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08-31-2012, 10:32 AM - 3 Likes | #1 |
Loyal Site Supporter | Plan the Shoot - Shoot the Plan
About 6 weeks ago, I was in Boston for business and wound up one evening down at the harbor in the Navy Yard looking at the USS Constitution - after its closing time. Had my camera with me and took some photos while walking around at dusk.At the time the images did not appear to be anything special. At home with a bit of tweaking, I was very surprised with the results, which got me thinking since I needed to return this week, about what other shots might be available from other vantage points. I started looking around the web and came up with primarily tourist photos. I did come across a number that were extremely well done. I remembered that after taking the shots, I was asking myself - what other shots should I get, and though that I had taken most that were available, so I headed out for dinner. Back home, after seeing the results, I started thinking about my next visit.... I ran across the Navy's web page for the USS Constitution, and saw that in the upper menu selection that there was an option for "Events & Services". Taking a look there, I saw that you could fill out a form with your special request. So, my event request was for 1 person - sunset and sunrise - emailed it in and back came an approval...This time, I thought that I would put a shot plan together, so that I would think things through before hand and then just follow the plan. I used a Golden/Blue calculator web page....In looking at other images across the web (Google Image search), I found that you could get a lot of asphalt as a foreground or need to get very close to be able to include the waterline, which pretty much meant you would not be able to include most of the masts. I also used Google Earth, to do some measurements (it has a tape measure capability (icon up on the menu)) from various places around the ship, within the ship yard. Looking up the physical dimensions of the ship, main mast 225 feet, plus the water line to the deck of ~ 30 feet, then with some trigonometry, I determined that from various positions I would need about 115 to 117 degrees in Angle of View. My widest lens was 90 degrees (DA 12-24), which presented two choices - stitch or the Sigma 8-16. I thought that stitching would be a bit difficult with the angles involved, being close to the ship, that there might be some problems, so I sprang for the Sigma. This lead me to put together a shot plan (scroll down - its attached here), so that I would not forget to do some things that I wanted to include. In this shot plan, I included an overhead with the sunset and sun rise lines along with the moon rise and set. I also pulled in the various times, along with images and notes in terms of what I wanted to do. In doing all of this, I found the following:
So - How did it all turn out? All in all - extremely well. The Navy was very hospitable, they were wonderful hosts. I called from the Phoenix airport to see if I was on the schedule, since I would be landing at Logan and then driving directly over. Also, you need to be flexible and adapt to whatever situation you find. They had the ships public relations Chief meet me.
I'll include a couple of images here, that show some of the challenges that you need to work with and around. Here are some additional images... Last edited by interested_observer; 09-03-2012 at 07:43 PM. |
These users Like interested_observer's post: |
08-31-2012, 11:36 AM | #2 |
Very impressive work. Now, was all that worth it? | |
08-31-2012, 12:47 PM | #3 |
Thank you so much for sharing your approach. I am more "fly by the seat of my pants....and see how it goes." But this clearly shows another approach that is sure to give you more opportunities for keepers.
