amateur photo thread.

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Now that the moon is completely gone. ISO 2000, 30 seconds shutter, very little post processing.

DSCF2673_final2_klein_zpsfocnhbld.jpg


DSCF2631.jpg_mod_zpsewl47mfp.jpg


DSCF2659_mod2_zpsjiqnayeq.jpg
 
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So it cleared up last Thursday enough to where I thought I could see the milky way. I had no idea really what I was doing, even though I had stellarium right beside me. I tried out ISO3200 but didn't like it, and kept going all the way down until 400 where I got the most light and least star trails... All are 1.4 I think but next time I might try 2.0.

I also need some pictures of the milky way to see how to edit them correctly, as I was really just testing out lightroom. And on that note, I appear not to have the "dehazing" option in lightroom. I'm not sure if it just hasn't updated or if I don't get that with Lightroom 6 (I didn't buy CC...).
Edit: never mind that... apparently Adobe never said that before I purchased...
First Sight by Jacob Buchanan, on Flickr

Night Colors by Jacob Buchanan, on Flickr

Deep Space by Jacob Buchanan, on Flickr

True Colors by Jacob Buchanan, on Flickr

So yeah... hopefully next month it will be a little less cloudy...
 
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I haven't really had the chance to pick up my camera for a while until this weekend. I rented a Miata and went into the north Georgia mountains to play with the car and my camera for once.

I've always sucked at taking photos in broad daylight here. Don't know why but it's hard for me to find a good balance with exposure sometimes but I think this turned out okay?

Chattahoochee National Forest by Greg Kachadurian, on Flickr

And speaking of lighting, how's this? I lowered the exposure to keep the backdrop from getting washed out and used some relighting in Light Zone to make the MX-5 more visible. Then played a bit with the colors. I would have liked for the car's paint to stand out a little more, but I'm not good enough to brighten up the car without getting everything else too.

2015 Mazda MX-5 Miata (NC) by Greg Kachadurian, on Flickr
 
GregTheStig
I haven't really had the chance to pick up my camera for a while until this weekend. I rented a Miata and went into the north Georgia mountains to play with the car and my camera for once.

I've always sucked at taking photos in broad daylight here. Don't know why but it's hard for me to find a good balance with exposure sometimes but I think this turned out okay?

Chattahoochee National Forest by Greg Kachadurian, on Flickr

And speaking of lighting, how's this? I lowered the exposure to keep the backdrop from getting washed out and used some relighting in Light Zone to make the MX-5 more visible. Then played a bit with the colors. I would have liked for the car's paint to stand out a little more, but I'm not good enough to brighten up the car without getting everything else too.

2015 Mazda MX-5 Miata (NC) by Greg Kachadurian, on Flickr
Click to expand...
this is what I did in Lightroom... Pretty much standard editing, upped the whites, downed the blacks, increased clarity a bit, added sharpening, noise, saturation, exposure, temperature, and then I played with the colors on the car, brushed it over with more of the same settings to make it stand out, and that's pretty much it.
19839790545_5a8fc047d8_o.jpg


I think it's so hard on this shot because the sun wasn't reflecting off too well on the side, unlike where it was on the hood. I see you shot it on a coolpix, but I'm not sure if there are threads on the front of the lens. If so, a CPL filter would definitely have helped if used correctly, and if the car was pointed a bit more to the right.

The gate on the left would've been cool too to see more of, maybe a few inches before reaching the car.
 
Swagger897
this is what I did in Lightroom... Pretty much standard editing, upped the whites, downed the blacks, increased clarity a bit, added sharpening, noise, saturation, exposure, temperature, and then I played with the colors on the car, brushed it over with more of the same settings to make it stand out, and that's pretty much it.
...
Click to expand...

Wow. I really need to get good with LZ :lol: That's awesome. The cropping is weird on this because there were power lines higher up and I didn't want to get rid of the fence post completely. The composition was a bit rushed since I was standing by the road.

And yes, Nikon Coolpix P510. Nothing else added to it but thanks for the CPL filter suggestion 👍 Looks like it's exactly what I need.

Thanks!
 
GregTheStig
Wow. I really need to get good with LZ :lol: That's awesome. The cropping is weird on this because there were power lines higher up and I didn't want to get rid of the fence post completely. The composition was a bit rushed since I was standing by the road.

And yes, Nikon Coolpix P510. Nothing else added to it but thanks for the CPL filter suggestion 👍 Looks like it's exactly what I need.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
and you don't need an expensive one either to do the job. I've used mine about once that came with my D3200 in a bundle purchase, and that was to take a picture of my car too, other than that, I've never really needed to use it.
 
Sooo... I picked up a Pentax Super Program, the 1.7 50mm kit lens, and a 35-105 3.5 the other day at a moving sale. Not sure if I want to keep it or sell it. I'd like to sell due to how complicated it is over the X-700 I have, and the viewfinder is a bit odd, but I'd also like to keep it, just 'cause ya know??

I don't even know how pictures are either with it though, and I'm not sure if I want to even put a roll in it.
 
