LPS 18...I learned something new....what do you think?

Shudderz

Today my family escaped.....we're on vacation til Sunday....BUT, I can never seem to get LPS out of my head. I've been beating my head against a wall trying to figure out this round.

What I love about this challenge is that it continues to make me learn and grow. Today I decided to learn how to drag the shutter. I've just never had a need to do so before.

I would love your feedback on the following images....anything worthy? And anything I should do differently with them. Thanks in advance for helping me to learn and improve!


1. "WHEE" (working title)


2. "I CAN FLY" (working title)


The other ride photos can be found here: http://heatherdunn.smugmug.com/gallery/3649028

3....is this sharp enough to work? or even worth worrying about?


4. "Bump in the Night" (working title) this was a total accident, but I thought it made the bumper cars look haunted. I had a long exposure (4 seconds), was trying to practice dragging the shutter when this kid on Heely's rolled into my frame as the flash was firing.....so he became a ghost.

adrian_k

The pony is the strongest image and yes, it's sharp enough. Had the dodgem shot been stable that would have been better - it's quite humorous.

Whee is a good shot, unfortunately someone ( & I can't remember who - sorry) here has done some really good fairground shots and I just have got stuck on comparing them to yours. The litter/bags on the ground is distracting, I'd try cropping out the canopy downwards.

Shudderz wrote:

Today my family escaped.....we're on vacation til Sunday....BUT, I can never seem to get LPS out of my head. I've been beating my head against a wall trying to figure out this round.

What I love about this challenge is that it continues to make me learn and grow. Today I decided to learn how to drag the shutter. I've just never had a need to do so before.

I would love your feedback on the following images....anything worthy? And anything I should do differently with them. Thanks in advance for helping me to learn and improve!


1. "WHEE" (working title)
2. "I CAN FLY" (working title)
3....is this sharp enough to work? or even worth worrying about?
4. "Bump in the Night" (working title) this was a total accident, but I thought it made the bumper cars look haunted. I had a long exposure (4 seconds), was trying to practice dragging the shutter when this kid on Heely's rolled into my frame as the flash was firing.....so he became a ghost.

richtersl

The horse shot gets my vote. It's an attention-grabber for sure!

The amusement park shots are OK, but don't have the same impact for me that the horse shot does. There is just a teeny bit of motion blur near his head that probably can be adjusted with Photoshop, if you choose to do that.

VisualXpressions

Very nice... The horse is striking a wonderful pose, I think your capture of this is fantastic! It is in focus... the only blur is motion, which is fine... anyway, I would crop and bump the color/contrast using curves and saturate a tad, and clone out distractions like over head lights, camera flashes and exit signs...

great shot! good luck...
Winston

Shudderz

sure, you all pick one that I can't seem to come up with a name for.....

as soon as I took the bumper car shot I turned to my husband and exclaimed, I can call it "Bump in the Night" ...that would be hilarious.....

but can I think of a title for the leaping horse......of course not.....I'm open to suggestions on that end as well

Llywellyn

Shudderz wrote:

but can I think of a title for the leaping horse......of course not.....I'm open to suggestions on that end as well

"Carousel Flight"? It looks like a carousel horse that's come to life and fled the merry-go-round to me.

Tentacion

I Love that Horse Shot at the Medieval Manor ....Nice Work!!


Just a question: Clarification....When you say "drag your shutter"...do you mean "Panning" (at least that is what I call it) maybe I'm not up on the new photo terminology...

Shudderz

Tentacion wrote:

I Love that Horse Shot at the Medieval Manor ....Nice Work!!


Just a question: Clarification....When you say "drag your shutter"...do you mean "Panning" (at least that is what I call it) maybe I'm not up on the new photo terminology...

dragging shutter.....as I understand it and have had it explained to me....a longer exposure, syncing your flash to the second shutter.....captures motion and light trails and freezes things as the flash fires at the end.....I think that's the best way to explain it.

I used that in all but the horse shot

Shudderz

ok, I've cropped a bit and tried to remove some distractions....tried to fix some of the motion blur right around his nose...it bugged me

Now I'm off to Disneyland before my family goes without me......so I'll have to work on it more tonight if it needs it. Good think I don't sleep well in hotels, I'll have plenty of time tonight and free hotel wireless.....haha Hopefully a fitting title will come to me in between Space Mountain and It's a Small World

better?

