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2018 Project - Focused picture a week (M38A1)

M38A1

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Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Messages
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Location
North of Weird
First Name
Scott
Why not, right? :-)

I completed 100% for the Project366 in 2016, sat out for the most part in 2017 and here we are in 2018 with a somewhat renewed attitude for shooting again. Like WoodButcher and his upcoming effort, I think the time is right to do something like this again.

More Focused + More Thought = Better Body of Work

Stay tuned.....
 
Week #1/52
I've always been fascinated with aircraft yet never really had the opportunity or funds to pursue flight. So I wandered over to the airport and waited to see what came by/flew/was drug by tug. This KingAir was on it's way to the hangar and I liked the clean lines of the side profile, thus this weeks image. Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but 'ya gotta start somewhere and this year started at KGTU with some things I hope to capture later this year.

Camera Nikon NIKON D500
Lens AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
ISO 500
Focal Length 400.0 mm (600.0 mm in 35mm)
Aperture f/6.3
Exposure Time 0.001s (1/1000)
i-pSTTcm6-XL.jpg
 
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Week #2/52
This week got away from me and next week isn't looking much better. Yet I found some time to go out with a specific shot I wanted to capture - the detail in the eye of a bird. (Rusty must be rubbing off on me with these birds....) I wandered down to the little park and found a couple geese and this Muscovy. I believe they are well fed and he figured I would provide some bread so he just kept swimming circles. Going away - bad light. But when he turned back at me, that was my opportunity. I used the TC20Eiii with the 70-200 which seemed to work well at this focal length. I'm still not convinced at the full range it's that sharp, but I know at 100mm on my 70-200 I can get this sharp on the crop body and 2xTC. (or at least that's how I think it works....)

Camera Nikon NIKON D500
Lens AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
ISO 500
Focal Length 200.0 mm (300.0 mm in 35mm)
Aperture f/5.6
Exposure Time 0.0004s (1/2500)
i-rTRwfFw-XL.jpg
 
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That looks pretty sharp to me :shrug: Is it a big crop of the original image?
 
Dang, that new software makes your images awesome. It's all about the gear and the software, right? Okay, I was being sarcastic.
 
Dang, that new software makes your images awesome. It's all about the gear and the software, right? Okay, I was being sarcastic.

So that 200-400 f/4 at $7k will make me a professional? I thought that's what the "P" mode was on my camera body. :-)
 
Scott,

Superb pictures with amazing clarity...what type of shutter speed does a camera need to utilize in order to capture airplane propellers "frozen" (like some flying hummingbird images) as the plane is under full throttle?

RB
 
Scott,

Superb pictures with amazing clarity...what type of shutter speed does a camera need to utilize in order to capture airplane propellers "frozen" (like some flying hummingbird images) as the plane is under full throttle?

RB

Anything above 1/2000ths will generally capture the blade frozen but the tips might be a bit fuzzy. Most modern day cameras can run 1/8000th of a second which will actually stop (albeit a bit blurry) a .380acp round out of a pistola. So somewhere between 1/2000 and 1/8000 should do the job. BTW, if you look close at the Beech shot, it's being towed as you can seen the nose wheel towing assembly, the props are feathered and nobody is in the cockpit.
 
Week #3/52
On my 'shot list' I had "Gun Porn", so here's another one off the list. Maybe five weeks ago Rusty and I went to Precision Camera to poke around and purchase a pair of boot for The Boot Campaign. Greg at Precision was kicking in 50% of the cost for the first 100 or so people and Rusty and I were there soon enough. So not only did I get a cool pair of boots at a significant discount, I helped fund a veterans outreach program. My shot choice this week revolved around those boots and this little Siggy "Scorpion" .380acp. I thought the muted tan tones of the receiver along with the tan boots and checkered grips were well suited to a B&W conversion as well. Camera was on a tripod and I used my CactusIV triggers (one on the body as a transmitter) and handheld the SB700 speed light with the other trigger (as a receiver) for light placement. Manual power setting was used on the speed light of 1/128th power.

CAMERA Nikon NIKON D4S
LENS AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
ISO 500
FOCAL LENGTH 70.0 mm (70.0 mm in 35mm)
APERTURE f/11
EXPOSURE TIME 0.004s (1/250)
i-9q9tbJC-XL.jpg
 
Week #4/52
Another one on the shot list was food porn. I'm not sure this really qualifies, but this weeks photo assignment is "Smoke", so I figured I'd play a bit with my food this afternoon. I liked how the chicken thighs always put on a good smoke show with all that grease dripping into the coals below. And the black background was 'built in' from the grills lid and a little bonus I played with was the orientation/location of the top vent to look like a little window of light. I suppose it came together in an acceptable manner. I certainly could have played with it more but I was getting hungry and the food was ready. :eat:

Camera Nikon NIKON D4S
Lens AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
ISO 2000
Focal Length 66.0 mm (66.0 mm in 35mm)
Aperture f/6.7
Exposure Time 0.004s (1/250)
i-pJmkb2p-XL.jpg
 
Week #5/52
The recent thread about Matchbox, HotWheels and Little Green Army Men (LGAM) got me thinking about I might stage a shot TM would be proud of. So I found some LGAM and sorted them. Once sorted, I played with them a bit while reminiscing of my childhood and how much time I really spent with these things in the dirt as a kid. That was fun as a kid and reminiscing. So once I had them placed where I thought they would be decent, I shot a few frames yet they still needed 'something'. Laying on the ground with the 105mm Macro, I decided what the heck and got the lighter fluid, my stick lighter and some leaves. Well, you can guess the rest...

