Photography Thread

Pross

I know most of the locations and the one of the bothy is one I was thinking of trying (it's just up the road from the house I was discussing possibly buying on here a few months ago).

Tashman

Priddy moff backlit on the bathroom window

briantrumpet

I do like the results using the panorama mode with the camera in portrait rotation, except that I can't seem to get it to do it in landscape rotation any more! Dang!

Anyway, this was a splendidly interesting and circuitous 700m ascent:

pblakeney

briantrumpet said:

I do like the results using the panorama mode with the camera in portrait rotation, ...

A technique I use quite often. Gives a higher resolution end product.

briantrumpet

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

I do like the results using the panorama mode with the camera in portrait rotation, ...

A technique I use quite often. Gives a higher resolution end product.

I only discovered the function when I was lying on my back in Truro Cathedral trying to catch an unusual view of the vaulting, and it switched to that mode automatically. I'll just have to play around now to find out how to 'automatically' switch it back, as it wouldn't do so this morning, and I couldn't see how to do it manually.

Pross

Different weather conditions and different vibes between the last 2 days

briantrumpet

briantrumpet said:

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

I do like the results using the panorama mode with the camera in portrait rotation, ...

A technique I use quite often. Gives a higher resolution end product.

I only discovered the function when I was lying on my back in Truro Cathedral trying to catch an unusual view of the vaulting, and it switched to that mode automatically. I'll just have to play around now to find out how to 'automatically' switch it back, as it wouldn't do so this morning, and I couldn't see how to do it manually.

Well, I've found out how to switch it back, and there seems to be no auto function, so I've got no idea how I did it in the first place. Happy accident somehow, it seems.

briantrumpet

If I were very naughty, I'd photoshop out the loop of cable at the top of the arch...



PS I am very naughty, but I'm even lazier, and couldn't be arsed.

Wheelspinner

Pross said:

pblakeney said:

Pross said:

pblakeney said:

Pross said:

I've been trying to teach myself how to use Lightroom and had a play around with my favourite photo. The AI noise reduction was a little bit aggressive so the castle has lost some of its detail but I'm much happier with the sky now...

I don't use LR but I gather from watching podcasts etc that your next step is to learn to use Masks to remove the NR from the castle, or local increased sharpening.

Yep, I used the masks which allowed me to adjust settings for certain parts of the photo e.g. there's one that automatically detects the sky so you can adjust the highlights etc. without impacting the rest of the photo or you can select certain areas to highlight them which I'd been playing around with and I think has helped massively with the overall effect. I applied the noise reduction automatically though and probably could have used a lower number.

There's a professional who does some stunning night sky shots in my neck of the woods who has a load of presets you can buy from him along with tutorials so I might get those in time. His work can be viewed here https://alynwallacephotography.com/brecon-beacons-astrophotography-dark-sky

Not so keen on the trails but the others are stunning!

Agreed, star trail photos and OK as a bit of a novelty but for me it is all about the night sky enhancing a landscape. I now want to get out and do more, there's a new moon next week and a few possibly clear nights - I just need my car to be fixable when it goes into the garage on Monday to take advantage!

Didn't you recently get a "new" car? Bimmer wagon? What's wrong wivvit?

Pross

Wheelspinner said:

Pross said:

pblakeney said:

Pross said:

pblakeney said:

Pross said:

I've been trying to teach myself how to use Lightroom and had a play around with my favourite photo. The AI noise reduction was a little bit aggressive so the castle has lost some of its detail but I'm much happier with the sky now...

I don't use LR but I gather from watching podcasts etc that your next step is to learn to use Masks to remove the NR from the castle, or local increased sharpening.

Yep, I used the masks which allowed me to adjust settings for certain parts of the photo e.g. there's one that automatically detects the sky so you can adjust the highlights etc. without impacting the rest of the photo or you can select certain areas to highlight them which I'd been playing around with and I think has helped massively with the overall effect. I applied the noise reduction automatically though and probably could have used a lower number.

There's a professional who does some stunning night sky shots in my neck of the woods who has a load of presets you can buy from him along with tutorials so I might get those in time. His work can be viewed here https://alynwallacephotography.com/brecon-beacons-astrophotography-dark-sky

Not so keen on the trails but the others are stunning!

Agreed, star trail photos and OK as a bit of a novelty but for me it is all about the night sky enhancing a landscape. I now want to get out and do more, there's a new moon next week and a few possibly clear nights - I just need my car to be fixable when it goes into the garage on Monday to take advantage!

Didn't you recently get a "new" car? Bimmer wagon? What's wrong wivvit?

Yeah, that’s the wife’s so I try not to use it but shouldn’t be a problem at night. Looks like Tuesday is the earliest opportunity now.

