So, for the past week there’s been a shot very similar to this circulating on the geek blogosphere, claiming to have been taken with prototype “Google Goggles”. Not having any prototypes hanging around the house, I wanted to see if I could do something along the same lines with my DSLR.
So, I took a few test shots to see what focal length and exposure would be reasonable, adjusted my camera strap so it’d be at about the right height on my body to catch my daughter as we twirled, then threaded some cord through the loop on the quick release plate for my tripod to use to secure the camera tight against my torso. I also used the zoom lock on the lens to lock it at 18mm to prevent creep (that’s the only focal length it locks at, so that was lucky.) My D7000 has a built-in intervalometer, so I set it to start in about 3 minutes, taking 120 shots at 1 second intervals, started the timer, and strapped the camera down as tight as I could. Grabbed my daughter securely (in this shot, she had let go of my forearms), and spun myself around to get her flying. Did that about six times (most exhausting photo shoot I’ve done yet—never got to 120 exposures on any pass—but also a whole lot of fun!), and out of the 200 or so shots I ended up taking, I had three where Thing Two was framed reasonably well and not too blurry. This was the best one.
Boosted vibrance in Aperture, and used smart sharpen in Photoshop just to get Thing Two's face and hair a tiny bit less blurry.
Nikon D7000 w/Nikkor 18-200mm @ 18mm, 1/20s @ ƒ/9.5 (shutter priority mode, +1.0ev), ISO100.
Tags: 365project 365:2012 AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED [II] nikon d7000 twirling experiment motion kid child
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Last morning in New York we had planned to hit the Staten Island ferry and see the Statue of Liberty from the water, but my wife wasn't feeling well and the weather had changed for the worse. Instead, we drove into Liberty State Park in Jersey City so the kids could at least see the lady from the shore while my wife rested in the car.
The park was almost empty because of the weather, a few intrepid joggers notwithstanding, which made it possible for me to take this shot of the park's 9/11 memorial, the Empty Sky Memorial, devoid of people. Because it was raining, I was shooting everything in bursts of bracketed exposures, +/- 1 stop, and this stack worked out really nicely as a black & white HDR composition.
Nikon D7000 w/Nikkor 18-200mm @ 18mm, 1/125s @ ƒ/9.5, ISO100, +/- 1.0ev. Merged to HDR in Photomatix Pro, corrected lens distortion in Photoshop.
Tags: 365project 365:2012 AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED [II] nikon d7000 hdr photomatix libery state park empty sky memorial metal towers