Your Canon Photos No. 38: 21st to 27th January 2024

This weekly thread is principally intended for you to showcase your photos made with Canon cameras of all sorts: SLR, DSLR, Mirrorless, M-series, APS-C, film, etc. But any brand of camera will be accepted, including photos taken with your phone. We do enjoy reading an accompanying text explaining your photo and any special techniques you may have used. Comments and helpful criticisms on others' photos are also welcome: we can all learn something from each other. We look forward to seeing your contributions and new participants to this series of threads are always welcome!

A new thread for the following week will be posted next Saturday around 10 pm UK time.

Digirame and I will be active here and are sharing the hosting, but we are used to all joining in and commenting on others' photos.

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Review of last week

Digirame opened with pictures on Sauvie Island from last October, featuring rural scenes and wildlife -- a refreshing change form the wintry scenes those of us in the northern hemisphere are seeing currently.

Simplejoy responded with his fabricated bird shots, as inventive as ever.

I went in search of mistletoe. I am sure the trip did me good, but it was bitter cold out there that day!

Not to be outdone in suffering, Digirame then showed the snow and cold in Oregon wnich reminded me of long winters in Michigan (snow on the ground from November to March!)

Simplejoy provided a marvellous selection of bugs, beautifully and painlessly captured. His panorama of the mountain was like being there in IMAX or Panavision 70.

MikaY went to a party and still managed to focus well!

Steve had sprinklings of snow and starlings looking for food. He also shared his father and son tripods, which look quite study and stable. His remotely controlled photo of the desolate winter scene was suitably chilly.

Dunlin gave us a great sky shot.

Understandly not so many photos this week, but high quality as always. Keep them coming!

David

Subject: More Residential Area Snow

Here's some more pictures of the snow we had recently. I took these as a passenger in a car, through the side window and windshield (windscreen).

Photo No. 1 - Before driving to a park that had some hills, we drove around this neighborhood.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 160
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 36 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 2 - Since many people here do not drive in the snow, the traffic was light.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 45 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 3 - Again....

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 39 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 4 - And again....

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 39 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 5 - There were very few people walking around also. But I saw these people.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 45 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 6 - The young boy was crossing right in front of this truck. That's dangerous if the driver did not know how to safely slow down.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 45 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 7 - I thought this car was interesting with a Wisconsin license plate. Obviously, they most likely knew how to drive in snow.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 24 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 8 - And this is just before we arrived at the park, where there were a few slopes for people to ride down on with their sleds and tubes. I'll show those pictures later.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 640
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 44 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

NIce to see more snow photos @Digirame Where We live the snow will be gone very soon, We're getting a different weather soon with storm Isha. (UK first and next the EU mainland)

But we did get out this weekend for some nice moments with the last bit remaining snow 😁
It's was again a nice hike:

These were all taken with the 5DIV and Sigma 60-600s:

Canon Eos RP and the RF 24-240:

Canon Eos 6D2 and EF 16-35F4L:

Canon Eos R and RF14-35 F4L:

Camping days of yesteryear.

Where's that campfire?

Steve Thomas

Photobygyms,

That's a nice shot.

Steve Thomas

Photobygms,

I enjoyed seeing your snow photos too. You managed to get a few pictures of the birds. That is great. Lately, I have had a hard time finding them...only a few here and there. Our snow and ice are almost now melted as a series of rainstorms have washed most of it away.

Steve,

Yeah, me too...it would be nice to sit around a campfire during the warmer months. I'm looking forward to spring and summer. But saying that, I know also to capture these cold winter times with the camera, as they don't last very long.

Subject: Fun in the Snow

After driving a bit around in the snow, I had to find some people having some fun. I hope you like this series too.

Photo No. 1 - After parking the cars, it was time to get the sleds to the slopes.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 2500
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 112 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 2 - Well, when I say slopes...well...this is all there was....

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 8000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.67
FocalLength - 35 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 3 - But there was enough hills around here to ride down some. In this picture you all can see how tall the trees are next to the people shown.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/200 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 5000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.67
FocalLength - 22 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 4 - But people had to be careful to not slide into this pond. It looks like someone abandoned their orange sled here.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/200 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 8000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.67
FocalLength - 18 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 5 - Again, from a different view....

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 6400
ExposureBiasValue - 0.67
FocalLength - 35 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 6 - I can't remember if this was the sled that was retrieved. Or if someone decided to leave it, as something like this was not worth the risk of falling through the ice.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 12800
ExposureBiasValue - 1.33
FocalLength - 55 mm
Lens Model - EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM

Photo No. 7 - But nevertheless people continued down the hill towards this icy pond. I don't think it was too dangerous, as this pond was not deep at the edges. So in a worse case scenario, a person other than a small child should have been able to walk out if they broke through the ice.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/200 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 5000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.67
FocalLength - 35 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 8 - If the slopes where not steep enough, you could always have a friend pull you. 😀

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/200 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 5000
ExposureBiasValue - 1
FocalLength - 135 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 9 - This is what it looked like when I was standing next to the tall trees.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/100 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 2500
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 23 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 10 - I wish I had gotten a better picture of the small white dog, as the four girls walked by. The little dog was so cute.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 5000
ExposureBiasValue - 1.33
FocalLength - 70 mm
Lens Model - EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM

Photo No. 11 - And then the four girls walked by.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 12800
ExposureBiasValue - 1.33
FocalLength - 55 mm
Lens Model - EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM

Photo No. 12 - And I took one more photo.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 12800
ExposureBiasValue - 1.33
FocalLength - 55 mm
Lens Model - EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM

I ran across a technique that I thought I'd pass along.

