# Slingshot Photography



## Hrawk

I see so many pictures displayed on this forum that really make my jaw drop. Not just the slingshots themselves but the quality of photography involved.

Take any of the photos from the likes of Antraxx, Bob Fionda, Danny0663, Chepo and many others and you will see what I mean.

I decided to cash in on the mayhem that is the Xmas season and when I spotted a Canon 700D at a crazy price, I quickly made one mine. Equipped with a 50mm 1.8 lens I now have the equipment to start taking some great photos myself. (Hopefully).

While I have been using SLR's most of my life and am quite competent with all the features and abilities I still find myself lacking when it comes to really great pics of products and smaller items like slingshots. Pretty much the entire time I've been on this forum, I have ditched my old 35mm EOS for the convenience that is my pocket IXUS digital camera. Usually doing nothing more than taking a slingshot outside in bright sunlight and snapping a few pics off.

That's where this thread comes in. I not only want to create a record of my journey towards better photography, I want to pick the brains of you wonderful people. I want to learn, I want to share what I learn.

Now this is not just for me. This is for anyone who enjoys shooting with a camera as much as they enjoy shooting with a slingshot. Hopefully we can all benefit from the combined knowledge of the forum and become better photographers in the process.

So get to it. Post up your best slingshot photos and be sure to include details about the setup you used, the camera, the settings used and anything else that helped you capture that magic!


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## Hrawk

To kick it off, here are my attempts for today.

Looking forward to your critique and advice on how to make these pics better.

Firstly, my setup.

Canon 700D

Canon 50mm 1.8 lens

2 x Cheap ($10) desk lamps with 20w CFL cool daylight globes

Sheet of blue cardboard tacked to the wall

All pics were taken in RAW and imported into Photoshop CS6. This is probably my biggest learning curve, learning how to adjust the settings once imported.










And the pics:

ISO 100 - F2.8 - 1/80










ISO 100 - F2.5 - 1/80










ISO 100 - F2.8 - 1/60










ISO 100 - F2.8 - 1/60


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## Danny0663

Great idea Dan! i think this will pan out good.

I will try take some BTS (behind the scenes) of the set up etc and show the final pics. I hope some members of the forum will contribute to this.


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## Metropolicity

I'll def take some photos of my photo station, it gets used for a lot of stuff. I'll even share the secret of my floating slingshot photos.


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## Mister Magpie

Hrawk said:


> I'll def take some photos of my photo station, it gets used for a lot of stuff. I'll even share the secret of my floating slingshot photos.


Dan, great idea, and already great improvement.

Eric, I am glad you picked up the thread, I always wonder how you take such amazing photos.

Darren


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## Danny0663

This is not slingshot related, but this new lens i brought myself for Christmas will be used heavily for taking pictures of slingshots.

It's been basically glued to my camera body since it arrived . I think i prefer the 35mm focal length than the 50mm, i really like the wide angle approach in relation to taking 'every day' pictures.

Here is the set up, and final pictures i just took in the last hour.




























If you guys want to check out full res, feel free to check out my flickr page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/


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## Hrawk

Wow Danny, that second pic is production quality.

You rock dude.


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## Danny0663

Oh so, the set it.

Camera - Canon EOS 5D

Strobe - Yongnuo 560II (manual flash)

Light - room light and 1 fill light from desk lamp

Lens - Tamron 90mm 2.5 BBAR that i picked up for $100 on ebay 

All shot at f/5.6, Shutter speed 1/200s


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## Danny0663

> Wow Danny, that second pic is production quality.
> 
> You rock dude.


Cheers man ! if i took it again, i wish the the light highlight was more centered on the 35mm marking instead of the being on the left side of the 35mm. Oh well .. live and learn? lol.


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## ash

Good plan, Dan the Man with the Tan Van.

I look forward to seeing some new clues. You fancy guys - don't forget that most of us don't get to swap out lenses or drag in extra lighting, so throw some simple hints in the pot, too 

My tip (opinion) from a viewer's perspective - don't go too crazy with the macro and aperture and end up with a set of pictures where certain parts are always (even if artfully) out of focus. You should feature all the parts of your subject at least once throughout your set and have at least one where the entire subject is in focus.


