The Photography Thread

**Tyche** · 2010-06-28 13:22

Make sure to use your flash, it'll certainly help. Probably f11 1/500 with the flash. ISO 50.

**zoobernut** · 2010-06-28 13:24

Originally Posted by Tyche

Make sure to use your flash, it'll certainly help. Probably f11 1/500 with the flash. ISO 50.

Lol you almost got me. For a second I thought wtf flash, Tyche is nuts. Then I realized the absurdity of the rest of your post and it made me chuckle.

**Headspace** · 2010-06-28 13:24

All I've got is the kit 18-55mm lens and built in flash

Tyche bein a bitch as usual

**zoobernut** · 2010-06-28 13:29

Yeah your kit lens is not going to work for you. Go get a nifty fifty (50mm lens that opens up to 1.4 or 1.8) and you *might* be able to get some good night shots of the city.

Also Tyche was joking about the flash thing, there is no flash that is powerful enough to help you take photos of an entire city from a helicopter. (at least that I know of)

You are probably better off just walking around the city at night, the helicopter is going to shake so much that you will have a hard time getting any non-blurry shots unless your iso is cranked up way high to allow for a super fast shutter speed.

But maybe someone else has some magical physics defying suggestion that will work for you.

**Tyche** · 2010-06-28 13:42

The kit lens opens up to 3.5, which isn't going to be fast enough. It's not a bad lens, it's just slow. You can get a 50mm f1.8 for around $95. It's definitely worth it. Still may not get you what you want. If you crank the ISO up to about 3200, you may be able to get off a hand held shot, but there'll be a lot of noise. TBH, I don't know. The only night shots I have taken have been long exposures with a tripod.

Use the settings I suggested though, and I promise a very sharp, noise free picture.

**Headspace** · 2010-06-28 13:53

I plan on walking the city at night to get night shots, but I may end up doing the helicopter tour during the day since the pictures can at least be decent.

I'm not looking for anything grand looking because I know the kit lens won't do it.

If I could afford to really spend anything on a lens I would, but I still have another 3 weeks on my vacation without work so money is limited.

**Zansho** · 2010-06-29 09:16

Tyche's exactly right. You'll have to use at least a 50mm 1.8 or 50mm 1.4 to get the shots you want. However, shooting at F1.4 probably will not net you the DOF you want. You can also look at getting some Zeiss lenses (contax mount) and getting an MF adapter to fit canon bodies - they're sharp as hell, cheap, and a good way to get into the 50mm 1.2 market without breaking the bank. Negative is that you'll have to focus manually, which can be a bitch at night.

I know a friend who does aerial photography for a living, and he uses a gyroscopic stabilizer to counteract the effects of the helicopter/plane shake. That's almost cost prohibitive, however, for the casual hobbyist. If you're curious, here it is: http://www.ken-lab.com/ There have been some DIY solutions that involved using hard drives as the counterweight spin for the gyro effect, but I doubt they have enough mass to help your camera.

And flash? lol, good luck. There is no way in hell unless you get several hundred thousand dollars worth of strobe equipment to light the entire city.

Maybe if you had a 7D or a 5D Mark II with their crazy 24,500 ISO...

**zoobernut** · 2010-06-29 10:32

Zansho even at f1.4 if you are shooting an entire city and presumably focusing at infinity your DoF is not going to be an issue.

The DoF at f1.4 will only be an issue if you are focusing on objects that are close to you.

**Headspace** · 2010-06-29 12:04

If I do it during the day, I could get a lot better pictures with my current equipment won't I? I just want decent pictures, they're only going to be used on facebook for the most part. I can get nighttime pictures taken in the city while walking I suppose.

**Tyche** · 2010-06-29 13:02

You'll be fine in daylight. If you can shoot at f8 and still get 1/500 or faster, I'd shoot at the f-stop. That's about the sharpness sweet spot for that lens.

**Headspace** · 2010-06-29 13:04

dumb that down for me.

**zoobernut** · 2010-06-29 13:13

fstop refers to the aperture of the lens, or how big the opening is. This dictates how much light reaches your sensor when you take a photo. It also effects picture sharpness and depth of field (how much space is in focus). Most lenses are at their sharpest when their aperture is f8.

And yes shooting in the day time is going to be your best bet. Tyche is right however I think that your shutter speed is going to be more important than aperture. For you unless you are going to pixel creep you will not notice the sharpness difference between f3.5 or f5.6 and f8 even if the lens is technically sharper at f8. It will be MUCH more important for you to make sure your shutter speed is high enough to compensate for the vibration and movement of the helicopter. 1/500th is a good place to start however it also depends on your focal length of the lens. With your kit lens though if you just stay around 1/500th you should be ok. If you rent or get a long telephoto lens and you are zooming in really close on stuff from the helicopter you might need to go faster.

**Headspace** · 2010-06-29 15:24

One thing that worries me is how the sun is hitting the buildings can affect how nice the pictures turn out, and also the amount of smog can fuck up the contrasts and colors of the city...summer blows

anyways, some shots from this weekend

Spoiler: show

**Tyche** · 2010-06-29 15:59

Go at sunrise or at sunset (or right before/after a storm is a hell of an effect). The light is way too harsh midday. I'd opt for shooting with the sun as opposed to into the sun, although you can get some good results with backlight, frontlight, sidelight, etc. Shit's situational, but I think you'll have an easier go at it when the city is frontlit.

**Headspace** · 2010-06-29 16:05

Yeah I was thinking of doing sunset. Going through the city during the day, sunset tour, night pictures, avatar midnight release.

but I suck at sticking to plans.

**Zansho** · 2010-06-29 16:27

One way to counteract "shiny surfaces" is to use a circular polarizer. I used them to counteract the reflective properties of glasses and car windshields with great success - the problem is that they will cause you to lose about 2 stops of exposure.

As for the 1.4 aperture not being an issue, it is. If you're WAY above the city, sure, I can see it being a non-issue, but if you're flying around it, level with the buildings and whatnot, the DoF will become a factor as some buildings will be in focus while others will not.

The OP doesn't have the means to do this at night time on a helicopter anyway - if I were him, with his equipment, I'd probably grab a tripod, go up the highest building I can find, and shoot a timed exposure from there.

**Headspace** · 2010-07-04 14:59

Obligatory fireworks pictures

My first attempt at night photog and fireworks photos

Spoiler: show

**Tyche** · 2010-07-04 21:39

Just Tried my hand at shootin fireworks. A lot of trial and error, don't think they turned out well. I think I exposed too long. Ill find out when i get them on the pc and view them. Toward the end, to compensate, I was holding a black blanket in front of the lens between firework bursts to prevent the backdrop from exposing too bright, oh well, theres always next year.

**Tyche** · 2010-07-04 22:41

**Headspace** · 2010-07-04 22:48

damn those are nice

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