POTD- Christmas Decorations

"ColleenMarie" said:
I did...the telephoto without a tripod doesn't work at all, the ladder didn't help much either. Maybe it's my settings when using the telephoto. What settings should I use for a close up with a long lens???
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I set the camera to aperture priority, f4 at 200 ISO, which resulted in shutter speeds of 1/2s to 4s, which required a tripod and cable release. On some of them I used a little fill flash, with CTO gell, to bring out the shadows a little. I'd probably wait until Santa brings your new tripod and try again.

Speaking of Santa, he's got his list and is checking it twice:

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Ooh, Michael I see you've also got a star filter on there...

thank you so much for the details~

I'm gonna get this before the tree comes down.
 
"ColleenMarie" said:
Ooh, Michael I see you've also got a star filter on there...
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... actually, I didn't use a star filter, just a plain old UV filter. That star effect occurs naturally as the lens is stopped down. The Santa photo and the sleigh ride photo were stopped down to f11 because I needed more depth of field, making the star effect more pronounced, but its there on all of them.

I'm not sure, but I think the way the aperature is designed (number and shape of blades) has an effect on the star. Maybe someone else knows more about what causes that star effect.

The 105mm f2.8 Micro Nikkor that I used for those photos is an old manual focus lens, and I couldn't find any specs on it, but it looks like its a 6 blade aperture (notice the hexagonal shapes in the bokeh in the images) and the blades are straight, not curved.
 
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"mSummers" said:
I'm not sure, but I think the way the aperature is designed (number and shape of blades) has an effect on the star. Maybe someone else knows more about what causes that star effect.
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That's correct but I'll need to pull out my old film-based night photography book to double check. Because of the length of the exposure from the highlights, the light trails in a straight line from where the aperture blades meet away from the highlight. Kind of the same way you can make the custom bokeh.

Something like that.
 
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Woody and Buzz

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Precious Moments

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Roger, thanks for confirming my thoughts. I didn't realize the length of exposure had anything to do with it though.

Nice work Paul. Those look great!
 
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Merry Christmas, hope everyone enjoyed their day.

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I'm late getting to this one. Already took down our "family tree" that has Disney ornaments (and souvenirs from other vacations and things the kids made in school, etc.) but still have the "fru-fru tree" up and the Toy Soldiers. Note that this is the very first time I've found success with a tripod and long exposure!

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"Craig" said:
this has been a great thread.
Michael, your pictures are just amazing!
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Thanks Craig! And thanks for creating the thread. I had been meaning to take photos of some of my ornaments for a while, but just never got around to it until now. I even saved a few for next year...
 
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"prettypixie" said:
My daughter picked out her new stocking yesterday.

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Speaking of stockings did anyone else fall in love with the dark blue stocking with the castle in silver on it? Almost bought it but I love my "Nutcracker" stocking. That and it was like 30 dollars!
 
Wooden Soldiers

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