Photographing Butterflies in Winter

It is a known fact that bugs and butterflies don’t have the same far-reaching photo appeal as other natural subjects like things that are feathered or furred in savanna of safari. They are also difficult to spot, and little challenging to shoot; However, in frame-filling close-up, insects are actually amazingly photogenic. I will talk about Butterfly photography in Indian winters*** in this blog. Butterflies are also fantastically beautiful and photogenic and you can’t help but be seduced by their colour, intricate markings, delicacy and design and they’ve inhabited almost every type of environment and can migrate large distances – and in large numbers too .. so give it a shot!

**** When I say winter , I’m taking about India , especially south India, where you can still find lot of these small butterflies in winter!

Butterfly photography is easily accessible if you are an early riser and you can spot them in a local garden or a grassland filled with shrubs:

In this blog I will share some of the images I shot this winter and also share some pointers on how to shoot them ( They are just my techniques and not really tips).

Most important thing you should do to shoot a butterfly is to get up early and photograph them during sunrise especially during winters ; the winter mist makes them sluggish and that helps you to approach them. Ideally you need to photograph butterflies soon after they emerge when they are still in pristine condition and also note that the window of opportunity is brief – mistime your visit, and you may need to wait long before you can try again.

Stalking is the best technique , This is when you follow (not chase!) butterflies around, waiting for them to rest, feed or bask. When they do, you need to efficiently move into position – just be mindful of the sun’s position; if you cast your shadow across your subject, you will likely frighten it away.

What all Circus ..we do to get a picture .. from top right in clockwise :

1. Vinod on the ground shooting (PC Vinod)
2. Myself reviewing the image with a portable dark room ( garbage bag )
3. Grass jewel
4. Tawny Coster .
5. Myself on the Ground shooting an image ( PC Vinod)

Depth of field is inherently shallow at higher magnifications when using a macro lens , so there is no leeway for error when focusing. However, if you are using a tripod you can focus via Live View – something I always prefer to do when practical, as I’m able to magnify the live image and manually focus on the butterfly’s head/eyes with good precision. A tripod also allows you to select a smaller aperture to achieve the depth of field needed, and – if necessary – use a reflector to light up shadow areas. Alternatively if you use latest cameras especially mirror less you can use focus peaking as an assisting aid.

Personally, I usually want my subject to stand out boldly against a nicely diffused, out of focus backdrop , with a Bokeh so I will typically opt for the largest aperture possible (lowest f-stop number in my case its 2.8 ) Doing so also provides a faster shutter speed.

I don’t use flash on butterflies and prefer natural light and I do use a reflector at times or a LED light for fill in, which is not as bright as flash and still allows me to fill the shadows a bit.

Finally, be patient… very patient. When shooting butterflies, be prepared for moments of complete and utter hair-pulling frustration. You wouldn’t believe the number of times a butterfly will disappear into the distance just at the moment you are about to trigger the shutter! However, thanks to subject knowledge, good technique, perseverance and a little lady luck, you can capture great images.

Image Gallery

The common leopard - Mating

African babul blue

Grass Flower and Grass Jewel

African babul blue

Grass Jewel

Freyeria putli, the eastern grass jewel

Acraea terpsicore, the tawny coster

Castalius rosimon, the common Pierrot

Spindasis vulcanus vulcanus – Indian Common Silverline

Castalius rosimon, the common Pierrot,

Azanus jesous, the African babul blue or topaz-spotted blue

Acraea terpsicore, the tawny coster

Small Grass yellow

Castalius rosimon

Zizina otis, the lesser grass blue

Eurema brigitta, the small grass yellow

African babul blue

Azanus jesous, the African babul blue

Thanks if you like the blog, you can leave a comment at Home Page

Cheers

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is TransparentImage-4.png — Goutham Ramesh

22/12/202122/12/2021

My Nikon Zfc!

Not all decisions in life have to be rational, my decision for buying “Nikon Zfc” was just that!

