48 replies to this topic

[Roger]

A place for shutter-buggery. Talk shop, share tips, and of course post your photographs. I'm currently taking my stills with a Sony video cam, but I have in the past used Brownies, twin-lens-reflex, and single-lens-reflex roll-film cameras. For many years I had a B/W darkroom setup but that has gone the way of all good things.

So I guess I need to put up a photo and as my main subject in recent years has been flowers, flowers you get. Say whiskey!!! (That always gets a bigger smile than cheese and it's my first tip. )

This is a flower native to my area -Pacific Northwest USA- and it's called Nuttall's Toothwort in honor of the 19th century English botanist Thomas Nuttall. Scientific name is Cardamine nuttallii.

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[Roger]

Lightning is notoriously hard to purposely photograph, but there is a technique that I use that makes it pretty simple. I set up a video camera on a tripod, point it in the general direction of the strikes, and let it run. After the storm is past I load the recording into my editor and go along frame by frame grabbing stills of the best shots. Below is a montage of lighning strikes from a single storm that I captured using this method.

[7DSUSYstrings]

Lightning is fabullous! It seems I never have a camera when I need one. I'm going to set up a camcorder system soon once I get enough USB repeater cables.

[Roger]

Lightning is fabullous! It seems I never have a camera when I need one. I'm going to set up a camcorder system soon once I get enough USB repeater cables.

USB repeater cables? I'm not familiar with those. I also capture meteors using the setup i described for lighning. To do this unattended I recommend a video camera with a hard-disk rather than a tape or CD. Here's one now.

 

 

 

[7DSUSYstrings]

This machine.... I need to upgrade the video app. It's tough to take in a "tube."

USB repeater cables let you have say a remote camera up to 120 feet (using 3 - 40 ft cables) or something else from your machine. Usually USB breaks down after about 15 feet, so the repeaters boost the signal.

[Roger]

This machine.... I need to upgrade the video app. It's tough to take in a "tube."

USB repeater cables let you have say a remote camera up to 120 feet (using 3 - 40 ft cables) or something else from your machine. Usually USB breaks down after about 15 feet, so the repeaters boost the signal.

Oh that's cool! Thanks for the info. I need to get out more. My first video camera had tape storage and an "interval" feature that let me record all night on an otherwise 1-hour tape. Of course I probably missed meteors during the off intervals, but I did manage to capture a few. It went kaflooy when the main capstan gave out and that's how I got onto the hard-drive camera. (Couldn't find any new cameras with the "interval feature.) Both are Sonys by the way.

With both cameras, I connect(ed) them to my TV set with RCA cables to allow me to monitor the action real-time during waking hours. Both also have 2 infrared settings; one that uses regular shutter speed but less sensitivity and a "super night shot" setting that holds the shutter open longer. The latter gives greater sensitivity but as you might imagine it introduces some graininess/blurriness.

[Roger]

Another of my ventures in photography was taking aerial photos from kites. Alas I threw out most of my photos in a fit of dematerializing, but I found this shot on an old 3.25" floppy. I don't have the special carriage that held/aimed/steadied/lofted the camera anymore, but I have reworked the 6.5 foot box kite that I built & used for this shot. It is now a 6.5 foot rhomboid, which presents more surface into the wind & should give more lift. I have yet to fly it but would like to one day before I croak. It's a lot of work, takes just the right conditions and location, and it's dangerous to boot. Anyway, I used a Nikon 35mm for this shot and I think it was taken with the camera about 200 feet off the ground. Say Whiskey!!

[Roger]

Mmmmm...my Youtube vid of the meteor is not showing up for me now. Ah well, here today, gone today.

So I dug out my old SLR the other day, in part to take the batteries out and make sure they hadn't leaked but mostly to get my filters. They are all 52mm and my current cam is 37mm so I'm going to make a custom mount. I'll report on that when I get to it. I particularly want the polarizing filter for those tough shots of flowers with sky in the background. The others are: A blue filter for indoor lighting, which I don't need on the digital camera as there is a digital compensation. A red filter for use with infrared film, which I also don't need on the digital but might make some cool effects. A 4x magnifier which I don't need on the digital but I'm going to try anyway. A special effects "star" filter that makes a "cross" around point-sources of light.

In the mean time I caught this ladybug in my garden munching on an aphid munching on my American yellow-rocket. Another aphid is seen just above & behind the beetle. While I can get a focus on an object within 1/8" of my lens, objects this close are actually within the lens housing and don't get lit. Zooming can fix this to some extent, but this is where the 4x filter might work. Well...to the bugs.

