WoW nice pics!

[gizmo]

i was just checking thru the post ur best pic thread and there are some AWSOME pics in there! I have a few questions tho... do you really need an amazing camera to get those kinds of shots? i have 2 pretty good cameras 1 digital and one film... a sony(digital) and nikon(film) i dont know what i should use to start my photography.... One thing i really wanna know how to do is those light blurs across the screen

 

[Emberghost]

Hm, I am assuming you meant to reply to my post since I just updated it here? http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=860758&page=2&pp=20

No you don't need a good camera at all. You just have to know what you're doing with the camera given to you. To 'start' I would say use digital, that way you can experiment with settings and take as many pictures as you like.

For the shots with the light on my face I just stood holding the camera in one hand in front of the shades in my room while the sun was outside. That's what gave that look. And I purposefully 'tried' to underexpose them since I only wanted the bright areas with light anyways, as to give more emphasis on my face and not what's behind me. Hope this helps a little bit?

 

[gizmo]

yes it helps me a bit. The light effect that i was talking about tho, is not that. they are the pictures where everything is still and you see this streak of light from a car or whatnot that goes accross the screen.

 

[Tim_axe]

Basically you just need to know how to control how your camera "sees" the world in terms of ISO, f-stop/apeture, shutter-speed, and focal-length/zoom. Plus having a creative eye to position everything helps add depth to photos.


Having car tail-lights and such go across the picture takes a little bit of planning and patience (You obviously need cars to do it ). Basically you figure out where to set your camera up at night, bring a tripod, and leave the shutter open for a couple of seconds to collect enough light to expose the scene correctly, and hopefully catch a car going across your scene while you're doing it.

Some settings to try would be say ISO 100, F-stop @ f/4, Shutter @ 8 seconds. If that is too dark, simply have the shutter @ 15 seconds, or 30 seconds. You may need to use the Manual-Focus feature of your camera if it has it, since in general a camera can't focus when it is too dark...


I have to leave now, but maybe someone will come around and help you out a bit more if this doesn't give you enough information...

 

[KevC]

Eee. I apologize for this rant. But I *HATE HATE HATE* it when people automatically see my pictures then my SLR and say "WOW! Your camera takes REALLY good pictures!' Ugh. If I gave you a quarter million steinway dollar piano, could you play like Mozart?!

It's the photographer, not the Camera. The camera is just a tool. Just learn the basics and you'll start understanding how it works. Aperature size, Shutter speed, ISO. Slap your digital into manual mode if it has and play with EVERYTHING.

Oh, and buy a tripod if you don't have one. You'll be able to drag the "shutter" for long and get those awesome night effects.

 

[lorcani]

It's the photographer, not the Camera. The camera is just a tool.

Even as a fellow photographer who is VERY proud of his work, I have to say I disagree to some extent. Yes, the photographer is the main cause of a good shot (as is luck, fate, and how itchy your shutter finger is ), but the camera deserves some credit. Think about your favorite picture, either one you've taken or one someone else has. Now, imagine if they took that with an old camera-phone. Of course, the camera can only go so far.

Because your camera allows you to control how the picture turns out, and you are an excellent photographer who knows your camera, your pictures come out well enough to grab peoples attention. I really like my camera, and I feel that I need to understand my camera before I can make the camera do what I want it to. In that way, the camera is partially responsible for the picture.

The photographer is responsible for the picture, but the camera plays a factor.

I don't know, your comment just erked me.

Now, back on topic.

In a nutshell, an easy way to make light blurs is with VERY slow shutter speeds (as in, over a second), and the good light blurs are caused by a slow shutter speed as well as a tripod (or steady hand).

 

[KevC]

You're completely right, but I'm not sure if you got my point.

Where I worked there were *five* open box Nikon D70s. Company must've lost so much money. Why? Our stupid sales associate decides to sell to all the rich folk that "wow, this camera is awesome, you'll take the best pictures with it" when a P/S should have met their needs.

Also, there are some people buying 1Ds MkIIs and wondering how to take awesome pictures when they don't know the first thing about composition.

There are also some photographers that will make magic with a lowly P/S or a 20y/o russian slr body.

As I said, the camera is a tool. As long as it will allow the photographer to do what he wants, that's good. Of course, what you said was true to an extent. You can't expect great astronomic photography with a wide angle lens.

 

[sulfur_lad]

There are also some photographers that will make magic with a lowly P/S or a 20y/o russian slr body.

As I said, the camera is a tool. As long as it will allow the photographer to do what he wants, that's good. Of course, what you said was true to an extent. You can't expect great astronomic photography with a wide angle lens.

Agreed entirely. One of the best pieces of photographic advice I ever received was "always have a camera with you." Some of the best photos you'll ever get will be the opportunistic random ones. Let's be honest, no one (pro or otherwise) wants to carry around their F5, EOS1v or MKII with the snazzy 500mm prime lens around day to day; a p/s is much more practical. While I carry my little s40 around with me everywhere, my kit only goes to shoots or assignments, or sometimes hiking, climbing or skiing if I want to make a project out of the day.

This has turned from advice to philosophy, hehe, so I'll swing the philosophy back to advice: limiting your resource (carrying a p/s) can teach you to think more about how you'll take a shot! But, if you want to do longer exposures to do funky stuff like light trails and star trails, you'll need more control. There ya go. Also, buy a good book. This is a good starter to intermediate book: Shoot! The hairstyles are out of date, but the ideas and the info still works.