VisualXpressions

Looking good... The thing is he is too centered... crop the left side... cropping out that gray area in the top left corner and through the blue shield... that should work well... leave the space in front of him... I really love this shot!clap

Winston

Dizzy

In looking at the images I agree that the horse photo is the best. I am curious however, how the idea of second or mili-second would be portrayed if it was just a shot of either front or back hooves with the flying dirt? I get that the horse was in motion so the blurred body sort of works for me. Over all the best though...good capture. How was the show at Medieval Times? Never been but the husband says they are a lot of fun. Cheers and good luck! Dizzy

Shudderz

Llywellyn wrote:

"Carousel Flight"? It looks like a carousel horse that's come to life and fled the merry-go-round to me.

I really quite like that title idea. Mind if I "borrow" it if I can't think of anything else? It's now 1:30 am, just back in the room from disneyland......not sure the brain can think of anything else at this point.

Llywellyn

Shudderz wrote:

I really quite like that title idea. Mind if I "borrow" it if I can't think of anything else? It's now 1:30 am, just back in the room from disneyland......not sure the brain can think of anything else at this point.

It's yours if you need it.

kp-pix

is dragging the shutter another term for the rear shutter setting? just checking as I had not heard of it before, but I know you can set your flash for rear shutter and it fires at the end of the exposure.

same thing?

Shudderz

kp-pix wrote:

is dragging the shutter another term for the rear shutter setting? just checking as I had not heard of it before, but I know you can set your flash for rear shutter and it fires at the end of the exposure.

same thing?

yes, same thing


OK...I tried some crops, but really any crops brings the horse closer and exaggerates (wow, I had to have spelled that wrong) the motion blur. I've cloned/healed the upper left corner as to remove that distraction......

any other last minute suggestions? I'm going to go ahead and post it, just in to be safe and get it in on time....

Phyxius

Heather, fun shots! I used to work with the horses (and be in the show) at Medieval Times here in Maryland.

The move that you caught is one of the "Airs Above The Ground" and is called the capriole (pronounced cap-ree-'ole). It literally means "leap of the goat" and occurs when the horse jumps up in the air and kicks out, at the apex of the jump, with both hind legs. I'm not sure if that gives you any ideas for a picture title or not, though.

Got boost??

in the first pictures, the ones with the swing how did you get the ppl to turn out clean but still drag them? wouldnt it all be blured with a long shutter speed?

MarkTodd

Got boost?? wrote:

in the first pictures, the ones with the swing how did you get the ppl to turn out clean but still drag them? wouldnt it all be blured with a long shutter speed?

Using flash freezes them while the long shutter speed provides the blur trails. I think in this case the flash was set to go off just before the shutter closed (rear curtain sync).

Shudderz

MarkTodd wrote:

Using flash freezes them while the long shutter speed provides the blur trails. I think in this case the flash was set to go off just before the shutter closed (rear curtain sync).

yep....it was my first time ever trying this technique. I was fairly pleased with my first time attempts

Got boost??

ok will the built in flash on my rebel xti do?

Shudderz

Got boost?? wrote:

ok will the built in flash on my rebel xti do?

I'm not sure about that model camera. If so, it would be in your custom functions under rear shutter sync....maybe someone else familiar with that camera can give you better instructions

MarkTodd

Got boost?? wrote:

ok will the built in flash on my rebel xti do?

It's very situational and you'll need to experiment, but it can do the job. The best way to find out is to do it!

MarkTodd

Shudderz wrote:

I'm not sure about that model camera. If so, it would be in your custom functions under rear shutter sync....maybe someone else familiar with that camera can give you better instructions

Yes, setting the curtain is in the custom functions under one of the toolbox menus. Reading your manual is the best way to learn how to use the custom functions.

Got boost??

MarkTodd wrote:

Yes, setting the curtain is in the custom functions under one of the toolbox menus. Reading your manual is the best way to learn how to use the custom functions.

alright thanks guys!