The Photography Thread

[Garf]

Spatial - do like that first one, the colours have a very retro feel to them - was that cross processed ?

Taka - competition sounds interesting, but like you, a lot of my stuff is portrait orientation. Also, if Flickr counts as a social network, then I'm out as all my stuff is there..

Only uploaded this one to show it to someone, and it went crazy on flickr (well, crazy for me anyway !)


Fiery by GarySmith70, on Flickr

[MartyG]

T&Cs in that comp give Microsoft the right to use any entered images in software and promotions not related to the competition itself without any accreditation, which I don't particularly like. It's moot point anyway as my landscape photographs are dreadful.

That's a nice shot Garf - like how the building is part lit and part silhouette, one for the wall I reckon

[egparadigm]

Yeah it's not brilliant but the intention was more to get the upper right more in focus so that was intentional (or that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it ). It could probably have done with a tighter, better crop but I was loosing the idea of what I was going for when I tried that.

I really need my outstanding order for a new Macro lens to come through (31 days and counting now ) as that would probably give me better results out of the camera without having to resort to trying to tidy up shots later by cropping.

Have you heard about the infinite depth of field technique? Not sure this is the best example: http://layersmagazine.com/extended-d...oshop-cs4.html (covered very well in the CS4/CS5 books by Martin Evening.)

Basically, you take several photos at different focus points (front to back) and then use auto-align and auto-blend layers to make a composite.

[Spatial]

Thanks, that's pretty clever (and yet quite simple when you think about it). Will have to give that a try.

Macro is a deceivingly tricky area of photography though, the dof I get with my 105mm Sigma even at f11 and higher is still frighteningly small, focus stacking is a technique a number of macroheads use.

It's surprising that even when you read about Macro stuff you (and by you I actually me "I") still think "Yeah but it can't be that more difficult can it..."

Yet it is really is a whole new technique that requires mastery due to things like reduced light and small focal range. Still lots of fun to try and get it right tho.

Spatial - do like that first one, the colours have a very retro feel to them - was that cross processed ?

It's had a bit of a touch-up using Lightroom.

Congrats on the Flickr explore on that sunset image btw - it really is a cracking shot.

[MartyG]

Have you heard about the infinite depth of field technique?

Yup, also refered to as focus stacking

[Spatial]

What an exercise in utter frustration the last few days have been.

Decided to pick up some Interfit EX lights to do some strobist stuff and they were delivered on Friday. Set them up and everything seemed to working fine - until I actually tried to take some pictures.

No matter what I do the shots look absolutely terrible, virtually pitch black each time or with so little detail you can barely make anything out. I'm using a Canon 60D which I thought should be able to trigger them remotely, since the lights have built in sensors (it's how I trigger my 430EX Speedlight) but for some reason it doesn't appear that the camera and the lights are talking to one another at the same speed. The light fires but the camera's not picking it up.



Nothing exciting to see even if it had worked as it's just a shot of my stairs, but you get the idea

Someone suggested that the 60D's wireless function only works with Canon stuff, but even when using just the built in flash (turned down to 1/128 power) to trigger the lights the photos are still dark. What's really weird is using that using this method one minute the photos will be horribly over exposed, the next they're totally dark without changing any settings.

I've followed no end of guides and they all say pretty much the same thing - chuck your camera on its highest sync speed (mine is 1/250,) start at around f8 (of course that's dependant on your circumstances and just a starting point) and by keeping your subject around 4 feet from any background you should end up with a black background with the subject lit (obviously that last bit requires you to jiggle about with lighting positions until you get the right look / even lighting or whatever you're going for).

It's having none of it. I've tried all manner of sync speeds, all f stops, and nothing even remotely decent has come from any of it. I've even jammed the light right in the subjects face and taken a shot and it's the same. I've tried placing a subject in front of the light on full blast so that should overpower everything - the photo ends up showing the area behind the softbox lights.

As far as I can figure the camera isn't syncing at all with the lights and the 60D doesn't have a sync port to test that out (which I didn't realise until now). From this rather crappy description does that sound about right?

[Spatial]

More messing about shows that it might be the camera that's the issue, rather than the lights.

It seems that the 60D's method of wirelessly triggering the lights with the flash is somewhat flawed. Even dialled right down to 1/128th of its power it's somehow managing to bugger up the light causing the light to spill over the subject and illuminating behind too.

