Jun 7, 2011, 08:50
All the poppy shots I posted in the showcase section were taken over the course of a few hours walking around the periphery of 2 fields.
It was a wee bit chilly, so I just took 2 lenses: my wide(21mm) and my tele-zoom(70-200). I only realised halfway through the day why on earth I could only get a maximum aperture of f5.6...duh..guess who had the 1.4 converter on then!
I must be getting less 'ard in me advancing years too: I left Mr Manfrotto in the car, relying on using ISO, aperture, shutter speed and good old I.S. on the tele, and generous depth of field in the Zeiss 21mm.
Though my "brief" was poppies, of course once we're literally and metaphorically out in the field, we make the best of opportunities when we see them...yes?
A few compositions started to register on my eye during my perambulations. Now, I don't know about you, but when I see a composition I also see the finished shot in my head...a bit like "seeing" in the focal length of a lens with your inner eye, thus deciding to put the lens on. I "see" close to the finished shot, already deciding if it's colour or monochrome.
There was this fence..and it had some intersting lines, textues, etc; and could have made several different statements depending on the lens. Here's what I mean:
this was at the nice round figure of 124mm, f8 at 1/125s: sweet spot, plus past the vignetting point yet with enough bokeh to make a contrast:
![[Image: 1853_web.jpg]](http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/images/upload/1853_web.jpg)
And then, as I'd already seen the wide shot with a big sky, it was on with Mr Zeiss...remembering to meter off the grass for 18% grey, else you'll expose for the sky..
f6.3, because I know f6.3 is between f5.6 and f8(razor sharp edge to edge yet with enough depth of field to get it all in). The shutter speed came out at 1/320s, but I didn't particularly care...I knew with the aperture that wide on a 21mm lens we'd be well on top of camera-shake.
![[Image: 1860mpd%20copy2_web.jpg]](http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/images/upload/1860mpd%20copy2_web.jpg)
What with the field, the barley amid the poppies and the fact that telegraph poles were stood about, I knew I'd get the "textured tractor marks and telegraph pole" shot...there are so many hills around here with cereals growing in them, that you can just tell that a tele at long stretch will stack the textures up very nicely: here relying on the I.S. to give me a usable speed, seeing as I wanted around f8 for sharpness of main subject and a nice gradation of textures in the barley. I'm lazy with shutter speed, to be honest...I never check it if I've got the aperture I want, but flip the ISO just in case. Heck, it's not mission-critical after all.
![[Image: 1934_web.jpg]](http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/images/upload/1934_web.jpg)
Well chums: hope you liked these. I'll post some whacky ones soon, when I just wanted the lo-fi and uniform gritty texture of ISO 1600 at f45(forty-five)...with the tele of course. No need to listen to dpreview-ites whining about diffraction here...use those weaknesses with confidence and BING, they become creative strengths!
It was a wee bit chilly, so I just took 2 lenses: my wide(21mm) and my tele-zoom(70-200). I only realised halfway through the day why on earth I could only get a maximum aperture of f5.6...duh..guess who had the 1.4 converter on then!
I must be getting less 'ard in me advancing years too: I left Mr Manfrotto in the car, relying on using ISO, aperture, shutter speed and good old I.S. on the tele, and generous depth of field in the Zeiss 21mm.Though my "brief" was poppies, of course once we're literally and metaphorically out in the field, we make the best of opportunities when we see them...yes?
A few compositions started to register on my eye during my perambulations. Now, I don't know about you, but when I see a composition I also see the finished shot in my head...a bit like "seeing" in the focal length of a lens with your inner eye, thus deciding to put the lens on. I "see" close to the finished shot, already deciding if it's colour or monochrome.
There was this fence..and it had some intersting lines, textues, etc; and could have made several different statements depending on the lens. Here's what I mean:
this was at the nice round figure of 124mm, f8 at 1/125s: sweet spot, plus past the vignetting point yet with enough bokeh to make a contrast:
And then, as I'd already seen the wide shot with a big sky, it was on with Mr Zeiss...remembering to meter off the grass for 18% grey, else you'll expose for the sky..
f6.3, because I know f6.3 is between f5.6 and f8(razor sharp edge to edge yet with enough depth of field to get it all in). The shutter speed came out at 1/320s, but I didn't particularly care...I knew with the aperture that wide on a 21mm lens we'd be well on top of camera-shake.
What with the field, the barley amid the poppies and the fact that telegraph poles were stood about, I knew I'd get the "textured tractor marks and telegraph pole" shot...there are so many hills around here with cereals growing in them, that you can just tell that a tele at long stretch will stack the textures up very nicely: here relying on the I.S. to give me a usable speed, seeing as I wanted around f8 for sharpness of main subject and a nice gradation of textures in the barley. I'm lazy with shutter speed, to be honest...I never check it if I've got the aperture I want, but flip the ISO just in case. Heck, it's not mission-critical after all.
Well chums: hope you liked these. I'll post some whacky ones soon, when I just wanted the lo-fi and uniform gritty texture of ISO 1600 at f45(forty-five)...with the tele of course. No need to listen to dpreview-ites whining about diffraction here...use those weaknesses with confidence and BING, they become creative strengths!
You are so nice, thank you dear Zig, ah, my English, ah!!!!!