The photography thread

@Carlsman: great work on the lighting! I'm envious. :)

Started a monthly theme challenge (just not enough free time for the 52 week challenge last year). This month, my theme is metal:


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@Carlsman - am I seeing a bit of a Dave Hill influence in your images? I think the first two of your last post are maybe a bit over-PP'd (bit still good shots/lighting/etc) but the last one is really cool.
 
Thanks Arsenu!

And as Zack Uidl said, alot of talent on this forum. This thread is a great photography thread!

you know my name is right in my signature right? ;)

the pictures in this thread are so good it makes me think some sneapsters here are professional photographers/designers and amatuer audio engineers and not vice-versa... :loco:
 
not a designer or photographer, more as a hobby and a part of my actual work (marketing-not that spezialised)
and I am one of the most amateurish guys on here afaik :D using a 30$ interface, not able to programm decent
drums or use more than 2 mics at once ;)
for actual photo shootings jobwise, I try to get a friend of mine for it, because he's way more professional and
better than me.
 
Getting an early start on month 2 of my monthly theme challenge. This month...smoke. My first attempt at doing smoke shots. Seems like everyone does these at least once. :lol: Even though it was my first try, I have to admit, I'm more than happy with how they turned out. I'm sure I'll be doing more sometime, it's fun, as no shot is ever the same. Now I have the rest of the month to start manipulating them, maybe emphasizing the naturally occurring "faces" that appear in some. :)


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^^Nice shots! Looks colllld! From what I'm seeing and reading about Europe (especially Eastern Europe), it's pretty bad!


god damn-they're awesome, need more info on them!
Presets? ;)

Hahaha Thanks! :) I'll do my best to describe it. Really, it's not hard at all. But, you need to be able to use an external flash...off the camera. Either by remote triggers, or a hot-shoe cable to your flash. You have to get the flash off to the side somewhere. Some people have tried using really bright light bulbs (100 or 200 watts) instead of a flash, but they don't typically look as good. Just a bare flash, off camera, pointed in the right direction, and it'll look good. So, the basic setup:

1. Use an incense stick for the smoke. Set it up on a stool or something.
2. Set the camera up on a tripod.
3. Use a lens that will give you a good, sharp image. I used my cheap 50mm. The sharpness from it is unreal for the price.
4. You need to use an aperture of at least f/8, or higher. I think I shot these at f/10. Since the smoke will move around, this will help to keep it more in focus.
5. Focus (manually) on the incense stick, and leave it set there!
6. Set up some sort of black back ground behind the incense stick. The further away, the better. I used a black poster board, about 2 feet back (couldn't go any further, because the board wasn't large enough).
7. Turn the lights out in the room, and start taking pictures. :)

You'll need to experiment with the flash placement. Moving the flash around changes the way the smoke gets lit up. I found two positions that worked great for me. I don't have a way to draw it up, so I'll do my best to describe. :)

If from looking down from an over head view, with the incense being in the center:

1. Place the flash at roughly 10 o'clock or so, at or just above the height of the incense stick, pointing towards the incense...but not flashing into your lens.

or

2. Place the flash at roughly 2 o'clock, on the ground, pointing up to the incense.

This is what worked for me, but move the flash around and see what you get.

Camera/flash settings I used:

ISO: 100
Shutter Speed: 1/100 sec.
Aperture: f/10
Flash power: either 1/4 or 1/16. Sorry...I don't remember and forgot to note it. DOH! Because the flash is off camera and set manually, the flash settings won't show up in the EXIF data.


EDIT: Here's a shot with the incense stick in the picture. You can see here that the flash was at the 2 or 3 o'clock position for this.

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Thanks Geo! It was fun, and I want to do more. Just wait until next month and I post my burning match pictures. Yeah, sounds boring, but I think they came out awesome for another first attempt. :)
 
@NNotN-ENN: Absolutely some Dave Hill inspiration/influences, among others. I totally agree with you on the first two being photoshoped a bit too much. I've only owned a camera for about 1,5 years and just getting into heavy postprocessing so I'm still learning. Hopefully I'll get better in time.

@Jarkko: Thanks! I liked your photo aswell man. Nice work!