It's called spot metering and ETTR.

There's been some discussion recently of HDR photography and this is an alternative.

When confronted with a situation where you encounter brightly lit areas and also darker ones like a bright sky and a darker mountain, one uption is to use an HDR approach and combine or layer the three (or more) exposures into a single photograph.

With this other approach, you put your camera in spot metering and meter off the brightest point in your frame (like a bright white cloud). Then you frame your photo the way you want and add 2 or more stops of positive compensation. (+2). (The author of the article used +2.7.)
I tried +2.7 and thought it was too bright.

I tried that alternative up to +2 stops, and found it worked surprisingly well. The skies were a little washed out, but I didn't spend a whole lot of time experimenting. Perhaps a positive compensation of 1 1/3 or 1 2/3rds stops might work better.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Steve Thomas

Steve,

OK. Thanks. I'll give it a try if I remember the next time I'm out.

Steve,

Can you tell us where you got this from, please? It doesnt sound quite correct.

I have for years used the ETTR principle: "you put your camera in spot metering and meter off the brightest point in your frame (like a bright white cloud). Then you frame your photo the way you want and" ... take the photo.

If you add 2 stops (+2EV) you are going to over-expose the highlights. On the contrary, particularly with subjects like Christmas lights, I subtract up to 2 stops (-2EV) and shoot a raw file. Then in post processing, I bring up the shadows. I have done this in PhotoLab with many of the photos that I have posted here recently. I shoot raw because this gives me more leeway for such adjustments in processing without incurring a noise penalty.

A good example is this photo, for which I set exposure compensation of -2EV in taking it:

Straight out of the camera the raw file looked like this:

The reason for -nEV is because even spot metering doesnt always quite catch the highest highlights on the cameras that I use. But in many cases, with less challenging lighting, it does, and then no exposure compensation is required.

David

The weather changes a lot here, depending on your altitude...

All three shots taken within two days.

Crystals for free-ze by simple.joy, on Flickr

Capturing the outside world... by simple.joy, on Flickr

Alive and (a) well by simple.joy, on Flickr

Simplejoy,

It's nice to see your cold winter photos. My favorite is the first one. Our weather changes a lot too. I knew that the snow is somewhat rare in our area during winter, so that's why I took many photos of it. It's all gone now in the valleys. We may not see any more snow until next year. But we have had snow in February or even March. It all depends on the currents, if we get the cold from Canada or from the east side.

Steve,

Can you tell us where you got this from, please? It doesnt sound quite correct.
[/quote]

David,

Yeah, I read this in the online version of Photography Life called, "Advanced Photography Tutorials".

The article was called, "The Spot Metering Method for Precise ETTR" By Spencer Cox May 15, 2020.
photographylife.com/spot-metering-ettr

Steve Thonas

David,

Thanks for your explanation. I wasn't sure exactly what Steve was describing, but what I have done in the past is to make three bracketed images of various exposures. Then I would adjust each of them in post and pick the best one. Have you done that at times, when you were not sure what exposure would be best?

Thanks. I went there and read the article.

He does say in section 6. “ I really only recommend this method if you’re shooting a nonmoving subject from a tripod, such as landscape or architecture photography.” And I can see that it works in low contrast situations. It relies on the camera setting the metered highlight to an average grey value, when we want it to be 2EV higher. The article is certainly thought provoking, but one does need to be aware of the limitations of the method. I myself rarely take photos of scenes that would benefit from it. Another problem, that he doesnt mention, is that the spot of spot metering is often not small enough to measure such highlights as you get for instance in Christmas lights. Hence the example that I gave, which for me is very common. The size of the spot also varies with the camera model, and you need to be aware of its size with your camera.

I agree with your conclusion. You want to keep colour and detail in the sky!

I hope this helps.

David

Hi Digi!

When I have tried this I have usually found it to be overkill. With current cameras, one can recover shadow detail in processing without incurring noise, so I usually under expose and bring up the shadows later. (See my experiments with the red roses from June or so, where I had to significantly under expose in order to prevent the reds from saturating.) A lot of this is about knowing the mind of your camera and working with it. It is not a good idea to keep changing from one camera to another unless you know the idiosyncracies of both well. There is a learning curve and I am still not at the top with the Leica, though whdn I go back to the R6, I remember its foibles and habits!

David

Out of the stygian hell of fog and gloom, monsters emerge from the ancient mists of time to feed on the souls of men.

Or maybe it's a dead bird. I can never remember which.

Steve Thomas