"HOW TO" pier panorama

Why is the picture working and why i chose my camera settings?

camera and settings: CANON EOS 5D MK II, 16-35MM USM II @ 16MM, F/18, 25SEC, ISO-50

• Set up the camera exact in the middle of the pier to get am symmetric picture.
• Use a wide angel lens to get a wide view from the area.
• Set the camera in the ride angel, the pier should not split the horizon waterline.
• Cut out the picture in a panoramic format. The waterline should not be in the middle of the picture to get a harmonic picture. Use the golden ratio rule. Wikipedia
• Adjust the camera on a high aperture f/18 to get from the frond till background all in focus.
• Use a low ISO to get the long exposer time from 25 sec. To bring the lake flat and quiet. Don't forget the tripod.

see the photo in original size on my site: direct link

DSLR long exposing calculator

Here is a little calculator to calculate the exposure with different settings from “f”, “sec” and “ISO”. I use this for my longtime picture by night, then the camera ends by 30sec. During the night you will may have one minutes ore even longer. The calculator works with all DSLR camera ore cameras with BULB function.

The calculator works from 1/8000sec til 30720sec, from ISO 50 til ISO 204800 and from f1 til f64.

Tip: for longer exposing over 30sec you will need a remote controller and your camera have to bee in the BULB mode. Details will you find in your specific camera manual for your DSLR

download

making of the "Big Ben" picture

here can you sea all the 6 photos in a row how i took to find the right angel.

The photo's are without post production, just how it comes out of the camera 

here is the picture a little bit bigger to see more details

A: This was the first shoot to become a little the feeling for the spot and how it look's like as a photo. the light are great and there is some dynamic with the red an white car lights.


B: I tilt a little bit the camera to the left. you can see there is much more dynamic in the picture than in picture A. but i was thinking the tip of big bean should be in the left corner.


C: In this picture the tip of big Ben is in a nice position, but i did not like the bottom then the lines was not parallel to the bottom.


D: I moved the camera a couple of meters to the right to manage the bottom lines problem.


E: Here is the bottom not relay bad, but the tip of Big Ben is not in the exact upper left corner. and there’s no car lights on the street A3211. (probably is turning left nothing for English ;) )


F: I turn the camera a little bit up moved slightly to the left an there is the right position. Final photo

What did i used for this picture

• 11min of time from the first to the last picture
• a tripod
• a standard canon 5d mark II
• a 16-35mm USM II lens @ 16mm
• a remote control

How did I bring the red and with lights in the picture?

• Just use a long shutter speed. (5-60sec) the cars with their lights do the rest.
• The timing is all, analyze the traffic then you will know when to start the shoot.

some day's in London

I spend a week ago a couple of day's in london. it's a realy nice place 4 photographing. I used my canon 5d mark II, the 16-35mm lens and a gitzo tripod. My best pictures are on my website www.gonjoo.com

one evening did i spend in the "ace cafe london" >> http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/
this is so a crazy place, if you ar intrest in cars bikes and burgers, you will have your fun there ;) don' forget your camera

What's in my camera bag

Here are a list of my camera equipment how I use to shoot my landscapes photos on gonjoo.com

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II    >>
• Canon 16-35mm USM II lens  >>
• Gitzo GT 1541T tripod and a center ball head GH1780QR >>
• 2 HOYA grey-filter ND4 & ND8 I put both in one filtering with a small self-drilling spacer-ring, so I do have a 32 times longer exposer than without filter. >>

what do I like on my tools and what not.

• I choose the canon 5DmarkII, than it has a full frame sensor so I do have 60% more picture with my 16mm lens than with a cropfactor camera. And wide angel view is so important for my style of landscape photos. The 21mpixel are perfect for printing in large size and top quality. A good point is the low ISO from ISO50 for long exposer. But on this point would I love to have much deeper ISO ISO25, 10 or 2... so I could go up with the shutter-speed. but it looks like that the ISO range just goes up and up. 
• My 16-35 lens. you can read a lot of test in the internet so I will not go deeper in details. I' m really happy with it. the quality is perfect. and I really like the wide angel from 16mm. 
• My Gitzo. There a lot of love in the gitzo design. the quality is perfect. open and adust in a couple of seconds. just 1 kg! and stable like 1000 year old church ;). on the other hand around 1000$ for a tripod is a lot, but I would not change to a other one. but what I not understand on the head is a adjust screw with sharp corners. but with a nail file is this fix in 1 minutes!
• Filters. the big problem is 32longer exposer is OK but I would like more 400 times would be perfect but with a filter diameter from 82mm is the strongest filter just 8 times. the longer exposer do i use to make the dream effect on waterfall photos. 30secs are OK but sometimes I would like to have 1-2 minutes and this during a sunny day.