A few minutes playtime

[rpcrowe]

Every once in a while it is fun to shoot images for no other reason that wondering how they will come out. I pass this plant many times each day and have always wondered how it would look photographed at a slow shutter speed while zooming during the shot.



Today I set up my tripod and 5Dii camera with 70-200mm lens... I used ISO 100 and selected f/32 as my f/stop because I wanted the slowest shutter speed (without using a ND filter) and because I didn't worry about losing sharpness because of diffraction (after all, I was going to zoom during the exposure). The exposure time was a bit over three seconds and I kept the lens in manual focus.
I had a lot of different exposures, sometimes beginning at the longest focal length and sometimes beginning at the shortest focal length I wanted to use. I experimented with various zoom speeds and various post processing. I am not going to bore you with all my variations but, these are just two of many...





Did I learn anything from the exercise. Not really, except it is relaxing just to have fun with a camera rather than to shoot for any specific purpose...

I did learn one thing a long while ago from playing with my camera like this. I always return my camera to a standard setting so if I have to grab it and shoot in a hurry (like when a dog is doing something cute) it is ready to shoot - it is not in manual focus and is not at f/32. I usually keep the camera with a charged battery, a fresh memory card and with Programmed exposure and ISO 320 selected. That way I have the best chance of getting a shot if I just grab and shoot. If I have time, I will switch to another mode like AV, Manual or TV but, if I don't have time my standard setup will normally get the shot!

[Shadowman]

Nice effects.

[Wavelength]

Great experiments; like them

[Artshot]

I agree that it's all about having fun, which it isn't when you leave the ISO on 4000 from the night before.

[mknittle]

I agree that it's all about having fun, which it isn't when you leave the ISO on 4000 from the night before.