Posts: Gene51 | Ugly Hedgehog

Architect1776 wrote:

Not just portrait, but head shot portrait prime lens.
Which of these 3 is ideal?
85mm, 100mm or 135mm on a full frame sensor.
Add what maximum aperture as well to your choice of these lenses.
Explain your response.

All work well. Some have qualities that give you nearly flawless center sharpness with softer bokeh on the edges when used wide open - which can be flattering. Shorter lenses tend to make faces narrower due to the perspective associated with shorter distance to subject, so if you are dealing with a round-faced individual a shorter focal length could be more flattering. Narrower faces can benefit from perspectives associated with greater working distances, making a 100 or longer focal length ideal.

These are very broad generalizations - each lens has it's benefits and disadvantages that would need to be considered. I love the older Nikkor 85mm F1.4 AF-D. Certainly the 85mm F1.8 G has better sharpness corner to corner, as does the newer 85mm F1.4G but there is a special quality missing from the "improved" versions that make the AF-D still relevant and desirable.

(Main Photography Discussion)

How I shoot fireworks

grandpaw wrote:

How I shoot fireworks. Hope this may help some of you shooting fireworks for the first time.
Things you will need…. A camera that will shoot in manual mode, A tripod, Flashlight,and the knowledge of how to change shooting modes and settings on your camera. Don't wait until you get to the show and it is about to start to try and figure out how to change the settings on your camera because it is too late at that point.
I have been taking fireworks photos for many years and if you follow my instructions I guarantee you will come away with a bunch of exciting and colorful images even if it is your first time.
Choosing your location… Do you want to capture just the bursts of fireworks in the air or add a foreground element, such as some trees or buildings. Once you have made that decision we can work on getting the settings where you need them on your camera.. Whether you are near or far from the action of the fireworks they will cover a very wide area so make sure you bring a wide enough angle lens to capture as much of the color and excitement as you can. It is easier to crop out dead space than cut off half of the fireworks.
These are the settings that I use and they never fail to produce great images. Manual mode, ISO 100, F16 and a 10 second exposure on a tripod. When the first blast goes off I take a shot at maybe 1/30 of a second and check to make sure my focus is spot on. At that point I switch to a 10 second exposure and what that does is allows me to get several blasts in one image, making it more interesting and colorful. I press the shutter down and at the end of ten seconds when I hear the shutter click I just press it again and start my next exposure, and repeat this during the entire show. This will give you about five exposures a minute so if the show is about 20 minutes long you will end up with approximately a hundred images.
Using ISO 100 will eliminate the grain and give you the best color. Using F16 will give you much more definition in the streaks and bursts. Using a 10 second shutter will give you more blasts in each image and eliminate you having to time your shots. Remember this is all done on a tripod.
There are many methods that work, this is not the only way but it will guarantee you nice shot even if it is your first time shooting.

How I shoot fireworks. Hope this may help some of ... (show quote)

It is also important to avoid overexposing the bursts. Since the light trails are your source of light, the inverse square rule applies as far as aperture and ISO are concerned. Being close to the fireworks will require lower ISO/smaller aperture compared to being at a considerable distance. I get my best results when I use an ISO/Aperture combination that would look underexposed to most when viewing the unedited image.

Also, I've found that using a headlamp with a red light option is more practical than a white-light flashlight. The red light is enough to see your camera and settings, will not cause temporary blindness while the eyes become accustomed to the darkness, and leaves both hands free.

D800, 24-70 2.8, 10 secs, F16, ISO 64

(Download)

D700, 24-70 F2.8, 1.2 secs, F22, ISO 200

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(Main Photography Discussion)

Issue with a tripod drifting on macro shots?

deerpark243 wrote:

I have a Nikon Nikkor 105mm 2.8G Macro lens I use ... (show quote)

You are asking way too much from a very light duty ball head. I am surprised you can get it to lock with a D3 and a 105 sitting on it. It has a tiny ball and virtually no sweet spot.

I use a $400 Arca-Swiss z1 and I still experience a little drift. It is designed for a 130 lb load, the MH-1000 is designed for a 22lb load.