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## Hrawk

Well I guess my biggest tip for 'non fancy' stuff, is natural lighting.

Get outside on a sunny day and take pics there.

Weather you're using a small compact, phone or an iPhail, the best thing you can add is LIGHT, and lots of it.

Try and avoid the harsh midday sun and aim for morning / afternoon softness.


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## Danny0663

^^ couldn't agree more. Lighting is crucial even more than the gear used, learning to master lighting is one of the hardest skills in photography for both natural and artificial lighting (IMHO) ... but it's great fun to learn. 

I really wish someone would of told me this earlier when i started. But my tip would be to conceptualize the picture you are about to take by taking your time and imagining the final outcome/theme you want instead of just taking a couple snap shots. Taking a couple snap shots compared to a well thought out, planned and executed pictures really makes a world of difference.

But thats just my take ... and i'm sure others have different opinions


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## AnTrAxX

Nice idea Hrawk.

If i don´t forget it i´ll take a 2nd Cam with me next time and do some "making of" Shots if you like.

Won´t be that spectacular tho since i love to take mine outdoors 

Your first Pics are quite nice. Maybe you want to build a Lightcube? Pretty easy build and the outcome is flawless with just a few desktop lamps.

Congratz to your "full format" Danny 

Oh and btw...that Leatherman´s name is not really Squirt...is it?


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## Hrawk

Cheers bloke.

I've been looking at those light cubes. For about $15 on ebay I can grab a 50x50x50cm one. Screw it. I'll order one now.

And yeah, it's really called 'Squirt'


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## e~shot

Hrawk said:


> Well I guess my biggest tip for 'non fancy' stuff, is natural lighting.
> 
> Get outside on a sunny day and take pics there.


This is what you told me longtime ago and I'm sill doing it...


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## leon13

nice idea thanks !

cheers


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## Danny0663

> Congratz to your "full format" Danny


Never been happier! 9 year old camera still performs amazingly ...i don't think i'll ever move back to crop sensors unless i go micro four thirds


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## Danny0663

> I've been looking at those light cubes. For about $15 on ebay I can grab a 50x50x50cm one. Screw it. I'll order one now.


But but ... you could of made one for free and spent the $15 on a 12 pack.


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## ruthiexxxx

Oh bugger !! You lot are going to make my crappy attempts at photography look even worse than they do already !









It's not a bad camera. One I bought for my late partner...a Panasonic Lumix with a Leica lens. But it's so bloody complicated!

I totally agree with Terry Pratchett about avoiding any electronic thingie where the manual is bigger than the product. I know I should spend an hour or two (unstoned) reading the manual...but I really can't be bothered. I daren't change any setting or it immediately leads me into menus and programmes utterly beyond my bewildered ken.

BAH...to technology! (Heads for the bar in a disgruntled manner)


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## Hrawk

You are totally forgiven your shortcoming for the simple fact that you said "Terry Pratchett"

Remind me again, what is the colour of magic ?

ps. Beware the luggage. It has teeth.


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## ruthiexxxx

Hrawk said:


> You are totally forgiven your shortcoming for the simple fact that you said "Terry Pratchett"
> 
> Remind me again, what is the colour of magic ?
> 
> ps. Beware the luggage. It has teeth.


Octarine of course!


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## LVO

I really need to either get a camera (have 2 35mm SLRs) or/and a light box. I receive some BEAUTIFUL slingshots from folks and it pains me that my pictures don't show the beauty and artistry of them. On the recent Santa trade, Nathan took pics of what I sent to him and made MY jaw drop!...lol. I was thinking, "I did that"? :blink: His photography skills are phenomenal!

