A few from Bryce Canyon

Zerodog

All shot with a fisheye.

1. Sunrise


2.


3.


4.


5. Tripod setup for sunrise. On the rail at sunrise point.

WillCAD

I'm not really a fan of fish-eye pics, but these are very pretty. #3 is my favorite; I think the fish-eye works best in the confined space of the canyon and accentuates the steepness of the trail and the height of the pine very nicely.

I'm also curious - what ball head do you have on your Gorillapod?

Zerodog

Thanks for the comments.

I have really been liking the fisheye for the weird perspective on things. Bryce was cool because it looks like a big bowl anyway. So it just exaggerates that shape.

That is a Gorillapod focus with a Gitzo ballhead. The Gitzo QR plate sucks so I swapped it out with a Kirk Arca Swiss style QR. It is pretty sweet. The Gitzo ball is awesome. It is really strong and really light. Combined with the Kirk plate it is killer. Gorillapod has a new Arca Swiss style QR ball head for this tripod that I think I might go get. I checked it out and it is smaller and lighter than the Gitzo and feels strong enough. It is also only $60 too. The more I use the Gorillapod the more I like it. You just have to be creative with it. I have been using it as a flash bracket too. Enough so that I picked up a smaller one for just that purpose.

Andy

#2 and 4 are awesome, it's so hard to capture this scene, and making the sun star like you did just totally makes the shot

RandallC

Really nice series. I like #4 the best (but wish the people on the right weren't there).

Interesting comments about the Gorillapod/ballhead. How does the gorillapod work when you try to use it as a small tripod? Is it stable enough, or do you need to wrap it around something?

Zerodog

Andy wrote: »

#2 and 4 are awesome, it's so hard to capture this scene, and making the sun star like you did just totally makes the shot

Thanks!

Zerodog

RandallC wrote: »

Really nice series. I like #4 the best (but wish the people on the right weren't there).

Interesting comments about the Gorillapod/ballhead. How does the gorillapod work when you try to use it as a small tripod? Is it stable enough, or do you need to wrap it around something?

I could easily crop #4 to an 8x10 format and loose the people. But I still sort of like the perspective of them on the trail too. If I were to print it I would crop it.

The Gorillapod can be used on its own but that is not what it is best at. That I think is the mistake people make when using them. It works really good on a rough surface. Like a rock or a log. I took some sunrise pics in Hawaii with it perched on a rock. You bend the legs around to even it out and poke into holes and such. The rubber on it is pretty grippy. You can also lay it out on things sort of like an octopus too. On a smooth surface, like a table, it tends to get squeezed down with anything bigger than a small prime. But that is when you can just lay it out. But wrapped around something it will hold my 80-200AFS 2.8 mounted on my D300s.

RandallC

Zerodog wrote: »

The Gorillapod can be used on its own but that is not what it is best at. That I think is the mistake people make when using them. It works really good on a rough surface. Like a rock or a log. I took some sunrise pics in Hawaii with it perched on a rock. You bend the legs around to even it out and poke into holes and such. The rubber on it is pretty grippy. You can also lay it out on things sort of like an octopus too. On a smooth surface, like a table, it tends to get squeezed down with anything bigger than a small prime. But that is when you can just lay it out. But wrapped around something it will hold my 80-200AFS 2.8 mounted on my D300s.

Thanks for the info. I may need to give it a try. And, again, amazing shots!

Sexy6Chick

Love this whole set!!

Eia

How did you get that sun star? Awesome pics!

Zerodog

Eia wrote: »

How did you get that sun star? Awesome pics!

Some lenses just seem to have a tendancey to do it. This fisheye seems like one of them . Other lenses seem to just blow out. I think they are cool. My little Canon S90 does some really nice stars too.

Thanks everyone. I thought these were just so so shots of a place that gets photographed all the time. I am glad people like them. Maybe I just spent too long looking at them.

BigCamera

Stars with lenses

Eia wrote: »

How did you get that sun star? Awesome pics!

When you stop a lens down, or the camera in automatic stops down to small apertures, the star is caused by an intense light source in the scene ans its light rays passing by the the 'corners' formed by the blades of the aperture in the lens.
i saw a series yesterday of a sunset and no star until sun partially gone over horizon, then when only a 14 of sun showing in this case-Stars!
Some lenses more prone to this depending on number of blades in aperture design.
Hope this helps,
Rod
Remember though when you stop the lens way down you get diffraction(which is the term for what is happening here) and so large enlargements are probably out.

schmoo

+1 on the most excellent star! I always have trouble exposing it correctly to get a star that isn't caused by partial obstruction. Either the sky is blown out, or my foreground is too dark. These are really, really cool.

Zerodog

Thanks Schmoo!

Here are a few more.

6.


7.


8. The goofy handheld portrait. For some reason, I like em.