The industrial sparks

[Photofreak123]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
I would like to know the overall composition and the colour tone.. whether they are right or not. ^^

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
It would have been gone in split second. Therefore i want to freeze the moment where our eyes cant freeze it. Btw, this is the machine that sharpens the saw used for cutting wood in specific dimensions.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
I allow the camera to draw the sparks by setting a adequately slow shutter speed, picturing the motion of flying sparks.
Hand-held. Using a wide aperture of f/1.8. 50mm canon lens

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
I personally think that this photo captures the right moment, however the composition may be slightly "wrong".. Wanna know what you guys think. TYVM!!

 

[cabbySHE]

Are you quite ready for the crit ? It might not be quite favourable, it's better to get your consent first.

 

[Photofreak123]

Are you quite ready for the crit ? It might not be quite favourable, it's better to get your consent first.

Well its okay, go ahead ba.. haha. I am quite alright with any negative comments..
especially when it helps me to realise smth.. =D

 

[Odyssey-Boy]

Mind sharing the EXIF data ??

 

[Photofreak123]

Mind sharing the EXIF data ??

ISO400, 1/50sec, f/1.8 50mm lens
Hopefully tts what u r askin for.. =D

 

[S2S2S2]

err.. how do you extract the EXIF data? i always change the settings to my pictures.. i always duno how people can remember their settings..
lol

 

[Odyssey-Boy]

err.. how do you extract the EXIF data? i always change the settings to my pictures.. i always duno how people can remember their settings..
lol

there's information in every picture. simply right click your picture and go to properties, you will see your camera model, and EXIF data.

last time no digital, using films, users would use a note book and pen to jot down the exif data

 

[bullseyez]

the composition looks gd to me. if you can made the shutter speed even slower than 1/50sec would be nice, like 1/20sec so that you can capture more sparks. happy shooting

 

[cabbySHE]

Wow, so worried, you can shoot world press.com...oops sorry, it's wordpress.

Making a wild guess, this could be one of the pictures taken during a visit to a certain factory, the picture is to be use for some purpose.

Any physical / time constrain when doing this shot, otherwise the comment would be unfair.

Briefly, before going into details... this is a more challenging situation than the tree and the food post.

 

[pokiemon]

i kinda like the way the sparks were captured. i find the machinery on the right side distracting so perhaps cropping it away could help. lastly i wonder how a cool temp will look?

 

[allenleonhart]

Wow, so worried, you can shoot world press.com...oops sorry, it's wordpress.

Making a wild guess, this could be one of the pictures taken during a visit to a certain factory, the picture is to be use for some purpose.

Any physical / time constrain when doing this shot, otherwise the comment would be unfair.

Briefly, before going into details... this is a more challenging situation than the tree and the food post.

wa cabby. u look like u are taking a gun and pointing at him and asking if he is scared:sweat:
i look forward to ur comments too.

as for me? i'll say its a technically correct shot, cause the details are recorded fine and etc etc. color tone seems a bit orangy, but then it shld be ok since its a lot of rusting metal i think:sweat:

can i assume this shot is of the blade being sharpened? looks like a long saw.

sure there are nice sparks, but i can get them from sparkles and nothing much. perhaps if it was more close up like just a spinning wheel and the saw... u dun have to show the whole machine for ppl to figure out what it is. leave a bit of a mystery by giving a tighter crop. something like just part of the wheel, sparks and the saw will do.

i comment finish liao. dunno if its acceptable or not, but its my taste lar. could be different from all so just take with a pinch of salt ok?

 

[Photofreak123]

wowz thanks everyone for the comment.. Will look into the suggestions given.. greatly appreciated..

 

[Photofreak123]

Wow, so worried, you can shoot world press.com...oops sorry, it's wordpress.

Making a wild guess, this could be one of the pictures taken during a visit to a certain factory, the picture is to be use for some purpose.

Any physical / time constrain when doing this shot, otherwise the comment would be unfair.

Briefly, before going into details... this is a more challenging situation than the tree and the food post.

If u are asking for any physical or time constrains, i would say i had only 5 minutes to tour around the area cos workers are busy and may distract them.

 

[cabbySHE]

Ah now that's what I want to know before going in depth.

Physical constrain are like...I come_I see_I shoot....the tree, I bought_I shoot_ and I eat....the food, I wake up early_travel to the location_wait patiently for the sun to rise_ then I shoot_ in the midst of darkness, did not notice the two large object in front.

Since you'd only 5 minutes to shoot, correction should be only a few seconds to shoot. I suppose that's about the best, given the time frame.

Bcoz there are many things which are beyond your controls. So the following pointers may serve as a guide for your reference.

Shooting sparks are just like shoooting fireworks or lightning, that means long exposure is preferred combining small aperture. Eventually using a tripod is a must.

The most prominent flaw here is the backgrd, the light level is too bright thereby reducing the impact of the sparks.
There are also unwanted reflection, out of focus objects and odd shape silhouettes all around the sparks. The light on the grinding machine is also too bright, is that artificial light or existing ambient light ?

Due to the shutter speed is not long enough , or should say too short / fast( ideally should be varies between 1 sec ~ 4 sec with f/16 ISO 100 ) the trace of sparks is not recorded completely, it should be fanning out according to the direction of the spinning grinding stone, but this can only be achieve with very slow / long shutter speed.

The only thing to do now are try out some lightroom / photoshop masking, burning technique. It may improve to a certain level.
As for composition, the lever is quite obvious, and personally I would leave more room around IF I could get to turn off that back ground light.

With people working and moving around it is nevertheless a very CHALLENGING situation. Given a choice I would not shoot, coz I have no confidence to produce a good shot in such short duration.( few seconds to do an industrial shot ? ) Perhaps someone might share a better / new idea or method so that we all can benefit.

