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The Big Photography Thread


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Ha! That's awesome, Linda. :)

 

Merry Christmas from Texas, y'all.

 

14623921147_e967f4d740_b.jpgIMG_5930 by Joe Stone Zone, on Flickr

 

Hey Joe! Thanks for Posting such an interesting picture of what remains of the Alamo! Even though I am from PA, I still spend some free time reading about the Texas Revolution, and even more time arguing with Mexicans that keep saying we STOLE their Land. Even after the US-Mexican War, the US PAID Mexico 15 million in 1848 dollars for that land. They took the money, case closed.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

 

Mike T

Yamaha Motif ES8, Alesis Ion, Prophet 5 Rev 3.2, 1979 Rhodes Mark 1 Suitcase 73 Piano, Arp Odyssey Md III, Roland R-70 Drum Machine, Digitech Vocalist Live Pro. Roland Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-1.

 

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Ha! That's awesome, Linda. :)

 

Merry Christmas from Texas, y'all.

 

14623921147_e967f4d740_b.jpgIMG_5930 by Joe Stone Zone, on Flickr

 

Hey Joe! Thanks for Posting such an interesting picture of what remains of the Alamo! Even though I am from PA, I still spend some free time reading about the Texas Revolution, and even more time arguing with Mexicans that keep saying we STOLE their Land. Even after the US-Mexican War, the US PAID Mexico 15 million in 1848 dollars for that land. They took the money, case closed.

 

Merry Christmas!

:cool: It's a neat area to visit.

 

OT about the Texas Revolution and I hope it's not political. When the MLS team was moving here from San Jose, there was a contest to name the team. The MLS teams have very traditional "football" style names. The name chosen was "1836" after the year that Houston was founded by the Allen brothers. Well, it so happens that was the year of the Texas Revolution as well. I'm still unclear as to why, but there was a dustup about that name and it was felt it would offend Mexicans (or maybe some Mexicans said it was offensive, I don't remember). Huh? It's not like once the Texians won they enslaved the Mexicans or something. AFAIK, nothing really bad happened to them, they lost some land. So they ended up renaming the team Dynamo. I thought that was really lame.

 

We've also visited Washington-on-the-Brazos where the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed though I don't have pics. It's really funny how the Texas Revolution sort of parallels the American Revolution.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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I am still LOVING my new camera. I went to London yesterday and had a go at photographing the Christmas lights. After an initial disaterous attempt when I had it entirely set on automatic (with resulting camera shake worthy of a pogo stick....), I set the time to 60 and trusted that the camera might manage.... I am really pleased with the great job it did! :love:

 

23427066873_f98abb042d_b.jpgOxford St Christmas decorations by Anne, on Flickr

 

 

"Turn your fingers into a dust rag and keep them keys clean!" ;) Bluzeyone
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Well done Anne!

 

A general rule of thumb for reducing handheld camera shake in full frame images is to use a shutter speed that's the inverse of your focal length or faster. So, for example, if you're shooting a 30 mm lens, your shutter speed should be at least 1/30.

 

Now, your Fuji is a crop frame sensor, so you have to use a multiplication factor to get the full frame (35mm) equivalent focal length. Your Fuji has an APS-C sized sensor and the multiplication factor for full-frame equivalent is 1.5. So if you put a 50 mm lens on your camera, the equivalent full frame focal length would be 50x1.5 or 75mm. So to avoid camera shake for a handheld shot, you'd need to use a shutter speed of 1/75 or faster.

 

Of course, if you're using a lens with image stabilization, this rule goes out the window. You can get away with using slower shutter speeds!

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Thank you so much for your nice, encouraging messages Mike, Joe, Linda, Bill & Richie. :) I have been dying to do some night photography for years now (probably because I am a fairly nocturnal person), so I am incredibly excited to have the tools to do it at last!

 

Your rule of thumb sounds extremely useful Richie......especially since the shutter speed dial is located near my thumb.....(I wonder if that is where the term originates from.... ;) ) I was using the kit lens 18-55 mm, so would it still apply? I had somehow got into my head the idea that 1/60 was about as slow as you could safely go without a tripod and be confident of avoiding any camera shake. I have taken photos at far slower speeds with my iPhone, but it is much smaller and easier to hold still.....

