fraserjen Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

Did you have the white balance set on "indoor" or "tungsten" or "fluorescent"?

shaz4146

No. Was just set on what I had for all my other pictures, carried on shooting, I think it was just the effect of the sunlight, the lack of colour, the spot focus...but at least now I know it had nothing to do with the speed I selected, and I had originally thought it was...so thanks to everyone for their help

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

Its quite simple really. The flower was in the sun and the background was in shade. Your eyes have a much greater dynamic range than the camera so they can see detail in a wider range of light conditions. They also focus instantly when you shift your eyes from the flower to the background. When you metered the flower using spot metering you rendered the flower at 18% and severely underexposed the background. As well your short depth of field put the background out of focus which only helps to obscure it. All in all a very nice effect, and one you can duplicate any time conditions are right.

shaz4146

Thank you so much... It is simple when clearly explained! Up in 5hrs for my first ever aircraft shoot, and just wish I could find my 2nd camera...

dachs

mister mcveed did put it well din't he? Some folk have the power to explain stuff and we all go 'oh yes, now I see!"

Good luck with the early rise and the aeroplanes. Enjoy, if I am not too late here in UK time zone

shaz4146

Fantastic day...but really disappointed with my photos. Need to practice more with my new sigma 150-500.
may post some to see if anyone can help with settings...hope its not the lens...probably me, or I could be expecting too much from it

naturepics43 Loc: Hocking Co. Ohio - USA

What kind of issues are you having with your Sigma 150-500? I too am trying to master the "learning curve" of this lens. In This thread you stated the image was taken at 600mm. Was it taken with the Sigma plus a T/C or a different lens?

shaz4146

Was just the lens, Im not sure where I said 600...Was it definitely me? I have looked at lots of my shots...the worse ones are slower speeds without the monopod so it could be more practice needed. I do have some sharp ones but they tend not to be up in the air, so it could be the focus struggles with these. Ive posted a few on the gallery or discussion forum...sorry forgotten which one. I have lots but these give a range. As long as I know its me and not the lens I will work at it! For some people it has been the lens which they have then sent back.
Will let you know if I ever get sharp images!

Mmart0418 Loc: Orting, Washington

I love this effect and I too would like to know how this happened without post editing so that I can do it too!

shaz4146

i think its a case of the light being bright,spot metering and an already washed out background...and luck of course! To find out more i need to re read all of these great suggestions too!

dachs

most pros use a standard lens in an aircraft - you need a big aperture and the fastest possible shutter speed.
don't touch any part of the plane especially propellor craft the vibration will blur all shots,
if you can, open the window, the scratched curved plexiglass will kill contrast
best is standing knees slightly bent as close to window as possible but don't let camera touch it and pick up vibes
shoot square thru the window not at angles (modern jet double glazing distorts like crazy)
if it is a jet be ahead of the exhausts they upset the air stream, more blur

don't use autofocus the lens will hunt on the window, go for infinity unless you want the wing in the picture etc.

a zoom of that range will not be very sharp anyway, specially either end of it's settings and specially wide open (which is why a prime focal length with good performance wide aperture is a must)

shaz4146

thanks....i meant i was on the ground looking up at the aircraft. here are a few so you can see what i mean

a soft one


soft works on this one!


ok ish on this one


this one seems sharper


another soft one...think its me and not the lens!


another soft one but still1000 speed

dachs

N 6847 is sharper because you have a 1/1000 or so shutter (prop is frozen); also he's a slow plane and fills the frame so focus was almost certainly right on it.

Third shot is going away quartering - so much less apparent motion relative to you, again the lend probably picked up the higher contrast plane and focus was correct, and you had a decently high shutter speed as the prop is nearly frozen.

the last one is presumably a pan and you have at least some speedy lateral movement blur (even at 1/1000), that just needs pan practise. Not so easy with a fast stunt aircraft. The focus may be off too, can't tell at this quality.

if you want prop blur, maybe try 1/500th but then if you use 500mm focal length, you need at least a monopod unless you have been practising for years or are naturally rock solid.

Look thru a binoculars at a still object and see if you can hold steady let alone when you press one side of them (as in the shutter button). If your cam or lens has no vibration reduction stay 1/750 or quicker.

Sorry I thought you were in a plane but the steadiness rules all still apply;

feet apart a bit, pan dead steady from hips up, caress the shutter don't push it, and of course keep wide enough aperture the focus can track properly (most conk out after f5,6 or f8, unless its an expensive Nikon). I would check the lens focus ability against some high contrast ground based subjects before trusting it on this stuff; find out at what shut down of aperture it fails to lock on.
I assume your camera/lens hold technique is sound no one handed stuff with a 500mm lens!

Lastly, where was the camera focusing? Did you get focus confirmation on the planes or did the lens just use central spot (the clouds!)

For these in any case, I'd use a monopod at least, which gets rid of most vertical wobbles

shaz4146

one more disappointing one...even at 2000sec. think maybe i was too excited and just moved?? wasnt using a monopod either. could it be that the clouds were darker and more dull?

shaz4146

thanks you so much for this...i think for some shots i was standing on a chair!! now you mention did i get focus confirmation...i dont remember seeing my green square, although I usually see it. I had spot focus (think its called this) i think i was holding it right. i need to get used to my new monopod! The sigma has OS 1, 2 and off. I think I did some 1 and some 2...and some off by mistake! im not sure of the difference between 1 or 2 so I need to read up! my camera was the D800.
im hoping to practice ready for another safari with this lens...it did seem to latch on to the planes more quickly than when I first used my D800. I was used to D300s which is much quicker. Also, the turn on the sigma is the opposite way to Nikon 70-200 so instead of trying to stay at 400ish, it often got turned to 500 by mistake!
thanks again