• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

Photo Tech Day reports - 2016

Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
348
Reaction score
36
Location
Rogers, AR
Thank you Rusty for hosting us today! I appreciate the opportunity to learn from all of you!!

Here are a few photos ...
 

Attachments

  • LearningLighting1_2-27-2016.jpg
    LearningLighting1_2-27-2016.jpg
    44.4 KB · Views: 231
  • Leica2_2-27-2016.jpg
    Leica2_2-27-2016.jpg
    26.6 KB · Views: 224
  • Leica2-27-2016.jpg
    Leica2-27-2016.jpg
    30.3 KB · Views: 239
  • Limes_2-27-2016.jpg
    Limes_2-27-2016.jpg
    25.4 KB · Views: 235
Re: Photo Tech day 2/27 9am-?

A few of the leaders / learners ...
 

Attachments

  • PhotoTech2_2-27-2016.jpg
    PhotoTech2_2-27-2016.jpg
    47.2 KB · Views: 233
  • PhotoTech1_2-27-2016.jpg
    PhotoTech1_2-27-2016.jpg
    48.3 KB · Views: 235
Last edited:
You guys actually got to go inside? I should have gone around back with you. The front was mostly covered with scaffolding. It did make for a cool pattern shot though. I was gonna get up my images this evening, but I have been feeling pretty bad all evening and looking at the computer was making it worse. I just got on for a few minutes to reply to some PM's and check this thread. I am actually heading to bed in a minute, which is about three hours earlier than normal for me :sleep:
 
You guys actually got to go inside? I should have gone around back with you. The front was mostly covered with scaffolding. It did make for a cool pattern shot though. I was gonna get up my images this evening, but I have been feeling pretty bad all evening and looking at the computer was making it worse. I just got on for a few minutes to reply to some PM's and check this thread. I am actually heading to bed in a minute, which is about three hours earlier than normal for me :sleep:


No Casey and I didn't go inside, we just went around back. That .gif is of a pano I made. There is a 'well' that goes a couple of stories underground that is in the foreground of your view as you stand there. Also, Casey (can't remember your username?), the Lightroom merge to pano worked flawlessly it think, take a look please I would like your opinion on how LR handled the 11 shots.

This is the starting point for the pano that is in the above .gif. Click it to see the result in actual size.

raPGHhdh.jpg
 
So I had a blast participating.

Here are some of my favorites from the day & night!

This kind of set to tone of our day... Cameras, cameras, cameras...

i-dvG4Mkz-XL.jpg


Woodbutchers Dad has the coolest Leica range finder that I so wanted to go home with. Sweetpotatofries posted a really good shot of it in her post earlier. That thing felt like your favorite pistol in your hands. Nice to meet you Sam.

i-j6fG6Qv-XL.jpg


Klb1122 motivated me to play with a wide angle lens for portait work, as he uses a 35mm like a pro that he is. I had my 20mm on the camera and thought I would try a couple of shots since I had volunteers handy.

DFW_Warrior

i-PPNhF5w-XL.jpg


Tourmeister

i-jcSJnTB-XL.jpg


M38A1 playing with Woodbutchers Camera Drone with Kurt in the background, yes that thing has a camera in it!

i-zHxZ9Nk-XL.jpg


DFW_Warrior gave me some pointers, well, properly gave me a schooling on using flash in bright sun light as some of us went outside to shoot. He was holding a flash with a softbox for these shots.

i-ZNd5Zpm-XL.jpg


i-2WQsmBJ-XL.jpg


i-LmkQNgb-XL.jpg


i-V3LXzP5-XL.jpg


i-xPMktdQ-XL.jpg


i-3JCCwmd-XL.jpg


Eventually 7 of us left for down town Austin for a Photo Walk. This was my first time to ever participate in a photowalk and I loved it. The ability to talk/compare/critique/share all while capturing some keepers was such a treat.

Our first stop was a pedestrian bridge near Lamar St, it has a name but I don't know it.

i-7sH5pxh-XL.jpg


i-VwkbZQn-XL.jpg


i-mPW6jJ5-XL.jpg


Then we walked to a hill overlooking the river and downtown. This too likely has a name, but "man made hill" will have to suffice.

i-S8skJzw-XL.jpg


After that we walked down to the SRV statue. Where I we all took photos of the same subject, and I can't wait to see how we all differ in our results.

i-xdDnFnW-XL.jpg


i-36Rt7tz-XL.jpg


We then loaded up in M38A1's bus and headed to Graffiti Park.

i-CqxJWpZ-XL.jpg


i-mBcsZ4h-XL.jpg


And we finished things off at the Capitol then headed back to woodbuchers where we said our goodbyes and good nights.

i-jnqhk3b-XL.jpg


Thanks for organizing this Rusty, and to all who participated, I learned a bunch of new tips and techniques from you all.
 
