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Great thread.
So much of it is about trial & error & also when viewing other photo's, rather than just looking at the subject (car) analyse the frame & how it was captured.
Panning for shots is what I've been practising for a while. Photography can still be enjoyable even with a miserable little digi-cam.
Main skill is a steady hand though IMO. (hey I'm just an amateur)
or be lazy and use a tripod lolQuote:
Originally Posted by craig green
tbh to get the kind of pics that youve posted of the air filter you need a decent d-slr (canon 350d, nikon d70 etc) although many modern "compact" cameras can also do a decent job - it all depends on what functions they have.
To get the shot like the filter, you dont have to be that close. All you need is an understanding of "depth of field" and a zoom lens (although its not essential).
Camera lesson no 1 - aperture and depth of field...
To understand all this you need to understand how your cameras lens reads light and the affect of aperture and shutter speeds. These 2 areas are critical in ensuring you get either a sharp crisp image or a soft one with blurred backgrounds etc.
Depth of field is controlled by the aperture of the lens. Most modern camera lenses (eg digital slrs like canon 350d and nikon d70) have blades inside their lenses that, like the pupil in your eye, can be closed right down (small aperture) or opened right up (wide aperture). The smaller the aperture the bigger the number on the camera and vice versa. EG an aperture of F22 is a small aperture where as an aperture of F5.6 is a big one.
The wider the aperture (smaller the number) the more light gets in the camera. As a result your shutter speed will be "fast" (about 1/125sec or faster). As a rule shots with a wide aperture tend to be "softer" (not as crisp) throughout the image as the lens is focusing on one specific spot and the speed of the shutter captures enough detail for the focal point. An example of this is the air filter pic you put up. This image has an in focus filter (sharp) but the background is soft (blured). The amount of blur is called depth of field.
Heres an example I took of "munkey". I took this pic with a canon 350d using an aperture of f5.6 (wide aperture). The shutter speed was about 1/3sec (slow but he was only lit by a lamp). on my camera I have a function called "Aperture priority mode" which means I set the aperture and the camera calculates the correct shutter speed for me.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1.../munkey001.jpg
As you can see Munkeys background (the curtains desk and printer, even his arm) are out of focus. On Munkey I focussed on his mouth and thats the only real part thats in sharp focus. If you look carefully you can see a spot on his left cheek thats also slightly blured. Such a small area of focus means that the whole image has a "shallow" depth of field. You can also get shallow depth of field by zooming into to something close to you.
The smaller the aperture (bigger the number) the less light gets in the camera. As a result you will probably use a slow shutter speed. This means your need to have a steady hand as the shot will take longer to expose (use a tripod). A small aperture is good if you want really crisp sharp images throughout the picture (from foreground the background) known as a maximum depth of field. Because youre using a small aperture hardly any light gets in so the available light is tightly focussed across the whole image making it sharp.
Here's the same munkey pic but instead of f5.6 I used an aperture of f22. The shutter speed increased to a massive 30 seconds.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1.../munkey002.jpg
As you can see the images are identical in every way except the amount of focus. This munkey is in sharp focus and although the printer is a little blured its much sharper and more recognisable than the above shot.
It took me AGES to get my head around this subject but once mastered you can get some amazing results. I prefer the shallow f5.6 munkey because he's isolated from the background (wider aperture is great for portrait shots).
Hope this helps...
Ade
Nice advice and well written Ade :thumb:
I tend to assume a little much prior knowledge. Try Michale Langford's Basic Photography for more info.
after seeing ade's monkeh shot's, i'd though i'd have ago myself..
here's the result's
http://www.corsasport.co.uk/carimages/5034/S8000088.JPG
http://www.corsasport.co.uk/carimages/5034/S8000084.JPG
http://www.corsasport.co.uk/carimages/5034/S8000091.JPG
wow, cheers ade, great pics formyou all..
gonna have to get some more sortedsoon giv it another go.
Ace thread!!
that pic with the blurred printer is Ace!! new desktop pic lol
Think i'm gettin there now..?
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/DSC01103.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/DSC01105.jpg
last two are best imo
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/DSC01108.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/DSC01109.jpg
What yas think?
P.s Taken on 5.0mp phone..
Last one is good. Quality isn't great but they're from a phone so its not expected to be top quality :D
yea not very often i take my cam out with me..