This is Photography

[Jafxod]

REgardless, are you focus and recomposing? I'm sure you know but that could be throwing your AF off.

I've read MF is way easier on FF... one more reason... :rofl:

I know what your talking about but in this instance there really was no room for error, her against the solid sky with plenty of that edge contrast that AF loves and it still missed the focus. So my issues with AF are both speed and accuracy. And with the 85 wide open that slice of focus is reallll thin that it really manifests how bad the camera is.

[Jafxod]

Love the blur you get with the f1.4. Still a nice shot even if the focus was off some.

They dont call that lens the cream machine for nothing ;)

[87e30]

I know what your talking about but in this instance there really was no room for error, her against the solid sky with plenty of that edge contrast that AF loves and it still missed the focus. So my issues with AF are both speed and accuracy. And with the 85 wide open that slice of focus is reallll thin that it really manifests how bad the camera is.

I read an interesting article (I can't recall where... ugh) about the lens and body calibration misconception. Are you constantly getting OOF shots? The lenses and bodies are manufactured within a certain consistency range, if you get a lens and a body on the opposite end of that spectrum then your shots will be OOF because of this. I hope that made sense.

If it's just happening sometimes then that's quite quite odd. Hit up nikoncafe.com see if they have some advice.

[daniel]

D300S, Nikkor 17-55 2.8 shot at 17mm, f/4, ISO 200, and 1/1250th x17. 7FPS ftw.

[Jafxod]

I read an interesting article (I can't recall where... ugh) about the lens and body calibration misconception. Are you constantly getting OOF shots? The lenses and bodies are manufactured within a certain consistency range, if you get a lens and a body on the opposite end of that spectrum then your shots will be OOF because of this. I hope that made sense.

If it's just happening sometimes then that's quite quite odd. Hit up nikoncafe.com see if they have some advice.

Its definetly possible. I know on some cameras you can actually adjust that in camera, i think its the d300 and up.

[Jafxod]

D300S, Nikkor 17-55 2.8 shot at 17mm, f/4, ISO 200, and 1/1250th x17. 7FPS ftw.

Awesome sequence (not easy), not a very good skating picture at all haha. Skate photography takes a long long long time to get a feel for.

[Mike325]

How is that not a good skating picture? Pretty boring trick, but good shot.

How do you do that anyways? (the stitching together of the shots, not the trick) :p

[VicSkimmr]

Im having trouble dialing in my aperture and shutter length. And ISO. Gosh, I usually keep my iso at 200, 400 if its darker

150 for shutter speed, and as low aperture as I can go

Stop shooting in manual mode. Shoot in aperture priority, ISO 100 and up your ISO if you aren't getting shutter speeds that are fast enough.

[daniel]

Awesome sequence (not easy), not a very good skating picture at all haha. Skate photography takes a long long long time to get a feel for.

i agree with mike325, how is this not a good skating picture "at all"? i was clearly taking this shot with the intention of doing a composite like this. obviously it is not the best trick or the best angle if i were to take a single frame out of the 17 here, but for what i did i think it's a good angle/framing.

How is that not a good skating picture? Pretty boring trick, but good shot.

How do you do that anyways? (the stitching together of the shots, not the trick) :p

yep, boring trick, crooked grind to fakie. my friend is good but doesn't like doing stuff which could get him hurt (not to mention this particular park is basically for little kids).

i used photoshop, added each photo as a layer, and erased each layer away to the one below it. there's probably a better way, but this worked well enough. it took close to a couple hours because i messed up a couple times and it was my first time doing it, but if his body didn't overlap ever (or if i used half the number of frames so it never overlapped) it would only take a few minutes.

[Jafxod]

Just in terms of the norm of professional skate and bmx photography, what you see in magazines. Seeing anything shot on the shy side of 50mm is awkward in terms of perspective of they spot and trick, of course unless your shooting fish. In this type of photography its very important to isolate the rider from the background giving emphasis on the trick. For skaters that is the main reason the picture is significant. This is usually done with very carefully selected long lens compositions, usually strobed with heavy rim light and background/forground subject framing. Post this on a car website or photo forum and people will rave, but from being on the riding side of the critisicm I know if you posted this on a skate site it would be kinda nothing great.

Not trying to be a dickhead dan, Its just for the past 2 years its been what I usually shoot. Ill post some of my older stuff when I get home from school and flickr isnt blocked.

[izthistaken]

Not going to believe this, but....got my gear back. Click the image to read the nonsense that happened. Still going to upgrade to a 5D2, just not sure when. I'm just happy to have my gear back and some extra stuff that I panic ordered because I have a wedding to shoot on the 13th!!!!!!!!!!

3 lights. 35mm @f/2


The look of flabbergasted by izthistaken, on Flickr

[daniel]

Just in terms of the norm of professional skate and bmx photography, what you see in magazines. Seeing anything shot on the shy side of 50mm is awkward in terms of perspective of they spot and trick, of course unless your shooting fish. In this type of photography its very important to isolate the rider from the background giving emphasis on the trick. For skaters that is the main reason the picture is significant. This is usually done with very carefully selected long lens compositions, usually strobed with heavy rim light and background/forground subject framing. Post this on a car website or photo forum and people will rave, but from being on the riding side of the critisicm I know if you posted this on a skate site it would be kinda nothing great.

Not trying to be a dickhead dan, Its just for the past 2 years its been what I usually shoot. Ill post some of my older stuff when I get home from school and flickr isnt blocked.

i'm not going to take a whole lighting setup to a skatepark just to shoot my roommate's lame grind, haha. i know what you mean about the isolation and focusing on the trick, but it would've been impossible to do a shot like this while using a 70-200, or 85, or whatever, at least at this place. ideally we'd have a big wide open space with one rail or ramp or whatever, and I could go stand far away and at a slight angle and do a similar thing at night with big spotlights.

[VicSkimmr]

That's awesome that you got your gear back. Fucking low life scums.

Great lighting on that shot too :)

[Jafxod]

i'm not going to take a whole lighting setup to a skatepark just to shoot my roommate's lame grind, haha. i know what you mean about the isolation and focusing on the trick, but it would've been impossible to do a shot like this while using a 70-200, or 85, or whatever, at least at this place. ideally we'd have a big wide open space with one rail or ramp or whatever, and I could go stand far away and at a slight angle and do a similar thing at night with big spotlights.

Agreed. Shooting at skateparks is always dumb, i hate doing it. Indoor parks are even worse. But yes. You did a good job with what you did.

[Jafxod]

Go buy a lottery ticket matt ;)