Shoot plan advice

bbarrett

bbarrett

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Ok, I'm off camping at the beach for the weekend with family and friends. I want to go prepared with a 'shopping list' for the shots I want and some pre-thought on how to capture them. Any ideas?

1 - mood piece with waves: medium exposure (up to 1sec) to capture the wave motion over the sand, some foreground interest such as collapsing sand castle in surf, seaweed, drift wood, longest f-stop I can cope with for desired exposure time. 17mm focal length (my smallest available), positioned close to foreground subject. Close to sunset.

2 - people: 75mm-300mm lens, search for interesting people/activities,probably from ground level. Short f-stop, faster exposure lighting will allow.

3 - star trails:, up to 2 hours (from frames of 30 sec), local cliffs illuminated by full moon for foreground interest. 17mm, 2/3 sky

4 - HDR: just want to try one if I can find a sky worthy of it.

5 - camp fire: how do you capture fire? I'd love to catch children illuminated only by the fire...

6 - other must take ideas?
 
alternately
a good tripod for 1, 3, 4
have you an android phone and tried tethering it for you star trails or do you have that covered?
camp fire? high ISO, catch them in thought and max resolution to rescue the image if they move at all! think of B&W too and RAW incase the camera can't figure it out
what kit do you have btw? will affect your choices

also if you're going away with family and friends...take beer!
and an alarm clock so you can get out of bed before everyone else and get your HDR sunrises or similar :)
 
Re: beer, great idea! (already packed). I will be appreciating that.
Re: alarm clock, I'm sure the wife will appreciate that!
Re: kit, I have canon eos 550d, 18-55mm kit lens, 75-300mm zoom lens, and 50mm f1.8 prime lens, home made cable release, 'good enough' tripod.
Re: android... Sounds cool! What app?... How do you connect?
Re: grads... Umm... Going to have to google that one.

Thanks for tips, especially fire ones.
 
Thanks for all of the advice on this threads. Some of it was particularly useful, but (as I should have expected) most decisions were made and shots composed "in the heat of the moment".

Proximity to the ruins I knew were about (but as it turned out not close enough), weather (not enough clear sky for star trails) and the logistics of children and their bed times meant I had to go with what scenes were at hand. But I did get some shots that I particularly like, which I'll share below:

1 - a nice panoramic stick (my fist with software Hugin, and I'm impressed with that!). The shot in my opinion is a capture of the scene, but adds nothing special to it :( comments?


Three Cliffs Bay by bazza_barrett, on Flickr

2 - this is the "moody" water shot I was aiming for. I love it. 300mm f6.3 ISO 400 and a 0.6s exposure on my EOS 550d... It was quite dark already.


Three Cliffs by bazza_barrett, on Flickr

3 - Same basic shot as 2, but a 5sec exposure at f10. I like the ghostly people except for one who hasn't moved, but I prefer the water in 2, with shorter exposure.


Three Cliffs by bazza_barrett, on Flickr

4 - my absolute favourite shot from the trip... I love the glassy water resulting from this 30sec exposure at f22 and iso100 at 55mm focal length


Three Cliffs by bazza_barrett, on Flickr

5 - finally, if there are any people interested in earth science, I put together a 3d (stereo pair) image of an interesting landform I saw in the sand. Love to know if you can make these 3d images work for you, and how well you think this one works.


Debris Flow 3D by bazza_barrett, on Flickr

Thanks for looking. Hopefully I'll have one or two more shots from this trip to upload soon.
 
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Well it looks like your "shopping list" must have come together nicely :thumbs:

#2 has to be the best of the set, although all of them are great!
Looking forward to any more to come :)
 
If I may offer a little C&C in a non C&C thread. First time I've done C&C in public!

As always (must rewrite my signature!) it's only my opinion which may well differ from other people's!

#1. I like the panoramic format for starters - the best thing about APS film IMO and that's a fine example. Nothing special? I'll bet it brings back fine memories every time you see it. Don't worry about the curved horizon. I expect it could be straightened in PP but they're a fact of life with panoramas. Grads on a pan? Possible but not easy keeping the transition exactly level across (?) 5 or 6 shots! I won't comment on composition since I strongly believe that that's a matter of taste and the photographer's choice.

#2. I'm afraid I'm going to get a bit picky here. It's not to my personal taste, the water (to me) looks like it's been affected by camera shake. The exposure is either too fas or too slow. It's a shame the dog is just in front of the man's reflection, it's been lost in the reflection.

#3. I far prefer this one, tying with #4 as my favourite of the set. The creaminess of the water and especially the 3 different amounts of ghostliness of the people. Creamy water may be a cliché but I like it.

#4. Beautiful and relaxing to view. The smoothness of the water, the figure on the point the cliffs showing a hint of detail in the low light. Lovely shot.

#5. I have a stereo viewer and with your permission, I'd like to print this and have a look. I also have a stereo film compact and I'm very tempted to keep it out when I find the box.


From your original post, you mentionned star trails. IMO, film is the medium for these. No faffing around with stacking exposures (although I understand that the modern software is very good) since with a completely mechanical camera (I have used both rangefinders and SLRs for the job) you can lock the shutter open for as long as you like - all you need to worry about is the lens dewing up. If you have a vintage type second hand dealer locally, you should be able to pick up a Russian rangefinder very cheap - pick an interesting looking one, then even if it fails, you can use it as an ornament!

Where is that beach? If it's within reach, I would like to visit it and take a few pics. I'm Exeter based and not allowed to drive at the moment (medical issue, not a ban!).
 
Nod said:
If I may offer a little C&C in a non C&C thread.
Click to expand...
Yes please :)

Nod said:
#5. I have a stereo viewer and with your permission, I'd like to print this and have a look
Click to expand...
Of course! Please share how well it works! (so... Are you a geologist/remote sensor by any chance?)


Nod said:
From your original post, you mentionned star trails. IMO, film is the medium for these. No faffing around with stacking exposures (although I understand that the modern software is very good) since with a completely mechanical camera (I have used both rangefinders and SLRs for the job) you can lock the shutter open for as long as you like - all you need to worry about is the lens dewing up. If you have a vintage type second hand dealer locally, you should be able to pick up a Russian rangefinder very cheap - pick an interesting looking one, then even if it fails, you can use it as an ornament!
Click to expand...

Having used both a film SLR and now a dSLR, I have t disagree. Modern dSLR cameras can indeed be used on a bulb setting and kept open for hours continuously, but in modern light polluted Britton, that is always going t end up with a blown out sky and few if any stars (film too). Being able to stack multiple 30sec exposures enables decent star trails to be acquired even in full moon conditions. And many more possibilities. Finally, as I use images on a screen more than in print, i like digital Amerasian for the simple fact that there are no scanning requirements.

Nod said:
Where is that beach? If it's within reach, I would like to visit it and take a few pics. I'm Exeter based and not allowed to drive at the moment (medical issue, not a ban!).
Click to expand...
Beach is South Wales, Gower peninsula, images are geotagged in Flickr if you want precise location.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my photos and to comment.
 
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