Even MORE Yosemite pics.....lol

Steve Cavigliano

Hello All,
I just scanned through some of the great shots my fellow Shootout participants have posted :thumb :thumb GREAT work guys and gals :clap :clap

As I mentioned to Andy and Gus, even thought the weather sucked this was one of the best learning experiences I've ever had Working next to all these fine shooters and having Mark Meunsch, the Pro, with us and watching his presentation has helped me tremendously (and boy did I need help...lol) I also got to use a 600mm lens (thanks Denny aka Lark) :thumb :thumb What a piece of white iron. Heavy, unwieldly and a bear to wrestle with on a tripod. But, oh what a lens :rolleyes Is the image quality worth spending 8 times the Bigma's price? IMHO, you betta believe it :jawdrop


Here's a little 600mm candid portrait from about 100 feet away. Slightly cropped (very slightly), but otherwise straight from the camera using Parameter 1. I linked to the original size image so you can check out the color, contrast and detail for yourself :lust

A Sony 717 IR shot on the one clear period we got


It mostly looked like this



A slow exposure of the same scene Andy has posted, but with the 18-55mm kit lens.


Yosemite falls inverted and rotated, as seen in a puddle of meadow water


600mm deer (or 3/4 of a deer....lol) who had just run through one of those puddles :uhoh



Finally, a 600mm woodpecker (you didn't think you were going to get through this without seein' a bird shot, did ya? :lol )




As you've seen, we all got some good pics and despite the weather, the weekend was a great success :thumb :thumb I highly recommend that you start saving now for the Zion Shootout next year. You won't regret it

Thanks for looking,
Steve

ginger_55

Good gosh, Steve. Your color shots are great, but your blk and white ones are stupendous. Did you buy that lens? If it is worth it, well, what the hey.

And from those shots, it is worth it.

ginger

Sam

Damn! Now I'm gona have to get me one those there IR cameras!

Sam

ps: Great stuff..................

Nir

Steve,

Simply fantastic!

ian408

Those IR shots are wonderful as are those of the deer. How was that to swing
around?

I $ee a 600mm in $teve$'$ future

Ian

johno

Great shots. What a great time you must have had.

peace.
johno~

Dee

Yeah, some birds
Did you get a good one of those colorful blue western jays? I tried, but failed miserably!

Some nice pictures Steve... Love the reflection in the puddle, I have a few of those myself to post.

Nice meeting you in person.

SusanB

You guys were cookin' out there! Terrific variety of shots Steve


Susan

CatOne

ian408 wrote:

Those IR shots are wonderful as are those of the deer. How was that to swing
around?

I $ee a 600mm in $teve$'$ future

Ian

Will you feel like less of a man, given you only have a 500mm?

With the 500 and the 2x, I would have been able to verify whether any of the climbers on El Cap, 2000 feet up, were suffering from digestive distress :uhoh

ian408

CatOne wrote:

Will you feel like less of a man, given you only have a 500mm?

With the 500 and the 2x, I would have been able to verify whether any of the climbers on El Cap, 2000 feet up, were suffering from digestive distress :uhoh

Negative. I'm comfortable

Ian

Daniel Chui

Steve, these shots are fantastic! I think that the 2nd shot is my favorite. Have you considered dropping your black point a bit (in the curves) for the tree-area of the shot? Or for the cloud area of the shot?

Perhaps by dropping the black point on the curve while keeping the bright point where it is, you would be able to bring out more details and definition not only in the trees, but in the clouds.

Cheers!

- Chui

MuskyDude

I've said it before and I'll say it again :jawdrop

Stunning and breathtaking are some of the words that come to mind looking at these.



AJ

SusanB

Daniel Chui wrote:

Steve, these shots are fantastic! I think that the 2nd shot is my favorite. Have you considered dropping your black point a bit (in the curves) for the tree-area of the shot? Or for the cloud area of the shot?

Perhaps by dropping the black point on the curve while keeping the bright point where it is, you would be able to bring out more details and definition not only in the trees, but in the clouds.

Cheers!

- Chui

I agree, these are sooo wonderful! . I do see what you are getting at Daniel. My impression was to maybe try a touch of dodge/burn by about 3% to bring out the contrasts a bit more. There is so much that is breathtaking and awesome in these images.

