Hot Rod Glamour Shots

 ©JP Parmley
 

I have been working on improving my HDR techniques.  I have spent the last few weeks working on a portfolio of hot rods, classic cars and motorcycles.  The color and depth that you can achieve with HDR is astonishing.

I have actually created  a site called Hot Rod Glamour Shots that focuses on these vehicles and HDR.

Leveraging three images, PhotoMatrix and Lightroom here are some of the images that were created.

Check out the web site.

From a Computer: www.photographybyparmley.com\hotrod
From a Mobile device: www.photographybyparmley.com

Rain on Your Wedding Day

©JP Parmley


Whenever you have an outdoor wedding, you take the chance of battling mother nature. Here are a few fun pics we did just after the rain stopped. It actually rained during the wedding. Guests held umbrella's for us as we shot ceremony.

 

Love in the Sky

©JP Parmley




Here is why I always have a camera sitting around ready to go.  Even if it is an older (2003) Canon 10d with a just as old Tamron 28-75mm lens.  30 seconds after I noticed the formation it was gone.  If I had to assemble a camera and lens I would have missed this shot.  

The camera was in a low resolution setting so the the picture is pixelated a little. It is kind of a cool pic anyways.

Enjoy

JP

Rainbow of Colors

©JP Parmley

Here are a few quick and easy pictures you can capture with minimal setup.  The variety of different effects and colors is unlimited.  To set this up you will need a blank and unused CD or DVD, a tripod that will allow you to shoot straight down, a remote shutter cord and your camera.

I used the light painting techniques discussed in earlier posts, the only difference is this setup provides the CD to act as a prism and water to reflect all the colorful light.   Use a dropper to place each water drop.  You can mix up the sizes and density of the drops to get different affects.  I used either a small Mag-lite or LED flashlight and moved them around during the exposure. Try illuminating the CD and droplets from different angles and distances.  You will get something different every time.

In each of these pictures I used a shutter of 15 seconds, f6.3 and an ISO of 100.   

 

Blue Angels

©JP Parmley

The Blue Angels were in Dayton this weekend for the air show.  If you have never seen them, you need to find the closest show to you and go.  It is worth the trip!  

Here are some images that I captured during their show.  There are a few things to set up before you start taking pictures of planes flying over 500 mph towards each other with a closing speed of 1000mph+.  If you just turn on the camera and start shooting, most of your pics are going to be out of focus or the camera will not take the picture right when you want.

1) Set drive to AI SERVO.  This will allow you to gain focus and keep it as planes approach at these speeds. 
2) Set the metering to SPOT.  If you are shooting against a bright sky and are using an evaluative meter, the plane will be underexposed.
3) For these pics I wanted to maintain an aperture that I know my lens performs well at and is sharp.  I set the camera to an aperture priority (Av) at 5.6.
4) Next, I wanted a shutter in the 1000-2500 range depending on if I was shooting into the sun. So I adjusted the ISO until the shutter was consistently in this range while focused on a plane in the sky.  ISO 400 is where I landed.
5) Finally, the white balance was changed to outdoors (sun). 

So with a Canon 7D, a 70-200 2.8L IS lens and a Tamron 1.4x extender, I had an effective zoom of 448mm.  As F18s approached, I would grab focus as they approached and then shot in the highest drive mode at 8fps and shot away.

Take off with a 90 degree vertical climb

My favorite shot of the day.  Vapor trails off the wings.

The diamond formation

Think about this....over 1000mph closing rate and I got it dead on top of each other!

I could have used a slower shutter to correct the exposure of the planes.  Oh that's right we always shoot RAW so we have full control afterwards!

Up, Up and away!

Final Salute.

 

Fireworks

©JP Parmley

Here are a few pics of the fireworks our neighbor shot off.  I chose to take some longer exposures to get a slightly different effect.  The longer the exposure, the longer the light trails will be.

Each of these were taken at 1 sec, f5.6, ISO1000 on a Canon 7D and a 16-35 2.8L II lens.  Because of the long exposure and slightly higher ISO, I reduced the noise in Lightroom 3 and cropped them to fill the frame.
 
I'm headed to the Dayton Air Show on Sunday with an effective 720MM zoom!  Hopefully I will have some neat Blue Angels pics to share early next week.

 

Transit of Venus

Transit of Venus

©JP Parmley

I was not able to get set up for this event, but Steve was ready to go...waiting for the clouds to break long enough to get a few shots.  Below is how he got the shots and time lapse video.

First, TransitofVenus.org describes the event as "When Venus passes directly between earth and the sun, we see the distant planet as a small dot gliding slowly across the face of the sun.  Historically, this rare alignment is how we measured the size of our solar system.  The view is like a front row seat to the transit method, by which we now find planets around distant stars."   

