August 2008 - Photo assignment #2 - Summer photography

[kiley9806]

This is one of my favorites of the summer. The upstretched arms are that of my daughter, looking to Uncle Paul to pick her up while casting her Spongebob fishing rod. She's not yet 2, you really can't blame her...

[Bahandi]

beautiful capture, kiley.

the silhouettes seem blurry to me though.. anyone else seeing it or have I played to many video games tonight?

[tegan]

I like the shot, but a few suggestions for sunsets:

When shooting toward the sun a square neutral grad filter will bring more light and detail into your foregrounds which are an important part of your image.

On the photo, I would consider trying a lower camera angle to the right and use a fill flash set for -2 stops and set the colour balance to warm, or put something orange over the flash. The challenge is to make the little bit of fill flash defining the silhouettes look like sunlight. Less complicated even than this is to use a diffuse camplight out of the frame to bring more detail into the foreground.

Tegan

[kiley9806]

good tips - thanks tegan. i'll have to go pickup some filters sooner or later... i have none actually, since the polarizing one i bought previous to the d80 is the wrong size.

[Marko]

I really like this shot Kiley! Nice capture!

[baddness]

Sony G lens 70mm to 300mm shot at 1/125 second at f. 5.6.

Tegan

What was the iso set at?
It was finally clear last night. Although the moon wasn't full it did have an odd shape to it and it was yellow so I got out my xti and took shots with my 75-300. Had the same shutter and aperture settings that you used, but had the iso set at 200. Looks noisy and by the time I got the shots loaded onto the computer, the moon didn't look the same. I should have used a tripod, I braced my elbows onto the patio railing, but still had some shake. I do not have steady hands.

[tegan]

What was the iso set at?
It was finally clear last night. Although the moon wasn't full it did have an odd shape to it and it was yellow so I got out my xti and took shots with my 75-300. Had the same shutter and aperture settings that you used, but had the iso set at 200. Looks noisy and by the time I got the shots loaded onto the computer, the moon didn't look the same. I should have used a tripod, I braced my elbows onto the patio railing, but still had some shake. I do not have steady hands.

ISO 100. However try ISO 400 at f.5.6 at 1/500 of a second. That should work too.

Tegan

[baddness]

I will give that a try. Thanks tegan

[Travis]

Some people talk about shooting in the "Golden Hours".... Here's an example of "Golden Minutes"...

These exposures are three minutes apart without any boosting.

[Marko]

I like these shots travis and they do clearly show the dramatic change within minutes as the sun sets.

But these shots are taken at the end of that 'golden hour' where it is way to dark to see details. 45 minutes before this is AMAZING light for many more subjects including portraits.

Just as an FYI - The golden hour refers to the first hour of light and the last hour of light. The light is softer at these times due to the sun's lower angle.