Nails

georgedingwall · Post by **georgedingwall** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 12:26 pm

Hi all,

I thought I'd try a little bit of abstract shooting today.

I was using one of my nail guns today, and I thought that the strips of nails for the angled framing nailer looked like they might make an interesting image. Here's the result.

D200 with Sigma 150mm Macro Lens
5 sec @ F16 ISO 100
Tungsten lighting.
Camera on a bean bag.

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:05 pm

Very interesting George... a refreshing change and interesting subject. Very abstract and pointed

(must make a nice wallpaper)

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 4:46 pm

Interesting indeed -- I like it!

This is a new kind of shot for me, though, and I'm not sure where the focus point should be. It almost looks like you gave away some DOF in the foreground. Anyway, I keep getting grabbed by the image being pretty sharp all the way to the bottom of the frame. It might be enlightening to shoot a series with different apertures and different focus placements, and just see how each of them ends up looking. I know that for myself, I never can predict very well what I'll end up liking best.

--Rik

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 4:52 pm

Very cool image, I like it a lot!

Mike B in OKlahoma · Post by **Mike B in OKlahoma** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 6:05 pm

Very interesting....Let's hear it for mass production!

An original shot.

Bill D · Post by **Bill D** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:01 pm

I believe you nailed that shot!

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:29 am

Bill D wrote:I believe you nailed that shot!

oh man!

georgedingwall · Post by **georgedingwall** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:20 am

Hi Rik,

rjlittlefield wrote:Interesting indeed -- I like it!

It might be enlightening to shoot a series with different apertures and different focus placements, and just see how each of them ends up looking. I know that for myself, I never can predict very well what I'll end up liking best.

--Rik

I did as you suggested and took a series of eight images of the nails. I started focussed on the front row, and then re-focussed on the rows behind for each subsequent image. I stayed with the same aperture with this sequence, I might try different apertures later.

The first image below is the fourth in the sequence, and I find I quite like the symetry of there being as much out of focus in front of the in-focus row as there is behind. The lighting is a bit better too.

The second image is a stack of the eight frames. I think I prefer the single frame example to the stacked image with this subject. Stacking seems to have produced a very flat looking image withought much sense of depth.

If you want to look at the whole sequence, I upload them to my site at this link. (The images are numbered from rear to front - Don't know why

)

dave_putty · Post by **dave_putty** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:29 am

Very nice !

Carl_Constantine · Post by **Carl_Constantine** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:20 pm

You know, I think I like that middle frame the best too.

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:47 am

yea that last one is more precise but i prefer the first one,more artistic.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:22 am

georgedingwall wrote:The first image below is the fourth in the sequence, and I find I quite like the symetry of there being as much out of focus in front of the in-focus row as there is behind. The lighting is a bit better too.

The second image is a stack of the eight frames. I think I prefer the single frame example to the stacked image with this subject. Stacking seems to have produced a very flat looking image withought much sense of depth.

If you want to look at the whole sequence, I upload them to my site at this link. (The images are numbered from rear to front - Don't know why )

I downloaded the set and looked through all these images several times. When I picked the one that "felt best", it turned out to be the same that you posted -- single frame, focused in the center.

I agree that the stacked image is far less attractive. Possibly that's because it adds no information (since all rows are so similar), while taking away the feeling of depth. Or possibly it's some other reason that I don't have a clue about.

Thanks for running the series -- very interesting!

--Rik

PS. Almost all my stacks are numbered from back to front. The reason is simple. For extremely close work, it's a lot safer to step the lens away from the subject than toward it. Shooting the same way every time makes one less thing to go wrong. (It's not like there's a shortage!

)

Nails

Nails

very nice