[dadipentak]

I wouldn't even think to attempt shots like those!

Good decision--I did attempt it and my ego ended up in Intensive Care for three days ;~)

[PilotRose]

Awesome shots! Well done!

[Wombat]

I like shooting through crystals, magnifying glasses, mylar, glasses of water, prisms, anything that bends light. Mostly they turn out crap, but occasionally it can surprise you.

If you want a bit of structure to this you could see if your local library can get hold of a copy of Michael Freeman's book "Photo School." There are 200-odd pages of ideas you might enjoy. It's a long shot, but you could also ask if they can find "All the Photo Tricks" by Edwin Smith (though that's pretty old now).

Excellent thread. There's a few of Rio's I haven't tried. I'm not sure I'd try the "run into a bar" one in an Aussie pub, though...

Nice work, Digitalis. Stopping the motion, getting sharpness and nice bokeh takes some doing, mate.

[pacerr]

A perspective exercise -

In the beginning, I had a crippled mindset that saw lens focal length only in terms of crop factor. e.g., telephoto to get closer, WA to widen the field of view.

After beating myself about the head and shoulders over composition it finally dawned on me that focal length controlled perspective more so than crop factor - I could freely crop in the darkroom but I couldn't change perspective once the scene was captured on film. So I set about an exercise to illustrate that concept and help form a different functional point of view.

Using wide, normal and telephoto lenses I'd pick a fairly open spot like a park or parking lot then at long, medium and close distances from a significant subject I'd explore the entire range of background perspectives and "vanishing points" through each lens while concentrating on the change in perspective. I took notes and sketched diagrams of specific changes from each position. That helped a lot in learning to better use lens focal length and having to verbally describe the different views was also useful in its own way.

I also recorded how the change in background affected exposure depending the tones included or excluded by the angle of view; that's something which seems to often be overlooked in questions regarding variances in exposure setting from lens to lens or when changing metering modes.

At the time, I was interested in that topic as a means of recording "fidelity" in a forensic-type sense. I still find an occasional, abbreviated exercise useful to remind myself of the esthetic effects of focal length.

Today I use zoom lenses for convenience and sometimes shoot each scene for later study, but back then that would have involved a significant expense in both darkroom time and film to record and categorize each profile. The ability to shoot digitally "for free" as a teaching/learning device today is a tremendous benefit that's often unappreciated.

H2

[downunderman]

You must have drugged them, I have tried to photograph dragonflies hell they are just toooooo speedy up here. Nice shots

[Digitalis]

nope no drugs involved, just a liberal application of patience and skill.

[Wombat]

A perspective exercise -

In the beginning, I had a crippled mindset that saw lens focal length only in terms of crop factor. e.g., telephoto to get closer, WA to widen the field of view.

After beating myself about the head and shoulders over composition it finally dawned on me that focal length controlled perspective more so than crop factor - I could freely crop in the darkroom but I couldn't change perspective once the scene was captured on film. So I set about an exercise to illustrate that concept and help form a different functional point of view.

Using wide, normal and telephoto lenses I'd pick a fairly open spot like a park or parking lot then at long, medium and close distances from a significant subject I'd explore the entire range of background perspectives and "vanishing points" through each lens while concentrating on the change in perspective. I took notes and sketched diagrams of specific changes from each position. That helped a lot in learning to better use lens focal length and having to verbally describe the different views was also useful in its own way.

I also recorded how the change in background affected exposure depending the tones included or excluded by the angle of view; that's something which seems to often be overlooked in questions regarding variances in exposure setting from lens to lens or when changing metering modes.

At the time, I was interested in that topic as a means of recording "fidelity" in a forensic-type sense. I still find an occasional, abbreviated exercise useful to remind myself of the esthetic effects of focal length.

Today I use zoom lenses for convenience and sometimes shoot each scene for later study, but back then that would have involved a significant expense in both darkroom time and film to record and categorize each profile. The ability to shoot digitally "for free" as a teaching/learning device today is a tremendous benefit that's often unappreciated.

H2

Thanks, pacerr. You packed a lot into those comments. I'll have to go away and have a deep think about them then take my camera and a bunch of lenses for a walk.

[icywarm]

Thanks, pacerr. You packed a lot into those comments. I'll have to go away and have a deep think about them then take my camera and a bunch of lenses for a walk.

Don't forget the ending part... take a zoom... unless you need and excuse to carry a few lenses with you!

[gofour3]

I was bored one day,and looking for a challenge. So I decided I would photograph dragonflies mid-air with my sigma 180mm f/3.5 only using manual focus.

Very nice, the dragonflies look like little helicopters!

Phil.

[ajlec2000]

pacerr, excellent ideas! Have you considered writing an article for the forum about those two exercises for the forum?

[pacerr]

...an article for the forum...

Nag, nag, nag!

Expanded a bit.

H2

An Exercise in Perspective -...

[Macario]

I'm working on the shooting manual thing too, I've heard that it is also really useful to go out and use just one lens for everything, to learn it's strength and weaknesses.

I am interested to hear what other techniques people suggest as well. Thanks for asking.

I do like to shoot with just one lens mainly, and then a prime. Not just so much that you will learn it strenghts and weaknesses. But also you learn to look like the lens. You start to just look at photographic subjects that will suit the lens. And iMO it will raise the number of good shots during shootuing

[ajlec2000]

Jeez, pacerr, that was quick. I was going to give you a week or so. I guess I better go read it now.

Seriously. Thanks.

[Mike Cash]

I had never heard of the "shoot shoot shoot with manual" thing before, but since I shoot practically everything in manual focus anyway I suppose I didn't miss anything.

My personal deliberate challenge, if you can call it that, is trying to get some degree of human expression out of statues.

both
Pentax K20D
Auto-Takumar 55/2

[pacerr]

[quote Originally posted by pacerr] A perspective exercise -[/quote]

Okay, okay!

I apparently stand convicted of an improper definition, sloppy wordsmithing and a confusing and incomplete example. (But, hey, if you get to choose your own definitions you always win, right?) And the "logic", such as it is, has worked for my purposes for a long time and I've never actually tried to explain it before.

I encourage y'all to visit the discussion in the Articles Forum for more enlightenment by others trying to set the story straight.

H2