 

[Photofreak123]

Ah now that's what I want to know before going in depth.

Physical constrain are like...I come_I see_I shoot....the tree, I bought_I shoot_ and I eat....the food, I wake up early_travel to the location_wait patiently for the sun to rise_ then I shoot_ in the midst of darkness, did not notice the two large object in front.

Since you'd only 5 minutes to shoot, correction should be only a few seconds to shoot. I suppose that's about the best, given the time frame.

Bcoz there are many things which are beyond your controls. So the following pointers may serve as a guide for your reference.

Shooting sparks are just like shoooting fireworks or lightning, that means long exposure is preferred combining small aperture. Eventually using a tripod is a must.

The most prominent flaw here is the backgrd, the light level is too bright thereby reducing the impact of the sparks.
There are also unwanted reflection, out of focus objects and odd shape silhouettes all around the sparks. The light on the grinding machine is also too bright, is that artificial light or existing ambient light ?

Due to the shutter speed is not long enough , or should say too short / fast( ideally should be varies between 1 sec ~ 4 sec with f/16 ISO 100 ) the trace of sparks is not recorded completely, it should be fanning out according to the direction of the spinning grinding stone, but this can only be achieve with very slow / long shutter speed.

The only thing to do now are try out some lightroom / photoshop masking, burning technique. It may improve to a certain level.
As for composition, the lever is quite obvious, and personally I would leave more room around IF I could get to turn off that back ground light.

With people working and moving around it is nevertheless a very CHALLENGING situation. Given a choice I would not shoot, coz I have no confidence to produce a good shot in such short duration.( few seconds to do an industrial shot ? ) Perhaps someone might share a better / new idea or method so that we all can benefit.

Hey cabby, thanks for your invaluable suggestions, i finally get to understand more indepth on how this shot could have been better.. As for the part abt the bright grinding machine, it's brighten up by ambient light. Morning sunlight streams in at an oblique angle. If i recall correctly..
There's one thing i wanna ask, for the ideal exposure settings, y is it ideal at f/16? I've seen this somewhere else but just cant figure out y its best at f/16.. Perhaps you could share with me the reason? ^^ thanks alot once again.

 

[cabbySHE]

Glad that you like the explanation.

As for the stated aperture setting, it is not a "rule " or " magical number " we have to learn to use all aperture setting wisely.

Get a thorough understanding of the characteristic and performance of each aperture in relation to the focal length. This will have to take a lot of reading and study of example photos plus self experiment.

Reasons of my specifying f/16 for this shot are as follow :

* to record long, thin, fine spark trails, a long exposure is required, so a small aperture is chosen.
* large aperture also can be use, but it will use shorter exposure time as can be seen from the sample, the trail is unlike those of fireworks... it is short and random.
* besides when the machine is also to be included, the smaller aperture will be able to increase the depth of field coverage.

the only snag of using small aperture is....unable or not possible to handhold the camera.
the plus side...you can use finest ISO setting and get a very detail rich photo file.

Now, you may ask ... so, is it possible to do a good industrial spark shot like this within minutes ?

My answer is ....YES, as an assignment. NO, as a visitor.

 

[Photofreak123]

Glad that you like the explanation.

As for the stated aperture setting, it is not a "rule " or " magical number " we have to learn to use all aperture setting wisely.

Get a thorough understanding of the characteristic and performance of each aperture in relation to the focal length. This will have to take a lot of reading and study of example photos plus self experiment.

Reasons of my specifying f/16 for this shot are as follow :

* to record long, thin, fine spark trails, a long exposure is required, so a small aperture is chosen.
* large aperture also can be use, but it will use shorter exposure time as can be seen from the sample, the trail is unlike those of fireworks... it is short and random.
* besides when the machine is also to be included, the smaller aperture will be able to increase the depth of field coverage.

the only snag of using small aperture is....unable or not possible to handhold the camera.
the plus side...you can use finest ISO setting and get a very detail rich photo file.

Now, you may ask ... so, is it possible to do a good industrial spark shot like this within minutes ?

My answer is ....YES, as an assignment. NO, as a visitor.

I see.. Haha i should have brought my tripod to try out a smaller aperture.. Thanks for your comment, now im more better prepared when shooting something like this. Hmm.. Should try shooting fireworks on national day.. =D cant wait for tt 1st experience sia haha..

 

[allenleonhart]

I see.. Haha i should have brought my tripod to try out a smaller aperture.. Thanks for your comment, now im more better prepared when shooting something like this. Hmm.. Should try shooting fireworks on national day.. =D cant wait for tt 1st experience sia haha..

my advice: predict where the fireworks are gonna be. u will need an exposure of 2-3 secs i think:sweat:

 

[cabbySHE]

This year's NDP fireworks will be set off from the roof of several hi-rise commercial buildings.

So do a careful survey and avoid position yourself too near to the fireworks.

Look for cityscape outline where there is some patch of empty sky to fit in the fireworks.

It sounds /look pretty simple here, but actually might take some days for on site recon.

At this juncture, some might thought of booking a place at the Sky Park, but wait a minute...

Fireworks only looks good and spectacular when it is position against a sky, and not against a myriad of colour lights and smokes. Pls take note. I'm sure some will be unconvinced.

 

[zaren]

the original photo i feel is too bright and too reddish. deliberately dialling down the exposure by a stop or two and adjusting your WB might yield better results, as well as helping to obscure the distracting background. alternatively, you could also adjust this in your post-processing. composition wise, i think it is quite good and you have captured the moment well by freezing the action.

e.g.