Photography Thread

pblakeney

Expose for the moon and pull back the shadow detail in post processing. Or HDR but that usually looks fake to me. The longer lens you can use, the better.

pinno

Rolf F wrote:

Pinno wrote:

It takes a good camera to get the moon that big in a shot that doesn't end up like a small dot.

It's got nothing to do with the camera! (but it has everything to do with optics.....)

Mine is going in the bin.

Wheelspinner

rjsterry wrote:

Pinno wrote:

It takes a good camera to get the moon that big in a shot that doesn't end up like a small dot.

I was thinking of the exposure, but yes, the moon is always smaller than you think it is. Another trick your mind plays.

No tricks in that pic... simple shot at about 105mm with an APS-C sensor or the equivalent of about 135mm full frame. It was about 5 seconds exposure, which is why the moon is so bright. If you stared at it without blinking for 5 seconds your retinas would be fried too...

PBlakeney wrote:

Expose for the moon and pull back the shadow detail in post processing. Or HDR but that usually looks fake to me. The longer lens you can use, the better.

My photo is over-exposed for the moon, but I am only using Photos as the processing app at the moment and there's no option in that for localised dodge and burn editing. To get enough shadow detail to recover even a bit in PP I had to blow out the moonlight a bit more than optimal. Must renew Lightroom subscription some day...

ayjaycee

Wheelspinner wrote:

[
......No tricks in that pic... simple shot at about 105mm with an APS-C sensor or the equivalent of about 135mm full frame........

Actually, it would be more like 150mm. Regardless of the quality of the photo (which no amount of processing would have rescued in this case), I am extremely jealous of the view from your balcony.

pblakeney

ayjaycee wrote:

Wheelspinner wrote:

[
......No tricks in that pic... simple shot at about 105mm with an APS-C sensor or the equivalent of about 135mm full frame........

Actually, it would be more like 150mm. Regardless of the quality of the photo (which no amount of processing would have rescued in this case), I am extremely jealous of the view from your balcony.

True. Shadows can be recovered but blown highlights are blown for good. I use the old slide method of expose for the highlights, develop (post process) for the shadows. Still relevant today.

ayjaycee

Way way back in the 1970s (training as a photographer with the Army), we were visited (as a guest speaker) by Don McCullin who even back in those dark ages was well known and acknowledged as one of the best. My own view is that calling him just a war photographer would be doing him a disservice but it was his work in war zones that really made his name - I would recommend a quick google if you don't know him - he has produced some truly remarkable stuff in his time. I can remember to this day him saying that he never liked to take a photograph without first having taken an accurate reading with a hand held meter because, if he was shot or injure in some way, he didn't want somebody developing his last film and finding it full of badly exposed shots.

pblakeney

Nice.
I particularly like his dark and moody shots. Obviously not on auto.

Ben6899

We were in SoCal a few weeks back. I still need to go through all my photos, but I uploaded these via camera-mobile connection to share on Instagram...

CORN DOGS! LEMONADE! PIZZA! PEANUTS! by Ben H, on Flickr

Got lawnmowers? by Ben H, on Flickr

briantrumpet

I do like a bit of zoom and foreshortening...

pinno

I like that.

briantrumpet

Pinno wrote:

I like that.

Thanks. I took one of seagulls in a similar vein at the same spot, but they distracted from the composition by giving points of interest/focus, I thought.

mr_goo

briantrumpet wrote:

Pinno wrote:

I like that.

Thanks. I took one of seagulls in a similar vein at the same spot, but they distracted from the composition by giving points of interest/focus, I thought.

I prefer the one with the seagulls as it has narrative.

pinno

Mr Goo wrote:

I prefer the one with the seagulls as it has narrative.

Each to their own. I like the previous one as there is no focal point and there's an intensity about it without distraction.

pblakeney

I'd agree with the point about the lack of focus. Much better.
It pays to break the rules occasionally.

rjsterry

PBlakeney wrote:

I'd agree with the point about the lack of focus. Much better.
It pays to break the rules occasionally.