Susan

Steve Cavigliano

ginger_55 wrote:

Good gosh, Steve. Your color shots are great, but your blk and white ones are stupendous. Did you buy that lens? If it is worth it, well, what the hey.

And from those shots, it is worth it.

ginger

Thanks Ginger

I knew everyone would be posting fantastic shots (and I wasn't wrong), so I figured I'd shoot some IR as something unique. I used to really enjoy shooting IR and sort of got away from it while being on my 20D kick. I found out that I need to get back to it more often

How these were shot is, I used a Sony camera with NightShot capability. An F-717, to be exact. I put it into the NightShot mode, attached a 6 stop ND filter and an R72 infrared filter and adjusted the exposure using EV Comp. The Sony NightShot mode is crippled (due to it's ability to see through certain materials) and limited in this camera to 1/60 speeds and wide open aperture (F2.0-F2.4).

Andy shot his using an IR modified DReb. You can also get the Sonys modded so that they don't need filters and aren't crippled.

If you like the IR effect, I have some others in my galleries HERE and Andy has some also :cool

Thanks for the comments,
Steve

David_S85

Steve, first of all, great shots there.

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

You can also get the Sonys modded so that they don't need filters and aren't crippled.
Steve

You'll still need the regular filters for IR work with a Max-Max converted 7 or 8 series Sony. But you won't be limited to 1/30th or below sec. exposures as in the default NightShot™ mode.

You'll also need to shoot through a hot-mirror filter for all regular color shooting.

bfjr

Great stuff Steve
Really proud of all you guys/gals shots
Beautiful eyes seeing beautiful sights sharing here

Hey ever notice how a running deer looks like a "Roo", or is that what the 600mm does :lol4

Steve Cavigliano

Sam wrote:

Damn! Now I'm gona have to get me one those there IR cameras!

Sam

ps: Great stuff..................

Thanks Sam

Pick up a 2nd hand Sony off Ebay or Andybay :lol . But only after you get your 20D

It was a pleasure to meet, talk and shoot with, you

Thanks for looking and see ya at Zion, if not before

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Nir wrote:

Steve,

Simply fantastic!

Thank you Nir

Clear your early May 2006 calendar and join us at Zion

Thanks for looking,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

ian408 wrote:

Those IR shots are wonderful as are those of the deer. How was that to swing
around?

I $ee a 600mm in $teve$'$ future

Ian

Thanks Ian

That lens was a bear. But, if I had one, I'd probably use a Wemberly and have a sturdier pod with my bag hanging from the center shaft. I was really worried about the lens since I din't want to break it, then have to buy it :yikes

There's a thread going in DPR Canon Lens Forum, where at least 2 guys are swearing by handholding this beast. I might agree to a point if they were shooting BIF's, but they are shooting birds at rest :crazy

Ian, that lens is gonna be in my dreams for awhile. I must be getting really old. I never used to dream of lenses.....

Thanks for looking and as usual it was a ball to see and shoot with ya


Steve

Steve Cavigliano

johno wrote:

Great shots. What a great time you must have had.

peace.
johno~

Thanks John


We all got some very nice shots. But Andy, Gus and I were sitting around on the veranda chewing the fat and we agreed that even if we came away from Yosemite without 1 decent image, the weekend would have been a rousing success. Meeting the people, the tips that were flying around, shooting with Mark M, and hearing what he does to get the most out of his shots, were priceless. My photo philosophy is to try to come back with some good pics, but by all means have a ball. I think we all adhered to it this weekend

Thanks for looking,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Dee wrote:

Did you get a good one of those colorful blue western jays? I tried, but failed miserably!

Some nice pictures Steve... Love the reflection in the puddle, I have a few of those myself to post.

Nice meeting you in person.

Thanks Dee

Nah, believe it or not, Gus got the best bird shots of our group. He not only got 3 or 4 really nice Jay shots, he got a woodpecker in flight shot too. He doesn't even like birds.....lol I'm really starting to dislike that guy :lol

I saw that you have a reflection thread going. I'll be sure to check it out. I just loves reflections. The only thing I'm disappointed about is that we missed Mirror Lake. That would have been awesome in both color and IR.

It was a pleasure meeting yourself, Ed and Rayna. Gimme a holler if you want to go shoot the Baylands in the near future

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

SusanB wrote:

You guys were cookin' out there! Terrific variety of shots Steve


Susan

Thanks Susan

Yep, it was certainly a target rich enviornment I beleive there are still a number of participants yet to be heard (or seen) from. So I'm sure you'll see an even larger variety of shots in the coming days.

