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HHN 26 Event Photography Thread


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OK, let me confess at first that this thread is self serving since I hope it generates questions (like what I'll ask) and advice (mine is pretty useless) for taking pictures at the event.

 

I got my first non-point and shoot camera last summer and have been learning on the fly, doing some photo workshops, and stuff like that (but no classes).  But, an event like this, is REALLY out of my wheelhouse.  I've PM'd a few people who have taken awesome pictures of the event, have gone out and gotten a f/1.8 35mm prime lens as a result, and stuff like that.

 

Questions I have and would love to hear any info/guidance from anybody:

 

  1. Can you bring a tripod into the event?  I know of at least one person who has, but wondering if anybody knows what the deal is with them.  I always hang out at Finnegans before the event so security issues aren't a concern, but don't want to get in trouble or anything.
  2. Has anybody ever brought a monopod into the UTH tours?  I know the description says no Tripods and I know that some people (aka people who take pictures 100x better than mine) will take 30+ minutes to set up, frame, and adjust settings for a single shot.  I have really shaky hands, HATE how a flash washes out photos, and am looking for a solution for using my wide angle lens (f/3.5) for the tours.
  3. I see plenty of awesome inside the house pictures...is there some super secret time/situation where they do lights on walkthroughs?  I'm assuming they're from a media preview event or something, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask.
  4. I'm not "that guy" that wants to interfere with the event and scareactors for pictures...which is why I want to bring in a tripod/monopod to try to be able to take cool pics from a distance.

 

Thanks for any info in advance (and hope this helps some other people too)!

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I don't have any answers, but I wanted to piggyback off of one of the above questions. Regarding a tripod, would security give you an issue if you brought in a Joby Gorillapod? I wish I had a picture to post, but you can find it on Google. The thing is maybe between eight to ten inches tall and is flexible and bendable.

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1 hour ago, hhnholdem said:

I don't have any answers, but I wanted to piggyback off of one of the above questions. Regarding a tripod, would security give you an issue if you brought in a Joby Gorillapod? I wish I had a picture to post, but you can find it on Google. The thing is maybe between eight to ten inches tall and is flexible and bendable.

 

I know what you're talking about....if you have a gopro or something really light, you can wrap it around a railing or something.  The event has a "strict" no selfie stick policy, and some security people will surely classify it as such.

 

With security, it's "you never know".  I've had security as crazy as telling me that "no bags, means no bags" and telling me that my glucometer (I'm diabetic) bag, roughly the size of a thick wallet, wasn't allowed and I'd have to bring in my tester, finger stick, and test strips in my pocket.  I was annoyed at that one and asked for their supervisor to make a scene (sorry people in the line behind me) and an Orlando police officer came up, saw what it was about, and told the security I was good to go.  I was going to make a scene as earlier in the week, I was told my camera case for a tiny compact camera that had a belt loop wasn't allowed.  So I just went to another line and their security just had me unzip it so they could look and let me right through.

 

That same year, I saw people going through security with full backpacks.  It really depends which line you go through and how serious the security person is. 

 

Your best bet is to go to the park for the day and do the holding pen thing, that way there's no issue with security.  Or, scope out the lines for like 5 minutes and see which ones are going through fast and/or carrying items and then hit up that line.

 

EDIT:  I should add, I haven't gone through event security in like 4 or 5 years as we get there early and go to a holding pen to avoid the fiasco.  Not sure if they've gotten better at their jobs or not.

Edited by Oysterhead00
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It's no mystery that universal security and I are on shaky ground (as far back as 2002 I've have incidents). Aside from all the grief they have given me over the years for buttons, trinkets, and wallets I've brought, I bring my Nikon every year and every year they hold their hand up to the kit zoom lens insultingly like I'm bringing some giant pro telephoto lens (like the size of the lens denotes who is a professional).

 

As stated above, they are so hit and miss with what is acceptable. Every year is a hope and pray situation with me. I don't dare bring monopods, tripods, or even a handheld gimbal. But many people do get away with it so maybe it's just me.

