Waves and Air time!

Bayer-Z28 · March 31, 2009

I've been doing some panning lately, my first actually... AND I was doing it in manual!

My first couple shots were my buddy on his bike, the second was my other friend on his Jet Ski.. That second set turned out a little dark.. I'll reshoot it next weekend.. Mild PS work on these.. I haven't added a border yet..

THey really look a LOT clearer as a larger image.. The resizing probably killed a bit of clarity.

donek · March 31, 2009

Panning usually involves slower shutter speeds. Your shutter speed appears to be stopping all the action including the spinning wheels on the motorcyle. With a panned shot, I'd expect blurred backgrounds and an innability to see the spokes and tread of the bike tires. With the jet ski, Id expect to see the water milky instead of frozen.

Panning shots tend to work best when the subject is going across your field of view. In these the action is coming towards you.

torags · March 31, 2009

Very valid points.

Personally I don't think the images would benefit from good panning techniques. I like the images & I don't like silky foam

Something else. Do you see the vignetting in #1&2? It might be your CP. You might like to consider shooting your subject lower in the frame to leave crop room to remove the vignetting

Just my .02

Rags

Bayer-Z28 · March 31, 2009

What the heck is that? Vinigroon?

I thought those were scorpions...

oh, the color change in the sky? I like that.. That's what the sky is like naturally, here.. (4300 ft elevation)

Erbeman · March 31, 2009

I'm sorry brother, but those are not panning photos. I'm not sure what you think panning is, but it is taking longer exposures than normal of a moving subject all the while keeping only the subject in focus such as these.

Bayer-Z28 · March 31, 2009

omg..........

never mind.......... (every darn time I post something, it's always the same) This is a hobby for me and I don't have expensive gear... and I'm NOT a pro, obviously..

j-bo · April 1, 2009

Didn't know shooting in aperture priority was considered "manual".

Panning is done with slow shutter speeds and "usually" one is hard pressed to get a slow shutter speed to pan with in Av mode. If you don't want to shoot in "M" (manual) mode, you can try shooting in Tv mode and setting your shutter at 1/160 or even slower. You will notice a big difference and see what panning is all about.

Mostly... I could care less about panning shots. (probably because I can't do it!

)

Keep trying and post your new stuff.

Erbeman · April 1, 2009

Bayer-Z28 wrote:

omg..........

never mind.......... (every darn time I post something, it's always the same) This is a hobby for me and I don't have expensive gear... and I'm NOT a pro, obviously..

Ok, no reason to get all pissy and throw a fit. We are just correcting you since you don't know what these terms are. Everyone has to learn sometime. Nobody is calling you names or anything. You must learn to accept CC "constructive criticism".

Vignetting is not the change in color of the sky. It is when the corners of the picture are darker than the rest. Most of the time it's easiest to just crop it out which means to cut out the outside part of the pic. Vignetting is often added to pics as well to direct attention to the subject. So, it is not always a bad thing.

I think that you beleived panning was just following a moving subject with your camera. It is, however it also involves taking a long exposure so that the background has motion blur which depicts motion in your pic. It is a very hard technique to master and like JBo stated, unless you are shooting in manual mode, it is going to be hard to accomplish. I taught myself how to shoot in manual about 6 months into photography and I've never looked back. Manual is awesome! You can really fine tune how your pics will come out. Go buy you some photography books and read and shoot. That is how I learned. Any book by Scott Kelby is good. It is easy to get overwhelmed however, so start with beginner books that teach you the basics and the terms photographers use. I hope this helps and you drop your defences and not get upset when you are corrected.

donek · April 1, 2009

Bayer-Z28 wrote:

omg..........

never mind.......... (every darn time I post something, it's always the same) This is a hobby for me and I don't have expensive gear... and I'm NOT a pro, obviously..

Erbeman is spot on. This community is all about helping each other become better photographers. Posting images is interpreted as an invitation for critique and comments. This forum has been my primary source of learning about photography. I have a few books, but rarely crack them. It's much easier to post images and get immediate feedback on what I'm doing. My initial comments were with regard to your remarks and perhaps I should have ignored them and posted some other suggestions that would have possibly been more helpful, so here goes.

When you take a photograph, you are recording light. It is important to be aware of it's source and how it is falling on your subject. When we look at pictures of people, we want to see their faces. All of your images were taken with the subjects face in shadow. Select your location/vantage point such that you have a better chance of capturing someones face illuminated rather than in shadow. The best way yo do this is to ensure that you are between the sun and your subject. If the sun is high, this is much more difficult, so you frequently have to overexpose you image in order to bring out details in the face. Check your cameras manual under exposure compensation.

Bayer-Z28 · April 2, 2009

I've been shooting for 5 years.. but I just never seem to get any better at it.. Maybe SLOW improvements.. I'm just frusterated, because every time I post something on here, it's never good enough, or never up to par.. Even the pictures that I think are stunning.

I was calling manual compared to not using the auto features of the camera. I set the lens to f4 to blur the background..

I need to reshoot it.. we're going back to the lake, maybe this weekend..

Erbeman · April 2, 2009

Bayer-Z28 wrote:

I've been shooting for 5 years.. but I just never seem to get any better at it..

Maybe SLOW improvements.. I was calling manual compared to not using the auto features of the camera. I set the lens to f4 to blur the background..

