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From: "James" no on 12 Aug 2010 23:08
Please look at the photo on this link. (I am unable to contact the person
who took the picture).


How do you think this photo was taken ?

Did the person use a flash ? What was the likely range of aperture
setting, and shutter speed ? How was the black background likely achieved
?

This appears pretty close up. You suppose the person used a telephoto lens
?

Just some basic comments please !! I would love to learn to do this
some day !! I have a Nikon D70, but
am very much a novice.

Thank you.

James


From: Savageduck on 12 Aug 2010 23:19
On 2010-08-12 20:08:51 -0700, "James" <no one(a)bellsouth.com> said:

> Please look at the photo on this link. (I am unable to contact the person
> who took the picture).
>
>
> How do you think this photo was taken ?
>
> Did the person use a flash ? What was the likely range of aperture
> setting, and shutter speed ? How was the black background likely achieved
> ?
>
> This appears pretty close up. You suppose the person used a telephoto lens
> ?
>
> Just some basic comments please !! I would love to learn to do this
> some day !! I have a Nikon D70, but
> am very much a novice.
>
> Thank you.
>
> James

You are missing a few things in your post.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

From: "James" no on 13 Aug 2010 07:58
Very sorry that I forgot the link. Here it is:

http://averyweather.com/Photo+Of+The+Day

Thanks for the nice reply Jason !!

James


From: Ofnuts on 13 Aug 2010 08:03
On 13/08/2010 13:58, James wrote:
> Very sorry that I forgot the link. Here it is:
>
> http://averyweather.com/Photo+Of+The+Day
>
> Thanks for the nice reply Jason !!
>

A photo file contains metadata (aka EXIF) placed there by the camera.
Proper photo editing software doesn't alter/remove it (unless explicitly
asked). Most photo-minded software can at least list the contents (even
the Windows explorer, look at the columns available in "details" mode).
There are also web browser extensions that add such an option to the
right click (I use FxIF for Firefox).

In this case the data is still there:

Camera Maker: SONY
Camera Model: DSC-H50
Image Date: 2010:07:19 17:13:25
Focal Length: 78.0mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 0.0025 s (1/400)
ISO equiv: 80
Exposure Bias: -0.30 EV
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: program (Auto)
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: Yes (Manual, return light not detected)
Color Space: sRGB

(this is only an extract of the more important stuff).

So yes, a flash was used (the black background is also a good clue).
--
Bertrand
From: dadiOH on 13 Aug 2010 08:05
James wrote:
> Please look at the photo on this link. (I am unable to contact the
> person who took the picture).
>
>
> How do you think this photo was taken ?
>
> Did the person use a flash ? What was the likely range of aperture
> setting, and shutter speed ? How was the black background
> likely achieved ?
>
> This appears pretty close up. You suppose the person used a
> telephoto lens ?
>
> Just some basic comments please !! I would love to learn to do
> this some day !! I have a Nikon D70, but
> am very much a novice.

There are really only two ways to get photographs of small, fast moving
critters...

1. Dumb luck
2. Careful and thorough planning.

For the latter, you arrange the technical things in a manner and at a
location to produce the results desired and then entice the critter to that
location. Motion detectors are often used to trigger the exposure and
lights.

In the one you reference, the background isn't really black as it is mottled
with some large dark green spots; that is achieved by putting more light on
the subject thereby dropping the values in the non-lighted areas.

The photo appears to have had two lights: one from the back right as
witnessed by the rim highlights on the bird and another on or very near the
camera axis as witnessed by the catch light in the birds eye and the fact
that the bird's body is well lighted. It is possible that only the front
light was used and the rim light is from sunlight.

The problem - in this photo - with the probable use of a speedlight is the
birds wings...virtually any speedlight would have frozen them; perhaps what
appears to be motion is actually out of focus?

As far as shutter speed and aperture go, one would generally want the
smallest aperture possible so as to get the greatest possible depth of
field. How small depends upon how powerful and close the lights are. The
lights should be at a reasonable distance so that light fall off is not a
factor; a yard or so would be good for a subject this size.

The shutter speed really doesn't effect the exposure (assuming the use of
speedlights emitting many times more than the ambient light) because the
flash duration is (should be) much shorter than your highest camera shutter
speed; however, it should be the highest possible that will sync so as to
avoid blur from the ambient light (focal plane shutters are not the best for
this sort of thing).

There is no way of telling if a telephoto lens was used. Generally, you
would want a macro lens with a focal length long enough to allow for
positioning the gear. NOTE: "telephoto" and "long focal length" are not the
same thing.



--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico



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