Experimenting - Wind Farm

Hi all - was out bush last week, on my way home I decided to get a few shots of this Wind Farm - I should have taken a 3rd one on Manual with a faster shutter speed and set my own AV, when I tried TV mode on 200 the av was way too small at around 4.5 for the effect I wanted - any feedback, c &c welcome.some facts on the wind farm below:
The largest wind farm currently operating in NSW is the Capital Wind Farm near
Goulburn. With a generating capacity of 141 megawatts,
it supplies power equivalent to the needs of around 60,000 households.
Around 80 % of its output is used to supply clean energy to power Sydney’s
desalination plant.
pic 1 tv1,av 22,iso 100(auto)
http://i45.tinypic.com/34zfwoi.jpg
pic 2,tv 1/30,av 13, iso 500 (auto)
http://i48.tinypic.com/16a493n.jpg

Harry - You say you should have gone for a third one with the shutter much faster. I'm wondering why you think that? Was it about freezing blade motion? Because I wondered, given that the above two are at 1 second and then 1/30th, whether you wanted, in fact to go to about 1/10 or 1/15 to get a bit more motion in than in the second one, but less than in the first one?

I am not familiar with the AV, TV terms; must be Canon stuff, so i will give my two cents worth based on how I would approach this. I think the blade blur in number one is an interesting approach but the exposure is too much and the colour is bleached out. The second has better exposure but may be even slightly underexposed for the colour and the blade blur is gone. So; I would shoot at the time for number one and do a series with ever decreasing exposure compensation to allow the blade blur but allow the correct exposure for the the vegetation and hillside.

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Originally Posted by Donald

Harry - You say you should have gone for a third one with the shutter much faster. I'm wondering why you think that? Was it about freezing blade motion? Because I wondered, given that the above two are at 1 second and then 1/30th, whether you wanted, in fact to go to about 1/10 or 1/15 to get a bit more motion in than in the second one, but less than in the first one?

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Hi Colin - hope you are well. Yes I wanted to go for the freezing blade motion and compare the extremes to see which had the best effect but I take your point - thanks for the feedback

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tbob

I am not familiar with the AV, TV terms; must be Canon stuff, so i will give my two cents worth based on how I would approach this. I think the blade blur in number one is an interesting approach but the exposure is too much and the colour is bleached out. The second has better exposure but may be even slightly underexposed for the colour and the blade blur is gone. So; I would shoot at the time for number one and do a series with ever decreasing exposure compensation to allow the blade blur but allow the correct exposure for the the vegetation and hillside.

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Hi Trevor - yes it may be Canon AV is just aperture value and TV is Time value (shutter speed)

Thanks for the feedback - I played around with no 1 a fair bit and came up with a few different results,think I may have posted the wrong one as it does appear over exposed on this view. I really need to work on my exposure compensation - appreciate the advice


Regards

1 and 2 re done - think they have improved? still working on my pp skills , just realised I have stuffed up no' 2, not sure what caused problem with clouds
1.
http://i49.tinypic.com/2mga88o.jpg
2.
http://i45.tinypic.com/259z6f5.jpg

Number 2 is quite good for the foreground colour, saturation and focus. It could stand on it's own, however I do think the blade blur in number 1, in both series, is a concept worth exploring. Can you reshoot this using the exposure compensation? All thus photography stuff is an ongoing work in progress for all of us, thanks for submitting this as it gave me an idea I will shamelessly steal for own own local wind turbine farm.

Thanks Trevor, pleased that I gave you an idea, next time I'm down that way I'll give it another try, it's about 2.5hrs drive.i agree with all that you have said, I like the blades effect better in no'1, which is what I was hoping for, most probably didn't need to go as slow on the shutter speed although as you said exposure comp would have helped, will be interested to see your pics, thanks, I will post another 1 or 2 that I did from different angles later

"I really need to work on my exposure compensation" Hazza

In Manual mode, and looking at the LCD view, you should be able to change Exposure Compensations without changing either aperture or shutter speed and see the effect it has on the image as it darkens or lightens depending on which way you are changing the exposure. As you change the exposure values when you are looking through the eye piece, you will probably notice the shutter speed is changing, too, but you might not see the actual effect it is having until after you take the shot.

In other modes, you should also be able to see the effects of changing compensation values, if you have a separate dial for changing the values.

My main point is this: Look at the LCD screen for the effects that changing the Exposure Comp. Values, + or -, will have on your image. For example, while looking at a colorful sunset, if you go to minus EV numbers you will see the sky colors pop out at you beautifully, while the land in front of you goes very dark.

Here is a tip I just learned from a Scott Kelby book. If you are using the "bracketing exposure compensation" feature, also use the "continuous" shutter release setting. That way with one click, you will have quickly taken your shots at the different EV settings.

Thanks so much Frank - I never realised this was the case and that you could see the effect in LCD View - appreciate you taking the time to respond - will experiment over the weekend and will try continuous shutter as well

Cheers

I find that "wind farms" are very difficult subjects to shoot. I have stopped my car and tried to shoot one from the roadside and it didn't work. I hope to devote a couple of morning hours to shoot one the next time I drive to Palm Springs, California. I am thinking that I might like to shoot a farm from a fairly elevated position and shoot down the line of wind mills with a very long focal length lens to take advantage of the compression of long lenses...

Another way might be to shoot a line against the red setting sun, again with a long lens...

Ever wonder why they are called "wind farms"? After all, a chicken farm raises chickens but a "wind farm" doesnt grow wind!

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Originally Posted by rpcrowe

Ever wonder why they are called "wind farms"? After all, a chicken farm raises chickens but a "wind farm" doesnt grow wind!

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Arguably both "harvest" what's in their name though ;)

(But I know what you mean) :cool:

I haven't tried, but I'd agree, they must be difficult subjects to shoot and I like the elevation and long lens idea.

Alternatively getting up close with an UWA, but that has inherent risks :eek:

hey Richard, here are a couple more from different angles, the 2nd one i pulled over and placed camera on roof of my car, i wish i had used a slower shutter speed for that one as it might have created a pretty cool effect, the sun was setting and a storm was rolling in.
1. 1//6, 13,iso 100,
http://i50.tinypic.com/2hp7j4g.jpg
2. 1/50,16,iso 800
http://i49.tinypic.com/2zoc8dd.jpg

Ah, a "War of the World" shot. These windmills always seem so surreal to me when I see them. A friend of mine and I always refer to them as "War of the World" aliens.

I like our second shot best --for some reason the light burst on the left adds to the "other world" effect. I realize this is probably not what you are going for, but I like it. The truck driving away from the light and windmills is a bonus!

I'm too much of a newbie to give advise on how to capture this scene.
Thanks for posting.

I suspect a slower shutter in number two would have resulted in the truck being blurred and this lessened the overall impact tof the shot. I usually dislike a bright blownout sun, but as Gretchen says it works in this instance. I would be interesting to see a version with that patch cloned out for comparison purposes.

Hi Gretchen, I actually was going for that effect or should I say seeing what effect the sunset had, took a few pics with it deliberately included, the storm rolling in helped ensure the pic was not too blown, thanks for your comments :)

We have a new wind farm in the desert east of San Diego which will be in full operation sometime this month. I am going to visit it in the springtime coinciding with the advent of the wildflower bloom (if we get any rain that is). I am interested in whether there there is a good vantage point to shoot the turbines...

Hey Richard - mine were taking from a driveway just off a very busy highway - was all fenced off so I was quite restricted - Im sure most would have some access for finding the best vantage point - I didnt really research, just came across a spot to stop as I was passing,make sure you post your pics - enjoy