2017 Project 52 - 1st QTR - Sandy(Skitterbug)

[skitterbug]

There is no advice I could give that would come near what Geoff and Joe have passed on to you, Sandy.
All I can advise, don't give up or be disheartened .

I promise I won't give up but I do become discouraged especially when I think I have an idea of how to proceed and then find that nothing works as expected!

I do appreciate your encouragement and I am enjoying watching your P52 challenge! You have lovely pics and you have a wonderful ability to capture what you want to show! I'm waiting for that train to roll across that bridge! <chuckle>

I have to admit that there is a train track (no bridges here) that runs through the farm field about a quarter of a mile from here. It is my hope to capture the engines coming toward me but I'm only in the thinking stage about how I'd like to do that! And yes, it is another one of those "summertime" projects!

So onward - forward - I do enjoy digital!

[Urbanflyer]

I am so glad you are challenging yourself and willing to ask questions. Focal length would be the lens of your camera or the amount of zoom if you are using a zoom. You can find this in the file info or properties of your image. Distance should be the distance from your camera to the thing you wish to focus upon. Then the calculator shows you what area in front of that item will be in focus and what area behind the item will be in focus. As long as your desired item is within this area, you are fine. There are other nuances but those can wait until you have the basics well in hand.

A really good way to learn is to test--and, as has been noted, that is inexpensive when shooting digital. Find a scene and vary one thing at a time. With the image posted, shoot it aperture priority with both the widest possible aperture, a middle one, and the smallest one. (on tripod). Then you can begin to see the differences.

[skitterbug]

I am so glad you are challenging yourself and willing to ask questions. Focal length would be the lens of your camera or the amount of zoom if you are using a zoom. You can find this in the file info or properties of your image. Distance should be the distance from your camera to the thing you wish to focus upon. Then the calculator shows you what area in front of that item will be in focus and what area behind the item will be in focus. As long as your desired item is within this area, you are fine. There are other nuances but those can wait until you have the basics well in hand.

Sorry for my delay in replying. Thank you for the explanation using the depth of field calculator. I will play with it now that I understand it better.

A really good way to learn is to test--and, as has been noted, that is inexpensive when shooting digital. Find a scene and vary one thing at a time. With the image posted, shoot it aperture priority with both the widest possible aperture, a middle one, and the smallest one. (on tripod). Then you can begin to see the differences.

Today, I opened the window and pointed the wide angle lens toward the bird feeder. Of course no birds stayed put or even returned! So I decided to try what you suggested with this lens looking at an empty feeder. I really didn't see much difference in the three so I wonder if I am understanding what it is that will change. I'll get busy and post them in my next post for 1st week of Feb in hopes that I'll get feedback about what I am missing.

Thank you for sharing your thought!

[Urbanflyer]

Try it with a standard lens rather than a wide angle, use a wide aperture f4 or f2 if you can, then a very small aperture--f 22 or f32. take the shot, and look at it on the computer. Make sure your focus is set to the same thing each time. Have something in the foreground and in the background. Preferably a continuous gradation from focal point to extreme near foreground and similarly for the background. Then look for the spot at which the image begins to blur.

[skitterbug]

Hi Judith,

Okay, I think I know what you want now.... depth of field, correct? By adjusting the aperture? If so I did that with my second series with the Christmas shots. If this isn't what you mean, then please correct me!

Actually, this brought home the idea of photo stacking for crisp shots. But I don't have the software to do it, unless Gimp or Adobe Lightroom does and I haven't figured it out yet......

Am I on the same page as you? Or have I totally misunderstood what you are suggesting?

Thanks for replying!

[Urbanflyer]

Yes, your Christmas pictures did that to an extent. If you can look at them, and also understand the DOF calculator, then you are half way there. From there it is a matter of deliberately choosing a DOF, and achieving it through choice of lens and apeture setting as well as where you place the focal point. Sometimes you will choose to put the focal point ahead or behind your actual center of interest, knowing that the center of interest will still be sharp because of other choices you have made.

[skitterbug]

Judith ~ Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your point of view! I appreciate all the help I can get!

[skitterbug]

Even though I threatened not to ever use the Wide Angle Lens again, I found that I had to try it "one more time".

A little content to go with these two pics. We support a mission in Africa that began with a church member's vision. She started her project when she was 70 after retiring from teaching elementary children. She is now 85 and is still working on her project but now has the support of many people. It has been an amazing success. I wanted to see if I could get a couple decent pics of the display that is used in Sunday School. Not sure I totally achieved what I wanted.

C&C appreciated.

Tripod was used in my effort today.
Lighting was difficult. Flash didn't help a thing. Trying to adjust the shades, overhead lights, etc. would "fix" one problem but cause others. I liked the way the first turned out because it was actually straight and had all of the board in the pic. Believe me, I tried several others but they were not worth showing.

#1 - SS 1/80 F/2.8 ISO 200 13mm




Here again, the light from the window that was covered in blinds, kept seeping through.

#2 - SS.8 F/7.1 ISO200 15.0mm

[Geoff F]

The first one is a very difficult subject to light correctly, Sandy. It looks as though some items are behind glass which makes things extra difficult.

There are slight shadow areas but that can actually add to the realism. Overall lighting is a bit variable but what else can you do without using a lot of specialist studio equipment?

