and auroras. There were a few clouds at sunset:

    YnYrZ4M.jpg
    Jir70xB.jpg

    but it cleared up very nicely later on:

    T46ToIj.jpg
    GVAME1c.jpg

  • ProspicienceProspicience The Raven King DenvemoloradoRegistered User regular
    edited November 2018
    Oh man, love that first shot of the auroras with the homes down below. Definitely have the auroras on my bucket list. Captured some really great color on those first couple sunset shots as well.

    Forgot to come back the other day and post a couple more of prospective shots for my show, so here's a few!
    7dz0se19ikze.jpg
    h2qkmjc9767j.jpg
    h3r3s44lcqja.jpg

    It's been fun to go out shooting with a specific goal of getting shots that I can then reflect in fun patterns later.

    Prospicience on
  • djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
    Oh man, love that first shot of the auroras with the homes down below.

    I've noticed I have a real problem where I wind up taking photos that I've carefully composed to remove interesting things.. I took a couple of shots with the houses in view, then pointed the camera up a bit more to "tidy things" for the rest, but looking back at them, the ones with something in the foreground are by far my favorites.

  • ProspicienceProspicience The Raven King DenvemoloradoRegistered User regular
    Yeah adding foreground elements in a photo like that can really add to the grandiosity of the photo. Especially with those auroras... Foreground elements can also add a bit of a story to the viewer's imagination and context so it's not just "Damn that's a beautiful borealis." I think it's just practice of being mindful when you're shooting, and sometimes trusting your first intuition when taking a shot.

    Was also wondering what type of camera you're shooting with as I feel like you might be able to pull out some detail in those little shacks by maybe lowering the highlights on them (and possibly add some clarity). But don't know what type of file you're working with!

  • djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
    Just a jpeg -- every so often I turn on "quality = raw + jpeg", but I don't think I've ever done anything with the raws other than load them up into various raw converters and find myself unable to get anything obviously better than what the camera had made. (om-d e-m1 mk 1, so nothing super new but it still works fine for me). https://imgur.com/ye4jSQ8 is the original file if you want to take a look; I already trimmed off a little bit of the bottom of the image, I just realised.

    Those are actually houseboats frozen into the lake for winter, for what it's worth.

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