We had a blast. You might want to join us next year. Zion isn't all that far :


Thanks for looking,
Steve

aero-nut

Steve,


Outstanding captures! It was great meeting you up there.

SusanB

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Thanks Susan

Yep, it was certainly a target rich enviornment I beleive there are still a number of participants yet to be heard (or seen) from. So I'm sure you'll see an even larger variety of shots in the coming days.

We had a blast. You might want to join us next year. Zion isn't all that far :


Thanks for looking,
Steve

Hey Steve,

I'm seriously thinking of how to do that:D . I passed through Zion in the late eighties for a brief glimpse via a fast stop by the brim. Another world, that's for sure and a wondrous photo op of good ol' mother nature too.

Thanks,

Susan

Steve Cavigliano

Daniel Chui wrote:

Steve, these shots are fantastic! I think that the 2nd shot is my favorite. Have you considered dropping your black point a bit (in the curves) for the tree-area of the shot? Or for the cloud area of the shot?

Perhaps by dropping the black point on the curve while keeping the bright point where it is, you would be able to bring out more details and definition not only in the trees, but in the clouds.

Cheers!

- Chui

Thanks Daniel

I will gladly accept all of the post tips you want to give me : . I am pretty bad with it And you are very good at it. I will try to split the shot and play with the black point on the trees/rocks and the sky/clouds areas.
Thank you for posting this most useful information. I thought I could make them better, but was a bit frustrated that I didn't have enough skill/knowledge to do so I've got about 100 other IR's from this trip to practice on also....lol

Thanks for taking the time Daniel,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

MuskyDude wrote:

I've said it before and I'll say it again :jawdrop

Stunning and breathtaking are some of the words that come to mind looking at these.



AJ

Thanks AJ

This place is full of "Stunning and Breathtaking" sights. I am wowwed by some of the pics I've seen posted in the last few days. I'm beginning to wonder if some of those guys were shooting the same park I was .....lol

Thanks for looking,
Steve

jwear

Steve how did you get the time to shoot these great shots ,every time i saw Steve he was the meet and greet ambassador a great guy made everyone around feel at home .plus as you can see take fantastic shots how did you get that bird if you want to see how it looks in blur I have 20 great shots great meeting you

Harryb

Hey Steve,

Fine shots, all of them. I'm glad you dusted off the 717 and did some iR shots. I've always enjoyed your IR work.

Sorry about the weather but I think I have the answer. Since I've moved to Florida I haven't had a drop of rain on any planned shoot. When I was in NYC the weather usually sucked when I did a planned shoot in the city. When I shot on Long Island or Westchester the weather was fine. Now when I shot in the city, who did I shoot with? Andy. Who was at Yosemite, Andy. If I recall correctly you have had some less than great weather when you have shot with Andy. The answer seems very clear to me.

ian408

Harryb wrote:

Hey Steve,

Now when I shot in the city, who did I shoot with? Andy. Who was at Yosemite, Andy. If I recall correctly you have had some less than great weather when you have shot with Andy. The answer seems very clear to me.

But the food is good. No?

Ian

Steve Cavigliano

SusanB wrote:

I agree, these are sooo wonderful! . I do see what you are getting at Daniel. My impression was to maybe try a touch of dodge/burn by about 3% to bring out the contrasts a bit more. There is so much that is breathtaking and awesome in these images.

Susan

Dodge and burn? I've crashed and burned before, but I've never dodged or burned This sounds like something I should learn huh? Are you sure I can't fix it with Levels or Curves? My 2 PS mainstays.....lol Blackpoint, I understand. Dodge and burn are now on my things to learn list

Thanks for bringing up an alternative method I can use to bring out the contrasts Susan

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

David_S85 wrote:

Steve, first of all, great shots there.


You'll still need the regular filters for IR work with a Max-Max converted 7 or 8 series Sony. But you won't be limited to 1/30th or below sec. exposures as in the default NightShot™ mode.

You'll also need to shoot through a hot-mirror filter for all regular color shooting.

Thanks David

Also, thank you for correcting the mis-information I gave to Ginger That speed limitation (1/60 on the 7x7's) caught me a few times on some zoomed shots. But, I was happy that I could handhold it fairly well at 150-190mm's :

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve