Snapping pigeons !

[dseered]

Well I thought it would be good practice for next weeks BSB, not sure what kind of pigeons they are, they are the ones that people keep on the allotments - we have a few sets up here and as they move fast and change direction alot they are good fun to photograph - I am reasonably happy with the results so far, not sure what to do next though ?

I love this one, it reminds me of WW2 fighter planes !
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/6678/img0332se7.jpg
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2241/img0370shrunkpv3.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6243/img0398shrunkkm7.jpg
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/9748/img0427shrunkmu8.jpg
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/1784/img0369shrunkeo7.jpg

[arj]

I am reasonably happy with the results so far, not sure what to do next though ?



Get a gun and shoot the sky rats for real!

[ProjectImola004]

I like the fourth one in this series, you have captured them as if they are a squadron peeling off into a turn. I would be interested to know what settings you had the camera on, with a narrow depth of field and a fast shutter speed you have blurred the background giving the impression of speed. You will notice this if photographing the bikes next week. Panning with the subject will (as I'm sure you will know) will creat the moving at speed look. :)

Look at the massive difference between the two images, although of not terribly good quality, they show what a difference the background can make, one looks suspended in thin air, the other really looks at speed (even though they are both travelling in excess of 500knots!!! :)

[dseered]

I would be interested to know what settings you had the camera on, with a narrow depth of field and a fast shutter speed you have blurred the background giving the impression of speed


LOL, you think I know what settings it was on ? A guy had said turn it to AV which I did and these are some of the results, I did have a head scratching moment though when I was getting nothing but blurry images - I had turned it on to Macro, not ideal for fast moving shots !

[ProjectImola004]

LOL, you think I know what settings it was on ? A guy had said turn it to AV which I did and these are some of the results, I did have a head scratching moment though when I was getting nothing but blurry images - I had turned it on to Macro, not ideal for fast moving shots !

Turn it on pull up the image on the display screen. Don't know if the 400D has one but press the 'info' button on the back and it will all come up - ISO, aperture, shutter speed etc. even a histogram if you so desire!!! :)

also, if you use the Canon EOS viewer utlity software it will automatically come up on your PC (sorry your Mac) screen. :)

[dseered]

Choose you wingman carefully !
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/2271/wingmanhg8.jpg

Gotcha.

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/5597/gotchahh5.jpg

Bring on BSB, can't wait to take some cool photos !

[ProjectImola004]

Get a gun and shoot the sky rats for real!

I was starting to get around to this train of thought!!! :p

I'll be there on Sunday so I can see how quickly I can bore you to sleep with the whys and wherefores of focal lengths and white balances!!! :p

[dseered]

Ed, looking forward to both meeting you and learning how to use the thing properly, sadly the manual is not designed with first timers in mind and I find myself having to google alot of the terminology - getting there though !

I have a monopod now, although I think it was designed for the shorter person in mind, not sure a tripod will be helpful at a bike race ?

If you think I need one I will pick one up this week !

[ProjectImola004]

Ed, looking forward to both meeting you and learning how to use the thing properly, sadly the manual is not designed with first timers in mind and I find myself having to google alot of the terminology - getting there though !

I have a monopod now, although I think it was designed for the shorter person in mind, not sure a tripod will be helpful at a bike race ?

If you think I need one I will pick one up this week !

...not unless you're doing alot of still life, landscape photography. I use one because that is what I photograph mostly. This week I are be mostly photographing BSB though!!!! :D
A good rule of thumb though when using a big lens without a tripod or monpod, is to match the shutter speed with the focal length being used - ie. when using a 500mm bigma (Sigma) like mine, if I'm using it set at 500mm, I would not want to go lower than a 500th shutter speed. :)

so endeth todays lesson!!!! ;) :o

[dseered]

...not unless you're doing alot of still life, landscape photography. I use one because that is what I photograph mostly. This week I are be mostly photographing BSB though!!!! :D
A good rule of thumb though when using a big lens without a tripod or monpod, is to match the shutter speed with the focal length being used - ie. when using a 500mm bigma (Sigma) like mine, if I'm using it set at 500mm, I would not want to go lower than a 500th shutter speed. :)

so endeth todays lesson!!!! ;) :o

Cool, that will be 300th for me then, can't wait, just hope I have enough memory 6GB be OK ? I guess that will be about 1400 shots ! So I think that would be about 14 good ones !

[ProjectImola004]

Cool, that will be 300th for me then, can't wait, just hope I have enough memory 6GB be OK ? I guess that will be about 1400 shots ! So I think that would be about 14 good ones !

LOL!

I think if the weather was anything like last year, you will be shooting much faster. Then again, as I spoke about earlier in the thread, if you want to create the impression of much more speed as opposed to freezing the riders in space, you may want to slow the shutter speed right up, say a 60th, and pan with the rider, having pre-focused (the camera should do this for you fast enough on auto-focus mode) on an area of the track he is going to be passing. The best thing to do here is to set the depth of field such that the lens captures everything between ther nearest and furtherest edges of the track - say 15m, thereby allowing you to forget about focusing and concentrate on panning and getting the rider in the middle of frame. :)
I'll show you on Sunday, once I've stopped focusing my lens on Kerrie!! :o

[ProjectImola004]

...as an example of what I have just described, check out these two pics Ian Struthers took at the DG trackeves. Note in one I have been frozen in time (see details like the chain etc. ) and the other I am moving fast with wheels, chain and background out of focus.....:)

[Scotty]

explain the histogram thing , i don't understand

[Freak]

You know I wish I understood all this, I just keep swapping settings and hope for the best LOL!

[dseered]

You know I wish I understood all this, I just keep swapping settings and hope for the best LOL!

Me to !

[Screwy]

I think I may feel like the forum nerd at Knockhill with my 50 year old Russian range finder and light meter and still using 35mm film :o


:D :D

[dseered]

I think I may feel like the forum nerd at Knockhill with my 50 year old Russian range finder and light meter and still using 35mm film :o


:D :D

I am sure the photographic principals are the same and as I don't know them I would love some help from anyone that knows more than me !

[ProjectImola004]

I think I may feel like the forum nerd at Knockhill with my 50 year old Russian range finder and light meter and still using 35mm film :o


:D :D

Hey Screwy, I still occasionally use my old Western Euromaster light meter. I keep it in the camera bag as a momento of the 'bad old days' of film. :)

[alane]

Well I thought it would be good practice for next weeks BSB, not sure what kind of pigeons they are, they are the ones that people keep on the allotments

Tumbler pigeons make for good aerial shots.

[alane]

Just spoke to a friend with a 400d and he recommended a read of:
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470110074.html
if you can get a library copy.

Worth a butchers at the pdf file sample for setting up the camera:
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/74/04701100/0470110074.pdf

(big file about 8mb)

[DKM]

I find this setting very useful!

[ProjectImola004]

been out playing LandRovers today and blagged my way into a large wind farm over 2000 feet up in the mountains here, these things are just babies I'm told but are massive at over 115m high, they dwarfed my LR! :)