In this post, I will share my experience with this beauty and what I personally think of this beauty and share some pictures shot with this beauty.

Nikon says “Classic design meets modern engineering” when they introduce this camera on their website. I personally agree with this, it is the retro design that was the biggest factor for me to buy this camera. Having used old film cameras in the past I just fell in love with the design and all the controls on the top of the camera.

Important Specifications:

Lens mount: Nikon Z mount

Image sensor format: DX (Crop Sensor)

Image sensor type: CMOS

Total pixels: 21.51 million

Effective pixels: 20.9 million

My Take :

Some Images and what I did to shoot these images; Please note I use different kind of lenses and usually prefer lenses with no electronics and completely manual, so this is not a exhaustive review, however i will try to share my experiences with this beautiful camera and lenses I used.

Usage with Kit Lens (with Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR):

The first thing I wanted to do was check the kit lens and this is what I shot with it.

Exposure : 1/15 sec at F3.5 ISO 200 Shot at 16mm

First thing i did was check the Kit lens and how it performs at fully open aperture and I was pleased to get a decent shot with good color tones and decent sharpness.

The NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR is the smallest and the lightest lens available for the Nikon Z mount.Sporting an all-plastic construction and plastic mounts, these lenses are specifically designed to be as small and as lightweight as possible, while taking advantage of the short flange distance of the Z mount. At a mere 135 grams, it is impressively light ; in fact, it is the lightest DX / APS-C lens Nikon has produced to date! Optically, the lens is comprised of 9 elements in 7 groups, four of which are aspherical elements, and one of which is an extra-low dispersion element. Similar to other Nikon Z lenses, the 16-50mm VR comes with a stepping motor, which delivers quiet and fast autofocus performance. Nikon incorporated optical image stabilization into the lens, and it is supposed to compensate camera shake by up to 4.5 stops ( Yes 4.5 Stops ) .

Considering all this it produces decent results and a great lens to have with Nikon Zfc especially while shooting architecture and street.

Usage with 7Artizans 7.5mm Fisheye Manual Lens:

I love perspectives from fisheye and sometimes even distortions , it is not everybody’s cup of tea and some hate it. But personally for me it gives some perspectives which i like a lot and deviates from mundane.

Exposure : 1/250 sec at F8 ISO 100

Exposure : 1/125 sec at F5.6 ISO 100

Exposure : 1/5 sec at F2.8 ISO 100

7.5mm f/2.8 from 7Artisans produces rectangular images that cover the entire APS-C format, unlike Circular Fisheye lenses which produce round images within the rectangular field. . This Lens has a solid, high-quality feel in the hand and the focus ring completes its arc in about 1/5 of a turn and the aperture ring is click-free. Exposure is not automatic. Set the camera on Aperture Priority and select a suitable f/stop or go Manual and trust the meter. This lens is manual focus; in fact, it’s manual in everything..

The DOF so extreme that precise focusing isn’t necessary at apertures smaller than f/5.6. Minimum focus is 5.9 inches.

Using this lens on Nikon Zfc was fun and they work very well and if you swear by manual exposure and focus like me you will enjoy this; For people who shoot auto and rely on auto focus this lens is not for you.

Usage with 100mm Laowa Macro + FTZ adapter:

This was the combination that I was always interested in , because I do lot of macro and would love to shoot with Bokeh. You can see my Laowa lens review here.

All these images are shot at 2.8 to get a round bokeh.

Using Nikon Zfc with Laowa 100mm and FTZ adapter was fun , but also slightly difficult because of lack of hand grip on the camera ( A simple monopod or a small rig grip will solve this problem) .

I love round bokeh and inorder to get that I need to open the aperture , which gives me a very shallow DOF. Now order to make the picture look good with this setting my focus have to be perfect and also I need to be parallel to the subject, with laowa lens which is manual this is a herculean task , this is where focus peaking on Nikon Zfc helped! What an amazing setting this is.

Focus peaking is a focusing aid in live preview or electronic viewfinders on Nikon Zfc that places a white or coloured highlight on in-focus edges within an image using an edge detect filter.

