Experiments with outdoor photography
Jan. 27th, 2018 03:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shantellI didn't have a lot of time to work outdoors this week because of my homework load, and I couldn’t count on shots over the weekend because the weather forecast was unfavourable and my camera is not waterproof. However, I had some time on Friday evening when the weather was mild and clear. Nonetheless, shooting at night necessitated the use of a tripod. I have a tripod, but it is only nominally better than nothing. The legs don't lock into place reliably and there's no way to change the angle from landscape mode to portrait. Although I was told I can borrow a tripod from the school, this is not really a usable option for me. Borrowed equipment must be returned before 8 am on the next school day, and since my classes don't start until 11 am and end at 6, it would mean that I'd have to get up at 5 am and be completely worn out by the time my last class started. So shitty old tripod it was.
I figured that I could at least crop an 8x10 portrait shot out of my landscape shots, so I set out in the dark to the childhood home of Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King. There's a railway bridge there that crosses Wellington street, and I figured I could get some decent street photos from overhead.
I set a remote timer so as not to shake my camera and set it to a ten-second exposure time.
Unfortunately, because my eyesight is crappy, I couldn't tell that my shots were out of focus. This is the best one of the bunch. I discovered that tail lights receding photographed much more interestingly than headlights advancing. So I timed my shot to take place when cars were heading away but none were coming forward.
Next, I returned to the historic house and took some shots up through the trees at Orion and the moon overhead. These appeared nicely in my viewfinder, but came out extremely dark once I loaded them up onto my computer at home. I kept the same ten-second exposure time. Perhaps they needed an even longer one. I tried increasing the brightness on Photoshop, but there were problems with artifacts and corruption showing up, and the moon came out intensely over-exposed.
I tried taking more shots, but the cold had drained my camera battery and my night shoot was over.
When I woke up on Saturday, I saw that the forecasted rain had not yet hit, so I bundled up and went back outside to do some shots. I decided to do some tighter shots this time and the photo quality turned out much better. It also helped that since the daylight was bright enough, I no longer needed a tripod and could hold my camera in portrait mode without worrying about blur.
I thought this upward angle of a hole-pocked tree was interesting, but once I printed it out, it didn't look as interesting.
This shot, taken inside a huge hole in a tree, is more interesting, but I'm not completely satisfied with the composition.
These succulents still look juicy and healthy in spite of it being January, but again, the composition didn't appeal to me over all.
alt="succulents">
I really like this shot of hens and chicks, but the white leaves are over-exposed, distracting from the gorgeous colours and shape of the plants, and I don't know enough about Photoshop yet to correct the issue.
I'm also fond of this forced perspective shot of pine needles atop a manhole cover, but I don't know if the depth of field would go over as a positive or a negative in class. I like the composition, regardless.
I also like this close-up of a crack in a tree, but again, the blurred edges could potentially detract. I still enjoy the use of line in the shot.
I ultimately chose to submit this close-up of pine tree sap because it incorporates the rule of thirds, and because the colour gradients in the sap are beautiful.
I need to find a way to see better through the viewfinder of my camera at night, but am unsure of how to do that. I also need to find a way to keep my camera running longer in the cold. And, I need to find a better tripod, stat.
I figured that I could at least crop an 8x10 portrait shot out of my landscape shots, so I set out in the dark to the childhood home of Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King. There's a railway bridge there that crosses Wellington street, and I figured I could get some decent street photos from overhead.
I set a remote timer so as not to shake my camera and set it to a ten-second exposure time.
Unfortunately, because my eyesight is crappy, I couldn't tell that my shots were out of focus. This is the best one of the bunch. I discovered that tail lights receding photographed much more interestingly than headlights advancing. So I timed my shot to take place when cars were heading away but none were coming forward.
Next, I returned to the historic house and took some shots up through the trees at Orion and the moon overhead. These appeared nicely in my viewfinder, but came out extremely dark once I loaded them up onto my computer at home. I kept the same ten-second exposure time. Perhaps they needed an even longer one. I tried increasing the brightness on Photoshop, but there were problems with artifacts and corruption showing up, and the moon came out intensely over-exposed.
I tried taking more shots, but the cold had drained my camera battery and my night shoot was over.
When I woke up on Saturday, I saw that the forecasted rain had not yet hit, so I bundled up and went back outside to do some shots. I decided to do some tighter shots this time and the photo quality turned out much better. It also helped that since the daylight was bright enough, I no longer needed a tripod and could hold my camera in portrait mode without worrying about blur.
I thought this upward angle of a hole-pocked tree was interesting, but once I printed it out, it didn't look as interesting.
This shot, taken inside a huge hole in a tree, is more interesting, but I'm not completely satisfied with the composition.
These succulents still look juicy and healthy in spite of it being January, but again, the composition didn't appeal to me over all.
alt="succulents">I really like this shot of hens and chicks, but the white leaves are over-exposed, distracting from the gorgeous colours and shape of the plants, and I don't know enough about Photoshop yet to correct the issue.
I'm also fond of this forced perspective shot of pine needles atop a manhole cover, but I don't know if the depth of field would go over as a positive or a negative in class. I like the composition, regardless.
I also like this close-up of a crack in a tree, but again, the blurred edges could potentially detract. I still enjoy the use of line in the shot.
I ultimately chose to submit this close-up of pine tree sap because it incorporates the rule of thirds, and because the colour gradients in the sap are beautiful.
I need to find a way to see better through the viewfinder of my camera at night, but am unsure of how to do that. I also need to find a way to keep my camera running longer in the cold. And, I need to find a better tripod, stat.
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Date: 2018-02-01 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2018-02-05 10:03 pm (UTC)