How grainy is really grainy? Post one of them up if you don't mind sharing. Without a tracking mount that compensates for the Earth's rotation, you're going to need to use faster ISO settings depending on the type of photo you're after and of course the lighting environment. In general, blurry shots are usually due to focusing error. I probably have the same kit lens as you and what I do is to temporarily set the rotary dial to landscape (the little mountain-shaped icon) and target the most distant thing you can see that the camera can focus on. Then flick the lens to manual focus and do your best not to touch it. Using the viewfinder is tough but possible, tougher still if you're in the city since your eyes will have trouble adapting to the dark with all the artificial light sources, even looking at a traffic light a half mile away can ruin your vision for a few minutes.

Keep your preview screen shut at all times and leave your cellphone in your pocket, that will definitely ruin your vision for up to 15 minutes if you even glance at it. The longer your eyes have to adapt, the easier you'll be able to see through the viewfinder. I also have a deep red flashlight that minimizes the impact to your eyes while allowing you to see what you're doing, you can either buy one or make one with a normal flashlight, some red mylar or whatever that plastic see-through gift wrap stuff is and some duct tape. The kit lens is definitely a good lens, probably the most versatile for astrophotography on a compact DSLR, since the 18mm level of the zoom will get you a nice wide field of view with a reasonable f/3.5 aperture. You really can't get much wider than that with a larger f/stop without spending serious cash on a full-frame lens.

The last second of an ant's life.

I used to have green anoles as pets when I was a wee lad!!

Very nice. Clean detail and the background looks like a painting. Good shot.

>>>the comment was meant for pintsize>>>

Fantastic shot Tarcie! You've been really improving your composition lately!

Here's one of the better ones (compared to the others at least). The only thing I've done was turn up the exposure just a bit.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/17/3a9evaze.jpg


I survived Zdayz 2013... (barely)

That's actually not bad, we can't see Scorpius very well up here since it sits so low to the horizon and you've managed to catch a decent amount of the galaxy's core. What I think when I see your picture is that you're still fairly close to a big metropolitan area and that there was some stagnant atmospheric conditions at the time. Pollution in the air builds up in stagnant air and light from big towns and cities actually reflects off of it, even if you're miles and miles away from the light source. In my experience, put at least 10-20 miles between you and any nearby towns and cities depending on how big they are, particularly when the air is stagnant. The best times are the first clear evening after a weather system passes by, especially one with rain since that will typically clear up the air and make for a darker sky. The easiest way (the only way really) to clear it all up is to get way out in the country, 50 miles or more away from the nearest big city.

Great work.

Last time I had a green anole it was right after I got my juicer and started pureeing EVERYTHING.
Looks like you've found a niche, Pint!

Thanks for the compliments, I appreciate it. Tapatalk compresses the pics, so you don't get to see the full detail of the pic. It actually looks slightly better here.

You're completely right though, I live in the city and this was an unusually clear night for where I live. One of these nights I'm going to go out on old 46, it's a highway between my city and Orlando that takes you out in the middle of nowhere. There's a couple spots where people go airboating and stuff, I wanna stop out there and take some pictures and try to not get eaten by a gator lol.

I just have to figure out why my damned camera doesn't want to focus or take the picture. If it's in auto focus then it won't take the pic. If it's in manual it's fine. Don't know what the problem is...

:wtf2:

I've got way too much time on my hands now. :/ No bueno lol.














I thought this was a very creative, beautifully shot gallery of images. Enjoy!

Ballet dancers in random situations - leenks.com

Very nice!!

Very well done!

You are right ...a cheap lens is nothing but problems...loss of color, contrast and loss of sharpness...Of course you need a camera with a good processor as well but its really a joke to see someone with a Nikon body using a cheap discount lens..

Are you asking why your camera will not focus on stars at night?

What kind of lens do you have? I assume its the one that came with the Nikon and in that case there is nothing wrong with it..The first two shots are not really razor sharp and I think that is due to your shooting at a low speed, hand held....Use a tripod but the real problem with all of them is that lighting is uninteresting and flat has no contrast..

I really love this pic!! Great lighting and composition..with attention to background which so many here seem to miss....a winner in every way!

To focus, the camera does a computer analysis of the light coming into it. When the image is out of focus the camera doesn't see much difference from one part of the image to the next. As it focuses it "sees" a sharper division between the bright areas and the dark areas and tries to maximize that effect.

When you look at a dark night sky there's not enough light. The camera can't find any contrasting objects to focus on. You need to turn autofocus off and wait 10 minutes or so for your eyes to adjust. Then you manually focus the camera. Of course you use a tripod and a remote release and don't bother if it's windy out.