Now, one may ask why a tool such as this is necessary, with the high-resolution LCDs and EVFs being released today. This is because as great as those screens are and as perfect as your eyesight may be, being able to see what is in focus quickly and clearly can dramatically speed up your work. Also, it is always nice to get another, perhaps more precise, opinion on the technical aspects before you get home and find out that you barely missed the shot you needed.

Peaking also shows up in real time, giving you near-instantaneous feedback as you rack focus through a scene. Importantly it helps you see what all area is in focus!

How to set focus peaking and use , see the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auBqCn9RdLo.

Thats it friends , I just wanted to share my experience and my take for detailed review there are many sources on the net.

I bought this camera from https://www.videolinks.com/ , Great service from Anish George and his team, They really went out of their way to get me this camera, especially during these days when most of the equipments are out of stock.

Thanks if you like the blog, you can leave a comment at Home Page

Cheers

15/08/202115/08/2021

Natural Light Macro with my 180mm.

I usually do not give too much importance to the equipment, however if there is one lens that’s been close to my heart it’s been my beloved Sigma 180mm Macro EX HSM ; This lens has been with me for close to 2 decades and has given me great images. In this blog I will share some images shot with this lens in natural light.

Sigma 180mm Macro EX HSM 3.5, a brief overview:

The Sigma APO 180mm F3.5 EX DG lens was (yes, it is no longer manufactured) a telephoto/macro lens produced by Sigma Corporation.

Lens style: Telephoto , Macro
Focal length: 180 mm
Maximum aperture: f/3.5
Closest focusing distance : 0.46 m
Maximum magnification: 1:1
Minimum aperture: 32
Number of diaphragm blades :9
Auto focus type: AF HSM
Lens Construction: 13 elements / 10 groups
Filter diameter :72 mm

What I liked about this lens!

Shots taken with this lens were quite impressive.
The shallow DOF.
The working distance has always been excellent.
This lens performs extremely well even when the aperture is fully opened at 3.5.
Excellent build , even though the powder coating matte finish peels off.
Lovely Circular Bokeh at 3.5

Me , with my Sigma 180mm on field

Some techniques that I follow with this lens:

Always stay parallel to the subject , this allows me to get the subject of interest in the shallow DOF that this lens provides
Always use a tripod stand! This lens is heavy and is not for people who like to do handheld photography
Use a Macro rail
Use a right angle viewfinder , since most of the subjects are at ground level or very close to the ground, this helps a lot and saves my back as well.
Start shooting with a fully open aperture and keep closing the aperture till i get right DOF
Carry a white sheet of paper as a reflector to bounce natural light and use it to fill shadows.

Some Images:

Argiope in light drizzle. This was a challenging shot due to wind and I also wanted to show the raindrops ( Exposure : F14 , 1/125 second , ISO 400, Natural light )

Argiope after the drizzle . ( Exposure : F10 , 1/320 second , ISO 400, Natural light )

Owl Fly ( Exposure : F10 , 1/320 second , ISO 400, Natural light )

Owl Fly with Bokeh ( Exposure : F16 , 1/50 second , ISO 400, Natural light )

Plains Cupid , Here i have opened the aperture almost full to get a very shallow DOF and have gone almost parallel to the subject ( Exposure : F4 , 1/1250 second , ISO 800, Natural light )

Assassin Bug back lit with a paper reflector in the front ( Exposure : F8 , 1/125 second , ISO 400, Natural light )

Crab Spider back lit with a paper reflector in the front ( Exposure : F13 , 1/60 second , ISO 100, Natural light )

Red Veined darter back lit with a paper reflector in the front ( Exposure : F8 , 1/125 second , ISO 400, Natural light )

Assassin Bug back lit with a paper reflector in the front ( Exposure : F16 , 1/40 second , ISO 400, Natural light )

Back lit Tawny Coaster ( Exposure : F6.3, 1/1000 second , ISO 400, Natural light )

Rant!

