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01-18-2016, 02:57 PM - 6 Likes   #376
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Visual effects: Forced perspective

Here are some tips for in-camera forced perspective shooting to turn your miniatures into monsters, no post processing required.

Use a wide angle lens set at the smallest aperture to get the greatest depth of field so the foreground and background are in focus together.

Shoot from a scale camera height; this dinosaur is 1/10 life size, so the lens center was set at one tenth normal, full scale eye height above the model's ground level. The model was set up on a table in the street and the camera was a few inches above the tabletop.

Run screaming from the terror you have unleashed! (Optional)

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01-18-2016, 03:00 PM   #377
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Don't be afraid to use your camera's auto settings; aperture or shutter priority can work really well for you in time critical situations. Remember, it's a sophisticated piece of technology and you don't always have to be shooting manual to be a proper photographer 😁
01-18-2016, 03:01 PM   #378
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The best lense is the tripod. Think about this for a minute and you'll see I'm right.
01-18-2016, 03:02 PM - 3 Likes   #379
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I'm not sure if I'm allowed to submit more than one time (this is my second) but I remembered some good advice. Learn to read a histogram and use it to judge your photos as you take them. A photo may look one way in your camera's screen but totally different once you put it on the computer. The histogram never lies.

01-18-2016, 03:33 PM - 1 Like   #380
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K-30 K-50 aperture problems

If you're having issues with your aperture sticking, check this out.

I recently discovered my K-30 (low count of shutter activations) would not set the aperture properly using my legacy lenses. The aperture no longer worked properly in strictly manual or A modes. I've found I have to kick start the camera by doing the following:

In the menu, go to button customization, RAW/Fx, optical preview. Scroll through the options and select optical preview. Select OK, then press menu, and menu again to exit.

Now, before trying to capture an image, press the RAW/Fx button once or few times. This should get everything working as it should.
01-18-2016, 03:35 PM - 1 Like   #381
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One word for a proper exposure: Compensation

I think there are so many ways to ramble on about the best lenses or cameras to use,or
specify the best settings in the best scenarios, but the one thing that ANY photographer
must always keep an eye on, is compensation. Every setting on your camera has a pro and
a con. High ISO, more grain, but high sensitivity, high shutter speed, less blur, but less exposed.
Learn your camera, learn when to sacrifice, and above all, learn when to compensate for
the pros and cons of your aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance.
01-18-2016, 03:39 PM - 1 Like   #382
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I often use multiple exposures.

!. 9 multiple exposures of a stationary subject dramatically reduces noise. ISO1600 looks like ISO100.
2. Multiple exposures give a third look to waterfall shots. Not exactly freeze frame and not cotton candy.
thanks
barondla

01-18-2016, 04:13 PM - 6 Likes   #383
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Manipulating Light to Create Depth in Landscapes

In another forum, a member new to landscapes wondered why his shots look flat and how he could create a feeling of depth to make them more interesting. Here's my tip for creating a sensation of depth with regard to light:


The kind of "depth" you're looking for is a function of light and contrast.

1. Your job is to guide the viewer's eyes. Never make the them squint to figure out what you want them to look at.

2. If you can't get that exactly right in camera (I hardly ever do) then do it in post. Your processing software is as important a tool as your camera and lens. Don't shortchange yourself.

3. Increase the exposure a bit, widen the contrast, play with the white balance so everything isn't gray, consider a grad filter for the sky or a radial filter to lighten/darken/sharpen, etc. certain areas.

4. What creates depth is difference in the elements. Flat comes from no difference.

5. Adding the manipulation of light to the basics of good composition and selective depth of field will make your landscapes stand out.



01-18-2016, 04:17 PM - 1 Like   #384
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Horizon line

It seems like a very simple concept, but the fact of a straight\parallel horizon line is something that evades many photographers. I am constantly fighting the problem of a tilted horizon line if I don't concentrate on this aspect of my shot. I notice many amateur photographers also have this problem and probably don't even realize it. Once you know the problem is there, you must work to make certain your pictures are not tilted. This is a simple idea to improve the look of many photos!
01-18-2016, 04:39 PM   #385
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I find myself at times out in the woods with no proper equipment except my camera, or even just my phone, and come across a fresh mushroom pushing up through the humus. I dislike the stark, flat pictures of such a gentle event that you get from an on camera flash and prefer natural light where I can get it. As 80% of what I shoot out there are macros I carry a "daylight" tint pocket flashlight, about 5,000K color temperature, to highlight the underside of a cap or the side of a log against a bright background. This serves me well where there are no sunbeams to reflect.
01-18-2016, 04:49 PM - 1 Like   #386
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QuoteOriginally posted by brewmaster15 Quote
4)Keep a notebook and write down places you want to photograph or techiques you want to try...you can make notes about the time of day you want to visit it or the season,what gear you want to shoot with etc.
Write-in-the-rain notepads are great.

