Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!
I've been getting a little loony with all of the work these past couple of weeks and I have taken on a special project that has been taking up most of any free time I have. That should be over in a couple of more months. Hopefully that will allow me some more time to spend on our blog and looking at others.
You know, goofing off!
I haven't been able to get much farther than my front yard with the camera but I was able to get a couple of shots this weekend while playing with some new stuff.
This photo is actually five close up shots that are stacked in photoshop as a "focus stack". Each of the five images was focused on a different part of the flower and then stacked in photoshop to make the entire flower in focus.
This was shot with a new ND1000 filter I bought last month. This was a 10 second exposure in full sun.
I can't wait to go someplace other than my yard to try some new things!
if we start seeing shots of lawnmowers or sprinklers, we'll know you've lost it. :)
ReplyDeleteFocus stacking! This is a good idea, I need to start doing that for my micro shot.
ReplyDeleteHa ha Big Bird, funny guy!
ReplyDeleteND filters and Focus stacking... Sounds like fun, love the results you got with the last two pictures! Any feed back on the ND filter you have? This is the next thing on my list of camera stuff to get.
Paul,
DeleteI have used the round screw on type and the new ones I have are the 4 x 6 inch rectangle filters. If you aren't going to use them a lot the round screw on types are less expensive but the rectangle filters are much easier to use and I like them a lot. If you think you will be using them quite a bit I would opt for the rectangle filters. You can stack them and change them out so much easier and faster it's well worth the cost. They also give you more room to adjust them to where you want them since they are 6 inches long. You can adjust the filter instead of having to reframe your shot.
If you want the very best, and have an extra $1000, then the Lee filters are the way to go however, I found another company called Bava that make the same style and size rectangle resin filters (just like the Lee's) that are really great and about 1/3 the cost.
The 10 stop ND filter I bought is made by a company out of Germany called Haida. It's a really great filter! All glass and as far as I can tell, perfectly made. It doesn't give any color distortion to the photos and comes in it's own hard case. I played with it quite a bit in the last month and I would highly recommend this one if you are wanting a ten stop slide in filter. It comes as a 4 x 4 inch filter instead of the 4 x 6 but that's the way the Lee 10 stop filter is also.
The best thing is once you get the holder you can buy the filters one at a time if you want or in sets of three (for the graduated ND 2, 4 & 8 stop and the same for the full ND filters)
Hope this helps.
You can also buy the Cokin filters. They are also the rectangle style. They have three different sizes of the Cokins. I had them first and switched to the Bavas because I liked them better because of their size. The set of Cokins I had were all 4 x 4 inch and didn't give me as much adjustability.
DeleteExcellent information, thank you! Now all I have to do is figure out how often I'm going to use ND and graduated ND filters and how much I want to spend...
DeleteIn my opinion is that before get into filters, you have to decided which wide angle lens you are going to use with. For me, just get a full frame lens 77mm diameter. Most Nikon Pro Lens made with this size. It is expensive, but you needed for landscape photography. How often do I use these filters to justify the spending? "all the time". Once, you get into filters, there's no more snap shot quality, you will see your skills to the next level.
DeleteI would recommended to get a 17-35mm f/2.8, 2 "3 stop ND" great for waterfalls, 1 "2 stop ND", 1 "10 stops ND", and a set of GND 1-3 stop.
I know it's a lot for a picture, but the scenery in your area I would have more chance to use them.
Thank you Q, the 17-45mm f/2.8 sounds like a good lens, I'll have to look into this one. All three lens I currently use all have 77mm ends on them so it is possible to look at this size of filters as long as I keep with 77mm lenses in the future,,, Many considerations to be sure when looking at equipment.
DeleteThe ND1000 (10 stop) filter was $90 but it's a square glass filter and takes a special holder so you have to buy that also which cost almost as much as the filter did. I also bought two other sets of filters for the holder, 3 ND's and 3 graduated ND's so it made the price of the holder not too bad.
ReplyDeleteNicely shot pics of a variety of subjects! Good info about the filters.
ReplyDelete