Official BeyondUnreal Photography Thread

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Rambowjo

Das Protoss
Aug 3, 2005
5,073
5
38
32
Tapeland
I went to take some pictures today, but upon arrival, I discovered that my camera had no battery charge. Ended up taking pictures with my phone instead, which turned out a lot better than I expected. I can see the appeal of having a phone with a good camera.

irTP9yD6Gwwch.jpg


In the pictures I had planned I wanted to go a lot closer, and do some photos with funny perspectives, light and shadows, but it's kind of hard to work with a phone :(
 

Angel_Mapper

Goooooooats
Jun 17, 2001
3,532
3
38
Cape Suzette
www.angelmapper.com
I was in D.C. for work this past week, and went sightseeing yesterday. It completely slipped my mind that it was Memorial Day weekend until I got to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time for a wreath laying ceremony. It was a very humbling experience.

[screenshot]http://www.angelmapper.com/img/rachel/dc/Arlington1.jpg[/screenshot]

[screenshot]http://www.angelmapper.com/img/rachel/dc/Arlington2.jpg[/screenshot]


Also stopped by the White House. It's much smaller than I imagined it was.

[screenshot]http://www.angelmapper.com/img/rachel/dc/WhiteHouse.jpg[/screenshot]


Library of Congress:

[screenshot]http://www.angelmapper.com/img/rachel/dc/LibraryOfCongress.jpg[/screenshot]


Capitol building:

[screenshot]http://www.angelmapper.com/img/rachel/dc/Capitol.jpg[/screenshot]


And the main thing I wanted to see while I was there, the Supreme Court:

[screenshot]http://www.angelmapper.com/img/rachel/dc/SupremeCourt1.jpg[/screenshot]

[screenshot]http://www.angelmapper.com/img/rachel/dc/SupremeCourt2.jpg[/screenshot]

[screenshot][/screenshot]
 

El JuaKo

Fear the Mariachi
Dec 13, 2003
346
0
0
40
Adopted this girl about two days ago.

7280233538_3e7efcd5fb.jpg


She was pretty scared but now she just chases people around and cries if she is left alone for a minute.

7280243934_681495a3b1.jpg


7280252764_dd346e4d9b.jpg


now when she is not busy trying to painfully climb on someone she is busy attacking every single object in sight

7280267176_4ae99cf924.jpg


7280270528_be1fd7c705.jpg


got her a cat toy but she prefers to play with that orange dart and old concert wristbands.

7280287214_00a1cfbaa4.jpg


7280295554_91429d60ce.jpg


she is also moody if she doesn't sleep properly
 

IronMonkey

Moi?
Apr 23, 2005
1,746
0
36
62
Scotland
www.margrave.myzen.co.uk
More weeds:

[screenshot]http://www.margrave.myzen.co.uk/images/2012/DSC_1544_v1deres.jpg[/screenshot]

[screenshot]http://www.margrave.myzen.co.uk/images/2012/DSC_1551_v1deres.jpg[/screenshot]

[screenshot]http://www.margrave.myzen.co.uk/images/2012/DSC_1555_v1deres.jpg[/screenshot]
 

Bi()ha2arD

Toxic!
Jun 29, 2009
2,808
0
0
Germany
phobos.qml.net
Looks like my old zoom lens is failing. When it is not either fully zoomed out or fully zoomed in the aperture blades make a terrifying sound when closing and the body shuts off with a "connection to lens lost, clean contacts" error. Oh well, more reason to upgrade...
 

OO7MIKE

Mr. Sexy
May 2, 2000
5,022
107
63
Nalicity, NC
Looks like my old zoom lens is failing. When it is not either fully zoomed out or fully zoomed in the aperture blades make a terrifying sound when closing and the body shuts off with a "connection to lens lost, clean contacts" error. Oh well, more reason to upgrade...

Check to see if its still under warranty. Otherwise I recommend calling KEH for a quick repair estimate. If you paid more than $300 for a lens its completely worth it to get it repaired. If not, the used market is your next step. I have seen many folks out there who buy up broken camera's and lenses. They basically repair them and resell them for a profit. Meanwhile it gives you some extra $$ to fund your next purchase.
 

Bi()ha2arD

Toxic!
Jun 29, 2009
2,808
0
0
Germany
phobos.qml.net
I got it for free and it's rather old. It's also not made for DSLRs and the images are not that sharp. Also has a ton of chromatic aberation. So I'm not too sad it died. Wanted to replace it anyways.
 

Rambowjo

Das Protoss
Aug 3, 2005
5,073
5
38
32
Tapeland
Been looking into getting a flash and some remote triggers. Found what looked like a decent purchase at about £90. It's manual only, which might be a problem. I'm not sure I understand how much of a problem that is and what kind of limits it presents.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Y...F89I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339332296&sr=8-1

And the triggers.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-RF-6...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1339332313&sr=1-1

From what I can read, it seems like a decent flash. Some people seemed to not like the brand. At any rate, if I get this one and eventually replace it, it will still be great for a slave-flash or whatever, like a secondary light source. I wouldn't mind trying to work with more advanced lighting setups, so that sounds great to me.

