First SLR shots

[UKbob]

Firstly... the 30D just simply cannot compared to a camera like my old G5, and has greatly exceeded my expectations. Its fantastic! A whole new experience, leagues ahead in every way, and Im very pleased with it.

The AF is stunningly fast, 10 times faster than I'd expected it would be, shutter sound is cool, even the built in pop-up flash produces wonderful results!! No more ghosted out white faces when it goes off directly in someones face (how does that work, exactly?) - its fantastic

Really, really happy with it!

My first photos (as predicted!!) were absolute rubbish. Im posting them nevertheless, as I enjoyed the shoot which unfortunately had to be cut short




Lighting was terrible (I need lighting equipment!)
Shutter speed was far too slow
Background was crap
Lens was far too short (meaning the camera got covered in strawberry)

My girlfriend (reluctantly) handled my gun whilst I took photos. She cant shoot to save her life so had to move in close. Upon impact, the strawberries exploded, sending red fruit droplets over both of us, over the windows and walls but... unfortunately droplets were also splattering the camera lens(!) so I had to abandon the exploding fruit idea And the balloon idea as we were getting wet.

Out of interest, the entry was from the right, exit on the left.

With a longer lens (70-200 2.8 IS ) a better background, manual control and some lighting I hope to do a lot better! Admitedly my photos are pisspoor but it was fun

>> Edited by UKbob on Friday 14th April 21:54

[V6GTO]

Excellent Bob! You look like you had fun which is top priority. I'm sure with a bit of PS magic those shots would look great.

Martin.

PS - what gun have you got...I've got a Daystate air rifle myself

[UKbob]

V6GTO said:

Excellent Bob! You look like you had fun which is top priority. I'm sure with a bit of PS magic those shots would look great. Martin. PS - what gun have you got...I've got a Daystate air rifle myself

Thats IS after PS magic Admitedly only autolevels, I dont know what Im doing with PS yet either

Not sure what kind of handgun, it says BSA guns (UK) on it, or similar. .22 cal pellets, the concave kind which help fragment small objects upon impact.

[V6GTO]

Does that look any better? That took less than 30 seconds.



Martin.

[UKbob]

Yup, much better What did you do other than sharpen?

[HankScorpio]

Very impressed !

Here's some more bullet/fruit inspiration for you...

www.rit.edu/~andpph/exhibit-3.html

[UKbob]

HankScorpio said:

Very impressed ! Here's some more bullet/fruit inspiration for you... www.rit.edu/~andpph/exhibit-3.html

Nice pics, cheers for the link!

I remember reading about a chap who could trigger his shutter with a configurable laser for macro water droplet collision work. I dont suppose anyone knows more about it, or actually has one?

Can anyone explain where/what I need to change to bump the background whiteness up. I assume this is white balance?

[fergusd]

I could make you an optical shutter trigger . . . but I'm not cheap ;-)

Fd

[UKbob]

HankScorpio said:

Very impressed !

Cheers. I did set up 3 white 60cm reflector cards (bought today) to try and lighten the scene as much as possible knowing it would be a "bit" dim without proper lighting. I really did expect the background to be a lot whiter, brighter and cleaner though, and was a bit dissapointed when they turned out so muddy - nothing like the millions of squeaky clean photos you see every time you trawl the net. Plenty of room for improvement then

[UKbob]

fergusd said:

I could make you an optical shutter trigger . . . but I'm not cheap ;-) Fd

How do they work, exactly? Im guessing you dont have a draw full of mechanical wallace and gromit style fingers which reach out and press the shutter at the right moment...

Are they available commercially - what sort of money are we talking about?

[fergusd]

Well, you need an optical emitter and reciever pair which react fast enough to 'see' your bullet, which is simple enough, then some simple maths based on your shutter trigger delay . . . then sime kind if integration with your camera, like an electrical shutter release . . .

you may also need a significant distance between the 'gun' and the 'target' which depends on the speed of the 'bullet' and the response speed of the camera . . .

eg. my D2x is about 50mS response delay, so given the 'bullet' speed I can work out the delay distance . . .

in reality the parts costs are minimal but the fettling costs are maximal . . . dunno if anything is available off shelf . . .