Last edited:
M38A1 playing with Woodbutchers Camera Drone with Kurt in the background, yes that thing has a camera in it!

Image link for this one invalid. There is no image file name ending in ".jpg".

Love all the images. The detail on the bee shots is amazing, especially given that you did not do any image stacking. The down town walk about shots are great too. The wide angle really works well!
 
...the Lightroom merge to pano worked flawlessly it think, take a look please I would like your opinion on how LR handled the 11 shots.
That's pretty awesome; I've used other stitching programs with mixed results (especially the "automatic" ones), but that one looks clean. It did kinda square-off the circular pit; would be nice if Adobe would create a tool for fixing such distortions, maybe based off the warp and/or liquify tools in PS.
I'll have to play with the LR pano feature, looks like it might actually be practical for my use.

I haven't even looked at the photos I took, although I didn't take much. I'm not holding my breath though since I discovered my auto focus was switched on the whole time. I did come away with some ideas though, I hope to go back before long and play some.
 
Casey, did you stay and try to get shots of the moon coming up?
 
Casey, did you stay and try to get shots of the moon coming up?

No, and it pained me as I drove by it, lol. Dawn was texting me about the challenges she was having with the sleepover, so I didn't want to add another 1/2 hour+ to walk back over and wait for the moon to move to the perfect spot, etc. In hindsight though, I wish I had... as usual.
 
Image link for this one invalid. There is no image file name ending in ".jpg".

Love all the images. The detail on the bee shots is amazing, especially given that you did not do any image stacking. The down town walk about shots are great too. The wide angle really works well!

Fixed the link.

And thanks. I really think it was the help that Bill gave with the flash that made those images, my favorite Macro shots so far that I have ever taken.
 
This was probably a very expensive weekend for me. That D750 bundle is looking mighty good right now.
 
This was probably a very expensive weekend for me. That D750 bundle is looking mighty good right now.

:rofl:

Did you shoot one of them?

I made the mistake of shooting that 105 Macro... *must resist*

I might grab some of those extension tubes that let my 70-200 focus a little closer... almost like a macro and cheaper :-P
 
I'm still thinking about adding the tubes to my macro. I wish I had brought down my dad's old vivitar macro lens. I have it on an adapter to work with my camera. Plus I have a bellows that lets me get so close that the lens is almost touching the subject. At that point, lighting is next to impossible.

Come to think of it, I've only tried that at f22 to get some depth of field, but that was before I had Photoshop and could do focus stacking. Hmmm.
 
The D750, 24-120, memory card and 3tb hard drive. It seems like a pretty tough deal to pass up on.
 
Well, I didn't get to use the techniques I had in mind due to the wandering focus (I didn't know that the AF switch was on), but I do know now what my approaches will be when I go back. I also saw good evidence that star trails would have been possible for each shot too, so I can't wait to get back down there.

The first one is a partial HDR, the 2nd is several shots with portions manually blended to get the light trails...
p1796284436-5.jpg


p1757249862-5.jpg
 
Last edited:
For those that enjoyed my mini-drone, here is the non-camera one:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Cheerson-2-4GHz-6-Axis-Quadcopter-Bright/dp/B00KXZC762/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1456841375&sr=1-2&keywords=cheerson+cx-10"]Amazon.com: Cheerson CX-10 Mini 29mm 4CH 2.4GHz 6-Axis Gyro LED RC Quadcopter Bright Orange: Toys & Games[/ame]


And the camera version:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Cheerson-CX-10C-CX10C-Quadcopter-Camera/dp/B015J544MA/ref=pd_sim_21_12?ie=UTF8&dpID=41F62qVAH6L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=09Q42KRX28P5D52GY89Z"]Amazon.com: Cheerson CX-10C CX10C Mini 2.4G 4CH 6 Axis Nano RC Quadcopter with Camera RTF Mode 2 (Black): Camera & Photo[/ame]
 
:tab So I have a lot... lot... of photos... I guess I will just dive right in here.

:tab I got over to Woodbuthcer's place Friday evening and then we made a mad dash down to the candy store, Precision Camera. You know how you get the feeling that you could build a subdivision all by yourself when you walk into Home Depot and see and smell all the stuff in the store? Well, this place kind of makes you think you could be the next Joe McNally or Ansel Adams :-P Kurt was already there when we walked in and Scott showed up a few minutes later while we were checking out bags. I exercised an unusual level of self control and left the store with nothing! :zen:

:tab We then cruised over to Billy's. This is the location of one of the weekly Thursday afternoon TWT lunch gatherings. I had a nice hotdog and fries with some kind of beer. I am not up all on the various types of beers. All I know is that it was cold and I enjoyed it. After dinner, Rusty and I headed back to his house, with a slight detour to Dairy Queen :trust: As we pulled into his driveway, Casey pulled in right behind us. He hung out for a few hours and we all had a great visit before eventually calling it a night after a few more beers. I have to admit, I do like that Root Beer!