"Turn your fingers into a dust rag and keep them keys clean!" ;) Bluzeyone
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The inverse of your focal length guideline is simply a guideline. Some people can hold the camera still enough with the guideline, some cannot, but it would apply to any lens without image stabilization. As always, you do get a sharper image when using a tripod regardless, and this is a reason a lot of landscape, portrait, fashion, and product photographers will use tripods even if they could technically pull off a handheld shot. There's other reasons as well, such as consistency and requiring the exact same framing, etc.

 

Happy New Year, everyone!

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Your rule of thumb sounds extremely useful Richie......especially since the shutter speed dial is located near my thumb.....(I wonder if that is where the term originates from.... ;) ) I was using the kit lens 18-55 mm, so would it still apply? I had somehow got into my head the idea that 1/60 was about as slow as you could safely go without a tripod and be confident of avoiding any camera shake. I have taken photos at far slower speeds with my iPhone, but it is much smaller and easier to hold still.....

The rule of thumb applies to any lens without some sort of image stabilization. The Fuji kit lens has stabilization built in, so you should be able to easily get away with even slower shutter speeds.

 

Like Ken says, it's just a guideline, so if you can hold it still, you can use slower shutter speeds regardless.

 

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So happy this thread is still going strong. Post more photos in 2016!

 

24086286756_a891c2574f_b.jpgIMG_2038 by Mike Martin, on Flickr

 

24004267662_29b885769d_b.jpgIMG_2034 by Mike Martin, on Flickr

 

23816716080_7ae03eacf2_b.jpgIMG_2047 by Mike Martin, on Flickr

-Mike Martin

 

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Mike Martin Photography Instagram Facebook

The Big Picture Photography Forum on Music Player Network

 

The opinions I post here are my own and do not represent the company I work for.

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May this new year be beautiful, sweet, creative, and happy for you.

 

This is a 50-minute star trails photo, showing the movement of the stars created by the rotation of the earth as shown through long exposure photography. This photo also won Best Summer Photo for 2013 in the Los Angeles Times. I recently went to T.P. to take photos (along with some rather strange robot videos), and hope to share these new shots with you soon. Thanks!

 

startrails-tronapinnacles3-50min-30sf28iso400.jpg

 

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Greetings and Best Wishes for 2016 Friends , and may the Do Re Mi pour in :).

Really fantastic photo's going on (as usual) , love the bird pic's Mike , So love your night shot xKnuckles!. My night shots suck & are B.S in comparison , it's my equipment >> http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/potatoe-4507668.jpg << of course , not me >> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bc/Garfield_the_Cat.svg/1280px-Garfield_the_Cat.svg.png :D

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Ha ha ha! :D Thank you very much Brett. You are right about the gear thing though - I guess I can no longer use the inferior equipment excuse.......will have to try and think up some other ideas: maybe the British weather might (as it so often does) prove useful here......

 

Incredible bird photos, Mike! I love the middle one of him skidding to a stop....

 

Wonderful photo, Ken! Can't wait to see your new ones - and hear about the robots.....

"Turn your fingers into a dust rag and keep them keys clean!" ;) Bluzeyone
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Your rule of thumb sounds extremely useful Richie......especially since the shutter speed dial is located near my thumb.....(I wonder if that is where the term originates from.... ;) ) I was using the kit lens 18-55 mm, so would it still apply? I had somehow got into my head the idea that 1/60 was about as slow as you could safely go without a tripod and be confident of avoiding any camera shake. I have taken photos at far slower speeds with my iPhone, but it is much smaller and easier to hold still.....

The rule of thumb applies to any lens without some sort of image stabilization. The Fuji kit lens has stabilization built in, so you should be able to easily get away with even slower shutter speeds.

 

Like Ken says, it's just a guideline, so if you can hold it still, you can use slower shutter speeds regardless.