Anybody want to buy a couple sweet SLR cameras?lol


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## Tentacle Toast

Windows has a phone out with something on the order of 42 megapixels; I loathe Windows, but I'd get that just for the camera function! I grow orchids & nepenthes, & can never get those great shots that really represent the blooms/pitchers...thanks for starting this thread Hrawk, I've already learned a bit...for starters, those baffled desk lamps to eliminate the shiny from pics of polished objects. I'd like to get rid of my standard background for pics posted here as well, as I'm sure by now everyone is sick of my kitchen table & wall...


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## Y+shooter

Thanks I have already learned a few things....


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## AnTrAxX

Tentacle Toast said:


> Windows has a phone out with something on the order of 42 megapixels; I loathe Windows, but I'd get that just for the camera function! I grow orchids & nepenthes, & can never get those great shots that really represent the blooms/pitchers...thanks for starting this thread Hrawk, I've already learned a bit...for starters, those baffled desk lamps to eliminate the shiny from pics of polished objects. I'd like to get rid of my standard background for pics posted here as well, as I'm sure by now everyone is sick of my kitchen table & wall...


The number of Pixels has close to nothing to do with how good a camera or the pictures it takes are.

The Pixelnumber is something made up for commercial purpose (so people have something to compare and see: "Oh, that one has more ---> is better")

(In a certain range ofc, you just can´t print out good quality posters with 3mega pixels obviously)

I´m not going too deep into detais here but a lot of those sensors have more pixel than the lenses or even the human eye can differ (aka useless).

If you really want to start something serious get an DSLR that is some years old. Sadly (good for you) it´s like PC´s with those things nowadays, if there is something new out, they get tossed away.

Get on or two fixed (no zoom) cheap lenses like the mentioned 50 1.8.

You don´t need more than that to take sellable Pics!

OT:

I got a Pratchett to Christmas and never heard of that Book(s?) before.

What is strange, since i read every day  . Are they good?


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## ruthiexxxx

Pratchett is pure genius! And ('mirabile dictu') he's a PROLIFIC GENIUS !


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## Tentacle Toast

AnTrAxX said:


> Tentacle Toast said:
> 
> 
> 
> Windows has a phone out with something on the order of 42 megapixels; I loathe Windows, but I'd get that just for the camera function! I grow orchids & nepenthes, & can never get those great shots that really represent the blooms/pitchers...thanks for starting this thread Hrawk, I've already learned a bit...for starters, those baffled desk lamps to eliminate the shiny from pics of polished objects. I'd like to get rid of my standard background for pics posted here as well, as I'm sure by now everyone is sick of my kitchen table & wall...
> 
> 
> 
> The number of Pixels has close to nothing to do with how good a camera or the pictures it takes are.
> The Pixelnumber is something made up for commercial purpose (so people have something to compare and see: "Oh, that one has more ---> is better")
> (In a certain range ofc, you just can´t print out good quality posters with 3mega pixels obviously)
> 
> I´m not going too deep into detais here but a lot of those sensors have more pixel than the lenses or even the human eye can differ (aka useless).
> If you really want to start something serious get an DSLR that is some years old. Sadly (good for you) it´s like PC´s with those things nowadays, if there is something new out, they get tossed away.
> Get on or two fixed (no zoom) cheap lenses like the mentioned 50 1.8.
> You don´t need more than that to take sellable Pics!
> 
> OT:
> I got a Pratchett to Christmas and never heard of that Book(s?) before.
> What is strange, since i read every day  . Are they good?
Click to expand...

...I really don't want to start something serious. Just take the occasional nice picture  Thanks for that bit of info, though; I had no clue!


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## B.P.R

Wow guys!

I agree... some photos i see on here are nothing short of amazing...

I see the timenand effort you guys put in... with lightint...camera settings and so on...

I just grab my android phone...take a few pictures... job done... for me atleast..

I do appreciate a good photo though


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## AnTrAxX

Danny0663 said:


> Congratz to your "full format" Danny
> 
> 
> 
> Never been happier! 9 year old camera still performs amazingly ...i don't think i'll ever move back to crop sensors unless i go micro four thirds
Click to expand...

I told you so 

Seeing good lenses perform on Sensorsizes they were made for always gives me a lot of pleasure 

That 35 1.4 was a very wise decision.