These days , Macro photography has changed! ; The way we shoot pictures have also changed with good close up lenses , attachments , great diffusers and lighting support and there is a decline in people using natural light ( Even I don’t use this lens and natural light quite often these days ) . Today we can get much more greater details in the images which is amazing. However personally for me charm of natural light macro is still very close to my heart even though I do shoot a lot of my recent macro’s with close up attachments and diffusers and I do love my Raynox and Radiant diffuser.

Having said that these days manufacturers have stopped making lenses like 180mm due to lack of demand and it’s very sad, one day I hope the demand for macro lenses and this focal length is back on track and we get to see some great macro images in natural light .

Thanks if you like the blog, you can leave a comment at Home Page

Cheers

13/08/202113/08/2021

Long Exposure Photography

Long exposure photography is recently very popular , due to the dramatic effects produced with the technique. The advent of more advanced digital cameras have made it much easier to produce these images, since the calculations, guesswork and luck have mostly been eliminated from the process.

Long-exposure, time-exposure, or slow-shutter photography involves using a long-duration shutter speed ( from 1/15 of second to minutes ) to sharply capture the stationary elements of images while blurring, smearing, or obscuring the moving elements. Long-exposure photography captures one element that conventional photography does not: an extended period of time.

4 Second exposure to get the blur effect of this fountain on lake Geneva

As mentioned Long exposure is achieved by using slower shutter speed and this longer exposure times allow you to capture clouds, water, or other moving objects in a smooth, flowing manner, while maintaining sharpness and clarity on still objects.

One of the post important aspect to get longer exposure is to shoot during early morning or late evening when light is little low; However we can also use an ND filter (Neutral density filter ) , which actually cuts down the exposure.

A neutral density filter essentially allows for this extended amount of exposure time, without altering the hue or colour of the image. Adding the filter is equivalent to stopping down one or more f-stops, and allows you to avoid making the photo too hot/bright due to the amount of time the shutter will be open.

Again as I said If you don’t have a ND or polarizing filter available, you’ll need to attempt these captures in lower light, such as in the early morning or late evening . Many photographers use long exposures to capture shots at night also!

Here the main objective is to increase your exposure time for the shot without overexposing the image!

Whether you use ND or get up early in the morning using a “Tripod” is a must as these shots involve too much open shutter time to attempt holding by hand.

1/5 Second exposure , this was shot around 3 PM , so had to use ND Filter

How to start ( Some Tips )

Begin experimenting with very small apertures during the golden hour (the hour before sunset or after sunrise) such as f/22 or higher, and bump the aperture up to f/8 or larger after night falls. Please note You’ll end up with several attempts, since nailing a great exposure is largely trial and error. You’ll also need to play around with exposure times, and this depends on what moving object you are capturing.

30 Second exposure to capture moving vehicle tail lamps at KR Circle Mysore

2.5 Second exposure to capture the flowing water

Waves at 1/6 second exposure

1.6 second exposure to capture the BG water stream

Clouds need much longer times to properly capture their trek across the frame of the shot; 5 minutes is a good place to start. Rolling or crashing waves at a beach require much less, sometimes 15 to 30 seconds is enough to create the necessary motion in the image.

20 second exposure at shiva temple Hampi , lit by a flash ( Light Painting )

Due to the sensitivity of the camera during exposure times of this length, a remote shutter release would come in handy. Anything you can do to minimize shake will help preserve the sharpness of the non-moving elements in the photo.

1/2 second exposure to create a blur effect of the moving mist on a lake

1 second exposure to capture the moving mist on a lake

Finally, be sure to do some pre-planning before actually clicking the shutter; try to visualize what the motion of all elements will be in your composition, including flowing elements (clouds, water, car lights), and still elements (rocks, buildings). This can help you better determine what settings you’ll need to capture the image you see in your mind

1/6 second exposure to capture movement of waves

0.4 second exposure to capture moving waves

0.6 second exposure to capture moving waves

Thanks if you like the blog, you can leave a comment at Home Page

Cheers

12/08/202112/08/2021

Hyperfocal Distance – A required technique in Landscape Photography

Hyperfocal distance can be a confusing topic, both for beginning and expert photographers. However, if you want to take the sharpest possible images, particularly landscape photographs, it is simply invaluable. In this blog I will try to demystify this topic.