This will eliminate the problem you are having.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/629979-REG/Arca_Swiss_8501000_1_C1_Cube_Geared_Head.html

Or you can save a lot of money by continuing with your "guesstimating"

I hear the Benro is decent - but I haven't tried it. I did have a C1 for a while and it is a beast - rock solid, no drift.

(Main Photography Discussion)

Any Sigma 150-600mm telephoto users for Airshows?

Harry P wrote:

Hi, br br I purchased the sigma 150-600mm to use ... (show quote)

I turn off stabilization for airshows. Especially when panning prop planes.

(Main Photography Discussion)

Post processing use...

Rongnongno wrote:

I am getting a bit tired of folks stating that &qu... (show quote)

I sympathize with you. SOOC is clearly limited, and suitable for specific circumstances, clients etc, but hardly ideal for ALL photography. I suspect that many SOOC advocates are just not aware of the creative possibilities that post processing provides, and the fact that photographers have been post processing/manipulating their images since the beginning of photography.

(Main Photography Discussion)

ND Filter Question

Amadeus wrote:

This may be fairly simplistic but I want to experiment with ND’s. To reduce shutter speed for purposely blurring some action. My question is, is there a quality difference between the variable filters I see advertised and individual filters. Obviously there’s an advantage to the variables. And a difference between brands?

There are differences between brands but the differences are not always optical in nature. Variable ND filters - implying that you can twist them to increase/decrease transparency - are universally limited, regardless of price. While B&W, Heliopan, and a few others make expensive, high optical quality filters, so do Hoya and Kenko. All ND filters have a color cast, but this is easily corrected in post processing.

There are lots of reviews online. Here's a good starting point:

https://petapixel.com/2020/09/22/a-comparison-of-variable-nd-filters/

(Main Photography Discussion)

How Many Megapixels Are Enough

GeneinChi wrote:

This will probably open a giant can of worms so I ... (show quote)

I've made and sold 40"x60" prints from uncropped images taken with a Nikon D70. So I would say that 6 mp is enough.

This guide should help you:

http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/learn/printing/resolution/1_which_resolution_print_size_viewing_distance.htm

How many pixels are needed is entirely dependent on viewing distance, human eyesight limitations, print size (bigger prints are usually viewed at greater distances), image content (highly textured or detailed images usually require more resolution), etc.

(Main Photography Discussion)

resize for printing

stant52 wrote:

I have a picture from years ago when I was playing around with HDR . Well a friend of mine's girlfriend really likes this picture and wants to have it printed on a canvas. She wants to send it to https://www.canvaspeople.com/
Can it be resize somehow to fit maybe a 11"x14" or any size ??

Thanks

You don't have to stress - send the print lab the image at it's best (highest resolution, aka pixel count) and let the lab tell you the biggest print you can make. It will be an odd size, since it is a custom crop, but they will be able to help. The benefits of using a resizing program will be minima - you aren't enlarging that much, and you are printing on canvas.

(Main Photography Discussion)

resize for printing

Linda From Maine wrote:

Separate from resolution, you need to consider aspect ratio. This photo is close to the 4x6 ratio, meaning you probably want to look at 8x12 or 16x24, or have it custom printed to the composition shown. An 11x14 would cut off too much of your image. See the crop lines below:

Or you can print the image to full height, and have extra white borders on the sides.

(Main Photography Discussion)

changing files names when using multiple camera bodies

Using Lightroom makes this process easy. I use an import preset that renumbers the session images from 0000, and retrieves the camera model and serial number from the metadata and uses it in the filename. It is absolutely impossible to confuse the images from multiple cameras.

(Main Photography Discussion)

Creativity

Thomas902 wrote:

Gene the initial OP broached a query at the start ... (show quote)

I won't attempt to change your narrow view with regards to my experience and credentials. I have always been a generalist, shooting whatever needed to be shot when asked as long as the client and myself were confident that my skills in composition, lighting and other aspects were up to snuff.

In retirement, the photography that pleases me most is avian, wildlife, landscape/cityscape/seascape, travel, sports (grandkids are now starting to play Irish football - which is different from the other "football" we all know as soccer), flowers, model trains, etc etc.

