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Kristy, You’re Welcome. The two lenses I have mentioned are Canon ” L ” lenses. IMHO using top of line lenses on a APS-C ( 3/4 size) is not getting the full potential of the lens.
True, a Telephoto lens will always out perform a Zoom Telephoto. Compromises have to be made since there is no perfect lens. A Zoom Telephoto is a very good compromise imho. 99.9% of the shots posted here at this CAS site by me in the last two years or so,,have been shot using the Full Size 6d Canon Body with the 28-300 Zoom Telephoto L Lens. I have not used the Sony or Nikon but, as mentioned , the Sony full size and Nikon full sized cameras come highly rated. I believe Nikon has a 28-300 tele zoom that is well rated, not sure tho. I have thought of making the switch to Nikon. My 6 d Canon is starting to show the wear and tare.
The idea of approaching cloud photography prepared for the ” anything can happen, and happens fast” heavily suggests a zoom telephoto. I like the 28 -300 because its starts at 28 which is a wide angle. The 300 side is about as far as one wants to reach due to all the things that stand between you and the object you’re trying to capture at 300mm.,as in atmosphere, ( but if a child’s face or a Still life on a table top etc, thats different). Compressing all that air does create problems. Most Zoom lenses have a ” sweet” spot. You learn where any lenses best zones are. Thats the thing about top of line lenses,,even if you’re not using the extremes of a Zoom..you can crop the picture and still get very high quality picture. You will Never regret investing in a top quality lens.
Read up is all I can suggest. Plenty of reviews both camera body and lenses..Renting b4 buying is smart. .And Do your self a BIG Favor..get that Adobe Lightroom downloaded yesterday. Its easy and quick to download and not much to organize,
Full Size CMOS Camera + Top Quality Lens + Adobe Lightroom or Photoshoppe= Digital Photography Fulfillment…imho..Oh!a good tripod is a wise investment also, essential for low light, movies, and spliced panoramas.
I spent two weeks in Seattle once. I saw the Sun for 1 and 1/2 days.
Have fun and am looking forward to see some pics from You!
Kristy..All are color shots. I am concerned about..that you have to ask. Have you calibrated Your computer screen?
I also saw your request for info on cameras, etc that we use to take pics of the clouds. I started with pocket cameras and evolved to my current Canon Full Size Sensor DSLR Model 6D. I have two lens for it; A 17mm to 40mm Wide angle zoom and a 28mm to 300mm telephoto zoom. A lot of lessons have been learned between the Pockets and DSLR.
The 1st thing you need to do is read up. There is a technical vocabulary you need to come to understand because that vocabulary will help guide you to make good decisions that lead to making
great photos of your favorite subject..Everything from Focal plane to Noise, to Moire’ etc etc etc you need to get a grasp of. The Web can inform you all the way up actual experience. So reading up is virtually free. Just Your time.Investing Money in to the hobby is abit of a gamble. It seems like every 6 months to a year the manufacturers come out with new and improved models. So any purchase is also a time stamp. As with any hobby, accessories have an allure all their own and can run up an impressive tab on their own. Decent Digital cameras run from 100 dollars to over 20,000 ..new. You mentioned renting; thats a good way to test for results. Buying Used or Refurbished is an alternate consideration.
Size does matter. The more ” bits” of info a chip can sense the finer the resolution. Resolution determines if the the clouds look fuzzy or if you can count the water droplets in each puff of a cumulus. Pixels are the unit of measure of the Sensors,,the CMOS Chip.. Think end product..Do you want 4inch x 5 inch or do you want 8×11 or 11×14 or larger? Sharp images at 11x 14 are beyond most pocket cameras and a real challenge for the 3/4 (APC) size sensors. And, the more you explore the hobby,,of course sooner or later you want to go to 11×14 or larger to hang on the wall.There are other factors besides resolution ,,like range. Between pure black and pure white..there is an infinite Range of any hue( red, yellow blue etc) but CMOS have only so much ability. Currently the Sony and Nikons use the same CMOSs that have more Range than the Canon CMOS’s. Its all in the How the CMOS is manufactured and the Sony chip is a better design. So what size and thus what quality do you want…to begin with or more lasting..and can afford . Sony just came out with a mirrorless full size digital camera..A lot less moving parts..asking price is over 4,000 dollars. Its for the pros apparently.
If I had to do it over again?..Because I have photographic experience from the Film days..I would go straight to a Full Size Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera that has at least a 20 mega pixel CMOS sensor. Must have all the current programmable options. I would make the investment in top quality lens. a Very very good lens will demonstrate that clouds are not fuzzy. You get what you pay for.
