Help me...help me

Wed May 23, 2007 9:27 pm

Somehow, I had a camera malfunction (I'm guessing) and about 60% of my PoF pictures are FUBAR. Don't know why. I can normally take pretty good pictures. (No...not as good as some here, but WAAYY better than what I got home with this time.) If anyone wants to try to help me out by taking a look at them, I'd really appreciate an assist. I've NEVER gotten pictures like this before. Don't know what could have caused it. Same lenses I've been using for a couple of years. Brand new SanDisk 8G card. Cleaned the sensor right before I left home.

Mudge the bewildered

Wed May 23, 2007 9:41 pm

What's the problem Mudge?

Wed May 23, 2007 9:44 pm

Mudge,

Can you post a few or email several so we can see what they look like?

Wed May 23, 2007 11:07 pm

Rats! If you can't fix this I'll offer up a CD of mine so you at least have something...

Wed May 23, 2007 11:23 pm

Are you sure that drop tank didn't conk you on the head?

Thu May 24, 2007 1:12 pm

OK...all 3 of these were taken from the same spot within minutes of each other. I know my eyesight ain't what it used to be but...all these appear to be "fuzzy" and "pixelated"
These first 3 were taken at f36 at 1/500

I know it was hazy on Saturday but these were taken at 3PM after the haze had pretty much burned off. You guys have pictures from the same time of day and they're not this bad.

And then there's this. What the....
This was taken at f40 at 1/800

I looked at my pictures from last year and NONE of them were this bad.
I are confused!

Mudge the frustrated :shock:

Thu May 24, 2007 1:52 pm

Haze is definitely a factor there, brother Mudge. I can't speak to the rest of it, but if you could send me a fullsize image, I'll take a look and see what I can see.

Thu May 24, 2007 9:02 pm

_____

...Mudge...

...couldn't resist a Photoshop try on the second one...

_____

Wed May 30, 2007 12:55 pm

Quick background for anyone not named Mudge...

I offered to take a crack at a few of these and try to figure out what's up. Good Sir Mudge sent me the original raw files, and here's what I got...

*Disclaimer* These images look a bit off from my conversion...unfortunatey I've got to recalibrate my monitor today, but the color is better in Mudge's shots.

Primary cause...haze.

Exhibit 1

Note how the aircraft is nice & sharp. THen look at the background. THe sun is an ally in this shot, based on the way the shadow fallw under the wings. Therefore, we ought to be able to see the mountains more clearly. Yet...we can't them puppies look like they're covered with a blanket. No detail at all. And, naturally, the farther away the subject of the image is, the more affected by haze.

Exhibit 2

This shot should be cleaner than it is. Haze is definitely a big factor, but the other is the 'aww d@mmit' factor. Mudge told me early on (before I got the disc) that he had accidently somehow set the ISO to 1600. Let's face it...if you shoot digitally, you've done something like this I have. Everyone has. This is a contributing factor in the grain in this shot.

However, I gotta say this. It was just a crappy day for photographic visibility. Nothing you coulda done to fix that, Mudge.

PS...Hope a public answer was okay.

Wed May 30, 2007 1:07 pm

Mudge told me early on (before I got the disc) that he had accidently somehow set the ISO to 1600.

Explains the noise in that shot. I have done that one before!

Wed May 30, 2007 1:19 pm

ISO 1600. That will do it! Also I was out on Sunday and it was very hazy as well. Here are a couple of mine. Even Photo Shop can't make up for clear air.

Dan

Wed May 30, 2007 2:05 pm

Greg (aka fotobass)...Thanks for the invaluable assist. I'll watch the ISO setting from now on. Don't know how that happened to begin with. I'm gonna' try something that Mike S. told me he does. (Hope you photogs. agree.)
Shoot at 1/250 or 1/320 to get the prop blur and only go out to about 350mm instead of the full 400mm. Any suggestions regarding appropriate ISO setting will be appreciated.

Mudge the photographically challenged :shock:

Wed May 30, 2007 2:40 pm

Noise Ninja does it's best. With a full sized original it would look much better I would think.

Wed May 30, 2007 2:49 pm

NEVER SHOOT IN ISO 1600. Even if it's dark, invest in a tripod. It only makes the quality of your pictures decline dramatically.

Wed May 30, 2007 3:04 pm

Trey Carroll wrote:NEVER SHOOT IN ISO 1600. Even if it's dark, invest in a tripod. It only makes the quality of your pictures decline dramatically.

NEVER SPEAK IN ABSOLUTES! (Sorry, I couldn't pass it up)

Actually it depends on the camera. Mudge has a Canon 20D, and as that's a few generations old, it could certainly be a bit better at 1600. The new one, the EOS 1D Mark III, is great at 1600.

Mudge, I was gonna mention the shutter speed thing, but I figured I'd do it through PMs. As long as we're out here, though...

You're on the right track shooting in shutter speed priority. On a sunny day, I'd dial the ISO back to 100 or 200. It doesn't matter if you have a wide open aperture, because your depth of field isn't an issue (the farther away the subject, the more your DOF lengthens, regardless of your aperture setting). Also, turn the drive up to the 'High' setting, fire off a bunch as you pan with the wircraft. Chances are in a sequence you'll get 2-3 sharp frames out of a sequence. You've got a big card, so son't worry about space.

Also, I'd try to shoot at 1/200th or around there. More prop movement. Keep in mind, though, when the Thunderbirds show up (or any other jet aircraft) you don't have a prop to worry about any more, so crank the shutter spped back up again.

Help me...help me

Help me...help me

.....UNDEREXPOSED....