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Last year I went in with a fairly complex Sony camera (good enough that I have taken a clear picture of Expedition Everest from California grill) with no problem, but I did wait beforehand, except for the first night, where I didn't get in until around 10.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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7 minutes ago, criticalanalysis said:

That last shot is great. What camera and lens do you use?

 

Thank you, kind sir!

Canon 700D (the amateur DSLR) and a 50mm f/1.2 L (borrowed lens as the damn things are insanely expensive).  I have other lenses but I don't have a speedlite flash.  The built in one blows out shots so I never use it.  Lots of low lighting this year so I've exclusively used my 1.2 so I can use a decent shutter speed.  But focusing while wide open like that can be a bitch, to say the least.

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1 minute ago, Pandry said:

 

Thank you, kind sir!

Canon 700D (the amateur DSLR) and a 50mm f/1.2 L (borrowed lens as the damn things are insanely expensive).  I have other lenses but I don't have a speedlite flash.  The built in one blows out shots so I never use it.  Lots of low lighting this year so I've exclusively used my 1.2 so I can use a decent shutter speed.  But focusing while wide open like that can be a bitch, to say the least.

 

With practice could this take comparable shots?

 

https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Digital-3-5-5-6G-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00PCM0XAI/ref=sr_1_2?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1476299902&sr=1-2&keywords=d3300

 

I'm checking out your Flickr, seriously good stuff.

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21 minutes ago, criticalanalysis said:

 

With practice could this take comparable shots?

 

https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Digital-3-5-5-6G-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00PCM0XAI/ref=sr_1_2?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1476299902&sr=1-2&keywords=d3300

 

I'm checking out your Flickr, seriously good stuff.

 

Thanks man, you're too kind.

 

You absolutely can get comparable shots with that camera, from day 1.  You'll want either Photoshop and/or Lightroom for processing them.  Check eBay, too.  Aside from the 18-55mm kit lens that came with my Canon (and does with the Nikon in your link) I've bought all my other lenses used on eBay.  One lens was a really great deal which turned out to be from a pawn shop in Vegas!

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Just now, Pandry said:

 

Thanks man, you're too kind.

 

You absolutely can get comparable shots with that camera, from day 1.  You'll want either Photoshop and/or Lightroom for processing them.  Check eBay, too.  Aside from the 18-55mm kit lens that came with my Canon (and does with the Nikon in your link) I've bought all my other lenses used on eBay.  One lens was a really great deal which turned out to be from a pawn shop in Vegas!

 

Sweet, thanks man. Figure it's best to get my life memories through an actual camera and stop relying on smartphone cameras. At night, in particular, a smartphone collapses.

 

I'll definitely check into the software. In terms of night shots with the included lens with the D3300 be sufficient, do you think, for something comparable? In other words how much different will it be? I would imagine all I'd really want is the standard for general photography and an f 1.8 (seems good enough..1.2 is too expensive):

 

https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-AF-S-NIKKOR-Focus-Cameras/dp/B001S2PPT0/ref=pd_lpo_421_bs_t_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Y2HYD0P7VM4NPECD20FZ

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5 minutes ago, criticalanalysis said:

 

Sweet, thanks man. Figure it's best to get my life memories through an actual camera and stop relying on smartphone cameras. At night, in particular, a smartphone collapses.

 

I'll definitely check into the software. In terms of night shots with the included lens with the D3300 be sufficient, do you think, for something comparable? In other words how much different will it be? I would imagine all I'd really want is the standard for general photography and an f 1.8 (seems good enough..1.2 is too expensive):

 

https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-AF-S-NIKKOR-Focus-Cameras/dp/B001S2PPT0/ref=pd_lpo_421_bs_t_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Y2HYD0P7VM4NPECD20FZ

 

HHN is what made me get a DSLR.  Seeing what you can capture with them and looking at everyone else's pics made me feel the same way about memories.  Last year was my first time using one.  You'd be more than set with that camera and lens.  You could get amazing shots with the 18-55, too.  You can just position yourself in areas where the scareactors will be in decent lighting.  A lot of nights I want to take something other than my 50mm but I don't have a camera bag and I like the small size to carry around.  Especially going through houses where I don't want to be accidentally slamming it into the walls - which I can get clumsy enough to do....and have.