The other side is what are you going to use to process the pics you took..what software will you be using .?..Lots of vocabulary waiting for you there as well.. I highly recommend Adobe Light Room..end of discussion.
A Suggestion..Are you close to a community college? Yes..take a entry course in to photography. You learn vocabulary and tie it to shooting experiences. Also read up on Art ,the basics of Illustration etc.. But when its all said and done..You have to shoot. You have to force yourself to get out there and learn. 10,000 photographs a year is a doable expectation. I do that just with clouds and I live in an area that has 280 days year of Sunshine( no or little cloud)..Up at before sunrise and getting back to the car after its dark..and everything in between. Set yourself free into the clouds.
Hope this helps.
Hans Yes, areas of Asperitas were spotted during the event. The first shot above evokes thoughts of ..thinnest Asperitas ever..Well, Doodles have a comical element to them.
The shot below ,taken at the same event , shows the Wind shredding the clouds. Obviously the Sky instead of taking notes on the day’s lesson, doodled the whole page.K&K , Im glad you Enjoyed The Shots. Nothing very special about Photographing them except, being at the right place at the right time. A rather thick system moved over the Valley and I was able to spend some time with it a short distance from work. As things developed I noticed and photographed Holmboe Instabilities within the grasp of the zoom telephoto. Included were these ” sketches” of what was once a more substantial cloud, altocumulus stratisformus . Layers of wet of different temp and humidity try to find a equilibrium between the differing layers. In that process these doodles come and go rather quickly, so you have to keep your eye out for them and act quickly when spotted. As Usual the speed of the system made the shoot even more of a challenge. I Thought I would get some lenticular shots and instead I got Holmboe and these doodles. I’ll look, but I think through out the year I catch these kind of events only a couple times.
As mentioned the lighting was flat due to thick layers. So I shot with 1/4 to 1/2 F Stop over. I didn’t write it down, but I think I increased contrast by one increment in the pre program. You never know what you are going to get so be prepared to cover it all.
I can’t vouche for the 2 degree cost of A/C in Phoenix,hygge. ..the physics seems odd. I know the heat that a A/c unit produces comes from somewhere..I don’t know how much heat it generates to compress/cool the refrigerant down tho..Phx broke records some years ago when it hit 124F..but We gaven’t been close to that.. in a while. .knock on wood.
Yes, George Evap cooling only works until the air hits dew point..when temp and percent water collude to allow no more absorption of water in to air..As long air can absorb water ,cooling takes place because heat is lost in the process..if I got my physics right. When the air is saturated (dew point) ,game over. Many pubs and eateries have outside misters and a few womaners that are good until about mid July at the latest. Monsoon season is spectacular for cloud /weather watching,,but its not free. Drink lots of water because you are your own evap cooler.
And just think of all the new cement and road surface and auto exhaust any growing city Like Phoenix , has today that was desert and clear a few years ago. Incredible. There was talk of Our Dome of Heat some years ago but I think the Chamber of Commerce put an end to that talk. Only post card perfect weather here folks.. We Also have a 4 burner Nuke just west of Phoenix that gets turned up to full blast during summer..not for Phoenix ( a mere pittance for that mega watter) but for the whole southwest and more if there is a failure somewhere west of the Mississippi. Yet, the heat generated at the Palo Verde( such a nice desert eco name) plant goes somewhere and Phoenix is down wind from it all..Nice to kno in case of emergency. Any way..in The Case of Phoenix..YES, HERE, ALL THE CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAN MADE,,the damn rattlesnakes and gila monsters didn’t do it!!!
Lacunosus Whipped Into a Frenzy! Amazing how it maintains uniformity before its consumed.,
Abandoned
..When I first moved to Phoenix Arizona, ’74, there were no mosquitoes in the Valley, Too Dry. Now we worry about West Nile and soon it will be Zika..Local Environment is the culprit. swimming pools, drenched lawns, golf courses, etc etc..have made the Valley a welcoming home for mosquitoes. Unintended consequences on the local and regional scale contribute to the need to rethink what we’re doing.
Fine Indeed! These digital cameras literally take us beyond what we can see. I wonder if birds can see further into the clouds than we.
Okay from a lot of white, to mostly black:
Similar to a chaptered work of fiction ,,or not , the posts of pictures making a thread have a overall effect as well as individual effect. I’m glad all the shots have been restored..from sharp Wind and Fire to the soft cumuli. May they all inspire.
