Oh look, another noob!

[bneum]

Hello

I like long walks on the beach, holding hands and.... wait, wrong website. My bad.

I like taking photos, but you probably already guessed that. What I like taking photos of changes with my mood (& Skill levels) but particular interests are my 2 year old and a growing interest in nightscapes and particularly star trails/storms. Long exposure landscapes is also something im keen to do, and just in the last couple of days I have macgyvered myself a 13 stop filter for about $5 which should entertain me for a while.

Have had my first SLR for just over a year now but only recently started to do anything more than family snaps. Weapon of choice is a :nlogo: D5100 with 18-55, 55-300 and 35mm f1.8 optics. High on the shopping list is an UWA, probably the Tokina 11-16 f2.8. Havent done anything remotely serious with a camera since year 10 photography, which was about 1997. So in essence im pretty much starting from scratch.

Live in Geelong, have done my whole life. (Mods/admin: because I read the rules I am posting this from home so my location will match my IP. Theres a good chance a lot of my posts will come from my work computer though, which will come up as Brisbane. I promise im not a spammer :D)

So..... yeah. Hi!

[NRandall]

Welcome to the forum! Sit back have a look and a read, share your stuff for CC, and you will learn a lot fast!
Nick
formerly from Torquay

[bneum]

Cheers for the welcome. CC thread is up in the beginners corner. Look forward to learning through experience.

sent from my galaxy hunk o junk. Typo's are frequent with fingers as fat as mine.

[arthurking83]

welcome bneum.

Good to see another Nikon owner swell up the numbers a bit :th3:

And I have to say, that's one hell of a daily commute to work :p

Oh, and as for the Galaxy HoJ .. have you tried using the Swype keyboard ... works a bit better for my phatfingers.



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snet iva talkatap no ym gunsamS elibom

[ricktas]

Welcome. See you on the forums

[Mary Anne]

Hello and Welcome to AP.. Nice place to work Brissie.
With all this moving around you should have some great images to show us from both States then.

[JJM]

Welcome to the forum, look forward to seeing more of your work!

[Kym]

:gday: & Welcome
- lets see some photos in the main CC forums (http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?5) maybe try a competition or 2 and have fun!

[ausfitter]

Welcome mate, look forward to seeing some photos. Oh by the way, you have me intrigued on this 13 stop filter ;)

[arthurking83]

..... Oh by the way, you have me intrigued on this 13 stop filter ;)

generally, welder's glass is a cheap way to accomplish this task.

[ausfitter]

Ahh makes sense

[arnica]

Welcome aboard bneum!

You'll love this place!!!! looking forward to seeing your 13 stop setup hahaha!

[bneum]

Thanks all :)

Just to clarify, just because my work IP says Brisbane thats not necessarily where I am. Usually im in Melbourne.

Welders glass is indeed what makes up my 13 stopper. I have some test shots ill put up when I can get on a pc, form some reason the network at work blocks this site so I will have to do it from home.

sent from my galaxy hunk o junk. Typo's are frequent with fingers as fat as mine.

[bcys1961]

Welcome Bnuem. I am also a newbie to the forum and enjoying it immensely . Post some photo's enter the comps and try the members challenge each week . These all give you a focus.

[bneum]

OK, here's the test shots I did the other day with what I have (cheesily) christened my '$10 dollar 10 stopper'. Which in fact cost me under $5 and is more like 13 stops, but whatever. Its a welding helmet lens which I picked up from a welding supplies place near my office (bloody hard to find in the right size, most places only carry the skinny ones you see in most Welding helmets). $3.80 + GST. They had grade 10 and 11 so I bought one of each.

Images below are from the grade 10 glass, havent even bothered with the grade 11 just yet. All images were shot at f8, ISO 100 on my D5100.

Reference image: Only edit is increasing exposure by 0.95 in lightroom (lesson learned for next time, when you take a test exposure check the histo to make sure its exposed correctly!). Shutter speed 1/640. No filter of course.
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo182/AOBNben/10dollarbigstopper1of2_zps5ab28880.jpg

After taking this shot I then took a series of images with the filter attached, each time increasing the shutter speed by 1 stop. Once I hit 25 seconds I then took another at 30 seconds (maximum available on the 5100 without going to bulb). The 30 second shot gave the bext exposure to my (inexperienced) eye. This is the 30 second exposure as it was shot, only modification is conversion to Jpeg in lightroom. I was fully expecting a green colour cast, this is probably better than what I expected to see.
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo182/AOBNben/10dollarbigstopper11of2_zpsef743c4e.jpg
Last but not least is the same shot with basic editing for White balance and HSL on the blue/green/aqua sliders. Tint is pushed as hard right as it can go, not sure if I can export it then reimport into lightroom and push it further, will have to try that. Either way pretty happy with the outcome on the colours, particularly considering it cost me 5 bucks. The only thing that bugs me a little is the ADT security logo is a touch purple. This will at least give me the opportunity to explore long daytime exposures and if I enjoy it as much as I think I will, then I can start adding things like a Lee system to the shopping list!
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo182/AOBNben/10dollarbigstopper2of2_zps1a39200c.jpg

[arthurking83]

The welders glass thing has been around for quite some time.

For more accurate colour balance in eliminating the tint associated with these glasses, try just using a click to grey/white WB adjustment (the dropper tool) rather than playing with WB and HSL.

clicking to a white/grey point should(theoretically) give you a more balanced colour outcome.

if you try to see how it works for you, look for what should be a grey or white point in the image for sampling the colour balance.
ie. in your image a natural point to sample on would be the clouds, but of course, not limited to that area .. there may be another tricky area that may work better.
The white in the 24 hour security sign, or the grey in the light pole in the distance could also offer better alternatives.

As you use try option more frequently, experience helps to make it a quicker processing method for unique WB situations.