Sunday, July 19, 2009

LIGHT: Paul's offerings

I stopped off in Ajman on the way back from a Barracuda run. Having spotted the funfair, I went into the mall for a snack to kill time until it was dark enough for some photos of fairground machinery. Remembering to bring the camera was a good move; what was less good was forgetting a tripod. Therefore a lot of my photos were wobbly, and the offerings below, although strictly hand-held, were abetted by my leaning against solid objects. All of the long exposures involved multiple attempts at various exposures. Aperture priority throughout, cranked down to allow long exposures. Most success seems to have come with a stop or two of under-exposure.

Octopus Merry-Go-Round
Nikon D70S
Nikon 28-200
31mm 1/3sec F22
Hand-held

I confess to some use of the 'clone' tool in this one to get rid of a hideous light fitting. I rather like the hint of the Etisalat golf ball silhouetted against Sharjah's light pollution and picked out by red beacons. The curious coloured smears are the ride itself: a large grinning caterpillar snaking past.

Rollercoaster
Nikon D70S
Nikon 28-200
125mm 3sec F22
Hand-held

I remembered my tripod for this next one. Unfortunately a trip through Festival Centre mall was sufficient to chill the camera, and I spent half an hour in the humid Dubai evening waiting for condensation to clear from the camera's innards.

I rather like the blurred reflections, although it is of course impossible to get a ripple effect in the water and still catch the movement of the rides.

Funfair and Reflections
Nikon D70S
Nikon 28-200
48mm 3sec F27
Tripod

A bit of lateral thinking here. Light as in 'not heavy' rather than 'not dark'. Although the way the birds stuff themselves they're generally not very light! The three finches show successive stages of take-off.

Light as a Feather
Nikon D70S
Tamron 200-400
230mm 1/250sec F5.6
Hand-held
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3 comments:

  1. R BaileyJuly 19, 2009 at 9:28 PM

    Nicely done.
    As comment and critique is what we are supposed to be about, here are my comments.


    Octopus
    Nice shape from the "head" of the octopus and the arms, a bit of a diagonal thing going on, maybe a foreground object to give some context ?


    Roller coaster
    The "flower" is nice, the etisicrap globe is nice but a bit dark. The roller coaster gives nice streak of color. If only could get a rear curtain sync flash in there to light the car, I'm sure Joe McNally could !
    3 Seconds hand hold is very impressive, well done.
    No harm no foul on the use of clone in PS.
    With a tripod could you have gone really long exposure to light the globe and then composite it back in.


    Funfair and Reflections
    Nice symmetry and the good balance for shutter speed and F stop.
    If you have a graduated neutral density filter it can help to darken the lights and fairground in order to allow a longer exposure and brighten the reflected image. (It’s what I did for the crown plaza shot.)
    If you don't have one I have got a 4 and 8 as well as 4 stop blue which help with the harsh skies here, you’re welcome to borrow for a play.


    Light as a Feather
    Cracking shot, is this three birds or a multiple exposure, I know Nikon's will do this but Canon don't :-(
    Composition is lovely, diagonal, somewhere for the subject to go, good DOF, the eyes are nice an sharp.
    Fantastic, bet the full size original is great.


    p.s. You'll gather from some of the abuse that I get I bend more than few electrons in Photoshop so some of my comments may be considered a bit far, however I would defend my comments as I think more in terms of images than photos.
    Also I’m a “bit” of a techy when it comes to flashes and filters, hence my comment about a rear curtain flash and McNally. But it does mean I have lots of toys (Canon mount) if you want to borrow.

    Well done,
    Cheers,
    Richard B.

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  2. PaulJuly 20, 2009 at 8:26 AM

    Thanks for the comments, Richard.

    Octopus
    The foreground objects were all floodlights on sticks and were all ugleeee!

    Roller coaster
    As with Octopus, I was stuck with a camera location because I needed somewhere solid against which to prop myself. I think it would have been a struggle at that distance to get a flash to illuminate the roller coaster car. However, your comment about rear curtain synch is duly noted and I'll have another go at that in due course.

    Funfair
    I might have a go with a graduated filter in Photoshop...

    Light as a feather
    It's a single exposure, although heavily cropped. The speed of the birds is astonishing. I got Madame Cyn to bang on the glass of the kitchen window while I hit the motor drive.

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  3. RBaileyJuly 20, 2009 at 10:46 AM

    For lighting the roller coaster I was thinking about an of camera flash. All you'd have to do is get a signal to the flash.

    Joe McNally Style :-
    http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2008/07/02/rollin-with-the-pride-of-midtown/

    David Hobby Style :-
    http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008/06/on-assignment-night-chopper-pt-1.html
    http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008/07/on-assignment-night-chopper-pt-2.html

    I really want to try some of this, I fancy a go with the Yellow one and his truck.
    p.s. Did warn I was a techy ;-)

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