Just today, Hans , I experimented with a few shots taken during last cloud cover. I shot into a very flat stratus ,seeing just barely a hint of contrast. I set on red filter effect and took several bracketed exposures( incremental degrees of under or over exposure). Again, ” experiment” is the key word. Then Lightroom process was twisted and squeezed for just about everything I could get out of the turnip. Hans, you have a Mainly White with cumuli,,below is a lot of white with stratus.
Wow, All the pics are disappearing,,a lot of them anyway…anybody else not seeing a bunch of photos? Difficult to talk about them when they are gone Keelin, but there is a..way..to get that lustre you reference..Its in the gray tones. If pure white is 100,,pure black 0..then maybe somewhere around as low as 60 and as high as 85..these gray tones can be pumped up a tad with micro amounts of light until they gain a lustre. Adobe Lightroom has a nice feature than can do this in the right conditions. The group of effects is under ” Presence ” The effects include,,Clarity,,Vibrance and Saturation. Meant more for color manipulation, these have effects in B&W as well. Clarity I use a lot,,because I usually shoot for a flat original, thus able to bring it to ” depth” I want when processing. Shooting RAW is some what the same way..The photo is made at the Printer rather than at that camera.
Anyway ,,some photogs call the few hours before sunset and the hour or two from sun rise the magic hours because thats when the gray tones are “alive ” and with a little processing help can gain a lustre. Clarity seems to know alll by itself what ur foto needs..to add lite to which greys or just the opposite which greys to make darker to get the depth and “lustre’ ..So what happens depends on what you are giving to ” clarity”. You learn and if something doesn’t work out ,,no big deal. You start over and try a different way .
The variables are endless. There is the exposure of the original, Do you want to add or take away from the original.. Then there is just the middle ,,think bell curve the 80 %,,more lite? less lite? The Highlites..more? Less? Same with dark..middlle tones, darker ? then the shadows Darker, Lighter ? Remember..highlights and Shadows loose detail when increased. So, clarity acts as a ” separator.” gives separation between the tones, not like the heavy handed Contrast effect but in conjunction WITH contrast, lights highlites darks and shadows,,you find or create the amount of ” lustre” you want. Another way to see or think about it is..Does the AIR in you photo have Light? Thats something Painters master..putting Light in the Air. Turner was great at that.The Clarity tool can do that if presented the right opportunity. Whats neat is , Clarity is also available for just small areas as in burning and dodging..Now we’re talking about making a Picture..not just a shot. Some Photos I’m happy with, with no more than 5 minutes of processing. Others I’ll spend a few hours or more on,,adjustments on small levels and areas can add up to make a very good photograph and never be noticed. Remember,,You Control EVERYTHING the observer sees. The photograph you mention about lustre..now missing..I waited until I had the time to process it. I spent around a hour on it.
For color,,vibrance and clarity in tandom can produce the Light in the Air..but as in all cases,,be judicial with the effect. It shouldn’t be noticeable or sticking out like a red thumb,,like so many over saturated color shots ( im just as guilty on that as anyone).
Sorry, I’m not posting a pic rite now only to see it disappear soon after. When things get straightened out here I’ll post photos. Soon I hope.
MEL
Thanks K & H for your kind words!.. Wow, gel filters..I haven’t heard of those in a while. I gave them a try when I was in the army. I never went back to them since. For clouds I would think they are too slow Keelin. I suppose You could do a whole shoot with a filter in place tho. But thats not my style. That shot was taken as dusk approached if I recall correctly. Contrast mellows out in the later afternoon as the greys come alive.
Heres a shot at just about sundown, sun almost on the horizon line. A bit of processing time brought the cloud formation forward in time by 2 or 3 hours. Lightroom has ” gradual filter” that is worth its weight in gold. Big Sky presents a unique set of problems. Even lighting across the ” Big Sky” is the main one along with distortions. This shot is an example of what good processing software can do to get the lighting the way you want.. Digital ” burning” and ” dodging” is quick, easy, and cheap compared to the same in analogue.
Herald
I Luv Clouds
btw Hans,,I got that Are You Sure Error message a few times also. Haven’t seen it recently. Seems a constant refresh at every step keeps things current.Uh Oh! Nice Contrast Between Your Shots Keelin and Hans; the horizontal and the vertical as well as the all grey tone and the Black to White, the very relaxing and the Frenetic (i apologize)..So, coincidentally having just today reviewed the pic and wondered if I would ever post the pic, this is as good an opportunity as ever, it fits in between your two opposites Keelin and Hans.
btw Hans,,I got that Are You Sure Error message a few times also. Haven’t seen it recently. Seems a constant refresh at every step keeps things current.
