Sony DSLR "Picture of the day"

[dr4gon]

Certainly about time we had one! Let's try to have a nice picture every day!

So if we could, let's have a few simple guidelines:

• One picture per person per day max.
• Every picture must be different.
• EXIF Info (including lens used).
• Comments/caption on the shot.

[sparkie1263]

I will start it. Here is a image of the Barnegat Lighthouse.

Frank



Camera Make: SONY
Camera Model: DSLR-A100
Image Date: 2008:09:22 22:26:02
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 35.0mm (35mm equivalent: 52mm)
Exposure Time: 0.0031 s (1/320)
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO equiv: 200
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Center Weight
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

[sparkie1263]

Day 2 Moved from other thread.
I though everybody would be tired of seeing my Hunting Shack. Anyway here is the masterpiece that Don designed and showed me how to pull off. Here is the link to how the project got started http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41502.
Thanks Again Don
Frank

[dr4gon]

Great shots. Only took a few tries on the pano . "Picture of the year" as don says! It's super wide now!!

[Peekayoh]

I leave a lot of apples on the tree for the birds. It's December and this one is still hanging on (persistent heh!). It would be better if I'd caught the Blackbird with his beak in the till so to speak, but he's a wily old bird and quicker than me.

BTW, I used this particular lens to demonstrate how good it can be.

Camera: A700
Lens: Minolta 35-70mm f4
Focal Length: 35.0mm
Date: 03 Dec 2008
Exposure: Auto - 1/500 - ISO 100
Aperture: AP - f/8
White Balance: Daylight
Metering Mode: Spot
Flash: No
Date: 03December 2008

PS. Does anyone know how to easily extract Xif data from the file.

[dr4gon]

If you post process while leaving the EXIF intact, then you can use this handy firefox extension to read and copy EXIF info for any image on the web that has it.

It's called FXiF

I see that your picture doesn't have EXIF on it, so there's not a chance you'll be able to do it easily from the one you have.

When I edit in Photoshop, it usually goes away when I "save for web" instead of using save as jpeg. But in lightroom, it's always retained

But, anyways id' be great to see a bird on it next time

[sparkie1263]

Here is my image of the day. I can't seem to give up on HDR even though I cannot get it right. This an HDR from a single RAW image done in Daynmic HDR.
Frank

[oric1]

Ok, here's my jetty shot.

Camera: Sony DSLR-A300
Lens: Sony DT18-70mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length: 18mm
Exposure: ISO 100
Exposure Time: 1/125
Aperture: f/11
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: No

[dr4gon]

Frank, if it helps. I haven't been able to get any decent HDR type images from a single RAW. They just don't seem to come out that spectacular, probably because it doesn't really need the HDR treatment.

Oric, that's a very nice shot. The b&w makes those clouds look so stormy!

[Peekayoh]

dr4agon, being lazy I was hoping someone knew of a way to extract the Xif camera metadata to save me typing it in here.

Frank, you're wasting your time trying to HDR a single image, although I'm no expert on the technique; I s'pose I'll just have to start using it.
A single image has all the information it's ever going to have right there and you're better off using "curves" to bring it out.
An HDR image requires two or more images ranging from properly exposed shadow areas (blown highlights) to properly exposed highlights (no shadow detail) and you really need to use a tripod.
Combining those images in 32-bit HDR can then depict the full dynamic range.

oric1, thats a great shot and a reminder that B&W still has it's place.

Second Severn Crossing Toll Bridge

This is my POTD, an evening shot of the Second Severn Crossing, it's a road bridge near where I live.

OK this one needed some post processing in CS3.
It was about 40mins before sunset (Sun just out of shot) and exposing for the foreground would "blow out" the sky.
So I used two exposures 1.0 EV apart, camera on tripod.
I took the two pics into photoshop and dragged the second pic onto the first (properly exposed sky on top).
I then simply masked off the dark foreground to expose the lighter foreground underneath.
The foreground was still quite dark so I gave it a bit of a tweak with Curves.
A bit of correction for barrel distortion and 0.5pixel unsharp mask to finish.
Hope you like it.

Camera: A700
Lens: Konica Minolta 17-35mm f2.8/4 D
Focal Length: 17mm
Exposure: Auto - ISO 100 - 1/400 0EV and 1/800 -1 EV
Aperture: AP - f/5.6
White Balance: Daylight
Metering Mode: Spot
Flash: No
Date: 03December 2008

If you want to see where the bridge is. Go to google maps UK [ http://maps.google.co.uk/ ], search for "BS35 4HW" and zoom back a bit. The image is of the southerly crossing