[Roger]

Old or new, here's a handy way to make & retouch prints from negatives. Clean the negative and scan at high dpi. Then load the file in your photo software and use the Invert filter to make a positive. Retouch as you like. Save the file & print. Voila! Without using Invert you can make your own prints from slides the same way. Fore!!

[curiosity]

Seems Roger is pretty much alone in this Photography thread, so I thought I'd add an image.

Here's one of a batch of Cranberry Almond Biscotti that I made for the office.

 

[Roger]

Seems Roger is pretty much alone in this Photography thread, so I thought I'd add an image.

Here's one of a batch of Cranberry Almond Biscotti that I made for the office.

gulp...
 

Who's there? Do I smell baked goods? Mmmmmmmm..... You're never alone when there's food.

So this shot is of a march 8, 2005 steam eruption of Mt. St. Helens as seen from my neighborhood. As a photgraph it has a lot to be desired what with the mash of power cables, incomplete view & odd lighting. Nevertheless, it makes up for that & more with the immediacy of the moment. Do I really have time to hang around taking pictures, or is this going to get bigger and come my direction? Of course I have time; that's why I keep a camera!! It ain't every day a volcano erupts [again] in your back yard, but chaos favors the prepared imagination and I am prepared to imagine and image it.

[curiosity]

Do I really have time to hang around taking pictures, or is this going to get bigger and come my direction?

Funny I've had that dream.


That's a great shot Roger!




PS.. stay away from the cookies. they're actually 'trick' cookies for the office.

[curiosity]

Below is a cool link to Ben Folds' photography.


Music on Photography




(FWIW, I wasn't sure about creating a new thread for this post, or just adding it to this thread.)

[Roger]

Funny I've had that dream.

That's a great shot Roger!

PS.. stay away from the cookies. they're actually 'trick' cookies for the office.

Thanks Moxie. Will stand off with my camera to get some candids of the office rubes chowing down.

Below is a cool link to Ben Folds' photography.

Music on Photography


(FWIW, I wasn't sure about creating a new thread for this post, or just adding it to this thread.)

This is a great place for it; thanks for posting. We see so little B/W these days. As soon as I get enough scratch I'm going to get some batteries for my SLR and a roll of B/W film. I don't have my tank or any of my darkroom equipment anymore, but commercial development will do as I can scan the negatives as I mentioned above and do my "printing" with software. Dodge & burn!? Is that a car maneuver?

[belovelife]

challenge, make a moon picture of blowing a bubble or something ( series of pictures ) from the eclipse

i would if i had a camera

[curiosity]

....We see so little B/W these days.

Indeed. I really like B/W photography too, only I have a bad habit of overkilling with sepia tone.

Hmm, I have a few old (OLD) images that I'd like to add if I can locate them.

As soon as I get enough scratch I'm going to get some batteries for my SLR and a roll of B/W film. I don't have my tank or any of my darkroom equipment anymore, but commercial development will do as I can scan the negatives as I mentioned above and do my "printing" with software.

I haven't had an old school camera for many years now. I've used digital (albeit low end) cameras for a long time now. I did once own an Epson scanner that was able to scan negatives. It was a pretty nifty feature! I hope you're able to round up the funds to get on with this cool-sounding project.

Dodge & burn!? Is that a car maneuver?

Yes, I think I've seen that done on one of those tru.tv programs.

[curiosity]

i would if i had a camera

I didn't pay for my two first digital cameras. I simply asked around (amongst family and friends) about any unused cameras that I might be able to borrow. In each case, I was given a camera that was no longer being used. The Canon I currently use is the first camera that I've personally purchased.


Lol, my first free camera was one of these POS JamCams.

[curiosity]

This image is a few years old.

It was taken in color then converted into black & white.

(*is confused* ... there's no TIMG tag available?)

[Chewbalka]

Picture I took earlier this year.

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[Roger]

After years of abstinence, I have put up a bird feeder. After 2 weeks of nada, the first birds started showing up a couple days ago. This photo is from inside & through a double-pane thermal window, plus it is zoomed. All bad things for getting the kind of bird shot I want. I have some tricks though, and now that I have some birds I hope to employ & share the tricks and their results.

Anyway, this is an Oregon Junco - Junco hyemalis, likely a Female. I have seen some Males too, as well as what I suspect is a Chestnut-backed Chickadee.