Nikon D7000, 72mm (28-200), 1/640, f/6.3, ISO 200, cropped
First rule of late season visits to Worlds of Fun: leave well before Haunt gets underway. None of the photos I tried to take after dark worked out. However, I did have some fun earlier in the day.
The first ride my group went on was The Patriot, one of the park’s many roller coasters. I managed to find a spot that gave me a couple of good angles. The shot above proved to be a good example of how to imply movement in a “frozen motion” shot via body angles. You can tell that the coaster is moving with some speed because otherwise the seats couldn’t be at that angle.
The other way to convey motion is through blur. I propped the camera on a fence so I could slow the shutter down enough to blur the moving coaster here:
Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 1/10, f/22, ISO 100, adjusted
Then I decided to have a little fun with it. I shot a series of pictures with the coaster at several spots along the track. Then I used layers in Photoshop to combine them all into one picture that shows the whole sequence.
Last week we took a look at photos of moving light sources shot at slow shutter speeds. Today’s example is traditional “light painting,” using a light and a long exposure to draw something in the darkness.
This is impromptu stuff, shot with the flashlight feature on my iPhone. If this had been anything besides an experiment, I probably would have at least changed the backdrop to a black muslin to reduce the chances that it would show up in the shot (as it does a little here). I should also have removed the UV filter from the lens, as it’s likely to be the source of the faint phantom lines in the shot.
And if I was really getting fancy, I could have thrown in some rear curtain flash so that I would be visible in the shot. Or at least practiced a bit so I could legibly write the word “hello” (and do it backward so it would read correctly in the photo).
Nikon D7000, 45mm (18-55), 3 sec., f/5.3, ISO 800, cropped
For our fun class session last week, we killed the lights, slowed down the shutter and photographed some moving light sources.
Our first subject was Awika, relative of Cosmojetz. I neglected to shoot video with the lights on, but the folks who created it have a good, quick clip. With the lights off, the only visible part of the scene were the sparks shooting out the back.
The first attempt (above) was a little over-exposed. To be sure, it was still a cool effect. The winding key and Awika’s feet are faintly visible. But I was curious to see what we’d get if we played with the exposure a little. First I dropped the ISO:
Nikon D7000, 45mm (18-55), 3 sec., f/5.3, ISO 100, cropped
And then I closed the aperture down a bit:
Nikon D7000, 45mm (18-55), 3 sec., f/11, ISO 100, cropped
Unfortunately, for that test I put the subject on the table upside down, so its body hid most of the sparks. One more try:
Nikon D7000, 45mm (18-55), 3 sec., f/11, ISO 100, cropped
Now the only visible parts of the subject are the narrow light trails made by the sparks. They look like fine hairs or dandelion fluff. Sometimes it’s nice to just play around and see what you get.
Nikon D7000, 44mm (18-55), 3 sec., f/29, ISO 100, on-camera filter, adjusted and cropped
Yesterday was the final in-class session of my fall Photography course. As usual, the last non-online meet was optional, and as nobody who showed up needed to get caught up on anything, we spent the time having some fun.
The main activity was a set of light painting experiments I’ll post next week. But after class I was still in a picture-taking mood so I decided to try a new filter I bought awhile back.
The main idea behind neutral density filters (other than protection for expensive lenses) is to reduce the amount of light getting into the camera without affecting the color or image quality. The new toy in this case was a Hoya 52mm 3-400 variable density filter.
Variable density filters can be adjusted to let in more or less light. The minimum setting for this one lets in 1/3 of the light that would otherwise get through the lens, the approximate equivalent of 1.5 stops. At the opposite end of the scale the filter screens down to 1/400 of the light, around nine stops.
The photo at the top of this post shows the filter near maximum strength. The ISO is down as far as it would go and the aperture closed up as tight as it would go. The result is not much light getting through and not much sensitivity to record what does get through. That’s how I got away with a three second exposure, which otherwise in bright sunlight would have over-exposed the shot so badly that I would have gotten nothing but an empty white frame.