Please Note : Please note: Although the methods I present in this Blog are quite easy to understand, hyperfocal distance itself can be a complex topic. If you are a beginner, I highly recommend reading about aperture and depth of field before you delve into this Blog. Please read about exposure , aperture , shutter speed and ISO here!

What is Hyperfocal Distance?

Hyperfocal distance, at its simplest, is the focusing distance that gives your photos the greatest depth of field.

Hyperfocal distance is a distance beyond which all objects can be brought into an “acceptable” focus.

Hyperfocal distance is the focusing distance that provides equal sharpness between the foreground and background.

Role of Aperture

Hyperfocal distance of your lens will vary with aperture. Why? Think about it like this – if your aperture is wide, such as f/2, you will need to focus quite far away for objects at infinity to appear in focus. However, at a small aperture of f/11 or f/16, distant objects will continue to be sharp even if your lens is focused more closely. So, in this case, hyperfocal distance moves closer to your lens as you use smaller apertures.

Role of Focal Length

Hyperfocal distance of your lens will vary with your focal length ,Your focal length also has a huge impact on hyperfocal distance. As you zoom in, your hyperfocal distance moves farther and farther away. For a 20mm lens, you may need to focus just a few feet from your lens to get the horizon (distant background at infinity) acceptably sharp. On the other hand, for a 200mm lens, your hyperfocal distance may be hundreds of feet away.

When to Use Hyperfocal Distance?

Not all photographs require that you focus your lens at its hyperfocal distance. Consider, for example, an overlook of a distant mountain. If you are standing on the top of the overlook and there are no objects in your foreground, it would be silly to try and calculate the hyperfocal distance, since your nearest object is effectively at infinity. Just focus on the distant mountains! And your aperture does not really matter either – since the closest object is so far away, you could shoot wide open if you wanted to (probably not a very good idea, since most lenses aren’t as sharp at wide apertures, but this is just in theory). Hyperfocal distance is only important to calculate when you have objects both close and far away from your lens that need to be sharp. Since you are actually focusing between these objects, neither is “perfectly” sharp; they are both simply close enough, or “acceptably sharp.”

Using a Hyperfocal Distance Chart.

One way to calculate Hyper focal distance is to use a chart , here is the chart for calculating hyperfocal distance

15mm at F16, HyperFocal distance of 2.5 FT

Here the Idea was to use stones in the water to be in sharp focus along with subjects in infinity . Shot at 15mm at F-16 made sure the stone was beyond 2.5 ft ( Refer the cart above )

Using Apps.

FotoTool ( Android ) :

FotoTool is a free application that contains several useful tools for both amateurs and professional photographers, This includes a tool to calculated HyperFocal distance.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alfbishop.software.fototool&hl=en_US&gl=US

Simple DoF Calculator (iOS)

Simple DoF Calculator allows photographers to calculate the depth of field and hyperfocal distance for any given settings.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simple-dof-calculator/id301222730

How to use Hyperfocal Distance

Choose a lens, and be sure to note the focal length that you are using.
Pick an aperture value.
Find the hyperfocal distance that corresponds to your chosen focal length and aperture.
Focus your lens at the hyperfocal distance. This can be done by estimation, or by the focusing scale on your lens (if you have one).
Now, everything from half that distance until infinity will be sharp.

Some Pictures using Hyperfocal distance

This is 11mm at F22 , Hyperfocal distance of 1 Ft .. So made sure the leaf is one feet away from the camera

This is 5mm at F8 , Hyperfocal distance of 5 Ft , so made sure the rock is on5 feet away from the camera

Credits

https://photographylife.com/landscapes/hyperfocal-distance-explained

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocal_distance

Thanks if you like the blog, you can leave a comment at Home Page

Cheers

12/08/202112/08/2021

Basics of Exposure in Photography

One thing you will hear a lot about as you start your journey into the world of photography is Exposure. So, what exactly is exposure?