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A professional photographer once told me..."Asking a photographer what kind of camera they used to take an amazing photo is like asking Leonardo da Vinci what kind of brush he used to pain the Mona Lisa...implying that the artist themselves had no skill and it was solely a result of the equipment used"  Obviously, an $89 point and shoot camera from Big Lots is inferior to a $5,000 DSLR, but just buying a good camera, putting it on auto, and hitting the shutter button isn't going to get you anything good.  And the difference between a $500 DSLR and $5000 model is minimal for most people...as far as the hardware is concerned, it's the lenses that make all the difference.

 

Trust me...as someone trying to learn photography on the fly I've bought some expensive lenses, figured I had it made, and then was wondering my pictures looked like the same crappy ones I took with the kit lens :)

 

It's a trial and error art and to be able to take that kind of photo, in those lighting conditions, as is really amazing.  Or I'm just really bad at taking pictures...that's always a possibility...

 

============================================

 

Smartphones can take amazing photos...especially in low light.  Their settings are to try to capture as closely to what the human eye sees and not concerned with detail and the like.  Amazing photos for posting on Facebook.  But if you want to print the results and are into photography and look at the details and lighting and everything it's like comparing Corvettes with the same style body and paint job with one having a 120hp 4 cylinder engine to one with a 500hp v8.  A quick look on the surface might look comparable, but when you start looking at the details it's not even close.

 

Also, look up Camera RAW.  Taking pictures in that format opens up whole worlds of photo processing and you can turn crap into gold by manipulating it.  It captures the raw data that the sensor captures and does minimal processing to the image and you can make all kinds of adjustments yourself.  JPG images from your phone are already processed as soon as you click the shutter and you have no control over what your phone does.  JPG is also a lossy compression where you omit captured data because it's "so similar" to pixels/data next to it that you initially dumb down the photo itself.  Also, as far as resolution and megapixels, your phone might claim to have the same MP as a DSLR, but the image sensor in the phone is a fraction of the size of that in a full size camera body and that makes all the difference in the world.

 

I've never taken a photography class in my life, but this is my idiots guide to photography as taught by real life trial and error.  Ha ha ha

 

 

Edited by Oysterhead00
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20 hours ago, Oysterhead00 said:

Also, look up Camera RAW.  Taking pictures in that format opens up whole worlds of photo processing and you can turn crap into gold by manipulating it.

Definitely agree that RAW is the way to go.  Just also note that as it captures every aspect of the shot, the file sizes are much much larger than even the highest quality  jpeg.  My RAW files are between 20-30 megs each.  But external hard drives are so inexpensive these days, that's not a problem for storage.  And once touched up, you can export it as a jpeg at a low file size - even under a meg.

 

Lastly, Mark Walter fortunately gave me a heads up when pointing me towards RAW shooting: the image on the camera's LCD preview screen looks good because it's  automatically in a compressed jpeg.  But when you first open your RAW image to process, it's not going to initially look good - because it's literally raw.  But you have so many more processing options available to you in RAW.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just wanted to share some of my favorites from this year.

 

29199587093_8b06771c51_z.jpgDSC_8750 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

29789997446_4c5d6dd05a.jpgDSC_8597 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

29997466645_b53b2a039f.jpgDSC_0419 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

29814692170_e156d6a1ae.jpgDSC_1044 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

30075195806_e9819ededc.jpgDSC_0979 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

30026722471_6ccaece275.jpgDSC_0756 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

29814578830_3a3a25572c.jpgDSC_1079 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

29480704824_4b11642d65.jpgDSC_1224 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

30134991662_f0742d1a5e.jpgDSC_1368 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

30109951860_274522bc38.jpgDSC_1410 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

30370500066_0520c59756.jpgDSC_1522 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

30369676076_3c964a2fbc.jpgDSC_1668 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

 

29773798773_2b032b377d.jpgDSC_1715 by Chris Bishop, on Flickr

Edited by alloran988
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