On 24 Oct 2005 at 2:18, Markus Maurer wrote: > Hi Tim > I often use a monopod and I have a very small tripod with bendable legs too. I > will try your idea in the chapel of the convent of Fahr first, there is not so > much other people around to stare at me while I experiment ;-)
Hi Markus, I haven't read all the replies to this thread so please excuse me if some of my comments are repeats. I've shot quite a few back-lit windows over the years and in most cases without the assistance of a tripod or mono-pod, they are well worth the effort but often they just aren't allowed. I've been most successful using a long fast lens ie 125/2.5, the further back you get from the subject the less prevalent is perspective distortion, leaning back on a wall can really add to your stability. Only when I run out of room to back up or if I wish to include other elements would I move to something shorter in FL. The day can make quite a difference, sometimes a sunny day can push up shutter speeds (good) but may cause bad shadows or colour casts from reflections outside. I think I prefer a slightly overcast day even if I have to use higher ISO settings/film. These sorts of subjects are notoriously difficult to shoot as generally the highly illuminated window is mostly surrounded by areas in very limited illumination so bracket wide, I would even suggest potentially setting a -2 compensation before you bracket. The other thing to be aware of is that often the outside of the window may be covered in bars or bars and mesh so the type of external lighting can play a part in making this quite plain. The following shot was made on a clear sunny day at using my 31mm at f4, 1/400th 200 ISO with -2 stop compensation pattern metering. I chose this shot to display as it's easy to see the wire mesh behind the stained glass, the unevenness of the full sun illumination and the perspective distortion which is a function of subject distance vs FL. http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~distudio/temp/IMGP4598.jpg (~200kB) I hope this information helps a little. Cheers, Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.ozemail.com.au/~distudio/publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998
