Photography

[bojangle]

Some of you on here have taken some really nice pics, i'm guessing that some of the images are with a very expensive camera, but what i want to know is how do you take a picture of a bike, say from the front and have the back end all blurry.

Have a look here to see what i mean.
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=81107

I'v egot a half decent Panasonic Lumix with shed loads of settings, but tend to leave it on auto. What settings do i need to 'blur' background and focus on foreground.

Thanks

 

[legrandefromage]

Its depth of field - I cant remember much from Photography classes but with modern digital cameras, they aint so good whereas cheap SLRs of old were waaaay better.

Checkout second hand Digital SLRs - they are priced at about the same now as a naff 128 gazzillion mega pixle Argos special.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field

 

[lewis1641]

You need a camera which you can adjust the apeture setting. This is usually marked as 'a'. You need low number to get the depth of field. I think. Can't visualise without my camera in front of me! I think wu tangled is a bit of a pro so i'm sure he'll be along to tell you.dave

 

[drystonepaul]

I teach evening classes in Photography at my local college.

What you are refering to is 'Shallow Depth of Field' which is sometimes referred to as 'Depth of Focus'.
I won't go into too much detail as all the technical reasons as to how DOF works, because they are ultimately a bit boring.
All you need to know is that is controlled by the aperture setting on your camera.
Set the camera to it's 'Aperture Priority' mode and select a wide aperture setting. This is indicated by a larger f number.
Select something like f1.4 or f2.0 for example. The smaller the number the wider the aperture, which is counter intuitive I know, but is just an archaic throw back to how f numbers originally came about.
It's worth noting that many camera/lenses won't have aperture settings this wide, so just go for the smallest number available.

Then focus on whichever part of the image you want to be in focus and you should start achieving something similar to the examples you've shown.

Finally, the closer you are to your foreground subject the more pronounced the shallow DOF effect will be. Zooming in a little or using a short telephoto lens will also enhance DOF.

Oh and you don't need an expensive camera to get good photos. I sometimes carry a small cheap digital Nikon camera when I'm riding.
You can use the 'Portrait' mode to give shallow DOF on many cheap compact cameras. The main things to consider though are subject, light and composition.

But we'll cover those in the next session...

 

[legrandefromage]

In general, just bear in mind, although Lumix are very good, most 'point & shoot' gazzillion mega pixel cameras dont have very good lenses or CCDs which can make pics look washed out or a bit grainy.

I cant talk because I actually sold a bike to cover the cost of a decent DSLR so I could get better results. My camera phone and my Sony Cyber-shot just werent up to it

 

[llamedos]

According to her indoors I have taken better photo's of her and her horse jumping than some of the pro's

I put it some down to camera and so down to me spending a little time thinking about where I would get the best shot !

I did have a chat with the local pro about where they stood on the course to take pic's ... and he said he would rather get more photo's from different jumps regardless if they looked impressive

The next hunt trial he was stood where I suggested and took some real good shots ! (must of sold loads but I failed to get a cut) but his daughter was stood face on to a jump and shooting downwards, this made the jump look only 12" tall ... bet he sold none of them

But my point is take loads and then think of better angles to stand to get better pic's and even the pro's get it wrong