If i had to reduce my pool to one single Lens i think i´d pick that one.

35mm on Full Format looks just very nice.

On top of that they are quite compact. When i´m on a journey and i decide to take the DSLR with me i usually put the 35 on and remove the Battery Grip.

Easy to carry and suited for nearly all situations.





































I don´t use it for Slings tho. I think when i come too close the shape of the Slingshot get´s odd.

Maybe you have some examples up your sleeve for 35mm Slings?


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## Danny0663

> I told you so
> 
> Seeing good lenses perform on Sensorsizes they were made for always gives me a lot of pleasure
> 
> That 35 1.4 was a very wise decision.
> 
> If i had to reduce my pool to one single Lens i think i´d pick that one.
> 
> 35mm on Full Format looks just very nice.
> 
> On top of that they are quite compact. When i´m on a journey and i decide to take the DSLR with me i usually put the 35 on and remove the Battery Grip.
> 
> Easy to carry and suited for nearly all situations.


My only regret - not getting it sooner! EOS 5D has really dropped in price over the past couple years, so it was only a matter of time. 

One of the things that really amazed me was how much information the camera files were able to record. I mean, you can underexpose or overexpose by a good number of f-stops and you would still be able to recover the files just fine assuming you were using RAW. My Nikon D90 could never do that ... if it did, it looked horrible and the details were gone. Also, the grain/noise at high iso looks like film grain to me, it's so smooth and natural looking .... and also the depth of field on full frame is on another whole new level at f/1.4 

35mm lens format is excellent, really enjoyed shooting with it so far. Having owned APS-C sensors, due to the crop factor, i was really used to focal lengths at 80mm + range, but the 35mm wide angle approach is really growing on me. I'm even thinking about buying the 24mm f/1.4 once the price drops a little on the second hand market.



> I don´t use it for Slings tho. I think when i come too close the shape of the Slingshot get´s odd.
> 
> Maybe you have some examples up your sleeve for 35mm Slings?


Haven't shot any slings with it, only test shots to see everything was working well. But the closing focusing distance is 30cm so it should be ok? but i think the DOF will be too shallow at minimum focusing distance even at f/4 - f/8.


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## AnTrAxX

You are right. 30cm, mine too. Should be ok...hmmm...i can´t remember atm but i think i tried it and went back tho the Macro lens...had to be a reason for that lol.

True about the information in a RAW file. Without that i couldn´t have done the latest pics of Randys Slings out in the woods as you can imagine


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## wombat

A quick question? I'v got an old pentax SLR can I buy just the body and keep my lenses?

And FWY If memory serves me, 35mm is closest to what the eye sees.


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## Hrawk

wombat said:


> A quick question? I'v got an old pentax SLR can I buy just the body and keep my lenses?
> 
> And FWY If memory serves me, 35mm is closest to what the eye sees.


Depends on the series of lens. What have you got ? If it's DA or above then yes you can.

The question is, would you want to ?

Autofocus is a very nice thing and with modern DSLR's, you don't have the old style split focus screens.


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## Danny0663

> I'v got an old pentax SLR can I buy just the body and keep my lenses?


If you still want to manual focus, you can buy cheap adapters to fit your lens on newer camera bodies. Depending on what camera body you get, you can also change the focusing screens.


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## Danny0663

Alright so i finished this frame in the afternoon, and i finally ended up taking some shots just now.

Same set up as before, but the curvy slingshot makes it hard to highlight the peaks. So i ended up using a ghetto homemade light reflector using some aluminum foil, now before you ask why i used foil instead of paper is because i wanted the harsh light source exposing the peaks, if i used a white piece of paper or something similar, the exposed highlights and shadows would of been much softer which i did not want at all.

Antraxx - i used the 35mm at 30cm on these shots, besides the two macro shots (check linked topic). The depth of field at minimum focusing distance is too shallow .... so i ended up shooting these at f/11 with a maxed out strobe at 1/1 power. But it's still a very usable focal length, it's almost the "do it all" focal length for me. 