The next time this event occurs is December 2117.  Needless to say, this is my last blog and his last pictures on this subject.

Just as in the previous post, careful attention had to be taken to ensure that neither eyes or equipment was damaged.  The set up was virtually the same except the lens was changed to a 70-200 2.8L IS. The effective 448mm set up from camera to lens was:

Zacuto Z-Finder
Canon 7D w/ remote shutter release
Tamron-F AF Tele-Converter 1.4x
Canon EF 70-200mm 1:2.8 L IS USM
Promaster UV filter 77mm
Vivitar Series 1 HD Pro NDX Variable Neutral Density Filter 77mm
Vivitar Series 1 HD Pro NDX Variable Neutral Density Filter 82mm
(The ND filters each step up the diameter of the threads (77 to 82, and 82 to 86) which make them nice for stacking and avoiding vignetting)

Pictures around 6-7pm were taken at ISO 100, f 32, 1/1000s, 200mm with both ND filters set to about 90% of maximum (~7-8 stops each).

As the sun set, the light was greatly reduced so the settings were adjusted to ISO 100, f 32, 1/50s, 200mm while both ND filters set to about 10% of maximum (~2 stops each). 

The 7D's live mode and digital zooming focus feature made the fine focusing adjustments at infinity very easy and quick.

Special thanks to Brian Davis, Chief Meteorologist, of WDTN Storm Team 2 for continuing to show our pictures on their weather segments.

There was some spare time as the sun set so Steve captured 3 minutes of video with the same setup at 1024 (30fps) and then was cropped, time compressed it to 15 seconds and then rendered it in Final Cut Pro for a NTSC format.  After the second time I watched it, I noticed something strange......do you notice it?

You can see the video here.   

Enjoy,

JP

Solar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse
©JP Parmley


The solar eclipse tonight created an opportunity to capture a rare event.  Steve had spent the last week or so investigating the proper settings and filters required to get picture without harming our eyes as well as the equipment.

With a Canon 7D mounted on a tripod and connected to a 75-300 IS lens and a 1.4x multiplier (effective 672mm), we added two Vivitar adjustable ND filters that could be set from 2-8 stops.  Setting each to about 6 stops and starting with an aperture of 45 and 1/1000th we were able to get some fairly cool pics of the sun and its spots.  As the sun set and the eclipse started, we had to open the lens up and drop to about f5 to keep up with the light loss.  We lost additional light as the sun set into the clouds.

To help reduce camera shake we used the mirror lock up and a Mac Pro with the Canon Utility to remotely trigger the shutter.  This along with the IS lens greatly reduced the blur from the movement of the sun.

Special thanks to Tara Hastings of WDTN Storm Team 2 for showing the first pic on her weather segment tonight.

Tears of Joy

Tears of Joy
©JP Parmley



Here is an image we took in 2007.  This shot was captured just before the bride and father walked down the isle.  This was a difficult shot to get right because of several factors.  First, the bride had her back to a brightly lit window and second it was shot through a window pane from inside the church.  

Everything could go wrong with this once in a lifetime (for this bride) shot opportunity.  But with a few very quick adjustments we were able to capture this moment.  First, in full manual mode, the metering was set to "spot" vs. "evaluative".  This made sure the face was properly exposed. Second, a mounted speed light was set to a manual mode at 1/8th power to give just a little fill light.  And lastly, the shot was taken at a slight angle to the glass to eliminate a reflection of the flash in the glass.  

I had actually forgotten about this picture, but when the bride recently reached out for a reprint of different image, I ran across it in it's original color version.  With a few edits in Lightroom 3.6, we get this soft and intimate moment.  If you are not using Lightroom, you should be!  If you are, try playing with negative clarity settings on images that have bright lit backgrounds.  You can create some wonderful effects. 

Enjoy.....JP

Canon 5D, 1/60th, f3.5, ISO 800, 70-200mm 2.8L IS

 

Creating the Pics for "Drops in Motion"

Creating the Pics for "Drops in Motion"
©JP Parmley


Well I got several emails asking for me to create a video on how to create the water drop pictures.  

A few notes: 

• Even if you don't have an external speed light flash, you can use the build in pop up flash that is standard on most consumer grade DSLRs.   Just make sure to turn down the power to about -2 to -2.5.  
• Shoot in a RAW format.   I used Lightroom to process the files.  The only two adjustments that I made were contrast and noise reduction.  The noise reduction in Lightroom 3 or 4 does a great job of transforming these pictures
• In the original pictures I turned the soft box light off. During this shoot, I left it on so the video would be clearer.  Take a look at these two pictures and the reflection of the light in the water drops.  I think I like this effect.

