JANUARY 2012 Raptor Of The Month Contest ==DUSK to DAWN==

[CineSLR]

Do you like the natural or the Hi-Key look better?

 

[BlueSVT]

I like the second one, the "Hi-Key" I'm assuming? (I have no idea what that means)

 

[CineSLR]

You are correct! For the most part, high key means high contrast. If using lights they are used to give a more pop etc.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[mictouch]

The raptor is invisible, but it's in there............. Ya.

IRunOne... All you need to do is pop up your flash and dial it down a bit to capture your Raptor and still keep the sky or background. You really don't need an amazing camera or lens to capture a cool night shot. Here is how I shot my picture in my driveway.

I started with very little light outside and a gorgeous sunrise. [6:36am] I used a tripod and decided that f10 setting and a shutter speed at 1/13th of a second was going to capture the sunrise the best at that moment. You really need to work fast because in a matter of 3 - 5 minutes with the sun rising over the horizon the ambient light multiplies faster than you can make adjustments on your camera.

So, here is the first shot I took to capture just the beauty of the sunrise. See No Raptor - it was still dark outside. [6:36am] So here is where you have to move fast.



Here is my second attempt. [6:39am] I grabbed a flash and put it in front of the Raptor to hopefully outline the Raptor with light so everyone could tell it was a Raptor. Crap it was too much light.



My third attempt - [6:42am] I grabbed another flash and held it over my head turning the flash head upward toward the sky to illuminate the side of the Raptor and not the ground. I turned the flash power down on both of them. Mainly the one in the front and the one over head I adjusted by pointing more toward the Raptor. And this is what I came up with. I shot 30 images in less than 5 minutes to get the one I really liked. In that 5 minutes you can see the sunset color went away a little and I should have changed the camera f stop setting from f10 to say f13 to capture more of the colors again but dealing with the additional ambient light and trying to illuminate the Raptor is tough and you need a more experienced photographer than me and or a helper that is knowledgeable in camera lighting.



and now my Photoshopped Version....

 

[Humvee21]

Do you like the natural or the Hi-Key look better?

Me likey the natural!

 

[JP7]

Very cool - There are some awesome pics this month!
I won't be a contender, but I tried yesterday before the snow storm set in.

1

2 as I froze my ass off walking around half lake Minnewaka...

3

4

5

 

[Marine on Land]

Marine,
Do you have some of your work available to view? Would love to see your stuff!

Brother, pm me and and will point you in the right direction for what I have done. Mostly, you can google sgt. Or staff sgt. Brian Kester. I have not shot, regularly, in quite a while except my family and such.
Most of my stuff is on my facebook account or marines.mil.

Mic touch, like what you were saying about getting things right before shooting. And being able to use even a pop up flash. Shoot, any kind of additional light. Try painting with light or using a flashlight, reflectors-you name it.
Easy rule to remember in aiding with anyone's photographic endeavors, "expose for the background, and light the foreground." meaning get your camera to see the light behind whatever, in this case the sky and get it correctly exposed then turn on your additional light source and set it right too.
Doesn't mean it is easy, but it makes it easier to begin to recognize how to correct over or under exposures.
By the way, my skills are nothing if not modest. More than anything, I love trying to capture a moment with people and telling a story and in my case passing on the knowledge that I have to the men and women that work with me.

 

[Irunone]

Do you like the natural or the Hi-Key look better?

Cine, your shots are great! For me, trying to pick between the better of the two isn't possible. Like asking if I like blond or brunette better (I have to be careful here, my wife's brunette)
I guess depends on target audience/intention. The hi-key pic though reminds me of the fun things that can be done with IR photography.

 

[mictouch]

"JP7"

This is really a nice shot.

All our cameras still look at black and white and all the shades of grey in between. So shooting a black Raptor in White Snow is very hard to do. So " I Think " your first shot of the black Raptor and the white snow with just the touch of blue skies is great but - the camera struggled to find the correct color balance/exposure and your Raptor turned out a strange color and being so close to the camera the depth of field threw the Raptor out of focus. It's still a great shot but, your last shot is even better. In my opinion.

This is because of the way you composed it with your Raptor being in the lower third of the frame and along with the white snow and blue skies the camera had the red tail lights and the trees to help in getting the exposure better and making the black Raptor a correct color. This is a really nice shot and very well done. One of my favs!

 

[IRONMAN]

Very cool - There are some awesome pics this month!
I won't be a contender, but I tried yesterday before the snow storm set in.

1

2 as I froze my ass off walking around half lake Minnewaka...

3

4

5

WOW, These are just gorgeous.