If the meter and shutter are working fine the pictures will be as good or bad as the lens and film you're using and the 50mm 1.7 is a decent lenses so I'd say at least try it, for 10 bucks you can find out if you want to keep it or not.
 
Today I made my first lightning shots, used my Rockinon 12mm F2, ISO 640 I think with F8. I was on a completely exposed hilltop when suddenly the thunderstorm changed direction right towards me - I ran like a goat on fire. :eek:

Unfortunately I failed to make pics of the best lightning strikes, they always happened right between my 30 second exposures. What are the chances...... :odd:

lightning1_zpsxtliqbkz.jpg


lightning2_zpskkulbqqq.jpg
 
Swagger897
:eek: WOW. I've never seen colors that wide across down here before. And you're even more lucky with the fact you in a a field with the nearest tree seeming to be hundreds of yards away.
Click to expand...
Neither have I (it is edited though, clearly). I was genuinely surprised by that sunset after yesterday's storms. Amazing. And I have trees behind my house, but behind those trees, there's that field. Awesome view.

The original looks like this:

image.jpg
 
This was shot in a fairly light polluted area (clouds are coloured from the artifical lights).

I started on 8/8 ... sky closed after 10 minutes with clouds (shot 2 hours)
10-11/8 The focus was a tad off :( (shot 5 hours)
12-13/8 High point of the perseids. Pretty perfect conditions. Nearly no clouds (shot 6 hours)
 
Ibonibo
This was shot in a fairly light polluted area (clouds are coloured from the artifical lights).

I started on 8/8 ... sky closed after 10 minutes with clouds (shot 2 hours)
10-11/8 The focus was a tad off :( (shot 5 hours)
12-13/8 High point of the perseids. Pretty perfect conditions. Nearly no clouds (shot 6 hours)
Click to expand...
Yeah, I could tell the white balancing was going into the warmer tones with the clouds, but I liked the second location a lot..

If it does clear out tonight, I'll set up the tripod and let her rip all night (until she dies that is).
 
well as soon as I figure out what is causing lightroom not to work I'll be able to start editing again and attempt to show you guys some recent stuff....

But until then, a lot of waiting is going to happen...

edit: seems like all is fine now. I used to not be able to uncheck the graphic performance box in preferences, but now I am. Seems like all is fine and hopefully I can get things up more in time now.
 
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Ibonibo
No perseids shower here? Yet?

Click to expand...

Question...

What program do you use to create your time-lapse? And how long do you have each picture interval set to?

I'm just using Windows Movie Maker and I have the intervals set to 0.05 seconds, but it doesn't seem to be as smooth as yours, and I think I had my shots exposed for too long (10 seconds). Your shots seem to be around 2-5 seconds long, which looks a lot better.
 
Swagger897
Question...

What program do you use to create your time-lapse? And how long do you have each picture interval set to?

I'm just using Windows Movie Maker and I have the intervals set to 0.05 seconds, but it doesn't seem to be as smooth as yours, and I think I had my shots exposed for too long (10 seconds). Your shots seem to be around 2-5 seconds long, which looks a lot better.
Click to expand...

I used 24 frames a second. My shots range from 15 -25 seconds iso from 400 to 1600 shot at 20mm@2.8
 
Ibonibo
I used 24 frames a second.
Click to expand...
Well that would make sense... I should've done the math rather than just choose an arbitrary number.

Ibonibo
My shots range from 15 -25 seconds iso from 400 to 1600 shot at 20mm@2.8
Click to expand...
Oh wow. Did you get any star trails in your images? I would assume that if I were to, they wouldn't look as smooth, but I know little about time-lapses.

It's probably going to be my next favorite thing to do now.
 
If you have a low noise high iso cam, that is viable you can go down a bit with the time... My meteor trails were about 30% of the covered area. With ISO1600, the light pollution became to visible so I stayed lower. In darker places, higher iso would be better...

With 15 seconds I got these :

t5%20Comp_zps8su9oray.jpg


and a trail comp

StarStaX_2015_08_12_1909-2015_08_12_2027_luumlcken_fuumlllen_zpsemtmbtke.jpg
 
Ah...

I was doing 10 second shots at ISO 400 at 2.0.

My video seems a bit choppy, and I wondered if longer shots would make it transition more smoothly, or the more shots the better...
Doing the math now, I'm at 30 fps. If I shorten that down to 24 it will look too choppy, so I'm thinking next time shots need to be 15-20 seconds as you have it.


edit:
I'm also going to have to invest in a larger card. 16 gigs fly by fast when you do this stuff.. Battery stayed fine though.
 
I was at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca and found a rare subject sitting unattended after the race. Since nobody was around and it was out in the open, I had fun taking unobstructed shots of it. Kind of a once in a lifetime chance I guess, so how'd I do with composition and minor LightZone editing (contrast, colors, brightness)?

Link to the album since it's all car photos. https://flic.kr/s/aHskhUAdrD

Today I was at a pretty neat spot near Pacifica, California so I'll have some non-car photos soon :P
 

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