 

Here is the video: http://youtu.be/2ImYeOGhFZ0 

Drops in Motion

Drops in Motion

©JP Parmley

 Ok, it is Saturday and it is raining again........so lets continue with the water theme.

Here are images you can capture with a 15 minute set up.  If there is interest, I will create a video showing how.  Send me an email at john@photographybyparmley.com.   

Other wise.....just enjoy on this wet weekend.  Shot on Canon 7D, 24-70mm 2.8L, 1/250th, f13, ISO 200.

  

  

Splash Down

Splash Down

©JP Parmley

Here is a fun picture I did with the kids this evening.  This is real simple to set up and the results are endless.  Using a 10 gallon fish tank filled up about 3/4 of the way, drop two peppers into the tank from about 12 inches above the water.  The lighting on this shot requires two flashes.  One from the bottom and one from the top.  You can connect them via cables or wireless transmitters. You will need to set one of the peppers in the water and use manual focus.  Once you have set the focus, you don't have to worry about the camera trying to search for it during the shot.

I used a black board for the background and started dropping and shooting.  The kids played around with different heights and I experimented with trying to catch them early and late in the splash. 

What else could we drop into the fish tank????  Send me your ideas.

Enjoy,

JP

Canon 5DMII, 50MM 1.4: 1/160th, f18, ISO 400

Rain Drops

Rain Drops

©JP Parmley

I had planned to get up today and get some shots of just random things and some shots at the Dragons game tonight.  I was disappointed when I woke up to a 40 degree raining day!  I walked outside to get a feel for what it was like outside and noticed that the rain drops were perfectly suspended in the shrub just outside our door. 

Sometimes you can find a perfect shot just by looking down.  I grabbed my 24-70mm 2.8L Macro lens and a Canon 7D body to get that extra zoom factor. I also took a few on the 5D Mark II body.   Using a tripod I captured a handful of images that came out fairly nice given the completely overcast sky.  Try adjusting your aperture from about 5-16 to see the differences in the depth of field.   I ran the images through Lightroom to reduce some noise and add a little contrast. After a quick crop, her you go.

If you don't have a macro lens, you can still take this picture.  Just make sure you set the picture to the full resolution so when you zoom in on it you have as much detail as possible.

Canon5DMII, 1/640th, f6.3, ISO1600

Canon 7D, 1/100th, f8, ISO2000

Canon 7D, 1/250th, f5.0, ISO2000

Enjoy,

JP

Sparklers

Sparklers

©JP Parmley

Continuing from yesterdays post on long exposures and moving lights made me remember a 4th of July wedding by brother and I shot about 5 years ago.  We were on the front lawn of the Patterson Homestead in Dayton, OH where the reception was being held.  Just before the end of the reception, they broke out sparklers for the guest and kids to play with.  This opened up a great opportunity to use the techniques in the previous post, but with a twist.  Getting the subject holding the light source to be completely visible, but not blurred from the motion was the goal.

To accomplish this, you need to make one minor, but important adjustment to how the flash is controlled.  Normally, when you use a flash, it fires at the beginning of the exposure.  To get these pictures below, you need to fire the flash at the end of the exposure.  This ability is called 2nd curtain or rear curtain.  In the Canon cameras you can set either first or second curtain in the custom functions. 

With a second curtain setting and an exposure of about 1/2-2 seconds you can get a picture like this even without a tripod.....just hold still during the picture.

Try this with someone moving a flashlight around and you will get the same effect.  Send me some pics using this technique and I will post them.

Canon 5D, 1/2 Sec, f9, ISO400

Enjoy,

JP

A Bright Idea

A Bright Idea

©JP Parmley

So here are a few ideas to brighten up your shooting.   These ideas are not new, but you can have lots of fun creating these shots.

First lets look at the light bulb that it on but it is not screwed in.  Mount you camera on a tripod and set it in a manual mode.  Place a light bulb on a black sheet and have a variety of flashlights available.  I used small LED flashlight in the first picture with the camera set at 4 seconds, f16, ISO 100.  The second picture was shot with a Maglite at 8 seconds, f16, ISO 100. 

The trick is to center the light on the glass that you want lit up.  Make sure to keep the light tightly focused on the bulb. 

Canon 10D, 4 sec, f16, ISO100

Canon 10D, 6 sec, f16, ISO100

These next few pictures are taken with exposures from 6-8 seconds.  In a completely dark area waive a flashlight or laser light source during the exposure.  You can adjust how fast you move the light to get a different affect.  If you are going to write words, remember to write them backwards!  

 

As always, send me your pics and I will post them for you.

 

Enjoy!

JP