Autumn Leaves, that is Falling Autumn Leaves

nickphoto123nickphoto123 Registered Users Posts: 302 Major grins
edited November 12, 2005 in Wildlife
Hello All,

This shoot was purely for my own enjoyment and my attempt to photograph Autumn Leaves as they fall from the trees to the ground.

As the shoot progressed I adjusted my methods. At the end of the shoot I relied on fixed distance manual focus, and my wife volunteered to hold my off camera flash to add light to the falling leaves.

It was extremely windy. The leaves traveled fast. It was a very satisfying hour of shooting. I believe I was able to capture some moments.

The photographic quality is lacking in most images, mostly due to my error in distance judgment for my pre-focused lens.

Regarding the S9000, I would say it passed an Extreme Shutterlag Test, with flying autumn colors.

http://nickphoto123.smugmug.com/gallery/958713/1

Regards, Nicholas

Comments

  • morrisphotography2003morrisphotography2003 Registered Users Posts: 208 Major grins
    edited November 11, 2005
    Had to be pretty hard to shoot those leaves on such a windy day, I did see a few that turned out pretty good.

    The wife and I went out last weekend to shoot and the wind was blowing about 20-25mph and it was very hard to shoot the birds that tried to fly around, they did as good as I didrolleyes1.gif
    Bob.
  • DeeDee Registered Users Posts: 2,981 Major grins
    edited November 12, 2005
    What a neat idea!
    You used the wind and the leaves to an advantage. Since living out here in California I really haven't seen leaves falling, now I want to go look for some!
    http://www.deegolden.smugmug.com
    http://www.twitter.com/deegolden
  • BrettGBrettG Registered Users Posts: 120 Major grins
    edited November 12, 2005
    Nice! I hope you don't mind me pushing into your thread... :D

    I took this one a couple of weeks ago, had the same idea you did - to get some leaves in flight (LIF?)

    300mm f4, almost wide open... the wind wasn't too strong, so I had an easier time of it. Taken at the edge of a cliff, so I'm looking out over a landscape.

    44143534-L.jpg
    BrettG
  • nickphoto123nickphoto123 Registered Users Posts: 302 Major grins
    edited November 12, 2005
    Autumn Leaves Falling
    BrettG wrote:
    Nice! I hope you don't mind me pushing into your thread... :D

    I took this one a couple of weeks ago, had the same idea you did - to get some leaves in flight (LIF?)

    300mm f4, almost wide open... the wind wasn't too strong, so I had an easier time of it. Taken at the edge of a cliff, so I'm looking out over a landscape.

    44143534-L.jpg
    That is a wonderful shot. My leaves were coming almost from directly overhead.

    There is something very "Philisophical" about a captured falling leaf.

    Regards, Nicholas
  • Bob&GlennieBob&Glennie Registered Users Posts: 320 Major grins
    edited November 12, 2005
    Nicholas, this is very good idea. I really like #2,3,4 & 5. Have you ever played around with "Slow Sync"? The S9000 will do this and you get a nice mix of movement plus freeze-action. All it really does is it allows you to use your pop-up flash with the ambient exposure at all shutter speeds slower than the default 1/60th that it normally gives you when you use flash. If you go out on a windy day and purposely let your subject blow while using this technique you can get some interesting and beautiful results.

    Take a look ...
    slow_sync_maple.jpg

    Slow_sync_in_rain.jpg

    (both shot with an S5100)

    The only trick is to get the right ratio of flash exposue to ambient light at a slow enough shutter speed to allow movement. In this particular case the day was dull and I used ISO 64 and a polarizer. You have a hot shoe on the 9000 so you could use a slave on the camera to fire an external "flame thrower" rolleyes1.gif off camera to get some cool lighting angles.

    BTW Brett ... excellent image. the picture speaks for itself.

    Bob and Glennie
    See with your Heart
Sign In or Register to comment.