Brain freeze- Snaphappy playing & learning

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snaphappy

Senior Member
Well, I'll see what I can salvage of my highly frustrating waterfall photos
We were out of town and I only had the one shot at them. It was after a huge downpour and the sun was setting behind the mountain putting us in the dark but above in bright light.
Am I correct in thinking that my next learning attempt should be HDR?? Would this have helped me in this very high contrast (beautiful but FRUSTRATING) light?

Oh these aren't salvageable! Just hoping someone will let me know if learning HDR would have helped me here or not
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When I tried to meter for the trees and waterfall my sky and the beautiful wet glowing mountain top above are blown but if I meter for the sky everything is soooo black :(
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snaphappy

Senior Member
well, here's some of the best of the bad. It was absolutely gorgeous (unlike my photographic attempts). Breathtakingly beautiful and the hike was also breathtaking! So LOUD even from our distance it was hard to talk unless we were side by side and the glittering snow above the fall was beautiful. I was really drawn to the glistening rocks above the falls but failed miserably at trying to capture it

The walk back down
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Also high contrast light
 

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snaphappy

Senior Member
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Waterfall on the left side

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Looking up at the left waterfall as we walked up

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​My sad attempt at trying to get both with my 18mm kit lens
 
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snaphappy

Senior Member
Thanx ohkphoto. I got my first DSLR in January and it has been a steep learning curve for me. I think I mostly have choosing the correct Aperture, shutter speed, ISO (reading my light meter) figured out. Still need to get faster at adjusting. There's so many things to tackle its hard to figure out what to work on next but these waterfalls were so lovely and I was so frustrated and disappointed. I've been reading since and the only thing I could find that might have helped is HDR. Thanx for letting me know I was on the right track, now to figure out how so next time :)

My battery started to die on the ride home and I picked up my old P&S cameras I gave the kids to see if I could capture the mountains, lakes etc as we headed home but yikes! I used to love that camera but holy overexposed, not focusing on what I wanted and I couldn't adjust eek put camera down and enjoyed the scenery. I'm getting spoiled with my new 7000 that allows me to adjust and create to my snap happy hearts desire :)
 
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snaphappy

Senior Member
Wild clouds
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iso 100 52mm f11 1/250 8:14pm

And right behind the first cloud was this one
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iso100 18mm f11 1/160 8:15pm

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iso100 24mm f11 1/200 8:16pm
this one is too cluttered I know with our messy yard but no PS to clean it up LOL but I think the heavy shadows make it look dramatic like one of those end of world movies :)


Later I came out to do evening critter chores and it had moved and was pretty colour but while I watched I realized it was also flashing inside cloud
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iso 320 45mm f/8 1/60 9:15pm and iso 320 30mm f6.3 1/50 9:16pm

So spent an hour or so watching the cloud spread and flash flash flash (about every 2-8 count another flash!)
Was really too bright out and most flashes just lit up the inside of cloud. Anyways, found it interesting to watch and try to capture but glad I wasn't south of us :)
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iso100 28mm f29 1.3secs 9:23pm
 
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snaphappy

Senior Member
Proud mom moment
My eldest son had his first ever 4-H judging. He took his Quail he hatched and raised this year
He won 1st in both his showmanship and his class judgings so he's a hot, tired but very proud fella today
​The last couple weeks of insanity paid off and now we get to enjoy 4 days of Fair fun and insanity :)
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snaphappy

Senior Member
Moab Man he has 35+ chickens (which he's had full care of for 3yrs), 7chicks and 2 rabbits to care for before we drove all the way into the fairgrounds to care for his Quail this morning at 8am. Judging took 3hrs and its HOT! But he took it in stride and is a happy proud boy. My kids have a mean mom who rides their butts and won't help when they are perfectly capable so those wins are all his. I never fed, watered, or cleaned up after those birds once.

He knows he did it all on his own and a win where you know you worked darn hard for it is a heck of a wonderful thing :) I'm pretty proud of him
 
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snaphappy

Senior Member
Thanx I'd like to see if I can some how get my Aperture 2 not crash on me and see if I can fix up the green light up on his hair in the first photo and maybe if I'm lucky that waaay over highlighted open barn door glare. He was in the show ring so I had little control over lighting or background but I think I did ok and I so rarely get such a nice smile especially for such a big moment :)
This one was as he waited outside the judging ring with his fellow poultry friends before judging started. I could move a bit more here but had no control over background as that was where he was to place his birds and wait. I cut off his elbow but the other birds and background was quite distracting. I had my Sb-700 set at -1.7 I believe and with the barn roof and dark walls I had nothing to bounce flash on. I didn't pull down my diffuser though maybe I should have.
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iso320 40mm f5.3 1/60 (IDK I don't seem to get results I'm happy with going above iso400 so kept it as low as I could, and I had to have a bit faster shutter since birds were moving and I was crouched in a public walkway at a very busy Fair so skimped on aperture but maybe should have brought iso up to 400)
He has to do his official photos still where he'll have a MUCH nicer background although I'll most likely be working with full afternoon sun :( Photo set up is outside facing south and most photos seem to be done at 1pm blech.
I hope I can pull off a nice portrait for him.
 
Marilynne

Marilynne

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snaphappy said:
Thanx I'd like to see if I can some how get my Aperture 2 not crash on me and see if I can fix up the green light up on his hair in the first photo and maybe if I'm lucky that waaay over highlighted open barn door glare. He was in the show ring so I had little control over lighting or background but I think I did ok and I so rarely get such a nice smile especially for such a big moment :)
This one was as he waited outside the judging ring with his fellow poultry friends before judging started. I could move a bit more here but had no control over background as that was where he was to place his birds and wait. I cut off his elbow but the other birds and background was quite distracting. I had my Sb-700 set at -1.7 I believe and with the barn roof and dark walls I had nothing to bounce flash on. I didn't pull down my diffuser though maybe I should have.
View attachment 47032
iso320 40mm f5.3 1/60 (IDK I don't seem to get results I'm happy with going above iso400 so kept it as low as I could, and I had to have a bit faster shutter since birds were moving and I was crouched in a public walkway at a very busy Fair so skimped on aperture but maybe should have brought iso up to 400)
He has to do his official photos still where he'll have a MUCH nicer background although I'll most likely be working with full afternoon sun :( Photo set up is outside facing south and most photos seem to be done at 1pm blech.
I hope I can pull off a nice portrait for him.
Click to expand...

Congrats to your son!!
 
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