Not sure it lacks a focus, just that the focus is on the repeating patterns of the groynes, rather than a single object.

briantrumpet

rjsterry wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

I'd agree with the point about the lack of focus. Much better.
It pays to break the rules occasionally.

Not sure it lacks a focus, just that the focus is on the repeating patterns of the groynes, rather than a single object.

Quite - various things to look at, but none of them take precedence over the overall feel/composition. It doesn't tell you what you should be looking at.

Incidentally, both are in colour, set on auto... no processing, other than the camera's.

pblakeney

rjsterry wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

I'd agree with the point about the lack of focus. Much better.
It pays to break the rules occasionally.

Not sure it lacks a focus, just that the focus is on the repeating patterns of the groynes, rather than a single object.

Okay. Worded badly.

briantrumpet

Nothing to do with photography, other than this is a photograph I took yesterday. I don't normally do 'cute', but when I spotted this little chap sitting in the middle of the road, I thought I should gently move him to the side, out of harm's way. (Yes, it's OK to do that - I checked.)

Takes one's mind off Brexit, and Drumpf. Briefly.

ayjaycee

briantrumpet wrote:

.......but when I spotted this little chap sitting in the middle of the road, I thought I should gently move him to the side, out of harm's way.........

Now that's what I call a good turn for the day - give that man a gold star AND extra cake.

pinno

I have shepherded plenty of ducks and ducklings across busy roads. Do I get a gold star and cake?
There's something cute about that owl and there's something very stupid about it at the same time.

briantrumpet

Pinno wrote:

I have shepherded plenty of ducks and ducklings across busy roads. Do I get a gold star and cake?
There's something cute about that owl and there's something very stupid about it at the same time.

Apparently tawny owlets do get out of the nest well before they can fly, and the parents just feed them wherever (we could hear one calling from up in the trees above). Perhaps the owlet thought that it was perfectly camouflaged from predators on the grey road... well, yes, but...

briantrumpet

On the plus side, it gives the photo 'focus' and 'narrative'...

briantrumpet

Anyway, here's it is a little less well camouflaged (but safer):

pinno

Did it try to peck you when you moved him/her?

briantrumpet

Pinno wrote:

Did it try to peck you when you moved him/her?

No. First couple of times I got close it tried to look scary by extending wings and opening its beak, but I think it was actually knackered by then, and just allowed me to approach from behind and cover its back with a cotton shopping bag and lift it. No protest at all. Really good info from the Barn Owl Trust: https://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/picking ... tawny-owl/

pinno

A barn owl visits the PPP house. Mice make nests in the log pile and the owl waits patiently outside the open double garage.
Barn owls make a horrendous shriek not the endearing Twit- t'woo sound.

pblakeney

Pinno wrote:

A barn owl visits the PPP house. Mice make nests in the log pile and the owl waits patiently outside the open double garage.
Barn owls make a horrendous shriek not the endearing Twit- t'woo sound.

Get a Golden Eagle to deal with the owl.
They are quite quiet.

rjsterry

Pinno wrote:

A barn owl visits the PPP house. Mice make nests in the log pile and the owl waits patiently outside the open double garage.
Barn owls make a horrendous shriek not the endearing Twit- t'woo sound.

All brings to mind The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark, narrated by Maureen Lipman. Still a favourite with our two.

rolf_f

briantrumpet wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

I'd agree with the point about the lack of focus. Much better.
It pays to break the rules occasionally.

Not sure it lacks a focus, just that the focus is on the repeating patterns of the groynes, rather than a single object.

Quite - various things to look at, but none of them take precedence over the overall feel/composition. It doesn't tell you what you should be looking at.

Incidentally, both are in colour, set on auto... no processing, other than the camera's.

The birds one needs a bit of processing - a bit more contrast would help. I prefer the no birds version but I'd be happier if you rotated it 0.5 degrees or less clockwise. There is an apparent slight tilt that upsets me with all those not quite horizontal or vertical lines!

ayjaycee

Pinno wrote:

I have shepherded plenty of ducks and ducklings across busy roads. Do I get a gold star and cake.

Pinno - Knock yourself out if you want to but ducks and ducklings, although no less deserving, are ten a penny at this time of year. Owls however........