Day 3 with the new macro rig, and I decided to go big.
8 exposure HDR big.
This scene looked so flipping dreamy and impossibly dynamic-rangey that I knew a single exposure would do it no justice.
I would really like to see this printed at about four feet wide… (or at least 7.3″ x 11″)
D7000, Nikon 36-72mm (at 72mm) mounted on the Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 E Series (at ~100mm to provide a bit of vignetting that was lost in the HDR conversion) via 14mm extension tube, both at f/3.5, ISO100. Exposure times of 2″, 1″, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, HDRified in Photoshop CS5.1 merge to HDR function, and processed with its Surrealistic preset. (Next purchase: a dedicated HDR program… probably).
I shot this indoors, with multiple lights on, at 4:02pm, 8 March 2012, in Dallas TX. It is completely overcast in Dallas today.
I do not own a telescope.
What I do own is an old, slightly scratched (and rather dusty, apparently) magnifying glass, a Nikon 75-150mm E Series, a Nikon 36-72mm E Series, a set of extension tubes, and some gaff tape.
D7000, Nikon 36-72mm f/3.5 E Series, at 72mm, mounted on a Nikon 75-150mm E Series, at 150mm, both at f/3.5, ISO100, 2.5 seconds.
(full writeup to come tomorrow, if all goes according to plan.)
I won’t go into it right now, as I’m a bit pressed for time, but I will do a full write up with lots more pictures later soon. If not later tonight, then probably sometime over the weekend.
But here’s a hint:
D7000, Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 E Series, mounted to the 36-72mm f/3.5 E Series, via 14mm of extension tubes. ISO100, 1/6th (chosen by the camera, as I was in aperture priority mode, and thus why the pins in the upper right are not in focus), f/3.5 (both).
And, by the way, I shot some video with this setup (and have pictures of the setup) that I’ll share soon, so stay tuned!
Am I cheating by submitting an iPhone photo, hastily (read: not at all) composed while (not quite) doubling the speed limit on an exit ramp?
Maybe, but I’m doing it anyway.
This was shot with ProCamera, my current camera-replacement app of choice. Since I was driving and pretty much spraying-and-praying that I could catch these fluffy clouds all flying in formation over Old East Dallas, I couldn’t be bothered to choose the focus and exposure points, so the app (and the inbuilt camera software, I suppose) chose all of that of its own accord. But still:
ProCamera, Apple iPhone4 3.8mm lens, ISO 80, 1/1436th, f/2.8 (is the iPhone4 aperture adjustable?). Some straightening, cropping, contrast/saturation/exposure/black point/etc. adjustments made in Aperture, but only to recreate what my eyes saw.
So I used the Light Pipe I made earlier today to create a Beauty Dish-ish type of thing. The fresh (and really bad) haircut didn’t do me any favors here, but this was really more of a proof-of-concept project than anything else.
I didn’t take any in process shots. Apologies. But I just cut a hole in the bottom of a roasting pan, shoved the light pipe through, attached it with gaff tape, and stuck a hastily-folded hunk of aluminum foil to the end of it to bounce light back into the pan. It makes really beautiful light, but it chews that light like crazy (and swallows about 75%) before spitting some beauty at the subject. I was having to toss out full pops to get me about 1/4 stop overexposed. I’m not sure if that was due to the distance between me and the dish-ish, or because the light pipe protrudes beyond the borders of the pan, or both.
Anyway.
Proof of Concept, today’s 365 entry, was captured with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G, ISO100, 1/200th, f/8, with the SB700 at 1/4 power.
After some modifications (and cussing), the Beauty Dish-ish itself and (Not Quite) Beautified and its offspring (Adjusted and Adjusted with Abandon) were captured with the Sigma 30mm f/1.4, ISO100, 1/200th, f/5.6, with the SB700 at full power.
Adjusted and Adjusted with Abandon received treatment from Topaz Labs’s Adjust 5 (now Adjust AI) . The first got the Retro Style 4 and Equalize treatments; the latter got Crisp and Portrait Drama, plus some contrast, saturation, and definition adjustments once I brought it back into Aperture. Fun stuff.