I need to reshoot it.. we're going back to the lake, maybe this weekend..

Ok here's the deal. The lower the F number that you set your lens to, the more the background will be out of focus. However, if you truely are wanting to shoot a panning shot which will show motion (the back ground once again will be out of focus but it will be blurred in the direction that you are panning your camera), you will have to slow your shutter speed. You cannot do that shooting at F/4. That low of a number lets in too much light unless it is a cloudy day and you have a Polorizing filter on. You will need to shoot at a much higher F number so less light comes into the camera, thus making the exposure time longer to get a properly lit exposure. You will need to be shooting at like 1/125 exposure time. I don't know Canon's but you could try to shoot in shutter priority which is the program that asks you to set the length of time that the shutter is open. Good luck.

donek · April 2, 2009

Bayer-Z28 wrote:

I've been shooting for 5 years.. but I just never seem to get any better at it.. Maybe SLOW improvements.. I'm just frusterated, because every time I post something on here, it's never good enough, or never up to par.. Even the pictures that I think are stunning.

Are you having fun? As long as you're making improvements and you enjoy what you are doing, who cares. If you judge wether an image is up to par based on your critique, you're unlikely to ever get there. People here are going to judge you images based on the best images they've seen. That's means you're being compared to the pros, not the amateurs. If you really want to make improvements try to find another person to shoot with.

Bayer-Z28 · April 2, 2009

I do enjoy it, but whenever I post a couple pics that I like, I usually get a lot of people telling me how it could be better... I get sore about that.. -If it's a couple shots that I'm happy about the way they are..

I figured this board just leaves me room for improvement.. Some don't seem to adapt to ametures too well, as far as others seem to help me out a LOT! Nikolai Helped me out a lot in the past with the assignments. I've been pretty sidetracked lately and had a BAD year last year, so I really didn't have time or the effort to go out and shoot stuff... (Wanted to shoot my superintendent, but that's besides the point..... literally shoot him.....)

Erbeman wrote:

Ok here's the deal. The lower the F number that you set your lens to, the more the background will be out of focus. However, if you truly are wanting to shoot a panning shot which will show motion (the back ground once again will be out of focus but it will be blurred in the direction that you are panning your camera), you will have to slow your shutter speed. You cannot do that shooting at F/4. That low of a number lets in too much light unless it is a cloudy day and you have a Polorizing filter on. You will need to shoot at a much higher F number so less light comes into the camera, thus making the exposure time longer to get a properly lit exposure. You will need to be shooting at like 1/125 exposure time. I don't know Canon's but you could try to shoot in shutter priority which is the program that asks you to set the length of time that the shutter is open. Good luck.

I'm shooting w a Nikon... and I do have a polariser, but as far as I know, that just adjusts contrast. The polariser was a bit too dark, and the exposure was set a little low in the second set..I didn't notice it until I got them loaded to the computer. I couldn't see it in the bright daylight at the beach through the viewfinder.

This is one of my FAV shots that I am most proud of!

Erbeman · April 3, 2009

Bayer-Z28 wrote:

I do enjoy it, but whenever I post a couple pics that I like, I usually get a lot of people telling me how it could be better... I get sore about that.. -If it's a couple shots that I'm happy about the way they are..

I figured this board just leaves me room for improvement.. Some don't seem to adapt to ametures too well, as far as others seem to help me out a LOT! Nikolai Helped me out a lot in the past with the assignments. I've been pretty sidetracked lately and had a BAD year last year, so I really didn't have time or the effort to go out and shoot stuff... (Wanted to shoot my superintendent, but that's besides the point..... literally shoot him.....)

I'm shooting w a Nikon... and I do have a polariser, but as far as I know, that just adjusts contrast. The polariser was a bit too dark, and the exposure was set a little low in the second set..I didn't notice it until I got them loaded to the computer. I couldn't see it in the bright daylight at the beach through the viewfinder.

This is one of my FAV shots that I am most proud of!

The polarizor will cut down any glare and also it's like putting a pair of sunglasses on your camera so that less light comes into your camera. It really isn't meant to slow down your exposure time but we "as in photographers" have realized that we can use it to trick our cameras in thinking there is less light so a longer exposure time is needed to make a proper exposure, thus giving us the feeling of movement in our pics. As far as your pics being underexposed, you just have to practice with different settings until you find what works. Practice, Practice, Practice and experiment, that is the only way that you are going to grow as a photographer. Try it this weekend. You can just go sit in a parking lot off of a main road practice shooting panning shots of the cars driving buy. It is doing stuff like that where you will really start learning. Good luck

Oh BTW, that is a pretty cool pic of the poker chips. That is getting me excited to gamble for my upcoming Vegas trip!!!!

torags · April 3, 2009

The chips shot is good and that's a tougher shot that #1.

Vignetting is the change in color via a noticeable radius in #1. I believe you have a circular polarizer. The darkness is adjustable by rotating the filter. So if you look thru your viewfinder and you see the sky it too dark, turn the filter ring one way or the other to lighten it. Some polarizers just give vignetting, just the way they are. I just leave room in my frame for the crop.

Polarizers cut the glare from reflective sun. Cutting that glare can also seem like you're colors are more saturated (off sand or boulders for example)

Consider putting your cam in your car and taking pictures of anything to improve techinique. Then when you have the opportunity for a good capture, it will be worth saving

just my .02

Waves and Air time!

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