Exposure is the amount of light captured by the image sensor of a camera. If too much light gets to the sensor, the picture is washed out or too bright. Conversely, if not enough light gets to the sensor, the image will be underexposed or too dark.

Most cameras have a light meter built in that will automatically determine the correct exposure, but when you know the three basics of exposure and how to use them, you can set your camera on manual, go rogue, and get some very AMAZING results.

Let’s take a look these 3 aspects of Exposure:

Aperture

The size of the lens opening, measured in f/stops. Aperture controls the depth-of-field which is the area that is in focus in the picture FOR A GIVEN MAGNIFICATION! ( SAME F-STOP WILL NOT LOOK SAME IN DIFFERENT FOCAL LENGTH ! PEOPLE USUALLY GO WRONG HERE ) . Aperture can be used to draw attention to one part of the picture (like the BUTTERFLY BELOW) by blurring the foreground and background with a large aperture opening. One thing to remember is that the f/stop numbers are smaller for larger openings and the numbers are larger for smaller aperture openings i.e. f/1.4 is a large opening and f/22 is tiny.

Look at the images below to see the difference of aperture at same magnification and focal length of 180mm.

As you can see , the opening of aperture reduces the DOF ( Depth of field ) , Sometimes a fully open aperture works wonder but you should be aware of shallow DOF and keep parallel to the DOF plane to make sure the subject of interest is within the DOF.

Shutter Speed

The amount of time the sensor is exposed to the light measured in fractions of a second. Shutter speed can be used to freeze a subject with a fast speed of 1/250 or faster or it can be used to blur motion with a slow speed like 1/4. You can also adjust shutter speed to capture images in low light scenarios IE: increasing the amount of time the camera sensor is exposed to the image/light. In this situation, you usually need a tripod so that you don’t blur your photograph ( TRIPOD IS AN IMPORTANT GADGET, IF YOU CAN USE IT , PLEASE USE IT)

In the below picture the bird was too fast and i wanted to freeze it skimming through water so used a very high shutter speed!

I wanted to create a blur effect of water flowing , so used a I ( One ) second exposure.

ISO

The light sensitivity of the image sensor. The smaller number (like 100) is considered low and is not very sensitive, and a number like 1600 is high and is very sensitive to light. The higher the ISO speed, the faster the camera gathers light, but it also adds noise to the photograph. Most of the time you should keep the ISO at the lowest setting if there is enough light around you to get the shot you want. Sometimes though, the only way to get a shot is to crank up the ISO. A noisy shot is better than no shot at all.

Since this was shot before sunrise and I wanted to capture the night sky with stars , I had to increase the ISO to 2500 so that camera gathers light faster

Conclusion

So with these three components of exposure ( APERTURE, SHUTTERSPEED AND ISO ), you can combine them in all sorts of ways to bring out your inner Artist! And in the process, If you like the results of the combination, then who can say it is not the correct exposure? That’s what I love about photography. It’s up to you!

Thanks if you like the blog, you can leave a comment at Home Page

Cheers

08/08/202101/01/2022

Bokeh

A good photograph is all about the subject is what people say — but what about the background? My friend Murali Santhanam ( http://framesofmind .co.in/ ) always says it’s the background that makes a picture.

In this blog , I will talk about a background effect called Bokeh!

What is It ?

Bokeh comes from the Japanese word boke, which means “blur” or “haze”, or boke-aji, the “blur quality.” Bokeh is pronounced BOH-Kə or BOH-kay.

Visit any photography website or forum and you’ll find plenty of folks debating the pleasing bokeh that their favourite fast lenses allow. Adjectives that describe bokeh include: smooth, incredible, superb, good, beautiful, sweet, silky, and excellent… but what exactly is it?