The pictures - like before, i really wanted a low-key black background to show off the slingshot curves and details and i think i pulled it off? what do you guys think.


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## Danny0663

Dam ... i just realized the white balance is off (green cast). I'll fix it next time ... to late now.


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## Hrawk

Still hard to beat some natural lighting


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## Hrawk

The polished alloy and acrylic definitely comes up better when you have something a bit more interesting for the reflection and refraction.


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## Danny0663

Nice CF wrap! i like it. 50mm?


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## Hrawk

Oops yeah, the 50 @ F5.6


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## e~shot

Hrawk said:


> Still hard to beat some natural lighting


Well said!


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## Wingshooter

I was in the back yard taking a picture of a sunset with my shirt pocket canon and look what flew by!


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## Metropolicity

Just finished up a post about my newest slingshot, I promised to contribute to this thread. Here's the post: Take the slingshot over to the photo station, a former cashier stand from a defunct pharmacy. Sheet steel and sunken in perfect, a super clamp holds a magic arm over the infinity background to suspend things. Off to the side is a Nikon SB800 speed light clamped to the edge, aimed at the ceiling for a big, controlled flood of light. This is tethered to a camera, in this case my studio camera an inexpensive Nikon D5100 with a Nikon 35mm f1.4.










Here you can see how I strung up the slingshot, it is at this point, I decided to name this slingshot the 505 Yoke since it's already on the body of the fork. I always try to arrange the bands/tubes into a curve so it's a more pleasing composition and compliments the fluid lines of most slingshots.










After shooting and purposely under exposing by 1 stop of light, I bring the file into Photoshop.










While I am there, I bring up the levels menu and pick the white background area as my highlight max with the levels eye dropper. This sets the white balance pretty well as the background becomes white. I use the slider to bring the sling back into the right exposure.










I then clean up the wires I used to float the sling, it is also at this point I clean up any remaining grey left on the boarders if there is possible vinetting due to the large aperture lens.










Save, quit and upload.


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## Danny0663

That is real nice Metro! thanks for the pics. I think i'll give this a shot in a couple hours ..... i'll let you know how it goes.


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## Hrawk

Nikon + Apple! Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!

Jokes aside, really great post, thanks for sharing. Great tip on setting the highlight point and you do have to love that healing tool


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## Metropolicity

Hrawk said:


> Nikon + Apple! Don't let the door hit you in the *** on the way out!
> 
> Jokes aside, really great post, thanks for sharing. Great tip on setting the highlight point and you do have to love that healing tool


You have to start by underexposing to do that trick otherwise you'll blow the highlights.

I am also super lazy and my workflow is optimized for jpegs, raw files just slow me down.


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## Danny0663

> I am also super lazy and my workflow is optimized for jpegs, raw files just slow me down.


no RAW? awwwww mmmmmmaahhhhnnn.


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## ash

I'm going to have to try that underexposing on the white backdrop. I use Paint Shop Pro, so I'll have to find out how it can do the same post-tweaks you did.


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## Metropolicity

Danny0663 said:


> I am also super lazy and my workflow is optimized for jpegs, raw files just slow me down.
> 
> 
> 
> no RAW? awwwww mmmmmmaahhhhnnn.
Click to expand...

Raw is great but if you know what you are going to get, it's not that important.


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## Danny0663

Well ... i had a go with a white background - no success. With the current lighting set up, i just can't. I think a soft box or a light cube would be the best solution for the lights to bounce around to fill the shadows without having to spend a lot of money on second strobes and triggers. I'll have another shot at it after i make some more reflectors and a proper stand.


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## Metropolicity

Danny0663 said:


> Well ... i had a go with a white background - no success. With the current lighting set up, i just can't. I think a soft box or a light cube would be the best solution for the lights to bounce around to fill the shadows without having to spend a lot of money on second strobes and triggers. I'll have another shot at it after i make some more reflectors and a proper stand.


