32 posts tagged “photography”
I finally got my new camera on Monday and I've been really itching to shoot something, so I decided to play around with some flowers.
Comments welcome...
Since I haven't had a camera for a while, I figured I'd start to post some older photos I never got around to editing.
Be sure to click through to the full version as Vox overshaprens the image when it resizes it.
Here is one from July:
Here are a couple photos from a small get-together with some new friends. Taken about 20-25 minutes North of Reno, the photo below illustrates the light pollution that city-dwelling astronomy enthusiasts must deal with. The 10" Meade scope still provided some beautiful views. Notice the constellation Orion just over Richard's shoulder and his Edmond's Scientific scope in the background. We had a great time looking at Mars, Saturn, Andromeda, The Great Orion Nebula, the Pleiades, double cluster (NGC869 and 844) and the Moon.
There are two major hurdles doing lunar and planetary photography with a D-SLR through a scope: Focusing and combating atmospheric seeing conditions. Compared to a nice, bright eyepiece, looking through a DSLR provides a much dimmer, wider field of view that makes it very difficult to perform fine focusing. There are solutions, either using a computer to control exposures and analyze focus as you take multiple photos adjusting the focus each time or by utilizing a live-view if your camera supports it.
Even if "perfect" focus is achieved, a photo may still appear to be blurry due to atmospheric conditions (heat rising, ect). Looking through a scope during "poor to moderate seeing" is like looking through heat-waves (see this 45 second clip of Jupiter for example). The best lunar and planetary images are done by using webcams that are capable of super-fast frame rates of 100+ frames per second. Software goes through hundreds of photos to find the sharp ones.
Even under decent seeing, I'm still having great difficulty focusing without the aide of a computer, a webcam or live-view. I did get a couple sharp ones and they look amazing when viewed at their full 10MP resolution (something you cannot get with a webcam). This is not cropped and gives you an idea of the field of view I get with the setup.
Finally, here is a candid group shot with me at the scope.
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...
Two from last night. Comments Welcome.
Last night I made the tough realization that I need to sell off ALL of my 4x5 stuff :( I just haven't been doing any large format stuff lately and being a starving 24 year old that basically eats crap for camera equipment, I've decided to cut down my kit. Plus the cost for 4x5 e6 development is like $2-$3 a shot!
And since I converted my darkroom into a digital printing/matting room/office, I figured I'd ditch film all together.
In preparation for the online auctions I'll be putting together, I did some nice product shots of the equipment. Below is my 180mm APO Rodenstock lens.
Basically, I've got two strobes through softboxes on either side of the lens, which is sitting on a clear piece of glass I borrowed from a frame. The glass is on top of black velvet. To give a really nice clean specular, I placed some foamcore behind the lens and shot a speedlight into it.
I will soon post a complete list of all the stuff I'm going to sell including some Nikon lenses (not large format), for now, heres a quick list of stuff, PM me if you are interested and I'll set up an eBay auction for you.:
- Shenhao HZX 4x5-IIa 4x5 field camera w/Satin Snow GG
- Rodenstock Grandagon-N 75mm MC f/6.8 #109xxxxx
- Sinar Schneider Super-Angulon 90mm MC f/8 #137xxxxx
- Rodenstock APO Sironar-N 180mm f/5.6 #111xxxxx
- Schneider SYmmar-S 240mm f/5.6 #139xxxxx
- Schneider Componon-S 150mm f/5.6 enlarger lens
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.
Here is the first of many shots I plan to post from the Arizona strobist meetup. Fielding and I drove over 700 miles, slept a total of about 8 hours in almost 3 days and took hundreds of photos with almost 30 other photographers and 7 models at the event. It was a blast and good use of my vacation time.
This was a shoot right at sunrise in the graveyard with Brianna. Comments always welcome :)
Strobist info:
Quantum Q flash positioned to camera left shooting through a 43" umbrella. The rising sun was behind the model to camera right. Nikon d200, 80-200 f/2.8
Model: Brianna
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