Casey "Gotdurt" Fry
750_1798.jpg


Rusty "Woodbuther" Myers
750_1799.jpg


:tab Saturday morning started with a raging debate... in my head. I am not an early riser. In fact, I typically wake up about 10:30am every day before heading into work. So waking at 8:00am is tough. I had all kinds of lame excuses running through my head to justify sleeping a little longer. However, I knew folks would be showing up before long and I really ought to be awake when they arrive. So I managed to drag myself into the shower and make myself presentable just in time to have Scott show up in the driveway. Others began arriving minutes later.

"Not Dave"
750_1801.jpg


Jennifer "SweetPotatoFries" Drumm
750_1804.jpg


:tab Scott got right down to doing his presentation on sport's/action photography. This was chock full of tips about camera settings, shooting techniques, lighting issues, framing issues, and more. He also gave an interesting overview of how he got into sport photography and a bit about the nature of the industry. Of course there were all manner of questions from us. When he was done, we just hung out at the house and played around and experimented for a while.

Rusty's Dad, Sam, also showed up and brought some of his toys!
750_1805.jpg


:tab That tiny lens in the bottom right corner is a 50mm f/2.8. It is about the diameter of a Quarter, maybe just a hair bigger, but definitely not the size of a Half Dollar. I didn't check out the other lenses. This thing is compact! The thing below the camera is the motor drive unit. The flash is actually an electronic flash. I think he said he got this camera some time in the early 60s? Before my time...

Even has the original instruction book, maybe 25 pages compared to the 500+ page manual for my D750 :doh:
750_1807.jpg


Duke, Kurt, Scott, Rusty and Bill "DFW_Warrior" checking out camera bags and gear.
750_1808.jpg


I think this is Jennifer's new camera, a micro 4/3 mirrorless system.
750_1809.jpg


Not Dave's camera?
750_1811.jpg


:tab So Scott has a 105 Macro lens and Duke has several extension tubes. These tubes connect between the body and the lens, moving the lens further from the sensor, so that it possible to focus closer to the subject than the original minimum focal distance. Basically, this makes it easier to fill the frame with the subject and reduces the need for post processing cropping.

Scott playing around with ALL three extension tubes connected at once
750_1812.jpg


750_1813.jpg


Duke getting in on the action
750_1814.jpg


[I have to stop and actually do some work now... :roll:]
 
:tab Okay, work is out of the way for the moment, so let me see if I can get in a few more shots before we get busy again.

:tab So while Duke and Scott were messing around with the Macro, Rusty took Jennifer and Dave into his dinning room where he had a setup for doing nice product type shots. He was showing them how to do the lighting, adding one light at a time so they could see the changes each light made.

Single flash directly behind the subject with dark background
750_1818.jpg


Single dork with mirror on the wall
750_1820.jpg


Softbox and reflective foam board added now. Rusty's Dad is framed by the mirror. I think this is the only shoot I got of him.
750_1821.jpg


Moving to a subject inside a light box
750_1822.jpg


750_1824.jpg


750_1826.jpg


A silent spectator
750_1828.jpg


The focus on this shot totally blows, but it is the only one I have of these two trying to get shots of the mini drone in flight. Duke was in full blown machine gun mode with his D4S and I bet he fired off at least a hundred shots on this thing :lol2:
750_1831.jpg


Bill "DFW_Warrior" Carmickle (spelling on that last name right?)
750_1833.jpg


Duke "Duke" Dixon
750_1838.jpg


Scott "M38A1" Strance, refusing to give up on his efforts to make the drone fly in a somewhat controlled manner
750_1840.jpg


I think Duke finally gave up... or filled up his memory card :-P
750_1843.jpg


Rusty. Nice sticker ;-)
750_1849.jpg


Dave about to get sucked into trying to make the drone fly...
750_1850.jpg


Scott decides to grab the Macro and head outside for some flower shots
750_1851.jpg


At Bill's suggestion and under his close supervision, Duke provides lighting for Scott. Who would have thought you might need a flash in bright sunlight to take pictures of flowers and bugs?
750_1852.jpg


See that bee coming in from the right... Scott got some GREAT shots of it! :clap:
750_1853.jpg


Gotta be motivated to work those old knees if you want the money shot! :-P (Just watching made mine start aching :doh:)
750_1858.jpg


:tab So after Scott gets done crawling around the backyard, the images are displayed on the big TV screen for everyone to see. The results are impressive!

