One shot

You think it’s easy? Does it look easy? Work? Does it make you shudder? Cooperation? Any??!!!

Even Colleen was reluctant… till I told her she could wear her favorite dress. Try to get a squirming cat to look at the camera. Flash helps – fast shutter speed. A pose? Just get the cats with their eyes open and looking forward. No cats were harmed in the making of this picture. We got it pretty much down to routine. I set up a tripod, so the perspective does not change. I load batteries in the flash. Each cat is wrangled into position on the table. The order is not important. They all fit side by side according to expression. Done.

Ha ha. Jen pointed out we got photobombed. Spice was in our picture over Colleen’s left shoulder. Yes, I do not have eyes in the back of my head. Hey, I got a shot! Let’s not get too picky.

Luck, persistence, and a lot of space on the memory card…

Eclipse

Technical: Canon EOS 7D, 1/2000 sec, focal length 135, f29

Shooting the moon, at least I assume it’s the moon is a problem. The moon is brightly lit by the sun. And, no, you cannot use any kind of flash. The exposure is therefore like shooting in daylight. The problem is that moon is far away [I bet you knew that] and usually only fills a small portion of the image frame. The camera will tend to meter and overexpose the moon resulting in a bright spot with no detail or texture. I have written on the exposure in previous posts. I would start at f11 and 1/250 sec. If you want to make the shutter slower then you must make the f stop a larger number [or smaller opening].

During an eclipse things are just that much more difficult. Lately I have used a tripod and then gone to manual exposure. I will adjust and inspect each image for sharpness and exposure. With the LCD and a large memory card, the experiment can be checked right on the spot.

Here David got a simple crescent. I have been fortunate enough to get an eclipse in New York where the ambient city lights enhanced the cloud cover so that I got clouds as well as the moon in eclipse. The exposure requires a lot of juggling and a good tripod. For a reference see my post of 11/22 and 11/23/11 where I discuss the sun and moon.

Orchid Stacked

Technical: unknown. Image processed

Now we’re cooking. This is another image stack by cousin David. The subject is focused. The composition is good. It is suitable for framing. I would have to say that my efforts at shooting flowers have been surpassed by the experiments and efforts of my cousin. The only thing to say about this is that the interior of the flower is slightly underexposed. Maybe you could back light one image to make the petals glow. But if you don’t do anything else, this is a fine image.

Image Stack Succulent

Technical: unknown. Image processed

Another stacked image of a succulent, this is perfectly exposed and softly lit. The composition is fine. The background is not distracting. The center of the flower is at the intersecting ‘rule of thirds.’ This is a fine image.

Image Stack Flash

Technical: unknown. Image processed

This is another technical masterpiece by cousin David. He stacked his images and used flash. The result is great. No criticism here. I might add that the short duration of the flash would help with any motion of the subject. All in all it’s a pretty good effort to get the exposure and account for the motion of the subject. It’s very good software to accomplish this final image.

Image Stack, One Week Later

Technical: unknown. Image processed

This is a great shot. It is set up to ensure that the background is blurred nicely. Once again a tripod and focusing 1mm at time to stack a set of images and obtain sharp focus throughout. I must admit that this is my cousin David’s work, which I am referencing. Well done.

Image Stack

Technical: unknown. Image processed

Cousin David wrote, “I tried focus stacking yesterday.  Lens was 60 mm set at F2.8 to minimize depth-of-field.  According to an online calculator, DOF = ~2 mm.  Software was CZM and result came out a bit artificial, probably because I was overzealous and had a bigger than necessary stack of photos (1 photo per mm forward).  Barcode looking strips on the left and top are artifacts from stacking.  Since I moved a total of 10 cm forward, I find this freeware rather remarkable.  I should have taken a reference shot at F16 (2 stops faster than F32?) for comparison.”  David

David, you’re beyond my technical ability now. What a nice photo! The focus on the flower is hard to appreciate till you look at the leaf on the right. With shallow depth of field the whole leaf would not be in focus. Bar code is not noticeable in the image that I see. You should try HDR (high dynamic range). For landscape and buildings, this is very interesting. Since you are so patient and are willing to do more with a tripod this would be a natural progression. I seem to recall that we talked about a good tripod. I believe that you have a solid one and should stick with it. I also saw that Barnes and Noble sold a pinhole camera book/kit. I would have sent it to you, but it uses film. And who knows what that is any more?