chippy front doors

[davidhampshire]

am not sure if ron remembers,  but back in the spring he gave me some pointers on capturing photos of the ( big game ) chipmunks i have around here..... now they are mostly i think in their burrows,  for the winter,   hopefully chewing on all those sunflower seeds they collected from under my birdfeeders...    this morning the moist heat coming up from their entrances, and ten degree temperature,    made just  around the edges collect these spiky icicles on the surrounding grass  ...    anyway,    this is the best i could get,   wanted a little more even exposure,   but this gives you the idea,  anyway.     ( i autofocused the 100wr,  then tried to manual focus to fine tune it,   sometimes it worked sometimes not,   but autofocus rarely works up close with that lens anyway ) .   

dave

[Ron Kruger]

That's a cool shot, David. The little buggers must be putting off considerable heat. The focus seem very good to me, centered on the interesting ice patterns. What you may not be pleased with is the DOF (I'm guessing f-2.. If you can do it over, try filling with flash in AV mode and about f-8 or so. Need to diffuse the flash, especially when shooting ice.
Strange. I didn't write it that way, but the sunglassed smiley came up where the 8 was supposed to be in 2. .

[davidhampshire]

thanks ron,  f8,   i doubt i'll see those ice crystals again,   but maybe......   oh,    i'll need to cut up a milk jug -- now--where is that pacerr thread on milkjug flash contraptions.............  pacerr you have to start selling milk jug flash contraption templates on amazon or ebay !             

[Mike Pearson]

Nice capture David - I sat for quite a while but Chippy did not show 

Mike

[Pacerr]

Here I think Ron's trick of using an off-camera flash on an extension cord to light the frost from the side would be a possibility. That'd give some definition to the frosty leafs.

Harbor Freight sells a really handy l'il $3 pancake-type 24 LED flashlight with a mounting hook that works as a close-up flood fill light that would bring up the hole and deep shadows a bit.

[Ron Kruger]

I agree. A slave or corded flash held slightly off to the side, camera on a tripod. I've been experimenting with LED flashlights too, but you need to remember to change the WB to flash. The camera does that automatically with flash, but not with a flashlight. Even at that, I still sometimes get some strange colors from the LEDs, but didn't from regular flashlights, car headlights, etc. Not sure why. Still working on it.

[davidhampshire]

so,    it was a sunny day,    yesterday when i took that photo;      with the flash am i trying to equalize the light?    as it would be on a more cloudy day--  only it will be much brighter,  just that the light is more even for the exposure?       is that what i'm trying to do with the flash or the led light?   even out the light ?      dave   

[davidhampshire]

this was another shot,   but it  may have been in less  sun/shade,   i don't know,   but the exposure seemed to come out better.....  don't know for sure on that either,    a little blurry-eyed looking at the computer for hours....
gee bcb,   this is hard not being a point and shooter!    

[Ron Kruger]

It also helps a lot on static shots like this to use a tripod. Even without flash, you can stop down for a wider DOF, using the slower shutter speed. The flash actually intensifies the light, filling in shadows, while allowing a wider DOF. You can direct the angle of light to better illuminate the chipmonk hole. Flash also intensifes colors. Really depends upon what you are trying to do, but on this shot, I think the hole is important to the story.

[Pacerr]

I'm gonna recommend Michael Freeman's 'Light and Lighting in Digital Photography' as an excellent primer and comprehensive reference for this topic. Available for under $12 used on Amazon at the moment.

This is an often used resource when I'm pondering lighting options, especially since I don't make a practice of using supplemental lighting.

http://www.amazon.com/Com...Photography/dp/1579908853

[davidhampshire]

thanks ron and pacerr,   appreciate the help.
dave