Sony DSLR "Picture of the day"

[DonSchap]

Steve ... are you bored?

[Peekayoh]

Nice shots. Would there be any way to make the people stay in focus? Like taking two images and layering them.

Frank

Frank, you would combine slow shutter speed with rear sync flash. You have to balance the flash so that it only illuminates the foreground subject you want to freeze leaving the rest as is.
Note this technique is not just for a moving background but works for portraits in low light where you want some background information.

[Peekayoh]

One of my "holding tricks" ....... piece of rope dangling from the bottom of the camera (anchored at the tripod post screw hole)........

Don, I think you probably meant string rather than rope for your stabiliser, otherwise you're on the money.
I wouldn't discount using bungee cord, though. You can buy 5mm shock cord (same thing) off a roll and, so long as it's not too short, allows a bit of flexibility in movement without too much risk to your equipment.
Also needed is a quarter inch eye bolt for attaching to the camera or, if you already have a Manfrotto tilt head with 200PL-14 Accessory Plate, you can use that.

[sparkie1263]

Frank, you would combine slow shutter speed with rear sync flash. You have to balance the flash so that it only illuminates the foreground subject you want to freeze leaving the rest as is.
Note this technique is not just for a moving background but works for portraits in low light where you want some background information.

Like what I did here to lower the brightness of the bulb only using a slower shutter speed to show the train moving.


Thanks

Frank

[DWessel]

Nice shots. Would there be any way to make the people stay in focus? Like taking two images and layering them.

Frank

After the shot ... when I was back at the in law's house I had a slap the forehead thought, flash followed by long shutter speed. Works best with strobes. The flash/strobes would have frozen and rendered the people reasonably sharp while the continued open shutter would allow the movement of the train.

Of course Don and Sonynut's suggestions would do the trick if the people didn't move too much.

[Peekayoh]

Like what I did here to lower the brightness of the bulb only using a slower shutter speed to show the train moving. [imgage removed]

Frank, you got me there, because I don't know what you did with the light bulb. In any case, to elaborate and using Darins' image to illustrate the point ...

The exposure is already decided at iso200 and f8 for 2secs which dictates the motion blur, so how to get the people sharp and leave the train as is. Were you to use slow sync with your F42 in TTL or ADI mode, the power of the flash would undoubtably affect the rendering of the train as it's reach would be 7.5m (25ft) so you would need to use manual flash and reduce the power.

With this particular scenario, you'd be as well to use the popup flash with it's low Guide Number of 12 but you still need to understand the implications of GN and aperture. That is to say, at iso200, the pop up flash has an effective guide number of 17 (12x1.4=17) so divide that by the aperture to get a distance of 2.1m (17/8=2) for correct exposure. In other words, at a distance of 2.1m (7ft) from the camera, the people will be correctly exposed but the Train should be well out of flash range and mostly unaffected (there may be a slight brightening at the left hand end ot the train). However, with this low key image you may find that the people are too bright in comparison to the rest so you can modify that by moving back or by dialling down the power in manual flash mode.

Note Guide Numbers are always given at iso100. The multipliers to get the GN at other iso's are
200 multiply by 1.44
400 multiply by 2.07
800 multiply by 2.99
I just round them up to 1.5, 2 and 3.

Also GN/Aperture=Distance or GN/Distance=Aperture

[sparkie1263]

I understand now. Now all I have to do is head to the local train station and try it. The nearest train station is 100 miles away. might have to try it with moving cars.

Thanks
Frank

[SONYNUT]

take a bean bag to set a camera on

[Peekayoh]

And a wall to set the bean bag on. LOL. Sorry!

[SONYNUT]

they wont stick on a wall...