At this speed the water (the only moving subject in the shot) turns into a hazy blur. Compare the long exposure to something closer to normal speeds:
Turning the filter down to its minimum allowed me to speed up the shutter and freeze the flowing water. Though the result is a great deal more “realistic” (i.e. more like what you’d perceive if you were actually looking at the scene), it’s arguably not as interesting to look at. The composition is more chaotic, not as smooth as the longer exposure that records the general flow rather than individual drops.
This semester I’m going to blog a few of the exercises we do in my photography class. I want students who miss class to be able to see what we did. And for those of you who aren’t in the class, these are good examples of some photography basics (even if they aren’t the most spectacularly fascinating photos ever taken).
The topic for this lesson is shutter speed. Our model is a small wind-up device called Cosmojetz, the creation of artist Chico Bicalho.
I took the shot above holding the camera in my hands and using a middle-of-the-road shutter speed.
Nikon D7000, 80mm (35-80), 1/4, f/32, ISO 800
Next I slowed the shutter down a bit to demonstrate camera shake. This is the shot you almost never want, with everything a big blurry mess. As a photographer, you need to figure out how steady your hands are. I can’t shoot anything much below 1/30 (depending on the circumstances) before the blur starts to ruin my pictures. However, if you don’t have four decades of caffeine behind you, your hands may be more stable than mine.
Note that the one thing that doesn’t move in this shot is the dust on the lens, because when the camera shakes the dust moves right along with it, staying stationary in relation to the image recording chip. You won’t see the dust in any of the rest of the shots because when I noticed it I remembered to do my job as a photographer and wipe the lens with a lens cloth.
Next we locked the camera down on a tripod to completely eliminate camera shake. And we set the subject in motion. Here’s a video of what Cosmojetz looks like when it bounces around:
We started with another middle-of-the-road shutter speed:
Nikon D7000, 42mm (35-80), 1/125, f/4.5, ISO 800
As anyone who has ever tried to take a picture of a three year old can attest, rapidly moving objects can be tricky to photograph. Though 1/125th of a second seems like no time at all to us, a moving object can travel quite a bit even in such a small fraction of an instant. Thus the blurring that clearly indicates the subject is on the go.
Nikon D7000, 42mm (35-80), 1/250, f/4.2, ISO 800
Increasing the shutter speed still further reduces the blur to manageable levels, though you can still see a bit here and there. In shutter priority mode, the camera has been automatically adjusting the aperture for us to make sure we get a good exposure. But now we’ve reached the limits of the lens; the aperture won’t open any wider, and we’re starting to sacrifice image quality.
Of course at this point we can fix the slight under-exposure in Photoshop, like this:
Nikon D7000, 42mm (35-80), 1/250, f/4.2, ISO 800, adjusted
But if we want to freeze the motion entirely, we’ll need to speed the shutter up still farther. And that will mean increasing the ISO (making the camera’s image sensing chip more sensitive to light) to get a good exposure.
In the shot below, motion blur has been completely eliminated. The only way you can tell that the subject is moving is that otherwise it would have to be hovering in mid-air.
Nikon D7000, 42mm (35-80), 1/1600, f/4.2, ISO 6400
The lesson ends at the opposite end of the scale. Slowing back down to a quarter second (the speed that gave me such terrible camera shake earlier), transforms the rapidly-moving subject into a ghost, barely visible in the upper part of the photo.
The whole time we were in New Mexico, I kept hoping for the chance to photograph the night sky. We were staying in Dixon, a small town far enough from city lights to allow me to get a good shot of some stars.
So naturally it was monsoon season. Every single day the sky clouded up late in the afternoon and stayed overcast until well after I’d gone to bed.
But on our second-to-last night there, I finally got some luck. The skies cleared almost entirely (you can still see some clouds toward the bottom of the shot) and I finally got the shot I was after.
