Sunday, December 6, 2009

Christmas Ornaments



I used a Nikon 55-200mm lens, ISO 200, Aperture Priority, f/29, 9 sec., on a tripod. Notice the flare in the light,in the above picture. A long exposures with a large f-stop number will produce this effect. I was trying to get this effect when I realized, I have a filter that will help me produce this same effect. A cross filter. A little something from my bag of tricks. It is the first time I have used this filter. I bought it a few months back to use at Christmas and at night. I still need to get out at night to use it, but what a difference. In the picture below, I used a Sigma 18-50mm lens, ISO 200, Aperture Priority, f/7.1, 1 sec., on a tripod. If you have not used a cross filter before, put it to your Christmas list. It is not expensive and can be lots of fun. Happy shooting every one!

2 comments:

Woody said...

David,
Nicely done! I accidentally stumbled across the f-stop trick. When I shoot, especially on a tripod, I'll take a couple in program mode, a few in aperture priority mode, the wrap up a few shutter priority mode. It works especially well on a wide angle. Here's a shot of the moon with a wide angle and I didn't crank the aperture down.

http://2zars.blogspot.com/2009/10/moon-and-clouds.html

Yep said...

That effect is cool! I have the cross filter, but haven't used it. I will have to try the F stop trick and the cross filter and see how they compare.