( if your camera is WR, why not your notepad? )
01-18-2016, 05:05 PM - 1 Like   #387
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Get out there and shoot!

This advice is probably the most basic there is. Hell, it spells in only a couple of words! But if like me you are often guilty of passing more time reading, discussing and debating photography than you are actually shooting (and that's when you're not analyzing, scrutinizing, dissecting, LBAing or overthinking), it may also be the best advice there is :
  • close the Internet, pick your camera, get out there, and shoot.
Nothing's ever gonna beat that! And you know what's the funny thing about the advice? It's that if you are reading it, it probably applies to you as much as me . So... you know what to do!

Phil

P.S. : no pun intended to Pentax Forums, still love reading you guys

Last edited by Philtandir; 01-18-2016 at 08:23 PM.
01-18-2016, 05:35 PM - 3 Likes   #388
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Make a photo look like a painting

Sometime you may want painting effect from one of your photos to give viewers a different feel. Of course you can use PS to do it in many ways. But a simple way to do it is to decrease the Clarity to certain degree (by "try and see" slider) under Basic editing tool in Lightroom. In the attached 2 photos, the Clarity value have been adjusted to -50 for the desired painting look.
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01-18-2016, 05:35 PM - 1 Like   #389
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An image should have three things to make it stand out:
1. An interesting, obvious and uncluttered subject
2. Excellent composition and
3. Great light
01-18-2016, 05:49 PM - 4 Likes   #390
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A lot of people care about depth of field, often wanting to minimize it to create that smooth, blurry background and pristine bokeh. Most think about aperture, f-number, when they think of controlling depth of field; slightly fewer remember that you can also change your focal length or how close you're focusing, but it's often an afterthought: I mean, how much effect does it really have?

In fact, changing your distance or focal length actually affects your depth of field much more than simply changing the f-number (both behave quadratically, while the f-number has only a linear effect [see below], but if that makes your head hurt, don't worry about it!). Though these changes likely mean a slight change in composition in the photo, if you are dying for just the narrowest DoF you can get, keep this in mind!
In other words: If you really want to blur out the out of focus regions, don't just think about aperture, but consider getting closer or using a longer lens (the inverse is true as well)!


-----------------End of Tip (for submission). What follows is a slightly more thorough explanation of the math mentioned above, for completeness-------------

So, it turns out there's a formula for the total depth of field in your image, which can be given by (prepare yourselves, MATH incoming):

Total DoF = 2 N c u^2 / f^2

Where N is the f-number, u is the distance to your focal plane, and f is your focal length. (c is your "circle of confusion," but for here, it's easiest just to think of it as a constant; if you're more interested, I encourage you to look it up, or send me a message and I'd be happy to explain!).
*Note: This formula is a slight simplification from a full solution, but is very accurate for nearly all use cases, and highlights very effectively the point made. (Also, I would love to format this, but I can't seem to find any good formatting tools here.)

What we see is something really notable, and that's that the f-number is a purely linear term, while the focus distance and the focal length are both quadratic! Said differently, a change in f-number is very quickly trumped by a change in either of the others.
ex: u = 5 m, N = 8, f = 55 mm, and c is constant, say c = 10 microns, for simplicity.
For this initial setup, we get a total DoF = 1.3 m. That means that things won't even start to blur until you're almost a meter behind your subject.
Now, if we go to N = 2.8 (a whole 3 stops to compensate!) we get DoF = 0.46 m.

Not bad, but I think we can do better. Say I want to keep things at f/8 for maximal sharpness in the in-focus parts, how can I achieve this same depth of field? Well, without moving at all or changing the f-number, if I zoom out (say on a handy-dandy 55-300 HD) to 93mm, I achieve the exact same DoF!
But if I really preferred how the 55mm treated the scene, I could instead move a little closer! Taking 3 steps up to being 3m away achieves again the same effect.

But if I take a little of each, and shoot 85mm at f/4 from only one meter closer (4m away), I achieve a wonderfully shallow DoF = 0.177m, less than half what we had with just switching to f/2.8, and almost ten times less than what we started with!

PHEW. That's a lot of math. But yes, the point is, DoF is far from an aperture-driven effect!
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