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Question:
I am interested in photographing lightning over the water. I live on the Gulf of Mexico and have always wanted to give this a try. I have a 28mm, 28mm-105mm, and a 200mm lens. Now that you know what I have, what type film and procedures should I do to accomplish this?
Answer:
You need a tripod, a cable release and 100 ISO film. Depending on how far the lightning is from you will determine which lens to use. Most of the lightning that I have seen over water is quite far off, so I would try the 200mm. But the problem with that is that you are only looking at a small area on the horizon (you might not get very many lightning flashes in your picture). However if the lightning strikes are close then using the 28 - 105mm lens is a good idea. But the closer the lightning is the better your chances are of being struck by it. I forget how many people get killed each year by lightning - but it is an incredible number!
The technical end of the technique is quite simple, you point the camera in the direction of the lightning, set your aperture to F5.6 - F8, release the shutter and keep it open for a couple of minutes. Hopefully you will have several lightning strikes on that one frame. The confusing part to all of this is keeping the shutter open for so long. What you have to remember is that the film needs light in order to be exposed, so at night with the sky being black it simply won't record on the film. But what does happen in a lightning storm is that the clouds and sky will light up with each flash, that is why you only leave the shutter open for a couple of minutes before advancing to the next frame.
Good Luck, let me know if you're successful.
Question:
I want to take indoor pictures of my little boy in front of the Christmas tree. I want to get a soft look with the effect of the lights (in other words- no flash) But I want to be able to see him. I do have a tripod, but no professional lighting equipment. Any suggestions as to how to do this? Film? I have a fully automatic Minolta camera. It has a night portrait setting, but I've never experimented with it.
I greatly appreciate any advice!
Answer:
You're pretty limited with the camera that you have, but I think you just might be able to pull off this shot.
Make sure the flash is turned and that the camera is set for a night exposure - not night portrait. What will happen in night portrait mode is that the shutter will stay open for a couple of seconds and then just as the exposure is just about finish the flash will go off and illuminate the person that you are taking a portrait of. This works great when you are outside at night downtown, or anywhere else where there would be bright lights far off in the background. The flash in most of the fully automatic cameras will go 10 -15 ft. at most, so downtown this technique will work very well.
If you use the same technique in your house with your son standing next to the Christmas tree, it won't work because the flash will be as bright on him as it will be on the Christmas tree. If you are unable to completely turn the flash off on your camera you won't be able to achieve the look that you want. If you can turn the flash off, do so and put the camera on the tripod. You should use 400 ISO speed film, this way the exposure time wouldn't be as long as a slower speed film (your son won't be a blur in the pictures). Turn on all the lights in the room (including the Christmas tree) and take the picture. It is important to get light on your son's face, otherwise he will just be in the dark. The pictures will have a warm, orange cast to them because of the incandescent lighting; (the photo lab may correct this if you ask them to).
Good luck, you might want to try this a couple of times, just to fine tune how many lights to turn on and their placement in the room.
Question:
I am sending this e mail to find out if there is any way that a dark photo can be enhanced (the pictures were taken in fading light). These photos were a once in a lifetime shots of a magnificent buck deer and I WOULD LOVE TO TRY TO SAVE THEM.
Thank you
Answer:
Any photo can be selectively (or entirely) lightened or darkened in Photoshop or in the darkroom. But it will never be as good as if the original shot had been properly exposed. The determining factor would be - how dark is the slide (or negative)? 1 or 2 stops should be no problem, anything beyond that would be very difficult to salvage.
Let me if I can help you out any further with this.
Question:
I am just beginning to explore the world of photography and I feel like a sponge trying to soak up all the information I can. I feel as if I know so little so anything you could tell me to help me along my way would be much appreciated. I want to learn as much as possible before I move to Italy in December so that I can truly capture all that I experience there..... any thoughts, suggestions, or information would be more than welcome.
Thank you,
p.s. I absolutely love your photographs of the waterfalls,...I understand what you mean by the awe that is inspired in us by things such as snowflakes, thunderstorms, rushing water,etc.... my particular favorite has always been the appearance of the sky right before a thunder&lightening storm.
Answer:
The best advice that I can give you, is don't wait until you get to Italy to start taking pictures. You should be out taking pictures where ever you are right now. That way you will become familiar with your camera and how it works, which lenses are best used for different situations and most importantly how to expose the film properly.
