# Grrr! Grrr! Grrr! Horrible el-cheapo tripod of mine (attempts at HDR gone wrong!)



## LaFoto (Mar 2, 2007)

On that second day of winter (we had two, one at the end of January and one on 9 February), I tried to go out and create some photos that I planned to use for a trial HDR in Photomatix. So I put my camera on the tripod and took the three photos, each a stop apart (by time), and what did I get in the end??? Look  

1.






2.





3.





4.





I stopped caring about proper tone mapping and about getting myself more familiarized with this process, when I saw that my tripod had played these tricks on me  :er: :x  . Grrr.

Oh, and by the way: the last two were taken with the kit lens, the first two with the tele-zoom, which, of course, is longer, heavier, and more "pulling" ... but a tripod should not ALLOW for this!!!!!!!!!! *stomps foot*


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## Sw1tchFX (Mar 2, 2007)

get a heavier tripod.


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## EBphotography (Mar 2, 2007)

Aww.:hug::

In addition to Sw1tchFX's (You need a more simple name, for me to type.), does your tripod have a little hook on it? In the middle of the three legs?  If so, you could hook a heavy bag of something (sand, rocks, macaroni and cheese, your children) to keep it down.  Just an idea.

Eric.


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## EOS_JD (Mar 2, 2007)

Manfroto 190 or 055 proB


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## Alex_B (Mar 2, 2007)

EBphotography said:


> If so, you could hook a heavy bag of something (sand, rocks, macaroni and cheese, your *children*)


 
:lmao: but isn't child labour illegal in some countries?


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## Mohain (Mar 2, 2007)

Can you auto bracket with your camera? Do you have a remote shutter release? When I do my HDRs I set the auto bracket to +/- 2 stops, set the mode to high speed shooting stick the camera on the tripod and use a remote release (in fact with the 30D you can sometimes get away with no tripod if all the exposures are high enough to hand hold due to the fast burst mode).


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## EBphotography (Mar 2, 2007)

Alex_B said:


> :lmao: but isn't child labour illegal in some countries?



Well, if you use macaroni and cheese AND children, they can't complain because they are well fed.


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## LaFoto (Mar 2, 2007)

Well, there is this little hook, and I can hang something heavy from there.
I doubt that flimsy tripod would suffer an almost 18-year-old 6ft person, though, no matter how skinny that person might be (for example). That might mean the absolute end of that tripod (which, by the look of things, would not be the worst case!).

It is not that the tripod as such shook in the wind or so.
The threads and screws are so "el cheapo" ... the camera "sinks" from step to step (and hey: auto-bracketing? Never heard of that ... must check if for that possible function ... and here I was thinking I meanwhile KNEW my camera!?!??).

And :scratch: ... weeeeeelllll ...... no remote release 
Only the el-cheapo tripod, no polariser cry: ), no really GOOD tele-zoom lens, nor any really good lens at all (not even the 50mm lens that I have been dreaming of for months now), no good filters ... just me and my 350D. 

Hey, that rhymes, and at least Alex must know that "what rhymes is good" (Pumuckl)!


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## cal_gundert05 (Mar 2, 2007)

I was just wondering how well tripods work when taking multiple exposures, for HDR images, for example.  I guess it depends largely on the tripod.

In regards to auo-bracketing, I read a (possibly outdated) article that said most auto-bracketing doesn't allow for enough exposure variation.

Also, I don't know much about HDR, but are you supposed to change the shutter speed to get the different exposures (because changing aperture would give you different DOFs)?  If so, do you set your camera to aperture-priority mode, with auto-bracketing (so the different exposures result from different speeds)?

hey, look, a pirate.......


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## LaFoto (Mar 2, 2007)

Well, I was in M.
And in M I can change both but did not do anything about aperture. I changed the exposure times only.
Fat good it did me, though :roll: ... with a tripod like this!
You see that the effect lessens with the smaller kit lens (last two photos), but the long, heavier telephoto lens made the camera sink step by step in the really short periods of time between taking one exposure, setting the new time, taking the next, new time and the third. Hmph...