I set up a tripod in the courtyard of the mission where we were staying and took the picture with a wide angle lens. So you can see roofs, trees, a pole and some power lines. The light in the window in the lower left-hand side is from my wife’s phone. A 30 second exposure will pick up just about any available light.
Around a month ago I got a rare confluence of events: a rainy night and the free time to go out in it and shoot some pictures. I promised Amy I’d photograph the neon at Exile Tattoos some damp evening, so this seemed like the perfect time.
Naturally I brought a tripod along so I could work in the dim light. I started with the 10.5mm lens, taking a few shots in the lobby (below) before moving outside for the pictures I came to get (above).
D3000, 10.5mm, 0.5 sec, f/8, ISO 200
The outdoor photos I took with the 18-55mm zoom didn’t turn out as well. While I remembered to bring the camera’s raincoat, I neglected to bring one for myself. Thus I ended up drenched before I got anything I was happy with.
On the other hand, it wasn’t raining indoors. So while I had the camera on the tripod, I decided to play around with a special effects trick: zooming with the shutter open. The technique produces a strange, streaky effect that draws attention to the center of the shot. I’d tried the trick a few times in the past, but this is the first time I got genuinely interesting results:
Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/60, f/11, ISO 800, adjusted
Part of the trick with street photography is to capture candid, un-posed moments. But sometimes one must sacrifice spontaneity in order to get the shot.
Here’s an example: I spotted a man sporting an interesting tattoo: Elvis Presley’s famous “Taking Care of Business in a Flash” emblem. I couldn’t get a good angle on him, so I gave up on him and moved on. But then I mentioned the tattoo to my wife, and without a moment’s hesitation she caught up with the guy and asked if we could take his picture.
He was really nice about it. Turns out he used to be an Elvis impersonator, and he was happy to pose for a couple of shots.
Of course the result looks posed. But it’s a pose that conveys the tattoo and the personality of the man with the ink. Sometimes ya gotta bend the rules.
Technical note: the slow shutter speed caught a little motion on the subject’s left hand, which gave a good sense of energy to an otherwise static shot.
I didn’t catch this ride’s actual name. But I’ve seen this sort of thing called a Scrambler elsewhere, so we’ll go with that.
I shot this set under some unusual lighting conditions. The day was getting on toward dusk and the sky was overcast. The result was outdoor light that looked normal but wasn’t intensely bright. And that allowed me some leeway with my settings. I was also able to brace the camera on a rail, which meant I could slow the shutter down farther than I could have with a strictly hand-held shot.
Thus I was able to capture some interesting light trails while freezing the objects and people around the ride. On the first shot (above), the orange trails and blurred car looked sorta like a tornado.
Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 1/8, f/22, ISO 400
The ride moved around in patterns that were difficult to predict. So some of the shots were mostly blur while others featured clearer images of the riders.
Though I framed most of the set horizontally, I also managed to capture a few good ones with the camera turned 90 degrees.
Nikon D7000, 150mm (150-500), 1/800, f/9, ISO 400, cropped
As long as I have the State Fair series disrupted for sports, I might as well post some soccer shots. The afternoon was baking hot when I shot these from the sidelines of KCKCC’s home opener, so if I get too far into October before posting them I fear they’ll be badly out of season.
The picture at the top of this post is sports photography with all the elements in place. Details are clear. Framing is good. Motion is frozen. Body posture and facial expression tell a dramatic story.
Of course it’s easy to set up a shot like this when you know pretty much precisely what’s going to happen, where it’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen. Because sports such as soccer are generally more free flowing, you have to stay loose (frequently adjusting zoom and focus), look for good moments and shoot lots of pictures.
Here’s an example of a good moment captured without a lot of careful set-up:
Nikon D7000, 150mm (150-500), 1/800, f/7.1, ISO 400, cropped
For all their fun, sports tend to be serious business. However, every once in awhile you can catch some humor:
Nikon D7000, 400mm (150-500), 1/125, f/9, ISO 100, cropped
The main subject in this shot was doing some warm-up jumps, but his body posture and the apparent “reactions” to it come across as funny.