Tashman

My dozy model under the shade of the fig tree but on the warm garage roof yesterday.

briantrumpet

I tried shooting stars, but with minimal success... at least I can see some stars, I suppose. I didn't see any shooting stars, and failed to get anything like what I could see with the naked eye of the milky way. I think the Sony took 4 x 15s shots.

Pross

That looks pretty good, you could probably bring a bit out with editing.

Got my car back yesterday and the weather gods appeared to play ball as the skies cleared at my house in the early evening. I headed off 15 miles north to the nearest hills and as I approached I could see thick cloud around them. I was hopeful that the skies to the south would be clear from the view point so I could get the Milky Way core though. When I arrived the skies were quite moody to the north in particular



There was a clear section but it was to the south east, I climb the hill, set up and waited but the cloud to the due south stubbornly refused to lift so I never saw the core but did see a few meteors. I was a bit disappointed and started the trek back down in full darkness to discover the northern skies had cleared to show the Perseus constellation (according to my app) in all its glory over Abergavenny so I spent the next hour or so getting photos from a few locations. I’m going to chuck them on the laptop today and play around in the hope I get something that does justice to how it looked.

Pross

Slightly disappointed with the photos once uploaded from the camera, they were much darker than in the camera and also when I tried to stack them I was losing a lot of stars for some reason. This is probably the pick just as a single image with some noise reduction and a bit of playing around with settings in LR. Shame I managed to create a shadow when lighting the foreground.

briantrumpet

Pross said:

Slightly disappointed with the photos once uploaded from the camera, they were much darker than in the camera and also when I tried to stack them I was losing a lot of stars for some reason. This is probably the pick just as a single image with some noise reduction and a bit of playing around with settings in LR. Shame I managed to create a shadow when lighting the foreground.

I played around with my efforts too, but weird stuff happened when I tried lightening the photo to see more stars. I'll have another go tonight, if it's cloudless, though I suspect that my £200 camera just isn't up to the job, one way or another. I suspect it's a combination of kit and skill that is needed, and I will probably accept that I have neither at the appropriate level.

One the plus side, it does demonstrate how utterly amazing even 59-year-old eyes and their software are.

Pross

Quite happy with my blue hour shots though and I've come to the conclusion my phone does as good a job as my DSLR



From phone (iPhone 13 Pro)



From DSLR (Sony A58)

Pross

Just spotted a giant turtle about to eat a giant butterfly in the sky of the top one!

briantrumpet

I'll probably stay up late tonight and give it one more go, as the skies are completely clear at the moment... but I'm not getting my hopes up too much after last night's efforts.

briantrumpet

Had a few goes tonight, and this was the best... 4 x 30s, +2.0EV. On the other attempts, it looks like there was a tiny bit of movement on the flimsy tripod, so I'll definitely bring down the sturdier one sometime.

rjsterry

These definitely need a big screen to view.

Pross

briantrumpet said:

Had a few goes tonight, and this was the best... 4 x 30s, +2.0EV. On the other attempts, it looks like there was a tiny bit of movement on the flimsy tripod, so I'll definitely bring down the sturdier one sometime.

You’ve got a lot of stars in there. All the nice Astro landscapes you see tend to ‘cheat’ in either lighting a foreground subject or taking other exposures (before is gets fully dark or on very long exposures) then merging them in Photoshop. I need to learn to use PS and Lightroom properly, I’ve been watching tutorials but they all assume you know your way around the software a bit.

bonk_king

This is a recent picture I took whilst on holiday in Zante. Sunrise over Argassi. I've since got this printed onto canvas. Great memory of my early morning bike rides before it got mad hot.

Pross

Not very often you get a chance to do a macro with a wild bird. This little one flew into our patio door and knocked itself out just now so we put it in a box to recover for a few minutes and it flew away just after these. Apparently there’s one I need to take care of out the front of the house that hasn’t come out as well following an encounter with a cat though.

Pross

This tree has been catching my attention on dog walks since the other trees came into leaf and I finally got around to getting the phone out for a picture yesterday

Pross

Stumbled on a little local nature reserve whilst waiting for my daughter. Even got the rare sight of an Osprey flying over (aircraft rather than bird which I’ve still never seen)

rjsterry

Pross

Trying out a bit of stacking in Photoshop. I actually did 5 images but there wasn't enough sideways movement so they all ended up a bit on top of each other unfortunately.

briantrumpet

Didn't quite get the angle I wanted in this self-timer selfie, but decided that this was good enough, and didn't want to be a selfie mortality statistic.

rjsterry

Another elevated railway shot.

mrb123