Picture of the Day

[Edgnar]

Went mountain biking in Virginia last weekend. Its pretty down there.
Virginia sunset 1489 by Ed Carley, on Flickr

[uglymoney]

I decided to try Instagram. My 3 year old (now 4) girl and my wife.

[splitter]

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Splitter - love the fourth shot of your son! Looks like a good father's day (and a pooped kid).

[splitter]

thanks UCL, everybody likes a good drink around the campfire

a stoked little man and his mom roasting marshmallows




and the eastside has lots of ways of making you feel small

[Wiilbert]

Random waterfall near my new digs in Vancouver

[skibum220]

June, 18th went for a ski at Alta.

[Supermoon]

Tried to make the best of some mid-day light on the Golden Gate Bridge today.


30-Minute Walk - Golden Gate Bridge by Phil Herbert, on Flickr


30-Minute Walk - Golden Gate Bridge by Phil Herbert, on Flickr


30-Minute Walk - Golden Gate Bridge by Phil Herbert, on Flickr

[outabounds]

[Lonnie]

Spirit Sheep

[smmokan]

Took this long-exposure (~3s) creek shot earlier this week, practicing for my upcoming trip to Iceland. Not necessarily related to this picture, but does anyone have pointers on long exposures? Always use mirror lockup? Does that matter if the shot isn't 30s or more? This one seemed to be really sharp and I didn't use lockup, so I'm not sure what that does. I'm a newb when it comes to anything more than 1/4s.

[Lonnie]

Took this long-exposure (~3s) creek shot earlier this week, practicing for my upcoming trip to Iceland. Not necessarily related to this picture, but does anyone have pointers on long exposures? Always use mirror lockup? Does that matter if the shot isn't 30s or more? This one seemed to be really sharp and I didn't use lockup, so I'm not sure what that does. I'm a newb when it comes to anything more than 1/4s.

Steve, mirror lock up on long exposures is useless. Any vibration that you might get from the mirror moving will be masked by the limited amounts of light that's hitting your sensor for the very short time period when the mirror is moving.

[Wiilbert]

Kinda depends on your setup and what you're shooting, but I've found mirror lock up useful for longer focal lengths such as shooting celestial objects. Not so important for wide angle.

Beyond that, hang your bag from your tripod, use the eyepiece cover to avoid stray light and try not to walk around while your camera is exposing.

I am a total photo jong though, so if anybody wants to correct me on this go right ahead.

[Lonnie]

Kinda depends on your setup and what you're shooting, but I've found mirror lock up useful for longer focal lengths such as shooting celestial objects.

good point.

[dark_star]

Playing around with my new camera... a beautiful sunset in southern Vermont, and then some mushrooms in my yard

[The AD]

does anyone have pointers on long exposures?

I'm guessing this is obvious, but in case it's not, use the self-timer feature. That way you click the button and the shutter fires later so your pressing the shutter button doesn't affect the image.

[splitter]

Not necessarily related to this picture, but does anyone have pointers on long exposures? Always use mirror lockup? Does that matter if the shot isn't 30s or more? This one seemed to be really sharp and I didn't use lockup, so I'm not sure what that does. I'm a newb when it comes to anything more than 1/4s.

I rarely use mirror lock-up. It would probably fit under the category of 'best practices', but Lonnie and Wiilbert both kinda nailed it. Depending on focal length, the necessity is nonexistent or highly important. If you have time and are on a unique trip like Iceland, go for it. If not, well, I don't use it much and I'm a tripod hugger that shoots 1/2-3 seconds all the time (or at least when I get to shoot).

Beyond that, I'd try different shutter speeds when I'm there. I'm certainly guilty of some super-silky water and sometimes that look really works. But I've also come to appreciate a little bit of texture in my fuzzy water. I want to convey movement but I also want some detail to appreciate. LIke I said, sometimes super-silky is terrific. It can give a nice contrast to a rocky/rigid environment. But play with shutter speeds while you're there.

some fuzzy water that doesn't go overly silky…






and a recent 1.6 second exposure that seems pretty sharp to me but no mirror lock-up

[smmokan]

Yep, got that.

I have enough filters to alter the exposure by five stops (2-stop polarizer and a 3-stop ND)... Think thats enough for most situations if i combine it with a super low ISO and high f-stop?

[splitter]

I'm excited to see what you bring back. When do you leave? How long is the trip?

Yep, got that.

I have enough filters to alter the exposure by five stops (2-stop polarizer and a 3-stop ND)... Think thats enough for most situations if i combine it with a super low ISO and high f-stop?

I'd probably add a GND to that mix. The above shot of North Peak at Greenstone lake was shot with a 2 stop CP, 3 stop ND, a hard GND above the lake and a soft GND to balance the grass. That's probably over-filtering, but I'd add a GND to the mix. 3 stop soft will give you the best range of use. But I've come to dig my hard GND quite a bit.

This used the hard GND





last couple of shots from our little EastSide campin' trip.

If Supermodel looks closely he'll see that I was able to hook up his request from a while back but lost it to my wife…

[smmokan]

I'm excited to see what you bring back. When do you leave? How long is the trip?

We leave at the end of July and will be there for 12 days. Four days on the Snaefellsness Peninsula, three days east of Vik near Skaftafell NP, and five days just west of Vik near the Hekla volcano.

[grskier]

I'm excited to see what you bring back. When do you leave? How long is the trip?



I'd probably add a GND to that mix. The above shot of North Peak at Greenstone lake was shot with a 2 stop CP, 3 stop ND, a hard GND above the lake and a soft GND to balance the grass. That's probably over-filtering, but I'd add a GND to the mix. 3 stop soft will give you the best range of use. But I've come to dig my hard GND quite a bit.

This used the hard GND

What does that look like on the front of the lens?

[splitter]

It looks like a lot of shit. Lots of vignetting unless I make the focal length at least 24mm on a 16-85 zoom. At 24 though, it works pretty well. Usually not nearly that much is stacked. For that photo I wanted to smooth the water to see the rocks underneath and try to create two different textures at the water/turf interface. With a 2 1/2 year old there doesn't seem to be much light chasing on camping trips since that is prime dinner/marshmallow time. At 10,000 feet in bright sun you do what you can to get a shot that reflects at least a portion of a vision. If I had a darker ND I wouldn't need to stack so much I'd imagine.

The b/w posted had only the hard GND.

[smmokan]

I was thinking about a Grad ND, but I'm not completely sold on them because of the definitive transition in the middle of the circular lens. I don't take many (or any?) shots that have a transition right in the middle of the frame... seems kind of impractical to me. Maybe I'm just a noob when it comes to using them and don't know what I'm doing though, which is probably more likely.

Something like this, maybe?

http://smile.amazon.com/Tiffen-Gradu...density+filter

[Supermoon]

I was thinking about a Grad ND, but I'm not completely sold on them because of the definitive transition in the middle of the circular lens. I don't take many (or any?) shots that have a transition right in the middle of the frame... seems kind of impractical to me. Maybe I'm just a noob when it comes to using them and don't know what I'm doing though, which is probably more likely.

Something like this, maybe?

http://smile.amazon.com/Tiffen-Gradu...density+filter

I think something more like this is practical: http://smile.amazon.com/IMAGE%C2%AE-...density+filter

The plate filters can be used with a holder or handheld to get the transition in the correct spot in the frame.

ETA: I know nothing about this particular product. Just that it's the style I'm referencing.

[Fuzz]

Random waterfall near my new digs in Vancouver

^ This is awesome! Love the deep greens.