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Alamy content team: Top tip?


mickfly

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This is the latest on the Alamy Content Twitter feed..

"Top tip: If you want to photograph stars at night put your camera on the widest f/stop possible and shutter speed at 20 seconds. If you want a light trail, increase your shutter speed. Try changing your ISO if the shot's still too dark"


Really Alamy?!

 

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13 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

i actually went and tried it, it doesn't work...  all i got was a white image  .

 

oh i need to wait for nighttime 

LOL I found it concesending when they are supposed to dealing with photographers who know how to supply a stock library... and, they got it wrong anyway.

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13 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

...  all i got was a white image  .

 

Useful for when you need a white background.

 

Allan

 

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14 hours ago, mickfly said:

This is the latest on the Alamy Content Twitter feed..

"Top tip: If you want to photograph stars at night put your camera on the widest f/stop possible and shutter speed at 20 seconds. If you want a light trail, increase your shutter speed. Try changing your ISO if the shot's still too dark"


Really Alamy?!

 

How is it "wrong"? You'd get a reasonable image.

Edited by spacecadet
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2 hours ago, spacecadet said:

How is it "wrong"? You'd get a reasonable image.

 

Not mounted on tripod?

 

Allan

 

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4 hours ago, spacecadet said:

How is it "wrong"? You'd get a reasonable image.

"If you want a light trail, INCREASE shutter speed". (should be decrease shutter speed)

Why are they trying to give very simple 'tips' to what should already be good photographers?

Edited by mickfly
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7 minutes ago, mickfly said:

"If you want a light trail, INCREASE shutter speed". (should be decrease shutter speed)

Why are they trying to give very simple 'tips' to what should already be good photographers?

I would take "increase" to mean "give a longer exposure". Which is correct for star trails.

Edited by spacecadet
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Increase the time the shutter is open by reducing shutter speed is correct, which is not what they said.
Tips are meant to simplify things.
I'm not being pedantic, they were questioned on Twitter and answered it badly.

 

Edited by mickfly
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This demonstrates how much confusion can be caused by loose terminology. I agree with Mick Flynn if the term shutter speed is taken literally although I can understand what spacecadet is saying.
 

The real problem here is that whoever wrote the tip did not think it through, moreover given that it is aimed at novices it would seem.  The advice to increase your shutter speed is at best confusing as it is completely ambiguous. Taken literally increase your speed means go faster or in other words use a shorter time. Experience photographers will know what was meant but that is not the point. It should have been stated as “use a longer (or slower) shutter speed”. Then it would be completely unambiguous. I have seen the confusion over this when explaining the concept to novices. Aperture is worse again. 
 

Fundamentally and this is being pedantic, the term shutter speed is actually incorrect anyway, it should be shutter time. 

 

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