Have your tried using a white plastic bag? Semi inflate it and put it in front of the light, it'll throw it everywhere and make a super cheap 'soft box'. I've even done it on location when my softbox got blown into a tree when my production assistant wasn't paying attention and was on her phone :S

Failing that, a white bag on a coat hanger in front of the light also works.


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## Danny0663

> Have your tried using a white plastic bag? Semi inflate it and put it in front of the light, it'll throw it everywhere and make a super cheap 'soft box'. I've even done it on location when my softbox got blown into a tree when my production assistance wasn't paying attention and was on her phone :S


Thats a real neat idea, never thought of that before. I'll try it out next time.

thanks


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## parnell

I am not a photographer. Photography is my wife's thing. She will take pics for me, but this being my hobby I would like to improve my pics. Tell me what you think of mine from today.















I have more of the same slingshots in these two topics: http://slingshotforum.com/topic/29013-a-portuguese-linx-attacked-today/?p=386157 and http://slingshotforum.com/topic/29118-emory-oak-ca-finish/

When it comes to settings I am an absolute novice. These were taken with a Canon T3i on whatever manual setting my wife already had it on(a note my wife is an outside photographer, she hates inside stuff). If you have any tips or advice for my pics let me know. Thanks


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## Danny0663

Just wondering - has anyone tried free lensing before? i didn't know about it until just now when i stumbled across a video on Youtube. The DOF you get from it is crazy shallow and might be useful if you want to blur certain parts of the slingshot image without using a 1.4, 1.8 or a 2.8 aperture lens.


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## AnTrAxX

Danny0663 said:


> Well ... i had a go with a white background - no success. With the current lighting set up, i just can't. I think a soft box or a light cube would be the best solution for the lights to bounce around to fill the shadows without having to spend a lot of money on second strobes and triggers. I'll have another shot at it after i make some more reflectors and a proper stand.


Why all that fuzz?

There is no real need to get a short exposure time is it?

Maybe you saw my photos in front of a black background? There were all done without any static light at all in the room.

I only used a LED Flashlight and around 10-15sec of exposure.

you can cut out the background in gimp, or light it once with a flash during the exposure to give it a uniform look if you want to use a white one.

And in terms of "Softbox" i use a white umbrella tied to of one of these: http://www.hennigarts.com/img/baustrahler-300.JPG

I experimented with free lensing...(if that is what i think you mean...just holding the lens in one hand without attaching it to the cam?) in my early years.

The results were not reproducable enough for me and more "funstuff". I don´t consider that serious buisness lol


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## AnTrAxX

Wow, finally found the right term in english^^ Extension Tubes.

If you like the "free lensing" results you might want to buy a set of these. No need for original canon stuff, there should be plenty aftermarket ones on amazon etc.


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## Hrawk

So true.

I've seen sets of 3 for under 15 bucks.

If you want fully functional AF, about 50.


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## Danny0663

AnTrAxX .....










Y NO BTS? i.. i is .... disappoint.


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## Danny0663

Productive day indeed ... Long story short i ended up spending the last 12+ hours cleaning out sand particles from my shutter mechanism ....... :banghead: (it's crazy how much Canon charges for repairs). While at it, i repainted, polished and cleaned my new macro lens that i picked up for $20 online which is a Adaptall 2 Tamron 90mm f/2.5 SP which the serial number dates back to the 1980's. Thing is made from solid aluminum and glass, fantastic build and optical quality highly recommended! I've also brought the Adaptall 2 Tamron 135mm f/2.5 SP which should come in the mail any day.


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## Hrawk

Very nice man. That DOF is awesome, millimetres at most! Great pic


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## Danny0663

Thanks man. The DOF is really thin on this macro lens ... i miss quite a lot of shots because of it, but its getting a lot easier particularly because of the new split prism focusing screen i installed.


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## AnTrAxX

Danny0663 said:


> AnTrAxX .....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Y NO BTS? i.. i is .... disappoint.


You mean BlackTShirt? 

I had a white one just laying around so i went for "no Background" this time.

Removing the Threads was a pain in the ... with Lightroom tho


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## Danny0663

Ahhhhhhh! Germans do know how to make cameras.


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