And of course a warning: when photographing sports, shutter speed is absolutely crucial. Compare the kick and head shots above with this picture taken earlier in the afternoon:
Nikon D7000, 150mm (150-500), 1/125, f/10, ISO 100, cropped
The difference in shutter speed is a small fraction of a second, but what a difference it makes in motion blur and the story you tell with your picture.
I should also mention that this week we added the very first actual instructional slide show to The Photographer’s Sketchbook web site. It’s an introduction to sketching color.
No sooner do I get the State Fair series going than I have to interrupt it for “breaking news.” With the end of baseball season fast upon us, I took advantage of our final Friday night at the ballpark to shoot some pictures.
I tried a few traditional shots of the game, but the longest lens I brought with me maxed at 200mm. From the back of the stands, it wasn’t exactly producing Sports Illustrated cover shots. Likewise my attempts at street photos of the crowd weren’t working. Perhaps I was in a moody mood, but I wasn’t feeling the people thing.
On the other hand, I found myself captivated by the light. I can’t remember the last time I strolled around the ballpark after dark. Usually by that point I’m in my seat watching the game. Thus the results I got tended to emphasize light and architecture.
The picture at the top of this post is my favorite of the set. I love what the 10mm lens did with the sunset. I also love what it did with the curving lines of the ramp. The shot has a range of elements from the industrial stuff at the bottom to the isolated people going about their business to the city in the distance and the sky above.
Funny how the ramp looks different depending on lens and perspective. Here’s another view:
Nikon D7000, 56mm (28-200), 1/60, f/5.6, ISO 800
From the back row of the upper deck, this is what the ballpark looks like:
Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 1/60, f/2.8, ISO 800, adjusted
When I’ve shot this view in the past I’ve gotten closer to cut out some of the roof, but this time I thought it might be fun to include it. Besides, the large crowd prevented me from setting up much closer.
While I was up top, I noticed that the lights were catching smoke or steam or mist or something:
Nikon D7000, 100mm (28-200), 1/80, f/5.3, ISO 800, adjusted
This shot of the escalators gives you a nice sense of vertical space:
Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 1/25, f/4, ISO 800
For perspective, note the size difference between the people on the closest escalator and the person next to the bottom.
I was a little disappointed by the Fan Zone (again, maybe I wasn’t in the mood for people shots). But I did manage to capture some fun motion blur from the carousel.
Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 0.3 sec., f/8, ISO 800, cropped
Despite the absence of a tripod, I got the slow shutter speed to work by bracing my elbows on a rail. Note that the still parts of the shot (such as the picture of the bats in the center) are clear and the moving parts are streaks of light and color. That’s what you’re after in a shot like this.
Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/15, f/8, ISO 400, adjusted
For the next month or so, the blog will feature photos I took at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia in August. Most of the photos will be examples of “street photography” of people. But a few, such as the ones we’ll start with, focus more on technical issues.
The picture at the top of this post is The Screamer, one of those rides that takes folks more adventurous than me for a long, upside down swinging ride. I took the shot just as the car full of riders was speeding past.
This provides a good example of motion blur. If the entire image is blurry, then the photo looks like a mistake. But if you can avoid camera shake and freeze the parts of the shot that aren’t moving, the parts that are on the go give your viewers a strong sense of motion.
For what it’s worth, this is what the ride looks like at rest:
Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/80, f/3.8, ISO 400
I took several pictures in this series, because at shutter speeds this low I tend strongly to get a lot of camera shake into the shot. Of the pictures that came out with un-shaky foregrounds, this one is my favorite:
Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/15, f/8, ISO 400, adjusted
The framing is slightly better than the one at the top of this post. I also like the ride attendants looking on.
