Dis PB Monthly Assignment, 8/09: Get out the tripods - Shutter Speed & Low Light

[DisneyDayTripper]

Might not be exactly what you're wanting, but I took this from my hotel room in Tampa on the 4th of July.

 

[NostalgicDad]

Played around with some colored lighting the other night. The first is the sculpture in it's natural lighting. The second one I popped a flash off-camera with a blue gel during the exposure. And, the third one I used my red flashlight I carry in my bag for night group outings. I basically just "painted" the sculpture during the exposure, lighting only a certain part of it.


1

f/11
10.5 sec
ISO 200

2

f/11
6.8 sec
ISO 200

3

f/11
10 sec
ISO 200

 

[jann1033]

I did a bit more reading on diffraction, and I was only sort of correct in what I said before about APS-C and f/16. Turns out that's just a general rule and it depends on the lens. Consumer quality lenses that perform best when stopped down will actually perform better at very small apertures than will high end lenses that are very good wide-open. So a cheaper lens that is best at f/8 might not start seeing diffraction effects until f/16, but a pro lens that is best at f/4 might only go to f/8 before sharpness starts to drop.

.

wondered about this since in my personal experience my 50mm( 1.8) is tack sharp at really small aps( like above f18) and not great in the 11-14 range. now that it's been recalibrated my 70-200 f4 really is pretty good throughout the whole range but probably a little less so above f14 or so if i get really nit picky about it.( like i commonly am )
i've been avoiding this thread due to not getting out with my tripod as of yet...rain then heat have keep me inside or out only in the am...maybe weds..but so far nice photos all

 

[Gdad]

Camryn helped me do these tonight- playing around with the tripod.

 

[ColleenG]

Cool shot Jeff! How did you do it?

 

[NostalgicDad]

Love that idea Jeff.

 

[Gdad]

Thanks guys- Taken with a tripod and just layered in CS3 and selectively erased and merged. She said something was missing by the way- I swear the kids a creative genius. The 2nd take is 100% her idea.

 

[ColleenG]

Love Camryn's idea! I'll have to give this a try. Maybe this will be how I can get my Christmas card picture with all 4 kids smiling for once!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Here's a shot I took on a train yesterday. I wanted to capture a sense of motion (which needed a long shutter speed because the train wasn't that fast) and not have a blurry picture of my wife. Fortunately, it was relatively dark in the train and light outside. I lit my wife with a flash, which is practically instantaneous, and used a long shutter speed so that the outdoors would blur.

1/13s, f/10, ISO 200, 24mm (24mm equiv), aperture priority, bounced flash, -2/3 EV, +1 flash exposure

 

[WDWFigment]

(EXIF is on the image's Flickr page).

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Wow, you guys. I am seriously impressed.

 

[Andrew*A]

I have to try this. I think it looks great.

 

[ColleenG]

Great shot Tom! Is that Spectromagic? What a unique way to capture it.

ETA: I just checked out your Flickr page. Was that 103 seconds for the exposure? I can't believe you've only been doing this for a year. I have always admired all your night shots. They are phenomenal! We just planned our next trip for this December and I can only hope to get some great night shots like you have gotten. Kudos!

 

[boBQuincy]

 

[wenrob]

I don't think I'm going to be able to get the shot I was talking about, at least not before the end of the month. I decided to practice dragging the shutter. I convinced DD to pose for me by letting her do it in my room which she loves. She turned thirteen yesterday. The room was pretty dim, the only light (shaded) coming from the bathroom window.

f/2.8 ISO 400 SS 40 SB600 bounced off side wall/ceiling +1 EV

 

[pointandshoot]

I was teaching my 10 year old daughter how to shoot on manual mode with a tripod last weekend. This is part of her first efforts.

1/3 sec shutter at f4.8 on a Nikon D40.

Chuck

 

[WDWFigment]

Great shot Tom! Is that Spectromagic? What a unique way to capture it.

ETA: I just checked out your Flickr page. Was that 103 seconds for the exposure? I can't believe you've only been doing this for a year. I have always admired all your night shots. They are phenomenal! We just planned our next trip for this December and I can only hope to get some great night shots like you have gotten. Kudos!

Once you get the hang of it, night shots are very easy. I think people tend to over estimate them simply because not many people take the time to use a tripod, remote shutter, etc. I find it much more difficult to get a good mid-day shot or a properly lit portrait shot. Maybe that's just me.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I had a great time taking pictures at Niagara Falls a few weeks ago.

We went in the evening so we'd be able to catch the lights shining on the falls. It didn't disappoint. Very pretty!

This was my set up.

That mist is amazing!

Ooh, lights are coming on!

(Does anyone besides me see anything freaky in this picture? )

Fun photography night!

 

[scoot241]

Jeff inspired me to do one of my own:

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Just a reminder:

There's about 10 days left in the month of August.

If you haven't gotten out with your tripod, GO NOW!

There was a very good response here, but would like to see SOME MORE, especially from those who need to push the envelope a little bit and come out of their comfort zones.

Let's see some more!