Here's an easy to read article on autofocus... HowStuffWorks "How Autofocus Cameras Work"

This could be a great ad for Lightroom or any other photo editing program for that matter..really shows how important editing is,.,..,what happens after the pic is taken is nearly as important as the shot itself...These photo tools are absolutely necessary for serious and even semi-serious photography and this is a great demonstration of why...

Great shot but you know you are going to have points taken off for having the ant so high in the frame..But great lighting and subject..Must have taken a lot of time and patience!

You absolutely do not need more pixels ..what a great marketing tool pixels has turned out to be!!...most of it BS..
.. I assume you have a decent camera with at least 6 MP..,.That is all you need in 95% of the situations you are in ..marketing hype aside,,,

I would guess this picture is what it is because it was probably shot with a telephoto and the colors were enhanced with photo editing software..cant be absolutely sure but that is my guess...Get a program like Photoshop Elements for $80 and you will be fine..( Dont waste your money on the full Photoshop for $400 plus..it has features that are not needed for 99% of what most people do...) If you get some books and learn the program you will find pics like this are quite easy,.,.

Yeah but I didn't know the ant was even there until it crawled over in the middle of some rapid fires. I was really trying to just get the detail on the little guy as he climbed.

For those interested:

Well its a great shot anyway..and the lighting on both shots is great..interesting and eyes lit nicely..

Yeah it's night time and some times even evening shots that it doesn't want to shoot. It will focus on the thing in trying to take a picture of but then it doesn't beep to let me know it's ready, and no matter how long you hold the button it doesn't want to snap the pic. Even in situations where I was in a fairly lit parking lot at night it has trouble sometimes. It may just be something in the settings, such as spot metering vs center weighted focusing or something, idk. I have to play around with it more. I also have to figure out why it doesn't want to do bracketing.


I survived Zdayz 2013... (barely)

MMMMM. Dinner!

You probably dont have enough light for the focus system to lock on to something....and even in what you think is well lit situation,,. incandescent light is not seen as well by the camera as it is by the human eye...In that case turn off the auto focus and focus manually,,,let me know if this helps..

Some shots from the last Cupcake Meet

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3673/9...7dd2a175_b.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3715/9...9f11d6b0_b.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3790/9...467a0ec7_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7445/9...9615c2e0_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7423/9...69416848_b.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5535/9...fd395276_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7387/9...1d38616a_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7442/9...bfffb91d_b.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5465/9...e2e695ca_b.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3811/9...e443eb36_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7342/9...4a0d0958_b.jpg

I may go take some night pics tonight, if I do I'll post 'em up here for review :tup:

Nice work!!! Really nice work!! Great the way you managed to keep background clutter down in spite of this being a pubic event..and when there were things in the background they added to the pic and did not detract from it.. I also like the color enhancement...what was it you did?? Just cranked up saturation or is there more.. .adds an arty feel ..Good job!!!

Thanks! I really wish I had media access on the track for the drifting, but I did the best with what I had :p

Great shots, Boost_Lee. How did you get the sky like that? Polarizing filter? I like the strong saturation. It can be overdone but for this kind of subject you hit it just right. I Also like the sepia tint Mustang. But maybe that's because I still have a warm spot in my heart for pony cars.

Thanks! Yes, the shots were done with a circular polarizer filter and a bit of saturation was added in PP. We had about an hour of rain at the event and the skies opened up shortly after so I had to take advantage.
I'm really happy with the mustang shot. The sepia helps calm down the background a bit

Boost, what polarizer are you using? I have a little cheapo one I got just to experiment with.

I had a pretty nice sunset behind my house this evening. I couldn't get the rays of light coming out of the clouds to show up as well as I could see them in person though.


http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h9...ps107f39a7.jpg

EDIT: Good Lord, photobucket's compression sucks! Can you guys recommend me anything else that stores the pics better without me having to pay $20/month?

Same pic, uploaded from facebook...


https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...89632295_o.jpg

I'll throw in my $.02. On the polarizer. I just bought this one: Amazon.com: Marumi DHG Super Circular Polarizer CPL PL.D 77 77mm Filter Japan: Camera & Photo

It has extremely high reviews and is cheaper than some of the other "name" brands.

Polarizing filters test - Marumi DHG Super Circular P.L.D 72 mm - Lenstip.com

As promised, here's a couple pics from earlier tonight. Again the focusing was an issue and most of my pics came out blurry since I couldn't see through the viewfinder very well. Anyway, here are two that I like, sorry for the huge pictures...


https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...49419415_o.jpg


https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...10308038_o.jpg

I assume you dont want to have them just on your computer hard drive just in case something happens...Why not store them on an outside hard drive?