The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum

Les · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 6:38 am Post subject:

Good advice John.

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kusuchi · Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 12:01 am Post subject:

Good thread, John.

I shoot most of my photos in direct sunlight, positioning the engine so the sun falls directly on the side I am photographing. I always take pictures either mid morning or mid afternoon. At these times the shadow line gives depth to the photo. Too early or late and the shadow is too intense. At noon, when the sun is directly overhead, the detail tends to get washed out.

Occasionally, I shoot in the evening or at night, using high powered halogen lighting to illuminate the subject. Some of my favorite pictures, the Tucher and Walther flying machine photos, were taken this way against a stormy sunset sky.

As you say, the digital age is a blessing. Take loads of photos, and even a rank amateur like me, will find that at least one came out really well.

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ozsteamdemon · Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:01 am Post subject:

An allways interesting topic and a very nice gesture in posting it , thanks John .

Would love to see a refresher on the use of tents and how to make one , and also the different types of fluroscent tubes available to simulate sunlight . Also any other handy tips you might have .
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johnreid · Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:45 am Post subject:

A Tent or Softbox is a way to photograph a shiny objet while minimizing harsh lighting, basically it is a diffused light source. The reason I prefer open shade over direct sunlight too.
When I was in school we made them using 2X2 lumber and a shower curtain liner. However nowadays I see many building them out od PVC pipe and fittings, this is good as you can refrain from gluing the fittings and thus make it so you can take it apart for storage. A sheet, or shower curtain works best, the light shines through the tent and thus there are fewer harsh reflections. Some people even have the tent cover the box on all sides an sticking the camera through a "peep hole" and thus eliminating the photographer from the reflections.

Light comes in various colors. Light bulbs are of certain colors determined by the filament or gas ( as in fluorescents )
Incandescence Light is most often Yellow
Daylight is Blue
Fluorescent is usually Green
THey now put coatings on many fluorescent bulbs to filter the light to be more blue, from my experience those bulbs are most often much more expensive and often look green anyhow.
Another trick on many Digital Cameras is that there are built in filter modes where you can shoot in the Tungsten mode so the Yellow is filtered to look more like daylight, that takes reading the book that came with the camera.
It is still early here and the eyes actually get better as the day goes on, I will try to post more this evening but for now I am suffering from eyestrain.
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peol · Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:16 pm Post subject:

A short tip about taking close ups. If you can control the aperture settings on your camera, try to keep the aperture as small as possible. A setting of f/18 will give a relatively sharp picture over a wider focal distance, whereas f/4 will be sharp only in a narrow focal distance.
The following pictures are taken from the same location and the same focusing using different settings of the aperture. The first one is taken with f/4, the sharp point is only a few millimeters in the front off the flywheel. The second one is taken with f/16 and is sharp from the back of the flywheel and almost to the firehouse.

The drawback with this method is that the smaller aperture, the longer the exposure time, so a tripod or other ways of stabilizing the camera is a must.
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jakesm · Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:43 pm Post subject:

by the way-this is largely what i do for a living-the equipment side of it that is-i answer questions all day long-a few more wont do Any harm!

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verithingeoff · Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:49 am Post subject:

I hate clutter in the background of a picture, unless the shot is for a purpose, ie an SR1 on a bit of gravel

Here are a couple of shots to show how I get around this neatly
The first one is a general shot with a lot of stuff in the background, however note the folded A4 sheet of printer paper

The next picture shows the same shot but cropped

And finally a nice closeup to show what you get at F18 on a tripod using time delay on the shutter

For larger subjects I use a slightly off white sheet, well ironed [thank you sweetie

] and try to shoot in the morning in a room with purely natural south light.
Here's a pic of one of my guitars done this way

Lets hope that we don't see any more feet in a picture.
Here's a how not to do it, not taken by me!

Hope that all helps---

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Growing old disgracefully in Queensland

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Atticman · Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:15 pm Post subject:

Theres a famous ebay kettle picture- man took a pic of his shiney and reflective kettle- only trouble is that he hadnt got dressed before doing the pic.

Great stuff guys. I still struggle with the Macro, but am i right, basically once the Macro has focussed at a distance just move in, dont zoom as it seems to go out of focus

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