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Photographing smoke
On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:35:11 -0800 (PST), rarj wrote:
Hi All. I have a Canon Powershot A400 Point & Shoot, and am quite satisfied with its performance. However, I'd like to know of techniques to photograph smoke. Not in a studio. but outside, on streets. Ive seen that the smoke comes up very faint on the photo. If the smoke or haze is between you and the subject it can be enhanced with fill-flash. This won't help if it's more diffuse and too far from the camera for the flash to illuminate it, or it is further than the subject that you want to photograph. If shooting night-lit scenes then you can use available house-lights, shop-lights, street-lighting, and even cars' headlights to your advantage on more distant smoke and haze in your scene, depending on your orientation to the lights and smoke/haze. On another note, are there polarizers available for Canon Powershot cameras ? and can the 2.4x zoom be extended optically ? It depends if your model of Powershot can take filters or has a filter-adapter available for it or not. Looking at a review of your camera online, it appears that you can't use filters nor does it have an add-on filter-adapter available for it. This is not a problem for many other Powershot camera models. If you do get a camera that has filter-threads or a filter-adapter then you can use either a linear or circular polarizer with most P&S cameras.The linear variety being much less expensive. DSLRs all require a circular polarizer due to the way their auto-focusing mechanism works. I've only run into one P&S camera so far where the linear polarizer can alter the exposure reading and white-balance different from what it should be (this is rare). If in doubt use a circular polarizer where this type of unwanted effect is prevented. In a pinch I have still used filters and close-up lenses with cameras that don't have filter-threads or filter-adapters for them by simply hand-holding the filter or close-up lens over the front of the camera's own lens. In some cases, if the time and effort is warranted, by building my own slide-on filter adapter for some P&S cameras that don't accept filters. Being careful when constructing it that it doesn't fit too snug, if the camera's lens retracts it will just slide-off and not harm the camera's gears and motors. Any camera purposely designed to accept filters can have its own zoom optically increased with any number of very good teleconverter add-on lenses. One of the better performers recently is the 1.7x teleconverter made by Sony, the VCL-DH1758. It seems to work better on Canon cameras than Canon's own teleconverter and is generally less expensive. This, of course, will be of no benefit to the camera that you presently have, as there's no easy way to attach any add-on converter lenses to it. Due to the extra weight of these larger add-on lenses and them needing to be perfectly centered and aligned with the camera's own lens, there's no easy way to hand-hold it to a camera nor easily create an adequate slide-on adapter. At least not without a lot of construction and including in the design a secure bracket attached to the tripod-socket. It sounds like it might be time for you to move to a camera capable of having some useful accessories for it, to expand on your photography needs. There are many inexpensive newer (or newer used) cameras that would work, being designed to accept filters and add-on lenses. You don't have to buy the latest and greatest, just something that can accept filters. In fact some 3-5 year old cameras are better than many of the newer cameras being made today. Check which cameras in the last 3-5 years were getting rave reviews at the time that can also accept filters or has a filter-adapter available for it. |
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