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## DSLR noob (Mar 2, 2007)

My guess is that, since you did not know about auto bracketing, the tripod was moving while you were changing your settings, I.E. changing shutter speed and aperture.
 Try again without touching the camera.


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## doenoe (Mar 3, 2007)

you got the 350D right? Its got autobracket on it. Go to menu, then the second tab. The first thing you see there is AEB, which is the autobracket thing. Press Set en with the left and right arrows you choose how many stops you want between the shots. Then press set again and you are ready to roll.
Choose continues shooting and put your camera on the tripod. Then you press the shutter and hold it. It will take 3 pics with different exposures. Or dont set it on continues and push the shutter 3 times, but i think you will have a bigger chance of moving the camera then. Best thing to do is use a remote control, for all i know.
Anyways, hope this helps


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## Alex_B (Mar 3, 2007)

LaFoto said:


> Hey, that rhymes, and at least Alex must know that "what rhymes is good" (Pumuckl)!



Si! 

By the way, the first one is great! Not what you tried to achieve, but if you had told us you wanted it to look that way, you would have gotten some applause!


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## xxjinxyjinxxx (Mar 6, 2007)

They still look good even if it wasn't what you wanted them to look like. They're unique! Unique is awesome!


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## LaFoto (Mar 6, 2007)

Alex_B said:


> By the way, the first one is great! Not what you tried to achieve, but *if you had told us you wanted it to look that way, you would have gotten some applause*!


 
Ah :idea:

OK. Listen folks ... that first photo here is what I had always wanted to achieve in the first place. It only came into this blooper-section by accident! You hear me. By accident (not saying the PHOTO came about by accident ... all planned. PLANNED :greenpbl: ).

(Only does that photo almost render me BLIND any time I look at it ...  )


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## xxjinxyjinxxx (Mar 6, 2007)

ooooooh i see! lol. It's a good picture. It reminds me of the back of this book I'm reading called, "A crack in the line" There's a tree that looks like that. I like it! Very cool and creepy all in one!


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## Alex_B (Mar 6, 2007)

LaFoto said:


> e BLIND any time I look at it ...  )



oh, and I thought it was just me


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## karissa (Mar 6, 2007)

:lmao::lmao: LaFoto, I'm sorry to laugh at your sufferings but the title of this post is just to funny. :hug::


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## neea (Mar 7, 2007)

:lmao::lmao:
Aww. I'm sorry too. I feel your pain.
The first ones great. It could be used for an anti drinking and driving campaign. If you look at for a few seconds it's as if it's moving on you, your eyes are so desperatley trying to find something to focus on.

I like #4.


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## TomHuck-wa (Mar 8, 2007)

I use a 20D and auto bracket one full stop plus and minus, that gives me three pictures at one setup, it works well. You will almost always get a good exposure especially when you take it into cs2 and look at the alternative exposures and colorations.


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## gmarquez (Mar 27, 2007)

If you are not using any sort of remote, one way to get a good tripod shot without getting "finger push" vibration is to set the camera's timer.  Set the timer for three seconds, compose the shot, and press the shutter release.  Three seconds later, when the camera has probably settled down, your picture will be taken.  Now add some autobracketing, and you should get a series of underexposed->overexposed pictures with no photographer  induced movement.

Just a thought.


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## LaFoto (Mar 27, 2007)

Well, G, I used that method for night shots before so I would not touch the camera at all in the moment of release but wasn't thinking when I took these. Well, it was a very dull day, anyway, and I should have spent some more thoughts or time on these ... alas! I did not. I was only intent on trying out bracketing (never knowing about the autorbracket function, actually I never knew what the AEB in my menue stood for and why the green dots go apart  ) ... and was a bit upset about the result later, but now I am beginning to find these funny  !


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## karissa (Mar 27, 2007)

I tried to run some HDR's the other day... I had 0 luck getting anything decent out of CS2's HDR function.  Donno what I was doing wrong but.. some of my originals looked better than the HDR it produced and frankly... it didn't look like it was taking the best of all the pictures... Maybe I'm just HDR stupid.


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