I managed to get this shot at 1/250 and f2.8



but that seems more like a fluke than anything else. I tried other subjects, even with the same settings dialled in, and it went back to exposing the background too.

I can only guess that because you need to have such control over the lighting when doing this sort of thing, any additional uncontrolled lighting is throwing things right out.

I wonder if a set of radio triggers will get around this whole thing.

[egparadigm]

If the lights are dialled right up that should overpower the pop-up flash, surely? Is the slave actually triggered by the camera ? do the lights flash, or is it a timing issue?

I hardly ever use studio lights, so I don't know if I can really help.

[Spatial]

In the comparison photos I took, when the pop-up flash was used to trigger the slave lighting units (and is only supposed to be there as a trigger and nothing else) even when dialled right down to 1/128 of the power it was still giving the same light grenade effect as when you use a pop-up flash normally.

If I put my hand over the flash to mute it, then the lighting from what appeared to be predominantly the units was far more in line with what I was expecting.

If the lights were dialled right up and the pop up flash wasn't muted with my hand, the whole image just looked totally overexposed because it seemed to be throwing in the pop-up flash into the mix too. The lights seem to be firing as they should, it just seems that somehow the 60D just does what it wants.

I'm going to try some cheap radio triggers as that will get rid of the need for any pop-up flash at all to trigger the slaves. But I think I might still put the retailer I bought them off on warning that they aren't working with my kit and will be going back if that doesn't solve it.

[Taka]

Might be completely redundant but you've not mentioned what ISO you're shooting at? I foolishly left mine on auto ISO from a day of complex lighting outdoors and got some crappy results.

[Spatial]

It was either 100 or 400, I forget which now (although most probably the latter)

[egparadigm]

If the lights were dialled right up and the pop up flash wasn't muted with my hand, the whole image just looked totally overexposed because it seemed to be throwing in the pop-up flash into the mix too. The lights seem to be firing as they should, it just seems that somehow the 60D just does what it wants.

That doesn't sound right at all. If the camera is on manual and the lights are set to a setting a great deal more powerful than the pop-up, it should make almost no difference to the exposure. Some settings have been incorrectly set on the camera, I suspect. What are the guide numbers of the pop-up and studio lights? (I won't know what they mean, but someone will!)

In other news, apparently my Dad lost our D700 off the side of a cliff while on a photographing holiday in Scotland. Just as well I reminded him to insure it beforehand! He was a good distance back from the cliff and it just blew over, toppled, went head over heels a couple of times and ended up in a tree a hundred feet below. It was well secured; he turned his back for a second and it was gone!

[Spatial]

Given that the 60D doesn't have a PC-sync port, this would still work wouldn't it?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Channel-Wireless-Flashgun-Speedlight-receivers/dp/B002RD9GNA/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1306784064&sr=1-5

That wouldn't need the PC sync to trigger the lights wirelessly would it? Am I right in thinking I just jam the transmitter in the hotshoe and fire away? The fact that it comes with a sync cable is throwing me a bit...

That doesn't sound right at all. If the camera is on manual and the lights are set to a setting a great deal more powerful than the pop-up, it should make almost no difference to the exposure. Some settings have been incorrectly set on the camera, I suspect. What are the guide numbers of the pop-up and studio lights? (I won't know what they mean, but someone will!)

It's crazy isn't it. I've checked, rechecked and triple checked all the settings and it still does it, even though it makes no sense.

Use pop-up flash to trigger strobes = it looks like a really crappy indoor snapshot

Use pop-up flash but shield it with your hand to break the brunt of it = how it should look under the strobes with nice even lighting.

It's like the 60D refuses to dial down the flash, no matter how much I tell it to.

[MartyG]

Does sound like an exposure issue to me - I've had right issues with Canon flashes in the past giving some odd results, the setup on the Nikon is much easier. The Canons apply auto fill reduction, you might want to look at disabling that if you can in the custom functions - it's worth a try at any rate to see if it's adding to the problems. Also check the FEC and FEL settings and see what they're set to.

The flash syncing on the Nikons works brilliantly, you just set up the master/slave and channels and away you go.

[Spatial]

Still waiting for my triggers to turn up, so in the meantime I went back to photographing some water drops.


Crown splash by Jamie-Davies, on Flickr


Eye see you! by Jamie-Davies, on Flickr


Waterdrop Mitosis by Jamie-Davies, on Flickr