When I started photography, I read everything that I could get my hands on, and then I would go out around the area of my hometown at take pictures all of the time. Reading about it and actually doing it are two completely different things. The knowledge that you gain from shooting around your home can be applied to shooting anywhere around the world.
I hope that this information helps you, if you have any more questions, just ask!
Question:
Hello......I was searching through some photography sites and this one seemed like a good place to get some answers. I am a senior in high school and my senior project is about photography....I am concentrating on automotive photography. I would live some tips if you have any to offer.....Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You
Answer:
You have picked one of the most thought out advertising products for your project. By thought out, I mean that the auto manufacturers have a pre-determined market for each model of car/truck/SUV. The style in which they are photographed is determined by the model and it's market.
Quite often the actual automobile is photographed in a studio, very few are shot on location. The background part of the picture is usually a scenic photograph. Rolls Royce, Toyota, Lexus, Land Rover, G.M., and Ford have all used some of my pictures for backgrounds. These background pictures will have appeal to certain buyers, depending on the subject matter. All advertising is aimed at certain markets.
The style in which the car is presented or displayed in the picture is also determined by the market. "Fast" cars are usually shown on an angle, in other words if the front of the car is facing you the car is not parallel to the bottom or top edge of the page. This is because of the psychological effect having the car placed this way has on us. Anything that is not horizontal or vertical suggests movement to our brain, thus in trying to portray a fast car it will never be positioned horizontally. Another technique is to use blurred motion in the picture to create movement. A shot of a luxury car will rarely use the above techniques.
Hope this helps you out.
THIS IS A 2 PART QUESTION - ANSWER
Question:
I am a beginner and I need to know how to shot indoors with very low light and no flash. It is an indoor concert. Only lighting is stage. Need to know what speed film and any thing else you can tell me. Fast!
Answer:
For most indoor events you'll want a bare minimum shutter speed of 1/125 of a second. Although you might be able to get away with a 1/60 it depends if you are using a long lens (the longer the lens the faster the shutter speed should be), it also depends upon how fast your subjects are moving.
The film speed depends on the lighting conditions, if they are typical to other theaters then you will need at least 1000 ISO film. The other variable is how fast is your lens? A lens with an F-Stop of 2.0 using 200 ISO film will give you the same shutter speed as an F2.8 lens with 500 ISO and a F4 lens with 1000 ISO film. Obviously you will want to use your fastest lens, let me know what it is and I will try to suggest a film for you to use. Also let me know about the concert, what kind is it? The lighting will be different for the various styles of music. (Classical, Country, Rock, Rap etc.)
Follow up Question:
First of all I would like to thank you for your quick response to my question. I'm not sure I can give you the correct information on the lens speed. I don't have the owners manual with me, but I tried to look up the specs on the Minolta web site (I was given a Minolta Maxxum si 404 for x-mas). The information that I found was under Metering Range. It was EV 1-20, f/1.4 lens and EV -1 to 18 (at ISO 100 in ambient light.
If this is not what you needed thats ok. I sure do appreciate you help. It seems I'm am trying to pack in too much information on this subject with my limited knowledge. But I will be taking pictures any way (nothing ventured nothing gained). By the way the Concert is Rock (Eddie Money).
Thanks again,
ANSWER:
The following advice should help you in taking shots at the concert. The EV range that you gave me is the camera meter's capability to read the light. I'll assume that you got a wide angle zoom lens with the camera (probably something like 28mm - 80mm).
First of all get the fastest speed film that you possibly can, the following films are consumer films so they should be easy to find. (as opposed to professional films which are only handled by the larger camera stores) Fuji Superia 800 or Superia X-TRA 800 or Kodak KODAK MAX Zoom 800 or KODAK ROYAL GOLD 1000.
As for the settings on your camera, go to the "Subject Program Selection" you should use the "Sports Action" mode, as this will favoring fast shutter speeds. Or the Shutter Priority (S mode): Which will also give you a fast shutter speed.
The only other advice that I can think of is; to use the spot meter, if when you look through the viewfinder the stage area takes up only a small percentage of the total picture. Or if the lighting they are using only really highlights Eddie Money and not his band.
If anything isn't clear in the instructions above let me know. Hope your shots turn out!
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