Bokeh is created by using aperture effectively ( Usually wide ) to render a busy background into a soft expanse of colour, turning small points of light into soft circles.

Some Points :

Aperture: To achieve bokeh in an image, you typically need to use a fast lens—the faster the better ( But i use all kinds of lens including lensbaby ). Ideally you’ll want to use a lens with at least an f/2.8 aperture, with faster apertures of f/2, f/1.8 or f/1.4 being ideal, Many photographers like to use fast prime lenses when shooting photographs that they want visible bokeh in.

Lens: Although bokeh is actually a characteristic of a photograph, the lens used determines the shape and size of the visible bokeh. Usually seen more in highlights, bokeh is affected by the shape of the diaphragm blades (the aperture) of the lens. A lens with more circular shaped blades will have rounder, softer orbs of out-of-focus highlights, whereas a lens with an aperture that is more hexagonal in shape will reflect that shape in the highlights.

Don’t worry if you don’t own a very fast lens. By increasing the distance between the background and your subject, you can see bokeh in images that are shot at smaller apertures like f/8, You will see many images here shot at different apertures.

How ?

To increase the likelihood of creating visible bokeh in your photographs do the following

Increase the distance between your subject and the background. You can do this by decreasing the distance between the camera and subject. The more shallow the depth-of-field, or further the background is, the more out-of-focus it will be. Highlights hitting the background will show more visible bokeh too, so if you’re using a backlight, side light or a hair light, the bokeh may be more pleasing to the eye.
Choose a background with visible highlights ( Sun through foliage is what I use most of the times )
You’ll want to shoot with the lens wide open, so you’ll want to use a shooting mode of Aperture Priority or Manual. Manual gives you the ability to choose both your aperture and shutter speed, whereas Aperture Priority allows you to choose the f/stop while the camera chooses the appropriate shutter speed for the exposure. I usually shoot in Aperture Priority mode and start with fully open aperture

Some Quick Tips:

Use fast prime lenses

Long focal length creates more extreme bokeh

Shoot lenses wide open

Increase distance between subject and background

Move closer to your subject

Take close-up portraits and macro images in nature

Use a backlight, side light, or hair light

Some Images :

Credits :

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/bokeh-for-beginners.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh

Cheers,

02/08/202110/08/2021

Star Trails Photography -Method

What is it?

A star trail is a type of photograph that uses long exposure times to capture the apparent motion of stars in the night sky due to Earth’s rotation. A star-trail photograph shows individual stars as streaks across the image, with longer exposures yielding longer arcs.

Points to ponder:

Some important points to ponder for making a good star trail image are:

Camera settings
Equipment
Shooting locations
And more

Camera Equipment for Star Trails Photography.

Any camera with manual mode is great for star trails photography. The nice part of this mode is you can use the exact same camera for star & Milky Way photography too; By using manual mode, you can independently control shutter speed, f-stop, and ISO by hand.

I recommend a full-frame camera, a full-frame sensor in the camera can “collect” more light over the exposure time, increasing image quality, and reducing noise.

Best Lens for Star Trails Photography.

A wide-angle lens with f-stop values ranging from f/2.8 to f/5.6 will work best for star trails photography.

Focal Lengths – Full Frame: 14mm – 20mm are recommended.
Focal Lengths – Crop Sensor: 10mm – 18mm are recommended.

Aperture.

The larger the aperture diameter, the more light the camera can collect over a standard exposure. Opening the aperture increases image quality because you can reduce the ISO, thus inducing less noise in the image.

I shoot with the Laowa 15mm, Tokina 11-16 or Samyang 8mm for all my night sky images.

Tripod.

A carbon fiber tripod, with a sturdy, stable adjustable ball-head is the best for star trails photography. Carbon fiber reduces tripod vibration providing sharper images.You can try cheaper tripods the most important thing is a sturdy tripod.

Intervalometer.