Dave
750_1859.jpg


Kurt
750_1860.jpg


Rusty
750_1861.jpg


Inspired by Scott, I went out to mess around with my new 70-200mm lens and shot these two shots from a STANDING position ;-)

750_1864.jpg


750_1865.jpg


Someone asked about the wireless flash triggering so Scott started explaining...
750_1869.jpg


:tab It was getting on in the morning and we still had Duke's Lightroom presentation to do. Everyone settled in and Duke got started. About this time, Nathan "DevientArtist" showed up and joined us. Like Scott, Duke's presentation was well prepared and full of great information. He started with a nice intro to Lightroom then covered the organizational features of using catalogs, collections and keywords. From there we moved into the developing features. These are used to tweak the images to make them look the way we want. This is the part commonly referred to as "post processing". The things that can be done are really amazing, from just making an image look REALLY good to playing around with the settings to get more "artistic" looks. There were lots of questions asked and between Duke and Scott, they did a really good job of explaining. I do believe there will be a few people ordering a new copy of Lightroom soon :trust:

Duke hooked up to the big TV for the slideshow presentation
750_1871.jpg


Bill follows along on his laptop during the presentation
750_1872.jpg


Scott, on the other hand, is clearly distracted! :lol2:
750_1873.jpg


:tab Kurt, Jennifer and Dave all had other things going on and had to leave about half way through the day. Rusty's Dad was amazed at what Lightroom can do. We all commented about how good we have it today with current photography technology compared to the days when he first started out taking pictures. It really is amazing. No more waiting around to see how your pictures come out. The feedback loop between the shot and the results is so short now that it makes it unbelievably easier to quickly see mistakes and to correct and learn from them. Then there is that whole thing about not having to buy and develop film!

:tab After Duke's presentation, it was time to play around again.

I grabbed Scott's 105 Macro lens and wandered out back
750_1874.jpg


750_1875.jpg


750_1880.jpg


:tab I can easily see myself having a Macro lens in the not too distant future... :ponder: In the meantime, I mounted the 70-200mm on my D7000. On the crop body, it is supposed to be the equivalent of a 105-300mm. So I head out back to see what I can find to shoot with it.

Duke, inspired by Scott in a manner much more fanatical than myself, heads outside to get his own bee shots. He's all in, knees, gut and elbows!
D7K_0029.jpg


There's that instant feedback I was talking about. Note the Cactus radio trigger on top of the camera body.
D7K_0030.jpg


Bill gets that flash right up in there! I've no idea what power level it is set at.
D7K_0038.jpg


D7K_0039.jpg


This dude was singing up a storm!
D7K_0041.jpg


Nathan
D7K_0043.jpg


Cookies made by Jennifer! (Thanks for the munchies!)
D7K_0045.jpg


The micro drone with its .3Mp camera
D7K_0046.jpg


:tab If you've been reading this thread from the beginning, you've already seen Duke's bee pictures. They are amazing considering there was no focus stacking involved. The detail is just incredible! We eventually started talking about what we might do for dinner. The plan is to eat early enough that we can get to down town Austin before it gets totally dark and then do a walk around. During all the confused discussion about our plans, I grab my 35mm 1.8G DX lens. Duke had mentioned earlier that it works great on an FX body. So I thought I would give it a whirl and see for myself.

Someone got a new bike :thumb:
750_1883.jpg


750_1886.jpg


750_1889.jpg


750_1890.jpg


750_1892.jpg


And it is NOT Duke, but judging by this grin, it might not be long for him ;-)
750_1887.jpg


Scott making vroom vroom noises
750_1897.jpg


Gorgeous hunk of machinery!! (The bike... :-P)
750_1903.jpg


Spring is popping in Austin!
750_1905.jpg


The master of his domain...
750_1906.jpg


Who knows what lies behind those eyes... :wary:
750_1909.jpg


It's Nathan's new bike, barely even broken in.
750_1911.jpg


:tab So we finally get our act together and decide what to do for dinner. We wind up at some sports bar not far from Rusty's place. Bill, Duke and Scott order a MONSTER plate of 50 chicken wings of various insane levels of spiciness. Nathan and Rusty split a pizza. Being a lightweight eater, I just get the half off pizza roll appetizer.

:tab I'll get to the down town shots later. Casey is supposed to meet us down there somewhere. Nathan will ride his bike and meet us because he lives down that way and doesn't want to have to go all the way back North then ride all the way back South again to get home.
 
Back
Top