I often get similar problems when photographing larger prints or maps etc for my local history society, when too big for my scanner. I keep moving the images around until I get a suitable position and angle to the light to equalise lighting over the whole area.

The last time I did this I ended up by drawing the curtains then relying on a florescent strip light. I positioned and tilted my source image until the light and any reflections were suitable. But did a Custom WB before shooting to counter the light colour. Getting perfectly square on with the camera, without causing a shadow, is another potential problem; but you have managed to overcome that with this shot.

Your second scene nicely demonstrates how it is possible to use a wide angle lens distortion to create a sense of perspective.

[skitterbug]

Geoff ~ I did manage to get one pic of the "board" without glare but then I also managed to cut off the caption at the top of the display! <grrrrr> I didn't catch that until I got home again and viewed my work on screen. <a second grrrrr>So I didn't post it.

Do you think that the wide angle lens works for the board shot? Or should I use the 18-55mm lens instead?

Thank you for your comment about the second pic (Sunday school alter shot) because I was rather pleased with how it turned out. There is hope for the wide angle lens........ <smile>

I am really looking forward to nicer weather! I don't like inside shots much. Currently, our outside area is blah - no snow, no color, no much of nothin'. So it may be back to church for more shots ..... I feel for the people of CiC when they look at my stuff. Boring! LOL

[Shadowman]

Nice shots, never say never.

[skitterbug]

Thank you John. I'll never say never again! LOL

[Craigie]

Nice concept and well executed, Sandy.
With #2 I would have cloned out the white in the blinds.

[skitterbug]

Nice concept and well executed, Sandy.
With #2 I would have cloned out the white in the blinds.

Hi Gary ~ Thank you for your thoughts! And I agree the light shining through the blinds is unwelcome, but my ability to clone anything out and have the results look decent would be even more unwelcome. So I left it as I found it.........<chuckle>

As part of this year's Project challenge or maybe I ought to make it all of next year's challenge..... I am going to try and learn how to improve post-processing. I can do simple things but complicated techniques are a challenge. I can fiddle with the settings, but actually knowing the why and such, well that is a different 'kettle of fish' as it is said. Yep, for right now, I'll still continue to concentrate on camera settings, choice of lens, etc.

And yes, thanks for 'stopping by'.

[Wavelength]

Excellent arrangements on wall and table and their well executed captures

[skitterbug]

Hi Nandakumar ~ I can't take credit for the arrangements since that was done by the mission committee but I'll certainly pass your comment along to them! I know they will be pleased!

I do appreciate your praise for the photos. Thank you!

[skitterbug]

Well, since TinyPic website is not accepting my attempt to upload photos, I'll give Flickr a try.

I'm still playing with the Tokina AT-X116Pro wide-angle lens. Since the sun was shining and the temps mild (gasp/shock/surprise) I hiked outside to try using it one more time and I have this week’s final choices listed below. No tripod this time.


Please share what you think about them? Is this the right way to use the lens? Better technique?
I appreciate the time it takes to look at these pics and comments made! Thank you!

#1 - In My Hideaway
ss1/125 F/5.6 ISO200 11mm





#2 - Rental Needs Work

Ss1/320 – F/9.0 – ISO200 – 16mm

Rental_Needs_Work



#3 - Cast Off
1/250 – F/9.0 – ISO 200 – 16mm

Cast_off


#4 - Buzzy Day
Ss1/800 – F/9.0 = ISO200 – 16mm

Buzzy_Day

[Geoff F]

You have a very difficult subject for the first image, Sandy. I have seen some attempts at this sort of scene which have worked well but they mostly had much taller trees, or at least clearer views of the trunks which gave an impression of height. I'm wondering about a 180 degree rotation although I suspect a crop to remove the trunk from the top left corner and a balancing amount from the right side might work best.

#2 and 3 work fine.

There is quite a bit of out of focus foreground in #4 which is tending to dominate the scene. I think a crop from the bottom and right side would concentrate on the hive and create a nicely balanced scene.

Your exposure is good on all these images.

[skitterbug]

You have a very difficult subject for the first image, Sandy. I have seen some attempts at this sort of scene which have worked well but they mostly had much taller trees, or at least clearer views of the trunks which gave an impression of height. I'm wondering about a 180 degree rotation although I suspect a crop to remove the trunk from the top left corner and a balancing amount from the right side might work best.

You are right, taller trees would have helped create the effect much better than the ones I chose. I was within the trees in my favorite spot and decided to see if I could make the wide angle lens work.

Following your suggestions, I tried cropping "In My Hideaway" pic and didn't like the results at all so I'll leave the pic as is and learn from it. Maybe sometime, I'll be somewhere that will have super tall trees that would work better and I'll give it a go then.

There is quite a bit of out of focus foreground in #4 which is tending to dominate the scene. I think a crop from the bottom and right side would concentrate on the hive and create a nicely balanced scene.

It probably would have been better if I could have approached the bee hive more closely but for some reason those bees were not especially happy to have me there. Normally, they are good-natured but probably because bad weather was approaching, they were grumpy!

So again, following your guidance, I gave the photo a crop and did a tiny bit of post-processing. This one turned out better - to me at least.

Your exposure is good on all these images.

The wide angle lens does seem to be easy to focus!

Thank you for your opinions! I appreciate them!

[Shadowman]

Sandy,

I thought you might have originally cropped these as none had the distortion familiar with UWA lenses?