Additional Sun Filters
If you are shooting afocally i.e., you are using a camera to shoot through the eyepiece of a telescope , you can also use an additional Solar Continuum or K-Line 395nm filter for your eyepiece. These filters allow you to take photos within a very limited visible spectrum and produce highly detailed images of sunspots and the Sun's surface patterns. You will need some thick card, a tin lid, a circular cutter, glue, a Baader sun filter sheet, and a clean surface to build your own sun filter A...
The Rokkaku Kite
The Rokkaku is a six-sided kite based on a traditional Japanese design. Size 6' x 5' is great for winds of 5 to 15 mph. The Giant Rokkaku 7.5' x 6' and larger will develop great pull in very light Santa Barbara Breakwater - Pentax Optio A20 wind, and should not be used in winds of 10 mph or greater. This is a favorite kite for light wind situations. A streamer tail can be added for increased stability.
Conclusion
I often say that fine art photography has two aspects technical and creative. This process addresses both of these aspects. It is important to have good technique when moving and processing these images. However, it is equally important to be creative when selecting the subject and the light and when making processing choices in regards to color balance, color harmony, contrast, color palette, and so on. I believe that this process has a lot of potential, and that what we have seen done with it...
The Flowform Kite
The Flowform style of kite is preferred due to its ease of deployment. There are no bars or assembly simply unfold the kite and the wind will lift it into the air. However, it does require more of a breeze than Santa Barbara Marina - Pentax Optio A20 Santa Barbara Marina - Pentax Optio A20 the other kites for a successful flight. The smaller Flowform 16 is great for winds ranging from 15 to 30 mph. The larger Flowform 30 is a good choice for winds of 8 to 20 mph. Some people attach a tail for...
SLR Cameras
Rigs for SLR cameras can also range from simple to complex, and are usually designed for the smaller camera such as the Canon Rebel series the Nikon Coolpix 8400 Nikon D40, D50, and D60 or the Olympus Evolt E-500. You can purchase or build a simple box style frame and add the basics needed to automatically trigger the shutter, or choose a more complex rig controlled from the ground by remote control. Kits and supplies available through www.Brooxes.com downloadable instructions available...
A Simple Microscope
You can use a macro lens microscope handheld for focal lengths right up to 50 mm for example, for outdoor plant or insect obser- You can use an adapter to attach a compact camera to your homemade telescope vation . An improvised portable microscope can also help you find elusive dirt and dust when you are cleaning your DSLR's image sensor. If you can, it is best to use a macro lens with a built-in tripod mount. Such lenses are fairly rare, but you can always use a tele-photo lens with extension...
B Black Point Adjustment Curve
Using a sudden black curve instead of setting the black point regularly by steepening the entire curve allows you to set a true black point for the image without increasing the contrast of the entire image. Often you need a true black point for an image most images do but you do not want to either darken the entire image, or increase the contrast and the saturation of the entire image. Increasing contrast substantially results in increasing saturation as well. Often, you may want just one or...
C Lightroom Presets
I found that saving the image adjustment settings for specific images as presets in Lightroom to be very useful. The reason for that is simply the complexity of the adjustments I make to each image. It is very difficult to remember exactly what those are when you go from one image to another. It is when you want to use previous settings on a new image that the presets come in handy. Using presets is very simple, all you need to do is click on a specific preset and the settings saved in it will...
From Film to Digital
Moving the camera while taking the photograph is truly a process that needs digital capture to be done successfully. My teacher in Trees along a Sandstone Wall, Utah Non-blurred image Paris, Scott McLeay, taught us this process in the early 1980's. Scott was using a Hasselblad V camera, the same camera I am using today for this process. However, Scott was using film digital capture did not exist yet and that was one of the main problems. Scott was using this approach for his color work....