Photographers: tips, tricks, equipment, etc

[Ford Idaho]

I just upload the IMG's to my forum album from my phone, camera or flash drive.
Copy paste to the thread I am replying in.

[FLPhotographer]

I'm a Canon Shooter -

1Dx , 5Dmkiii , 7Dmkii , 7D , (4) G16 , (3) G12 , (1) G10. I recently toyed with the medium digital format and purchased a Pentax 645Z. My lenses cover anything from 11mm to the 800mm. Photography is more of a hobby these days. I was fortunate to retire at 52. I recently got to use the new Canon 5Ds r and look forward to having one in my Arsenal. When is comes to tripods,monopods, L brackets and gimbal mounts I use Really Right Stuff.

[SKnight]

Originally Posted by FLPhotographer

I'm a Canon Shooter -

1Dx , 5Dmkiii , 7Dmkii , 7D , (4) G16 , (3) G12 , (1) G10. I recently toyed with the medium digital format and purchased a Pentax 645Z. My lenses cover anything from 11mm to the 800mm. Photography is more of a hobby these days. I was fortunate to retire at 52. I recently got to use the new Canon 5Ds r and look forward to having one in my Arsenal. When is comes to tripods,monopods, L brackets and gimbal mounts I use Really Right Stuff.

My old, but still not bad, tripod let my 1DX and 24-105 hit the ground one day. Within a week I got a Manfrotto tripod and the old tripod is relegated to off camera flash holding.

I told the wife I can't let that kind of money sit on a cheap tripod.

[FLPhotographer]

SKnight

I agree, one spends 1000's of dollars and then buys a $39 dollar tripod.

[Canonman]

Originally Posted by Yukon Don

Everybody's got a camera. We all visit beautiful country and record it on "film".
Since most shutterbugs I know just love comparing notes, I thought I'd start a thread for just that.
What camera(s) do you use ?
What lenses, filters, etc.
Got any good do's or do not's (I've got plenty of the latter to share) to pass along ?

To get things started, for the last 10 years or so I've been using a Nikon D50 SLR. It's an entry level camera but it's far more capable than the guy standing behind it.

Lenses consist of the 18-55mm zoom lens that comes with the kit. I've heard "serious" photographers talk down about that lens but it's taken some awfully nice pictures for me over the years.
A 70-300 zoom lens does critter duty so that the next time I'm dangerously, stupidly close to a bear the photo doesn't eventually look like a fuzzy black dot 400 yards away. Better yet, I won't have to get dangerously, stupidly close to a bear to get a good shot.
And recently, I bought a 50mm prime lens (for non-SLR users, "prime" means it's not a zoom lens) with a wider aperture (f1.8) that I hope to use for night landscape photography.

I'll post up a few examples I've found recently that could have been much better shots had I been watching more closely or used something different.

I'm an SLR shooter, but I hope the point-and-shooters and even video-cammers will chime in.

Hi all,
Took a (bucket list) trip this last spring starting just after Memorial Day weekend and got some nice shots of North Rim Grand Canyon, the slot canyons of Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley and Capitol Reef. Thought I would share these in an album on my home page if anyone is interested in maybe visiting any of these venues.

[f5moab]

From Dome plateau; outside Moab....
Looking across the Colorado river to Professor Valley....




Great place for night shot...no ambient light...

[MtnGuy]

NICE !!

[markshaw]

Don, Keep at it. It's not always about the equipment. I am a Photographer and went pro about 8 years ago. Some of my best shots were made with an entry level Nikon.

[Oakman]

I prefer to get my daily exercise in the great outdoors and enjoy walking/hiking the trails in nearby local and state parks. Every once in a while during my hikes I come across a scene that makes me scratch my head and wonder, WTH! Today was one of those days. I’m glad I had my camera with the long zoom lens because these folks were way out in the field. Because of the props in the picture, I believe this was a professional photo shoot. I guess the photographer didn’t have a good woodland backdrop. Since this sight had me wondering whether I was hallucinating or not, I decided to call this the “Sanity Claus Scene.”

[Canonman]

I've heard of photographers offering a "Natural Setting" for the annual family Christmas Photo. This is the first time I've seen "mall Santa" in the field though.
Thanks for sharing this and Happy Thanksgiving!

[Bud Ezekiel H.]

Just wondering if you shot this in Mo.? If both of those spruce trees were real, I doubt they'd still be there in this day and age. Happy Thanksgiving!


Glad there is Photography thread here!

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by f5moab

Great place for night shot...no ambient light...

Do you mind sharing a "how to" for the stars photo?

[f5moab]

Originally Posted by ependydad

Do you mind sharing a "how to" for the stars photo?

Sorry, haven't been in this thread for a long time.
The photo was taken with a Nikon D700, Gitzo tripod, at F2.8 and approx. a 30 second exposure with ISO at 3200. Naturally all was manual.
I say approx. since I fire off maybe twenty photos of the same scene (gotta love digital)

Longer times will cause star trails.

Hardest is to find a place where the milky way is even visible in this day and age.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by f5moab

Sorry, haven't been in this thread for a long time.

The photo was taken with a Nikon D700, Gitzo tripod, at F2.8 and approx. a 30 second exposure with ISO at 3200. Naturally all was manual.

I say approx. since I fire off maybe twenty photos of the same scene (gotta love digital)



Longer times will cause star trails.



Hardest is to find a place where the milky way is even visible in this day and age.

Thank you!

[mikel68]

The only problem with shooting stars in long exposures? The earth is moving. I shot some pictures at Yellowstone. Not super long exposures, I thought the stars were a little blurred. Got them in photoshop, nope all the stars were still the earth was rotating. Stars looked like little lines.

[doc73]

Now this is funny... No idea this thread even existed... I just started getting "back into" photography. Picked up a new Canon SX530 just after the new year. Still learning it since I've been out of serious photography since high school so it seems.

I though of doing a Rebel but decided to stick with a more advanced point and shoot to keep it simple to make sure I do actually want to get back into this. I think it does pretty good.. Took some shots doing a 12 mile day hike along ridge line of Blue Mountain on the Appalachian Trail with my father.






This one makes me think of a model train display:


The rest:
https://goo.gl/photos/VQdULDZsQmmUFMa26

[doc73]

Originally Posted by mikel68

The only problem with shooting stars in long exposures? The earth is moving. I shot some pictures at Yellowstone. Not super long exposures, I thought the stars were a little blurred. Got them in photoshop, nope all the stars were still the earth was rotating. Stars looked like little lines.

The 30 second range seems to keep the world from spinning... Unless you want the light trails. The only other thing I could think is your focus was set to infinity and in manual so an auto focus might have had an issue "locking on" to the stars.

[NoviBill]

Are there any other flickr members? I'm cdrdwd - https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdrdwd/collections

It's a great place to post photos and has groups on every subject imaginable...

My one hint for the day is a byproduct of dealing with camera snobs:

The camera you have out and ready for a photo is infinitely better than any other camera.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by NoviBill

Are there any other flickr members? I'm cdrdwd - https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdrdwd/collections

I have a secret identity that I can't share. But here's my Flickr account with a fake name:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougsetzer/albums

[doc73]

Whose Doug?? Is that your alter ego?
J/K by the way...