20 posts tagged “nikon d200”
Unfortunately, sometime within the last few months, I was diagnosed with a very expensive illness that makes for cold, sleepless nights and long periods of time staring at the sky. That's right, the astronomy bug.
Being a very wide field with so much to learn and so many different things to try, getting into astronomy reminds me very much of the overwhelming, yet exciting feeling I had when venturing into photography.
So, for the last few clear nights, I've been stargazing through the glory of a big 10" scope (a Meade LX200R). It is a truly amazing piece of hardware: GPS, super smooth slewing and tracking and Ritchey-Chretien optics (same as the Hubble).
Last night was the first night ever (after only 3 nights of viewing), that I decided to try some down and dirty astro-photography. I say "down and dirty" because true astro-photographers use a complex method of photography involving two cameras, one for guiding the scope through a finder scope, and one for doing the imaging itself. The advanced guys also take advantage of a CCD's linear exposure recording and "stack" multiple images of the same scene for the benefit of better dynamic range and noise performance.
Top left: M42: The Great Orion Nebula
Bottom left: Saturn in the Distance
Comments welcome...
Yesterday I requested the day off to go to the Mum concert in San Francisco. Well, everyone that was going canceled, so instead I photographed around with Kris. This was one of my favorites.
Its been about a month since I've posted anything and I haven't really been doing much shooting. I did a product shoot for a local camera repair shop, I've been working on a pinup calender for the last 4 weekends with my buddy Fielding (our first real job for our new business) and I've finally picked up some studio lighting giving me a reason to shoot a gas mask I've been meaning to use in a photo. (I have big plans for a set of those masks) (I really like parenthesis) (oh ya, I forgot to add a period to the end of that last sentence) (.)
Also, I'm getting ready for our big trip to AZ for the upcoming strobist meetup. If anyone if going, drop me a line.
Some technical notes:
First photo: Nikon D200 @ 24mm, f22, a single interfit 600ws strobe at 1/32 very close with reflector dish, self port hand held
Second photo: (I think Fielding was shooting, we both set up lighting and took turns shooting, we also worked with hair and makeup artists):Nikon D2x, 28-70, f/8, interfit 600ws w/large octobank high and to camera right with a diffusion screen just in front of the octo, a shoot through umbrella to camera left, silver umbrella for background and snooted hair light on opposites behind
Third photo: Composed of 3 exposures: 1) lens off, casing on. 2) casing carefully removed. 3) lens mounted with casing removed. Camera was placed on a piece of glass with white paper underneath and lit with 3 diffused lights (one directly above and 2 on either side). Shot with a Nikon d50 and a 55mm micro (my ebay camera at work).
Fourth photo: A shot from a solo overnight trip to mono lake. It figures this was my favorite shot from the trip (not landscapes of the lake) Nikon D200, 12-24, 15-20 seconds
A few nights ago, a friend and I loaded up on caffeine and music to prepare for a very long night of shooting. We setup and began exposing the moon every 20mins from about 1am to 6am during the lunar eclipse over Pyramid Lake, NV. I shot both 4x5 and digital and here is the result.
Please note that the position of the camera was not changed during the multiple exposures and none of the "moons" were repositioned or drawn in with Photoshop. While the sun was down, multiple exposures were made for the brightness of the moon and as the sun finally came up, a final exposure for the foreground was made.
I was a zombie a few hours later when I had to go to work, but I think it was worth it.
As always, comments welcome...
Here is part of a series I'm working on. I've withheld this shot for some time now because I am not sure about it for some reason, perhaps too busy. So after going back and forth, I've decided to post it with hopes that you guys will have an opinion either way. Please click through to the full rez version, otherwise the photo looks over-sharpened and too contrasty.
Here is one of my favorites from a day of shooting with some friends. I really think this would be a nice series of photos. Note that the photo looks a bit over sharpened until viewed in full size.
Comments welcome.
I altered the colors slightly on the one with the streaks (changed the sky color a tad bit). Which do you like better?
As usual, comments welcome.
Today was pretty routine except that Fielding invited Danny and I to play some ultimate Frisbee for the first time. It was really fun, but I need more practice and I'm out of shape. Here is a photo from before the game just using the on camera fill flash on my d200:
Also, A few people asked me about how I did the Bike self portrait. Here is the setup (I used a Manfrotto articulating arm connected to a super clamp and a wired remote on the handlebars. The camera was set to fire a exactly 1-FPS and the remote was locked down:
And here the totally UNmanipulated (except resizing and web sharping) version:
I couldn't sleep at all last night, so I finally gave up and got out of bed early (for me). I decided that I was going to shoot a time lapse of myself riding. After 200+ photos, I realized that I was shooting RAW and scrapped the time lapse idea (converting and resizing those files would take forever).
I did, however, get the shot below and a handful of other interesting ones. I tried to go for a slightly over processed look (Dave Hill style). The sun positioning and background are both real, and unfortunately, so are those patchy, hairy legs :)
Comments welcome as always.
EDIT: I wanted to add that this is the photo I'm submitting for the summer 2007 photo contest.
I'm not really going to say much about this photo aside from mentioning that it has been redone and improved (the old version was posted months ago). The photo is part of a series I've been working on that details the edge of urbanity through a wilderness vs the urban landscape theme.
I might also add that the photo looks very good as a print (much better than the web version, which should be viewed at the largest resolution). Anyways, I would love comments, either good or bad.