This last Omaha-centered blog entry picks up a handful of miscellaneous photos I took during our visit. Though I had my wide angle lens with me, I ended up not using it for all that much. Every once in awhile I got a good result from it, however. I was pleased by the strangely-bending lines of the dome atop the desert building.
Nikon D7000, 125mm (28-200), 1/13, f/5.6, ISO 6400, adjusted
I honestly thought I’d walk away with pretty much nothing from the nocturnal exhibit, but a shot or two sorta worked. For this picture of an alligator I cranked the ISO way up and braced the camera on a railing to avoid as much shake as possible. Still, you can see some camera shake in the shot. Look at the small points of light such as the reflection in the gator’s eye, which should be single points but turn into tell-tale crescents because of camera motion.
I should also note that the gator shot was seriously level-adjusted in Photoshop. Straight out of the camera, the frame was mostly black.
Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/800, f/9, ISO 400
I hoped for some good wide angle shots while we were up on the sky tram (the cables for which you can see in shadow running through the middle of the picture). However, the 10.5mm lens kept getting my feet or another part of the tram in the shot, so I had to settle for sorta-wide-angle 28mm pictures from my other lens.
At least this photo demonstrates the value of getting up above your subject for a “lay of the land” picture.
Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/30, f/5.6, ISO 500, cropped
I had to optically zoom in as far as I could and then “digitally zoom” by cropping in order to capture these dour residents.
Nikon D7000, 112mm (28-200), 1/125, f/5.3, ISO 800, adjusted
A wider group shot was less technically demanding.
Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/50, f/5.6, ISO 500, adjusted
Some of the most dramatic residents of the rainforest building were giant (like serious shark sized) carp with beautiful gold edges on their scales. The viewing angle and water surface reflections made any kind of documentary shot impossible, and I almost gave up on photographing them at all. But once I gave up the notion of trying to get a clear shot and just went with the beautiful, abstract forms of line, shape and color, I ended up with some pleasing pictures.
If I had to pick one favorite part of the zoo experience, the penguins would be strong contenders. I could sit for hours and watch them swim gracefully back and forth.
As a photographer, however, they give me nightmares. The lighting is extremely tricky in Omaha’s penguin area. I was after a wider angle shot of the birds swimming, but even with the ISO cranked way up I was still at a 1/60 shutter speed. Any slower and camera shake would have been a problem, as would motion blur on the swimming subjects.
Also note the extreme hot spot in the background. Proper exposure of the main subjects underwater drastically over-exposed the brightly lit surface area at the top of the shot. And if I crop down (thus “enlarging”) the birds at the bottom, the ISO grain will become an issue.
Nikon D7000, 122mm (28-200), 1/250, f/5.3, ISO 2500
We were lucky to be there when the keepers came in to dish out the fish. This shot is actually part of a series in which the keeper gives the bigger penguin a gentle shove and scoots him back into the water so his smaller companions can get some fish. I love this frame the best because of the invisible leading line between woman and bird, giving the scene a strong sense of interaction.
Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 400, cropped and retouched
The sea lions were a study in harsh lighting. They’re outdoors in an area with little shade. Further, their tank was being cleaned (to the considerable chagrin of the largest among them), and with most of the water gone the sun reflecting off the walls and bottom of the enclosure made good exposures a real challenge. All the pictures in this set have been treated to a level adjustment of one kind or another.
Still, the sea lions make great subjects. Proper exposure brings out their textures, slick if they’re wet and furry if they’re dry.
Nikon D7000, 135mm (28-200), 1/1250, f/9, ISO 400, cropped and retouched
As with people, look for shots of animals interacting. It brings out personality that you might not see in individuals by themselves.
Nikon D7000, 42mm (28-200), 1/500, f/11, ISO 400, cropped and retouched
This was a fun shot. The water wasn’t quite deep enough for the large sea lion to make it back up to the rocks. Though his attempt made a splash. Literally.
Nikon D7000, 135mm (28-200), 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 400, cropped and retouched
The last one is my favorite of the set. This sea lion looks so comfy and happy swimming around.