Anybody have some better ideas? I was aiming for something around $200-300, less is fine obviously.
 

shadow_dragon

is ironing his panties!
First remotely clear nights in over a month so I drove down to the coast, hiked over some 500ft cliffs and tried my hand at some time-lapses.(You can up the detail)
[M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWx4fX9GMz0[/M]

Sadly, even going that far out of the way I couldn't avoid light pollution and despite the weather forecast I still got clouded over.
Sadly I stuffed up the first two sequences as i'd inadvertently left the camera on "Jpeg Fine". The burnt in WB causes the video to flicker as a result .:(
 
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Zxanphorian

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Jul 1, 2002
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Sadly, even going that far out of the way I couldn't avoid light pollution and despite the weather forecast I still got clouded over.

No doubt that light pollution always sucks when trying to get natural pictures/video. But sometimes a bit of cloudiness is welcomed, because you could capture the dynamics of the atmosphere that you otherwise wouldn't notice.
 

shadow_dragon

is ironing his panties!
No doubt that light pollution always sucks when trying to get natural pictures/video. But sometimes a bit of cloudiness is welcomed, because you could capture the dynamics of the atmosphere that you otherwise wouldn't notice.

I certainly enjoy playing with it when it's there. I quite liked the shots I got with it but I was also there to get star shots and I lose a lot of sky to light pollution.
To the west i've got a town that's, to the east is a city about twenty miles away but sticks out to sea a bit with a light house and to the north I have cliff-faces.
This leaves me with the south and then... that's where the moon rises. :(

I thought the middle of the south coast in the middle of an MOD firing range twenty miles away from civilisation would do the job but sadly not. :S I'll try inland next time but I've read that England is notoriously bad for light pollution.
 

BillyBadAss

Strong Cock of The North
May 25, 1999
8,879
60
48
48
Tokyo, JP
flickr.com
First remotely clear nights in over a month so I drove down to the coast, hiked over some 500ft cliffs and tried my hand at some time-lapses.(You can up the detail)
[M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWx4fX9GMz0[/M]

Sadly, even going that far out of the way I couldn't avoid light pollution and despite the weather forecast I still got clouded over.
Sadly I stuffed up the first two sequences as i'd inadvertently left the camera on "Jpeg Fine". The burnt in WB causes the video to flicker as a result .:(


Not a bad go for a first try and if you aren't making mistakes, you aren't trying hard enough. Now you know what you need to do. I say try it again, and go even farther out of town.
 

DRT-Maverick

Lover of Earwigs
Dec 4, 1999
3,670
16
38
38
Reno, NV
You can buy lightening triggers for this sort of thing, however I'm not sure how expensive they are. They look a bit like a wireless flash transmitter that clips onto your hotshoe.


It's a LOT easier than that. A remote shutter release, set the camera to bulb mode and close down the F stop, then just hold the shutter open until lightning flashes, then release the shutter. :p

Here's the monster off Mononoke Hime. ;)
lightning10.jpg
 

Zxanphorian

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Jul 1, 2002
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It's a LOT easier than that. A remote shutter release, set the camera to bulb mode and close down the F stop, then just hold the shutter open until lightning flashes, then release the shutter. :p

Here's the monster off Mononoke Hime. ;)
lightning10.jpg

Also, if you don't have a DSLR, but you have a Canon Point & Shoot, I would recommend using the custom firmware called CHDK. It essentially gives your P&S DSLR features that would otherwise be missing from the camera (within the confines of the camera's hardware, of course). There are various scripts for it, such as intervalometers, and more pertinent motion detection scripts. The motion detection scripts mainly detect changes in luminance, which is obviously crucial for lighting shots.

The main drawback compared to leaving the shutter open, though, is that you may not capture the brightest part of the lightning, as there may be a delay from when the script gets triggered to when the camera actually takes the picture. But this drawback is counterbalanced by the fact that you can actually hold the camera when taking lightning shots this way; contrast this with having the shutter open, you need a tripod or a steady surface to do so.

And for the "will it void the warranty" asking folks, as it doesn't permanently overwrite your firmware, no warranties will be voided!

<Insert examples here>
 
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Rambowjo

Das Protoss
Aug 3, 2005
5,073
5
38
32
Tapeland
ibvvT6KhmZus21.png


Portrait of my brother, taken with the built-in flash, using a weird home-built reflector thingy. Basically bounces the light from the flash into the ceiling, which then bounces it back onto him.

http://i.minus.com/iblTCFA86y1LEb.jpg
Reflector thingy.
This is just a prototype, I think I'm going to build a better one that sits better on the flash.
I've also ordered a proper modern flash, getting it sometime this week probably. Can't wait.
 
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