[clackers]

Good morning all. Question for the community - anyone want to buy a broken barometer?

No pressure.

I'm also in a bit of trouble - I got the words “jacuzzi” and “yakuza” confused.

Now I'm in hot water with the Japanese Mafia!

This week I want to talk about the Blue Hour.

We all know about the so-called Golden Hours, which of course are not an hour but a varied length of time. But preceding sunrise and after sunset are similar periods of what seem to be darkness, but contain low levels of blue/violet light, which is bent and scattered the most if you've ever seen a prism, so is first to appear or last to disappear, and is the reason why clear skies are blue ("Rayleigh scattering").

The potential is there for very moody shots, if you're equipped for long exposures. The pic below is from my K-30 with the Sigma 35mm Art. I think it was 30 seconds.

To finish with, there's the story of Amanda’s dishwasher which quit working, so she called a repairman.

Since she had to go to work the next day, she told him , “I’ll leave the key under the mat. Fix the dishwasher, leave the bill on the counter, and I’ll mail you a cheque. Oh, by the way don’t worry about my dog Spike. He won’t bother you. But, whatever you do, do NOT, under ANY circumstances, talk to my parrot! I REPEAT- DO NOT TALK TO MY PARROT!!!”

When the repairman arrived at her apartment the following day, he discovered the biggest, meanest looking Rhodesian Ridgeback he had ever seen.

But, just as she'd said, the dog just lay there on the carpet watching the repairman go about his work.

Her old parrot, however, drove him nuts the whole time with incessant yelling, cursing and name calling.

Finally the repairman couldn’t contain himself any longer and yelled, “Shut up, you stupid, ugly bird!”

To which the parrot replied, “Get him, Spike!”

Find the rest of the series here: Clackers' Beginners Tips (Collected) - PentaxForums.com

[bschriver11]

Your posts are great!!

[Paul the Sunman]

I've taken some great shots down at Princes Pier, but this is a nice variation on the theme.

[mikeSF]

Are we not entertained?
Love it.
Great blue hour image too, Clackers!

[Mr. Ed]

Thanks so much! Not sure which is better, your tips or your stories.

[Billy Bokeh]

I really appreciate your quick tips and efforts, Clackers. I read every post I see by you. Thank you.

[pschlute]

Cracking image Ian.

[LukaszWro]

i like those hours but dont like long shutter speeds. i have troubles with this as most of my pictures have trees and with almost constant wind in my area (coast area) they are always blurred. maybe anybody have some solution for this?

and i like yours tips as well. read them all and like those jokes. todays about parrot is really good.

[pschlute]

i have troubles with this as most of my pictures have trees and with almost constant wind in my area (coast area) they are always blurred. maybe anybody have some solution for this?

There is not a lot you can do when you are constrained by the exposure triangle.

Using a faster lens wide open may help to get your shutter speed up, but you will have limited DOF and may suffer edge sharpness, neither of which you want in most landscape shots.

Bumping up the ISO could help, but going too far can introduce noise.

My suggestion would be to take the opposite approach and purposefully use an even slower shutter speed, maybe of a few seconds to increase the blur in the trees. Your landscape then would stand out from the crowd.

[RICHARD L.]

Right after the "Golden Hour", I get the "BLUES" and I retire to my bedroom for the night ...

[rr1736]

Good morning all. Question for the community - anyone want to buy a broken barometer?

No pressure.

I'm also in a bit of trouble - I got the words “jacuzzi” and “yakuza” confused.

Now I'm in hot water with the Japanese Mafia!

This week I want to talk about the Blue Hour.

We all know about the so-called Golden Hours, which of course are not an hour but a varied length of time. But preceding sunrise and after sunset are similar periods of what seem to be darkness, but contain low levels of blue/violet light, which is bent and scattered the most if you've ever seen a prism, so is first to appear or last to disappear, and is the reason why clear skies are blue ("Rayleigh scattering").

The potential is there for very moody shots, if you're equipped for long exposures. The pic below is from my K-30 with the Sigma 35mm Art. I think it was 30 seconds.

To finish with, there's the story of Amanda’s dishwasher which quit working, so she called a repairman.

Since she had to go to work the next day, she told him , “I’ll leave the key under the mat. Fix the dishwasher, leave the bill on the counter, and I’ll mail you a cheque. Oh, by the way don’t worry about my dog Spike. He won’t bother you. But, whatever you do, do NOT, under ANY circumstances, talk to my parrot! I REPEAT- DO NOT TALK TO MY PARROT!!!”

When the repairman arrived at her apartment the following day, he discovered the biggest, meanest looking Rhodesian Ridgeback he had ever seen.

But, just as she'd said, the dog just lay there on the carpet watching the repairman go about his work.

Her old parrot, however, drove him nuts the whole time with incessant yelling, cursing and name calling.

Finally the repairman couldn’t contain himself any longer and yelled, “Shut up, you stupid, ugly bird!”

To which the parrot replied, “Get him, Spike!”

Find the rest of the series here: Clackers' Beginners Tips (Collected) - PentaxForums.com

Wonderful

[clackers]

Thanks all for your kind words!

Next week, Beginners Tip 59: Aperture and Depth of Field

[clackers]

i like those hours but dont like long shutter speeds. i have troubles with this as most of my pictures have trees and with almost constant wind in my area (coast area) they are always blurred. maybe anybody have some solution for this?

and i like yours tips as well. read them all and like those jokes. todays about parrot is really good.

Thanks, Lukasz. As Peter says, making the exposure longer can help in some cases, because it's more likely to average out movement.

Where it's constant, as the water is in my shot, it's moving all the time, it will average out as a blur, so will moving clouds.

So, yes, you will have to choose your scene carefully. On windy nights, maybe you have to start shooting subjects other than your beloved trees!

[clackers]

I've taken some great shots down at Princes Pier, but this is a nice variation on the theme.

Thanks, Paul, I took others, but you can see for this one I was trying to get leading lines to the red beacons.