Perhaps it is the bubble you live in that prevents you from understanding the nature of my response. And while you maintain that magazine covers are not manipulated, a visit to a magazine shop will reveal that some part of 99% of the images you see on the covers have had some manipulation - even Vogue. But food magazines, guns and ammo, cars, people, all sorts of hobby publications, etc etc etc - all use software to adjust and enhance. In the most general of terms - magazines and other publications that are viewed as documentary in nature do not permit image manipulation.\

By the same token you should visit a high end real estate shoot just to see how someone handles an 8-9 figure property. There is a small battalion of stagers, cleaners, lighting specialists, prop people etc. And in post processing there are retouchers, colorists, and others involved in the process to ensure that the images are believable yet without flaws.

You certainly believe your word is gospel, and that has worked well for you it seems. But there is a world out there that you should visit every so often, that is once you get out of your ivory tower and get down from your high horse.

I don't take kindly to people who devolve to ad hominem attack when they have nothing else to offer. If I really valued your opinion I'd be very upset. Actually I am more than fine. So don't take anything I wrote personally. It's just that you and I have had widely different experiences, and we should leave it at that.

Cheers!

(Main Photography Discussion)

Creativity

User ID wrote:

Obviously theres camera work and theres computer work. Thaz a clear distinction. Whether or not any individual brings any creativity to either one depends on the individual. Both types of work are open to creativity, just as almost any action in life is open to it.

But aren't modern cameras actually specialized hand-held computers that process optical analog data and convert it to digital form?

(Main Photography Discussion)

Full frame vs aps-c

Timothy S wrote:

I am wondering how a crop sensor image would compare with the same image taken with the same lens and distance on a full frame camera, manually cropped to the same extent. Does that result in the same resolution and IQ?

The resolution is determined by the sensor pixel count. Sharpness is qualitative and difficult to measure but MTF charts combine contrast and lines pairs per millimeter to come up with something that can be used to make some sense.

So, since many lenses show more of their flaws ("sharpness"), distortions (pincusion, barrel and complex), and aberrations like coma and vignetting - at the corners and edges especially when used wide open, an image taken with a lens for a full frame camera "may" show less than optimal performance in the problem areas, whereas a crop sensor camera will not use the corners and edges, so the performance will be more uniform and better from corner to corner. If the pixel pitch is different then the camera with the highest # of pixels wins. Until you start raising the ISO, which means you are actually underexposing the image, which is why high ISO images are actually severely underexposed images which the camera turns up the gain on to compensate. Also, smaller sensor cameras do not do as well as larger sensor cameras.

There is a lot to unpack, and there is more, but I didn't want to be responsible for your head exploding.

(Main Photography Discussion)

Flickr?

niteman3d wrote:

Are you still a member and if so, check your email from them as it might be that the special is only available to existing members to compensate for the change in terms??

PS... Gene, I went ahead and pushed the button on it and when I did it auto-filled the code "EMPRO25", so I'm guessing that since they showed it to me, it's not a secret. It was a little less than $106 including PA tax.

Yup! That worked for me too! Thanks! So they managed to get another $100 out of me ($99.73, actually). I just hope this stops the nagware . . .

(Main Photography Discussion)

Creativity

Thomas902 wrote:

"...In common practice there are very very fe... (show quote)

I didn't do agency work - I avoided it - so I haven't done any "Testing" or radiology - but I was mostly speaking to creative/artistic stuff that many on this forum do.

And then there is this from 2012:

https://fashionista.com/2012/07/anonymous-retoucher-says-100-percent-of-fashion-images-have-been-altered-calls-beauty-ads-the-biggest-lie-of-all

And this from 2017:

https://stellar.ie/trending/awks-vogue-made-a-massive-gigi-hadid-photoshop-fail-on-its-new-cover/43503

So maybe vogue has had a bit of controversy in the past with stars and important people being photoshopped in a less than flattering way, and the creative directors were inexperienced and let bad stuff happen. My experience was that everything was photoshopped. But I never worked for vogue.