An intervalometer connects to your camera allowing you to take exposures longer than 30 seconds. It also allows you to take multiple images, one after another, all at the same settings, for an extended amount of time.

Any intervalometer will work, so long as you can control:

Shutter speed
Time between shots
Number of shots total

Some camera’s come with an inbuilt intervalometer ( This is what I use )

Nikonians refer this link

https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/d7500/en/24_menu_guide_03_24.html

Planning

Doing some basic planning before the shoot will greatly improve the chances of coming home with a good shot.

Determine the moon phase : You can shoot star trails under any moon phase, but the results will drastically differ. During the full moon, it’s almost too bright to shoot star trails at all, and you can barely see them in the sky. When the moon is at half or less is a great time to shoot star trails photography, Ideally new moon day is best.; however half-moon can also provide some nice lighting to the landscape at the same time it does does not dominate the brightness of the scene.
Find a Location without Light Pollution : Choose darker areas, you can use this map ( https://blue-marble.de/nightlights/2019 )
Find the Best Weather : This all depends on the shot you want. You can get great results when there are perfectly clear skies, where the star trails scene dominates the sky. However sometimes It’s also great to shoot on nights with 20-50% cloud cover in the sky, which means fewer trails, but move cloud movement.
Determine Moonrise & Moonset Times : It does not matter if you shoot under moonlight or not, It’s best to shoot during a time when the moon will not be rising or setting during this time the light stays fairly constant on the landscape during your exposure and leads to better results. Tip : Start your shoot at least 2 hours before a moon or sun, rise or set event.

Focusing Your Lens at Night

Always focus your lens before changing any other settings, this makes all the rest of the steps easier. Since the distance between us and the stars is very large, focusing at or near infinity works well for star trails photography . However lens may have an “∞” symbol on it, this is not always the ideal place to focus , so understand your lens and do some infinity shooting (Focus on object > 50mts ) in day light with manual focus to understand the point of focus on your lens

Method to madness

Mode : Manual
Image Format : RAW
Metering Mode : Not applicable as settings are manual
Colour Balance : Kelvin Values between 4000K-5500K work best for night photography settings, If confusing use auto white balance and correct it during post processing.
Focal Length : Widest ( 11- 50mm is the best range )
F-Stop : f/2.8 to f/5.6
Shutter Speed : Shutter speeds ranging from 20-90 seconds are the best for star trails ; Full Frame (30-60 seconds ) ;Crop Sensor (30-120 seconds ). I use a technique that takes a few hundred-star images, without trails, and overlays them on top of each other, creating a star trails image.
ISO Settings: between 500-1200
Noise reduction and long exposure settings: OFF
Number of exposures : The more exposures you take, the longer your star trails will be; This is where intervalometer help; you can also use a single exposure only thing is you might have to keep the exposure open for minutes (30-60 minutes)
Camera pointing : Always point towards North star or in exact opposite direction ( Use Skyview app to track North star )

Merging many images to get star trails :

Once you take multiple images you can use Photoshop to merge multiple images to create a star trail :

Steps :

1. First, load all your base images into Photoshop into a single stack (File -> Script >- Load Images into Stack from Photoshop, load from Bridge, or Lightroom, etc).

2. Second, scroll to the bottom of your stack and select the second to the bottom layer – the first layer you want to set to Lighten, and set the blend mode.

3.Next, Right-Click on your newly set ‘Lighten’ layer, a context menu will open up and scroll up and find ‘Copy Layer Style’

4.Select all the remaining Layers above your current lighten layer – all those annoying many images + layers you want to quickly blend together.

4 .Now for the magic, right click again on your selected layers and find that menu item that says ‘Paste Layer Style’ – try not to fall out of your chair at this point

Conclusion.

This was a long read and hope this blog helps fellow photo artists who want to shoot star trails

Credits

htt ps://www.davemorrowphotography.com/2012/03/StarTrailsPhotographyTutorial.html

https://blue-marble.de/nightlights/2019

https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/d7500/en/24_menu_guide_03_24.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_trail

Cheers,