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08-31-2012, 04:30 PM | #4 |
Loyal Site Supporter Original Poster | Was it worth the effort? I am sitting here hearing the theme music from Jeopardy playing in my mind. Yes, it was worth the effort. I had to go to Boston anyway, no getting out of that. The business meetings were very successful and that was the main purpose of the trip. This was an interesting diversion, in that I did not need to eat any more large dinners. A bowl of Clam Chowder with a salad is just fine. It is hot here, and in the evenings - right now, its still difficult to go for a walk, with the radiated ground heat well past midnight. On the asphalt roads you leave foot prints. So, this was an interesting exercise to do in the evenings. For me, the entire planing process was a piece of cake. The planning was the easy part. The execution is an entirely different question, and that goes to the heart of my skill - or lack there of. There were several images that I wanted, that were unobtainable. I walked into the yard, saw the restrictions, saw what I had to work with and made adjustments. Then just started to go. There were others that were unexpected opportunities that I did not convert perfectly, good - very good, but not great and I did not see the difference at the time. My problem was that I knew that the 8-16 Angle of View was right on the limits of what I needed in terms of how I wanted to use the lens. I just did not check to make sure that I was allowing margin when I was using LiveView. I was not use to shooting things that tall that close, with an inability to back up. I was just not careful enough. There were tradeoffs that I selected that appeared to be the correct decision, and then I sat down and looked at the results - afterwards, and I am saying, why did I not just make this small adjustment and the image would have improved by a factor of 2x or 3x. It would have gone from good to very good, or from very good to excellent. There was one shot of the cityscape in the distance right on the bow. I got the shot, but in looking at it on a larger monitor, I should have taken a slightly different angle and composed it differently. I did not see that at the time. That is just living and learning - acquiring more experience, practice and skill. I found that I do feel I have a good understand shooting into the light, much better than shooting sunsets with the light behind me. I can shoot in to the sunset and be confident that I have pretty much nailed it, to the extent possible almost every time. Not so with shooting the sunset with reflected light - and I just noticed that this morning in looking at the various shots. The K5 it turns out is 10x better than the K20 in this area. That is what I was forced to do here, and something I had little experience with. I did ok, but not as well as I should have. If I would have known from taking some of those shots here at home, I would have been much more aggressive in taking these shots. After taking a look at the shots, the K5 performed way beyond my expectations. I just did not use it to its potential in a number of cases. That is my fault - that I can make adjustments. There were a couple of images that I took specifically for desktop wallpaper for myself. They turned out better than what I expected. Very happy with them. Others, I had great expectations with - and missed the mark. Usually, for me it is - by the seat of my pants, however knowing I needed to go back out again, presented this opportunity that I could actually plan for. I actually found that planning raised my expectations, potentially beyond the point that my skills could support. The folks that live in the Boston area - have a gold mine of opportunities and locations. That can be said also about out here in the desert. I am totally immune to the vast majority of the image opportunities and locations out here. That just means that I need to adjust my outlook and approach the local area in the same way as back there. I can go to a harbor and see the potential shots. Maybe its just that I have an affinity for the ocean. ______________________ Another aspect that I have discovered is that on the K5, in particularly when I am using the tripod, LiveView becomes very useful. This I used - possibly over used here. What I found is that LiveView is very useful, but it would be even more useful with an articulated rear screen. This is especially true when shooting close to the ground. I also brought a small hard form seat cushion for a knee pad. That was worth its weight in gold - it helped a great deal in getting down on the ground with two bad knees. I actually picked up another 2 batteries - which I have been meaning to do for years. They came in handy. I find that taking along a small netbook to review the images in the evening helps immensely with the next opportunity. The things that I do regularly I do very well. On this opportunity, there were a lot of aspects of what I did - I did for the first time, or I had not done a lot of it. I anticipated that I would be shooting into the sun 95% of the time. As it turned out I was shooting reflected sunlight off the sunset 100% of the time - just the opposite. It just did not occur to me that this would happen. I need to do/practice these things much more frequently. I found that vertical stitching directly up, into a different sky lighting - I did not do very well with. That was a surprise to me, since I nail horizontal stitching every time with out really thinking. I had the equipment, I just did not perform very well. Also, it did not dawn on me that the lighting conditions nearly straight up were so different - I was not paying that close attention to that aspect of the lighting - I noticed that the clouds on the horizon were heavily banked but nearly clear overhead. Basically, it was a very good and real learning experience - for me. If I had to do it over again, I would do a hundred little things differently, that would make a large difference in the overall quality of the shots. Last edited by interested_observer; 09-03-2012 at 07:56 PM. |
08-31-2012, 04:53 PM | #5 |
Veteran Member |
Excellent look into your thought process. Did you consider visiting the dock during the day? That's often what I do before working in night images. I scout, shoot a few snaps to test angles and lens.
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08-31-2012, 09:47 PM | #6 |
Loyal Site Supporter Original Poster |
Last edited by interested_observer; 09-03-2012 at 07:58 PM. |
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