Natural sunlight to my back, a fist full of leaves soaked with lighter fluid and then lit. Chose a moderate DOF to focus on LGAM's head and let the rest just fade to oblivion. In Manual Mode, I chose ISO 100 and just ran the shutter speed up or down depending on what I needed for the exposure to work.


CAMERA Nikon NIKON D4S
LENS AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED
ISO 100
FOCAL LENGTH 105.0 mm (105.0 mm in 35mm)
APERTURE f/8
EXPOSURE TIME 0.00556s (1/180)
i-fsb9K4k-XL.jpg
 
Love LGAM. Many hours spent as a kid playing with them.

I the arm of the one in back in the fire, or is it just the exposure?
 
Love LGAM. Many hours spent as a kid playing with them.

I the arm of the one in back in the fire, or is it just the exposure?

Yep.... He's just in front on the 'edge' of the flames and um.... might have been consumed at some point. I can't say with certainty that LGAM were or were not harmed in the creation of this image. :deal:
 
LOL, it is a risk they take...
Many of mine ended up in a, shall we say, less than perfect state.

A magnifying glass and the sun was always fun as a kid...
 
A partial buried Black Cat fire cracker near one of them would have been appropriate :-P Mine were burned, shot, and blown up. We would set up elaborate "scenes", all the while thinking of how they were going to be attacked and making changes to the scene for the greatest effect. Film was expensive. If we'd have had the video ability of today back then, the movies would have been epic!
 
Week #6/52
This one might not make sense at first review, yet I'm totally pleased with the outcome. I'm working up a concept for a future shot and this was one approach I had considered. The shot is of a pot of boiling water and I was interested to see how bubbles reacted under temperature and what they did throughout their lifecycle. SB700 speedlight handheld above the pot at 1/128th power and fired by CactusIV triggers.

Camera Nikon NIKON D4S
Lens AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED
ISO 100
Focal Length 105.0 mm (105.0 mm in 35mm)
Aperture f/8
Exposure Time 0.01111s (1/90)
i-pdTKNZj-XL.jpg
 
I really like the B&W. Did you play around with any colored lighting?
 
No, just the alum pot and a speedlight. Glass is next to see an effect.
 
LOL, it is a risk they take...
Many of mine ended up in a, shall we say, less than perfect state.

A magnifying glass and the sun was always fun as a kid...

Black Cat firecrackers destroyed my collection of green army men..:sun:
 
Week #7/52
What a fun trip this was. Rusty and I were talking about pics for this week and he mentioned a possible run to Waco to visit the zoo. The stars aligned and I was able to run up there with him. We saw a lot of cool stuff, yet I couldn't come away with being sad. Sure the big cats are safe, but they appeared to have lost their soul. They just existed. And this seemed like a lot of the other creatures too. Well, except the snakes..... They have no soul.

I chose this one as it spoke to me. This was the male of the group. Running around was one offspring and it was a 'flyer'. Momma just sat as well. I think it's the eyes, or the overcast day. It's a sad picture where I think he's contemplating how to connect with me - or eat me. Not sure which one.

Camera Nikon NIKON D500
Lens AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
ISO 2800
Focal Length 200.0 mm (300.0 mm in 35mm)
Aperture f/5.6
Exposure Time 0.0025s (1/400)
i-dmdSfmx-X2.jpg
 
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Week #8/52
I pondered the current photo assignment "Grilles" a bit and decided to go a different creative route from what I expected to see presented - Grille, as in to question or interrogate. I suppose my spelling isn't that great having left out the ever important "e" but oh well - it was a fun shot to create. I made a phone call to a friend who was game for the concept. We set up in an outdoor shed of hers and I used a 2x3 softbox with a single speedlight camera left. The CF bulb was just a socket with some lampcord and a plug connected to an extension cord tacked to the ceiling rafter. I had a second speedlight camera right at 1/128 for just a 'poof' (a highly technical term) of light as fill. Dug around the shed and found a pair of jumper cables and an old battery and I had brought along an old dark colored pillowcase. Rope was just thick twine from HomeDepot. CactusIV triggers for the setup. I did some straight on shots which were ok, but when I stood up on the stool, the image took on a whole new dimension. I think we shot 200 images of different poses, angles and content and I came away with five I was happy with. That jumped to 13 when she saw my rejects. lol

Camera Nikon NIKON D4S
Lens AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
ISO 640
Focal Length 38.0 mm (38.0 mm in 35mm)
Aperture f/11
Exposure Time 0.008s (1/125)

Link to pic HERE



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