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08-31-2012, 10:32 AM - 3 Likes   #1
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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:
  • I found a lot of images with terrible foreground. In order to reduce the foreground, you need to get very close. To replace the uninteresting foreground, you have a couple of options. Replace it with water and the waterline of the ship, or something else on the dock or wharf - the structures used to moor the ship - Bollards.
  • I found a single image on the web, using a Bollard that was just fantastic. Noted that on the shot plan.
  • The main shots, in particular to get the sunset is from the stern of the ship. The lower you are able to get, the more sky you are able to include (given that the sky is interesting in some way).
  • Unless you are local, you have no idea as to the orientation of the ship - bow in or stern in. So, essentially you need to be prepared for however the ship is tied up. They take out the ship a couple of times a year in order to turn it around, so as to age both sides somewhat evenly.
  • For me, daylight shooting is pretty uninteresting, and a lot of the images just validated this.
  • Its a miniature shipyard, the ship takes a lot of maintenance and upkeep. Things move around and there is a lot of heavy equipment near by, that you may need to take in to account when composing.
So, what equipment did I take....
  • K5 - The sensor is wonderful for ambient low light shooting - either sunset or sunrise.
  • Tripod with ballhead - absolutely necessary
  • Nodal Ninja 3 Panoramic Head - absolutely necessary if you are going to stitch vertically. The ballhead gives a different perspective when stitched. Also, I found that the Sigma 8-16 is a bit long for the NN3, but fits the 12-24 just fine.
  • Wired remote
  • Sigma 8-16 - This was a new acquisition - yet another UWA. The ship is so large, especially in that you need to get close in order to include the waterline, that this in my view is absolutely necessary.
  • DA 10-17 - It turns out I did not use this at all. The Sigma 8-16 was plenty, and I did not need to contend with where to put the bend. In hindsight, I should have tried it for a few shots.
  • DA 12-24 - I brought this for its versatility, just in case the Sigma was too wide for some shots and needed something in the 16-25 range. This did work out very well.
  • Zeiss 25 - I brought this since it is much sharper and better IQ than the 12-24 @ 24. It worked very well.
  • A 50 - It is so small that its just automatically included.
  • CZ 85 - I wanted some tight shots, and this has much better IQ than the 55-300 which was my other option. Its also smaller.
  • K 28 Shift - I did not use this, just too busy with everything else.
  • 3 Batteries - I used two batteries the first night. Nice to have the spare.
  • 2 - 32GB & 3 - 4GB SD cards - I though best not to run out...
  • A netbook. I used this to store the images on, freeing up the SD cards. Also, to provide a quick look at the images afterwards, so that I could make adjustments for the sunrise shoot. This worked out VERY well.
_____________________________________

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.
  • Evening - 6.30 to 8.30 pm - 245 frames (5 shot brackets) or 49 images
  • Morning - 4.30 to 6.00 am (I need to leave at 6 am on the dot, to get ready for work and drive an hour to my meeting at 8am) - 235 frames (5 shot brackets) or 47 images
What I did not count on was.....
  • This was Heritage week and they had taken the ship out again (for a second time in a week - I didn't anticipate this), and things were very busy - but they still hosted my request, which under the circumstances was very nice of them.
  • The entire stern of the ship was unavailable and roped off as a crane was coming - see the images below.
  • The water side of the wharf was roped off due to crowds when they were sailing the ship. The on duty watch indicated that I could not cross the lines.
  • The pier outboard the ship was not open in the evening.
  • About 70% of the positions I wanted to shoot from were not available - cranes, temporary fencing, portable equipment containers. Remember - its a shipyard and the maintenance on the ship is continuous. She is a high maintenance lady. Adapt, adapt, adapt....
  • The plan was too ambitious. However, since I had tired to think out every possible shooting position, I had more than enough opportunities to shoot.
  • Needed to follow the plan - even with adapting. I did not follow the plan close enough. Also - I should have organized the plan by specific position, rather than just general areas.
  • The plan was to shoot more 8-16 to get waterline to the top of the mast. I did this, but not nearly enough. Up close, the ship is just too large for any other lens. I did not sufficiently realize this. Also, in the evening - I wanted to try to do some details - closer in shots. What I knew, but did not remember at the time was the breeze. The breeze moves the lines, and all the detailed shots had the lines very fuzzy.
  • The breeze - it moves the ship. I did a lot of 20 - 30 second shots. The ship moves, and you don't realize it until you start looking at the images. If I would have remembered, I would have upped the ISO to 200 - 400 in order to minimize the shutter time.
  • I bracketed everything - which was an excellent choice, even though it chewed up a lot of time - about 3 minutes per set of 5 frames. With the movement and breeze, I can still have the option of taking the best individual shot and working with it rather than the stack.
  • Stitching is extremely difficult, when going vertically - from the horizon to straight up, with a large difference in the lighting conditions. I should have pulled out the fisheye, and also gone completely manual. I didn't and lost a very good shot.

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...


Attached Images
   

Last edited by interested_observer; 09-03-2012 at 07:43 PM.
08-31-2012, 11:36 AM   #2
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Very impressive work. Now, was all that worth it?
08-31-2012, 12:47 PM   #3
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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.
08-31-2012, 04:30 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by Docrwm Quote
Very impressive work. Now, was all that worth it?
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.

QuoteOriginally posted by Dice Quote
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.
You make an excellent point. I have fallen into the rut, that next time I know what to do and what else to bring. The next opportunity is never as good as the first opportunity. The weather, cloud cover, breeze, lighting conditions - what ever are never as good at the first unexpected opportunity. When looking at the resulting images, I am always saying, why didn't I not see that aspect or that the shot, but also take another with this adjustment. I guess that is the difference between a rank amateur and a professional.

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
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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.
08-31-2012, 09:47 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by mysticcowboy Quote
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.
Evening Michael, I was working all day in customer meetings an hour to the south of the city, so I did not have a chance. That would have helped a bit, but I was more than familiar with the area from my last visit and the Google Earth overheads that I used. This was the first time I was close to the ship, and I had a good idea about the angle of views that was necessary. I should have stitched horizontally more with the 8-16. After going through the images several times, and thinking about the take, the main takeaways are:
  • I brought too many lenses. I really only needed 2 or 3 - the 8-16, 25 and 85.
  • I acquired the 8-16 specifically for vertical portrait shots. I should have used it more in this orientation.
  • The NN3 was good, but it distracted me. My fault, I should have stayed with the 8-16 and the original plan. The wider perspective would have cured (masked) a lot of the movement ills from the wind and tide. In retrospect, I should not have even attempted vertical stitching - as that just distracted from the main intent.
  • I should have composed better - especially the cityscape under the bow. In going through the images on the web, I had never come across that and it would have been a wonderful shot, especially from the middle of the yard - there by using the distance to an advantage and not as a detriment.
  • I should have moved to a higher ISO, but that was not apparent until viewing the take on a larger monitor screen, where you could really see the movement. Even on LiveView zoomed in, it was not apparent.
  • I need to frame better on LiveView leaving a bit more margin. Also an articulated rear screen on the body would have been worth its weight in gold. Putting the camera nearly straight up presents a large problem in composing the shot - especially if it is going to be stitched.
  • This was a very worth wild learning experience for me. Well worth the price of admission.


Last edited by interested_observer; 09-03-2012 at 07:58 PM.
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