Creative Photography

[Way-Out-West]

Back to the dark n dank. Well, the sogginess brought the mushrooms out of hiding and luckily some were in pristine condition. Even the roadside verges have loads, with some giant dinner plate sized ones, so obviously a good year.

Oops 5 shots. Oh well it's quiet enough.

 

[briantrumpet]

Re colour inconsistency, could the OM be shooting in RAW? As RAW files aren’t fully processed they require editing to achieve a desirable look.
Maybe it’s just the camera's inherent ‘colour science’ or purely a vibrancy setting. I personally don’t mind the muted colours, but if you are seeking colour accuracy, then it’s not ideal, especially if you don’t want to edit.

No, not RAW files. It's the inconsistency which is frustrating, though I might still go digging in the settings to see if there's anything tweakable. (I'd use the totally auto setting more if it didn't disable being able to adjust exposure, which is often wildly out.) I know I'm still kinda in love with the Sony for what it can do, and the OM will certainly do, in may respects, but the two don't really compare. I'd put the OM in the mobile phone quality bracket.

 

[briantrumpet]

Back to the dark n dank. Well, the sogginess brought the mushrooms out of hiding and luckily some were in pristine condition. Even the roadside verges have loads, with some giant dinner plate sized ones, so obviously a good year.
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Oops 5 shots. Oh well it's quiet enough.

Corkers.

 

[Way-Out-West]

Corkers.

Cheers. I bet the badgers will have chomped a few by now.
The online focus stacking software I use was driving me to despair, leaving halos and backgrounds with considerable noise. Gave up and did some manually, which on a Chromebook is a pain.

 

[Pross]

It’s that time of year. The sun and dew together with a dark background made the cobwebs stand out this morning

 

[Pross]

St Catherine’s Oratory with The Needles in the distance. This was a planned location for a Milky Way shoot (I thought the rocket shape would be appropriate) but unfortunately didn’t get the clear nights.

 

[Pross]

I'm quite happy with this one as I saw the opportunity when visiting Bembridge windmill last Sunday during the daytime. The following day was looking like the best chance for a clear sky but unfortunately it was still forecast to be blowing 50-60mph gusts. As an additional challenge, the hedge along the public footway that would have provided shelter from the wind was too high to shoot over, the open field the path led into was very exposed and also made the angle tricky with the only option being to take a panorama to get the windmill and Milky Way in frame - the problem this gave was that I'd be completely exposed and I was also missing a minor component on my kit that meant panoramas would be challenging. I did take one and it looks OK (the perspective on the windmill is better). In the end I got myself tight in the corner of the field and using my widest lens setting (11mm / 18mm equivalent) I as just about able to get everything in one shot although I've lost the bottom corner of the windmill and the persepective has a bit of a fisheye look. I was also a bit annoyed by the fence but I actualy quite like that it sort of mirrors the Milky Way and guides the eye towards it. I used my considerable bulk as a windbreak and took the exposures at 3200 ISO, f2.8 and 15" as it was too windy to go longer with my star tracker. The final image is 8 frames stacked to give an effective 2 minute exposure.

 

[Way-Out-West]

I'm quite happy with this one as I saw the opportunity when visiting Bembridge windmill last Sunday during the daytime. The following day was looking like the best chance for a clear sky but unfortunately it was still forecast to be blowing 50-60mph gusts. As an additional challenge, the hedge along the public footway that would have provided shelter from the wind was too high to shoot over, the open field the path led into was very exposed and also made the angle tricky with the only option being to take a panorama to get the windmill and Milky Way in frame - the problem this gave was that I'd be completely exposed and I was also missing a minor component on my kit that meant panoramas would be challenging. I did take one and it looks OK (the perspective on the windmill is better). In the end I got myself tight in the corner of the field and using my widest lens setting (11mm / 18mm equivalent) I as just about able to get everything in one shot although I've lost the bottom corner of the windmill and the persepective has a bit of a fisheye look. I was also a bit annoyed by the fence but I actualy quite like that it sort of mirrors the Milky Way and guides the eye towards it. I used my considerable bulk as a windbreak and took the exposures at 3200 ISO, f2.8 and 15" as it was too windy to go longer with my star tracker. The final image is 8 frames stacked to give an effective 2 minute exposure.

View attachment 787677

That has worked out nicely and a great subject (windmill) to have as a foreground.

 

[Way-Out-West]

Apologies- more from the ‘Wood Wide Web’. I thought I’d better take the opportunity whilst there’s a glut of them around.

 

[Pross]

You really ought to start selling some of those. The level of detail is incredible

 

[Pross]

That has worked out nicely and a great subject (windmill) to have as a foreground.

Thanks. I was surprised how sharp the stars were considering the breeze as 15” is about the most I would hope to get without trailing even in perfect conditions. Would have liked to get more colour out of the core but the little bit of low cloud and light pollution from the airfield directly below didn’t help.

 

[Way-Out-West]

You really ought to start selling some of those. The level of detail is incredible

I doubt they’d sell for much or anything, but printed (postcard size) as a collection, they might look ok hanging at home on a wall.

 

[Pross]

I was hoping for a second clear night as the skies were fairly cloud free at around 8.30pm, I got down to Shanklin beach just by the chine at around 9pm just before astronomical twighlighted ended and the skies were still fairly clear with maybe 30% high, thin cloud and stupidly I decided to take foreground shots whilst waiting for twighlight to end. Unfortunately thicker, lower cloud started to come in during that time so when I started on my sky shots the best I could manage was the Milky Way in a few gaps. This one is a stacked sky (5 x 15" at ISO 3200 and f2.8) with a 2 minute foreground (ISO 800 f5.0). A bit disappointing, I liked the foreground just a shame the clouds couldn't hold off.

I then turned the camera around and took a 3 minute shot down the beach towards the esplanade (ISO 1600, f14 @ 11mm). It was a bit noisy due to the length of the exposure but Lightroom's AI noise reduction did a reasoanble job of cleanning it up. The few stars visible are trailing a fair bit but I actually quite like them as it's enough that they don't just look blurred. Dealing with the bright lights on the esplanade was a challenge.

 

[briantrumpet]

I doubt they’d sell for much or anything, but printed (postcard size) as a collection, they might look ok hanging at home on a wall.

It's the kind of niche thing that might attract surprising interest if you found the right format and market. No idea what either of those would be though.

 

[briantrumpet]

The Shadows in concert.