That is good to know. I think I just need to get used to it - and either get comfortable with using my right hand holding it, or adapt it so that I can hold it with my left hand like I want to.... Thank goodness for the image stabilisation! I dread to think what it would be like without it .....

"Turn your fingers into a dust rag and keep them keys clean!" ;) Bluzeyone
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Some nice shots around here. I like "magazine" photos just like the other guy, but there are some advises that hold for a lot of people in general, one of them being the idea of "depth" in you photos.

 

How can you create a feeling of perspective, front and background at the very least that make your pictures stand out?

 

Here's a picture I recently took with a Sony HC3, with some additional processing that draws a bit attention to depth effects:

 

http://www.theover.org/Keybdmg/Pictures/dsc00838_hdr1_pm.png

 

The processing is non-standard, and not easy to make a mental inverse of, but that's not the point.

 

Of course I am aware of it that pixels are very in the way of proper depth perception. Did you have a look at those new 4K LED TV's ? There's a lot more depth possible there by natural methods, just like phones with a small screen and very many pixels.

 

Most computer screen presentations fail in the department of natural depth perception because pixels are in the way...

 

T.

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How can you create a feeling of perspective, front and background at the very least that make your pictures stand out?

 

The short answer? Light.

 

Illuminating some of the photo, but not all, and creating texture and depth. In the photos below, I've illuminated both so that they have shadows and texture. In my opinion, it has less to do with pixels, and more to do with lighting.

 

Also, it has to do with the aperture setting as well, as smaller apertures will have more in focus than a wide (large) aperture.

 

 

4911kenlee_joshuatree2014-08-30-2304-20sf28iso4000-balancingrockmilkyway-flat.jpg

 

3600-kenlee_bristleconepine-2014-07-15-0054-128sf71iso640-1000px-bestschulman.jpg

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Your rule of thumb sounds extremely useful Richie......especially since the shutter speed dial is located near my thumb.....(I wonder if that is where the term originates from.... ;) ) I was using the kit lens 18-55 mm, so would it still apply? I had somehow got into my head the idea that 1/60 was about as slow as you could safely go without a tripod and be confident of avoiding any camera shake. I have taken photos at far slower speeds with my iPhone, but it is much smaller and easier to hold still.....

The rule of thumb applies to any lens without some sort of image stabilization. The Fuji kit lens has stabilization built in, so you should be able to easily get away with even slower shutter speeds.

 

Like Ken says, it's just a guideline, so if you can hold it still, you can use slower shutter speeds regardless.

That is good to know. I think I just need to get used to it - and either get comfortable with using my right hand holding it, or adapt it so that I can hold it with my left hand like I want to.... Thank goodness for the image stabilisation! I dread to think what it would be like without it .....

 

When you take a photo, you squeeze the button gently rather than poking or jabbing it, and that helps a lot. If you have a DSLR, you hold your left hand underneath the lens, propping it and the camera up, and then you gently squeeze the button.

 

Holding and shooting a camera correctly makes such a huge difference....

 

And actually, someone else wrote about this, saving me from having to do so... :D

 

http://improvephotography.com/1365/how-to-properly-hold-a-dslr-camera/

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How can you create a feeling of perspective, front and background at the very least that make your pictures stand out?

 

Part II:

 

In my last post answering this, I mentioned aperture. Here are some examples of shooting with a wide (large) aperture, which creates a shallow depth of field, or in other words, creating a feeling of perspective.

 

http://www.elevenshadows.com/travels/joshuatree2011april/images/571bottles.jpg

 

This one below is a combination of a wide open shot with lighting to enhance that feeling of depth even more:

 

http://www.elevenshadows.com/travels/miscellaneous/autumnlightsla2012-pershingsquare/images/2836spider092612-flat.jpg

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Great picture and great article! Looks like you are on another world!

 

I feel a sci fi story with this as the cover . . . congratulations on the recognition!

 

:love::2thu:

 

Thanks! Space.com is really cool recognition, and it gets a lot of people looking at it, so I'm happy about that.

 

Best wishes for a happy, creative, beautiful, and healthy 2016...with tons of great music and images, hopefully!

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