If I were doing it properly I'd use a wee microcontroller to allow a configurable delay . . . that way you could tune the exposure relative to impact . . .

Oh and you'll need some frikking bright lights ;-)

Fd

>> Edited by fergusd on Saturday 15th April 00:13

[Andy M]

UKbob said:

...so I had to abandon the exploding fruit idea

We're only 20-odd minutes in, and that quote has already made my day

For the results I think you're aiming for, I reckon you'd need a macro lens and a high powered flash. Cracking shots to begin with though

[fergusd]

Andy M said:

UKbob said: ...so I had to abandon the exploding fruit idea We're only 20-odd minutes in, and that quote has already made my day

True, true . . . ;-)

Fd

[UKbob]

Andy M said:

UKbob said: ...so I had to abandon the exploding fruit idea We're only 20-odd minutes in, and that quote has already made my day For the results I think you're aiming for, I reckon you'd need a macro lens and a high powered flash. Cracking shots to begin with though

Someone uploaded a photo on PH recently having taken a normal photo with a macro lens, but the photo wasnt a closeup. I thought macro lenses only focused on objects which were extreemly close to the lens itself...

Im guessing, but I imagined that perhaps a 15+ foot distance and maybe 70-200 F2.8 lens combo might suit this type of shoot best(?)

But thanks, its nice to have some positive feedback, I felt so let down (background made bad photos terrible) I almost didnt post the pics. We shot a total of three strawberries and 4 balloons IIRC (5fps drive) before calling it a day due to the fruitsplatter. Thinking Id be taking 200+ photos, I went out and bought...
200 pest control 'impact/splatter' pellets
1 white curtains (cast-offs, £2)
3 white cards (ruined with strawberry)
small screws to mount cards to cieling
pins to mount curtains
telescopic curtain rail (too short to mount )
White cotton (to dangle fruit, to be PS'd out after)
Black cotton (forgot to buy black card )
toothpicks
blu tack
strawberrys x2 trays
grapes x 1 tray
rasberries x 1 tray
Balloons x 4 packets
...I had the day all planned out then ...
4x syringes
4x coloured food dye (RGB+black - had a coloured fountain idea, but the bloody syringes didnt come with needles and didnt squirt; need to consult some heroine addicts as they were the only syringes I could find in town)
and other bits... brush blower, lens cleaning fluid, lens cloth, 2 crappy waste of time day light bulbs, cotton buds, 6 boxes of matches (burning + smoke shots which I didnt take)...

If creating stunning, picture-perfect photos was a doddle, though, we wouldnt enjoy it half as much as we do

[_dobbo_]

If this is what we are getting from you now bob the I can't wait till you get a bit more experienced.

My first 50 pictures were of the following items;

My hand
the wall
the floor
my computer keyboard
the door

repeat until the sound of the camera firing stops being so fun.

I'm awake like a child on christmas day today waiting for my D200 to arrive! Up a 7:00 on a saturday, what the ?!

[UKbob]

Cheers Dobbo

Your camera will arrive soon enough Pray they dont also send you a 350d by mistake

The weather looks absolutely shite today though, heavily overcast in every direction as far as the eye can see

[UKbob]

Took a few more photos this morning...

My incredible hulk formula


Swirling water vortex


Trusty rodent assistant

[Mad Dave]

re whitening the background - try pointing a big light at it with the subject between the light and the camera?

[UKbob]

Mad Dave said:

re whitening the background - try pointing a big light at it with the subject between the light and the camera?

I think i need to do some reading and find out what kind of cheap lights will work well. Can you get miniature/very small soft boxes for macro work, which are triggered by the main flash?

[V6GTO]

What you need more than that is the book "The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers" by Scott Kelby. Buy that first and don't spend any more money untill you've had it at least a month.

Martin.