Well - i'll be the first to wander into the lions den... Jon U and a bunch of good shooters allowed me to join them on their APG stroll and it was a lot of fun. Before lunch, i guess the plan was to walk around and shoot whatever... which i did and haven't processed yet.
During and after lunch we shot Shannon in an alley.
One thing I noticed - my technique must need a lot of refinement - as i was using JonU's 50mm 1.2 wide open and the images were so soft I can't use them - so i guess you can't shoot it in low light unless you stop it down. I'm not saying anything bad about the lens - just that its like a lot of lenses wide open. In a way its a bit dreamy - which could be something used in certain situations. (Jon - I love to hear your thoughts and any examples - especially if this isn't your experience - i'd like to compare notes on this)
Jon, you post process too fast. You're making me look bad. You have some good shots in there. I'm too tired/lazy to point out exactly which ones
I finally got 310 pictures finished last night - cropped and post processed every single one of them. Tracey - I think they came out well. When I get a chance to upload them I'll put out the link to the gallery online and everyone can take a look. I finally got some presets set up for different lighting environments in LightRoom, so it sped up there about halfway through - before that I was manually changing settings on every single pic. First time I'd really stressed LightRoom (first time using it on a nice enough computer).
My girlfriend's Dad is selling his silver '96 Vette - and I'm helping him with some pictures of the sucker. The hard top is removable just above the seats, so I think I'm gonna set up my softbox straight overhead for some interior shots. Any tips on good spots to take interior or exterior pictures of cars or how to properly shoot it?
Colin, I've seen some shots where the top was off (or down) and they shot froma little up and just to the left of the drivers side to get a good perspective of the dash and some of the interior. They put a remotely tripped flash inside out of the cameras view and dialed it pretty much down as far as it could go and used it to just lift the shadows a tad. I'm guessing they exposed for ambient and just let the flash help a bit.
Might be worth trying. I'm thinking that needs to be done at dusk or inside if you have access to a large clean space.
That is good advice Mark - that is exactly how they do that. You also turn on all the interior lights you can and color balance the flash with a gel.
Then - the most important two things is to shoot during or just after sweet light and soak the cement with water before you start shooting so you get a little light reflection when doing the exterior. If this were a Pinto or something, you could avoid getting in trouble on the watering ban by just drinking enough beer - but since its a Corvette... go ahead and use the water hose!
Colin - i don't use Lightroom as much as I should -i still import into PS3 through Camera Raw - even if i shoot in jpg. Then adjust each one individually unless i have three or four that are so similar that i can use the same settings. I live in the basic pane of ACR and sometimes venture into Tone Curve or Detail - but not too much. Sometimes I take the time to go into HSL - but rarely.
Took me about 2 hours to do all of the shots from yesterday which is a lot of shots before i met up with the rest of the guys and then Deb and I walked around the Highlands yesterday evening and I shot another 100 shots. All are done except for 35 shots from yesterday morning that are on a 4 gig SD card that I need a special adapter to plug it in. Those will be done in fifteen minutes to a half an hour or so as I won't be posting but a few of those.
The link to see the other shots is here: http://jonberryphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/3338660_F5cJz#331593912_wXg3J
Hi guys. Colin, I saw a shot recently where a guy actually shot the interior of the vehicle from directly overhead. It was awesome! I am not sure exactly how he lit it, though. I would check out some of the car manufacturers' web sites and se what they are doing with their convertibles on their websites. Best of luck with that. I'd like to see them when they are done
JB...I checked out the whole gallery...nice set. You used some really great light and captured very relaxed expressions on your model. I had the same problem with the 28 1.4 that I rented that you had with Uhler's 50 1.2. I was having trouble getting ANYTHING in focus...I think they require a lot of patience wide open in dark situations. I'd love to have one to practice more, though!
The exif on the inside shots at the pizza place were ƒ1.2 1/250 and ISO 1600 and every shot was similarly soft at 100% crops. I would bet it sharpens up a lot at smaller apertures - but i was surprised by this result. A 50mm at 1/250 shouldn't show any hand shake/motion blur and while 1600 introduces noise - the Mark III handles it well and its more a grainy noise and not a blur.
My past experience with the Mark III focusing issues has made me a more aware about looking at focus and looking for the causes before i blame the camera. Had I known to be aware of this potential issue, i would have used different apertures and also shot with my 50mm 2.5 just to compare.
Thanks for looking - smugmug and Amazon have been down all day today - so i know it hasn't been easy.
My pics are hosted on Smugmug, too. I was able to look at yours and saw others on the forum who were celebrating that theirs were back up. I must have missed that window on mine...I just got it to work a few minutes ago, but had not been able to all day. I can't even imagine what would bring a site as large as Amazon down for nearly an entire day. I have not seen Smugmug go down except for scheduled maintenance in several years. I use it as a backup for my kids' pics, so I was a little nervous...
As far as the lens, I am pretty sure my problem was caused by inexperience in using that large of an aperture. Also, we were in incredibly dark spots at times...As far as your issues, I have heard of times when a lens focuses perfectly on one camera, but has front or back focus issues on another body...could it have been that? The only other thing I can think of is if it was in servo mode and had not locked focus. I am guessing you were not in servo mode for that type of shoot, though...I am curious...
I rarely use servo except for moving targets like airplanes and even then sometimes prefer one shot mode and pump the shutter. (old habit)
It occurred to me sometime in the middle of the night that since she was within 3 to 4 feet - she may have been too close. I don't know what the minimum focus distance is on that lens - and i may have been within the range. If so - i wasn't giving the lens a chance. My 50 2.5 is a macro as well and I'm used to any distance - that i wasn't even considering this as a factor.
Seems like the FM reviews all say the same - trouble with close focusing and if you want the best out of it - you have to practice with it. I was well outside the minimum distance though and with a shutter speed to not have a problem. I'd love to try it at a greater distance - like 5 to 10 feet - i bet it rocks! https://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=305&sort=7&cat=2&page=3
Thanks for the car photography tips. I've been reading up on it and I'm really looking forward to playing around. I think I'll try and do some shots with my car tonight after it gets dark. Now would be one of those times I say to myself "Colin, you need a tripod." Then I remember how much they cost and decide I'll manage somehow.
This is an interesting video showing the method I plan on using for exterior shots.
I probably won't play the same music though Don't know why that guy thinks you have to blare music to get good shots.
hey Colin - i just bought a new Gitzo CF to use for my lightweight extra - you can have my old one you used at the lightning shoot - but you may need to buy a cheap head for it. it has a 1/4 inch head screw.
