Money Spinner?

[IanClark]

Camera was fired off on 10 second timer, coin spun at 9 seconds and the shot taken with a view to freezing the motion of the coin but without it actually being flat or perfectly upright.

WDYT? :) (It's an image taken for a basic kudos only monthly comp on another forum - The theme is "Money")



Image Date: 2010:01:22 04:00:33
Flash Used: YES, Off Camera to the right, Diffused at 1/64th power and bounced off the ceiling also.
Focal Length: 50.0mm
Exposure Time: 0.125 s (1/8)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO equiv: 400
White Balance: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual

[James Wheeler]

I really like this, well done Ian.

There is a bit of an odd reflection under the coin to it's left side which makes you peer at it rather than appreciating the whole image. That could do with being removed.

Was the lens the nifty?

Why did you opt to use the timer rather than shoot it yourself, absence of shutter release cable? (Just interested :) )

[jlbatty]

Hi Ian,

Great setup and a nice result in mono. Heavily considered if not the winner in your competition.

Was the shot really taken at 04:00?!?

[IanClark]

Cheers James, Jon. (yes it was taken at 4am.. - Zero distractions :) )

The reflection is actually ghosting of the coin as it was spinning. I must admit I wanted a touch of movement in there but I may consider cloning out.

It was the Nifty Fifty, used to get the DoF to the levels I wanted. Focus was done using a pound coin stood in the area I was hoping the 10p would be spinning around.

With regards to shooting using the timer, I do have an IR shutter release but as I had to spin the coin at the right time, activating the shutter with IR and not being in the shot would have probably ended up me face planting the entire setup..haha. :)

So I decided on timer so that at the 9th second, I could give the 10p a bit of a twist.

[Snap-o-rama]

The 'motion blur' on the coin works for me...in fact I wonder if it could use a little more. I'm not so sure if cloning out is such a good idea....without it, there'll be a coin hanging at an incongruous angle, and that'll just look weird (a bit like a shot of a plane in flight where the propellers have been frozen by an over-fast shutter).

[Paul Iddon]

A very strong image this - and must be worth a punt if I was going to put money on it.... :p


Paul.

[IanClark]

Thanks Dave, I did try some cloning but it just didn't work so i gave up. I'm going to stick with the image as it is :)

I did attempt to get some more motion in the coin spinning but I every time I took the shot the coin was mostly too blurred and the image far too dark. I hate ISO 800 and above on the 400D. So I opted for partial freezing on the image with use of the flash and tweaked the shutter so that I could balance some motion without blowing all the highlights out. Plus it was my first foray into off camera flash :)

Hehe Paul
Cheers mate :)

[StuBill]

This is cool Ian. Love the focus and detail.
I agree a touch more blurr on the moving coin might look great too.
How about trying with poker chips

[IanClark]

Cheers Stu.

...and that's a great idea. Reckon I'll pull out my poker table and chips and replicate the shot. Possibly a chance for some colour popping too. :)

[IanClark]

Hi Ian,

Great setup and a nice result in mono. Heavily considered if not the winner in your competition.

Was the shot really taken at 04:00?!?

Hey Jon,

My shot won the comp. 37 votes with the next having 9.

[Mark W]

Nice one Ian well done mate.

[Paul Iddon]

Forgone conclusion m8 :)


Paul.

[IanClark]

Cheers guys :)

[rob lloyd]

Good idea, something different. There is always something to take when it is raining if you have the imagination. Rob

[IanClark]

Thank you Rob.