Favorite Coaster Pictures

like this Ckidd?



Also this, Talon is just an amazingly photgenic ride



More from my Dorney trip that are damn sexy too:





and finally some Gadv pics

Mo more like the one simba poted I just think its a really cool view, but pretty much ny picture of talon is good. its the mix of colors I think

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0 ... directlink - The Viper at Darien Lake

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/G ... directlink - Predator and Superman

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6 ... directlink - OCC Motocoaster with Boomerang in the background

Really this one were sharper...one day I will nab this perfectly.

Really this one were sharper...one day I will nab this perfectly.

Maybe look into one of these?
http://blog.borrowlenses.com/2011/11/ti ... mbal-head/

Real...your pictures are pretty much what my goals are. Those are simply amazing. Except I only use a point-and-shoot, and I'm sure you have more advanced equipment. XD

He uses an iPhone.

^and adobe photoshop express

Originally posted by Simba

Real...your pictures are pretty much what my goals are. Those are simply amazing. Except I only use a point-and-shoot, and I'm sure you have more advanced equipment. XD

In all seriousness, get yourself a cheap tripod and learn your camera's manual controls. Night shots are a good way to learn exposure. These were taken on a 5 megapixel point and shoot (topped out at like iso400....my DSLR tops out at 12,800 and is usable at 6400 lol) on a shitty $20 Gorillapod:









And this was on a slightly more advanced (but still a point and shoot) S90:

I clicked on this thread expecting my mind to be blown when I saw that Real and Freddie posted in it.

Expectations exceeded.

There are things I like to learn much about. Roller coasters, music and a few of its instruments such as guitar and sax, and I know a thing or two about computers. When it comes to cameras, however, I'm ridiculously illiterate and I fear that there are so many variables that I'll never understand the workings of cameras and how to take quality photos. So, until I learn about the subject, if I do at all, I shall admire the incredible quality of the pictures every one of you have posted.

Originally posted by Freddie

He uses an iPhone.

Not even. Moto Razr. Original....wait...

The Gimbal heads look so nice. I think for that I was hand holding so I'm pretty proud of that. Panning is so hard to do well. That's why panned shots pulled off look so astonishing, at least to me.

I've just invested in a battery grip and a flash to start doing some flash work. But I look forward to taking the flash to park to "freeze" some shots. The 430ex II has a range of 43m. I'm sure being within 10-20m of the ride will suffice.


Thanks for the great comments guys! It may be selfish but I do feed off of those comments. Sometimes I look at my work and don't think its that great. Being a perfectionist, sometimes its hard to see how good or bad something I've done is or how well people actually receive it. Got some goals out there photography related, some day I hope to attain those.

Ah, that is really good for hand holding. Assumed you did it on a pan head.

Does your 430 fit tight in your shoe? I find on mine it can wiggle left and right and if tilted back it can fall out of place and lose contact. I have to really force it in to get it to maintain contact all the time.

It fits tight on my extension cables so I think it might be the shoe on the cam itself, but I'm not sure because my extensions fit fine on that as well lol. Other than that it's a cool flash...the wireless stuff is awesome. I used it for a Halloween photo shoot thing we did at work and I had it up on a riser shelf firing backwards into a 20x30 white board and it worked extremely well. Had my own little portrait studio in the seasonal aisle of CVS lol.

Almost all of my pans were done by hand only till very recently. That one of Dragster was a hand hold, no grip, etc.

My 430 EX II fits nice and snug. Its got the nice little button slide that locks it into place.

This thread is orgasmic

^This thread is orgasmic. Those Cedar Point pictures are unbelievable.

Originally posted by Freddie



In all seriousness, get yourself a cheap tripod and learn your camera's manual controls. Night shots are a good way to learn exposure. These were taken on a 5 megapixel point and shoot (topped out at like iso400....my DSLR tops out at 12,800 and is usable at 6400 lol) on a shitty $20 Gorillapod:

I actually have a little $10 tripod and I was just starting out with night shots when my camera died in OCMD. XD I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with regards to getting a camera now though. Almost all of my pictures are taken at amusement parks, and I don't plan on pursuing photography as anything more than a hobby, so I'm not sure if I should get something that's like everything-proof for enduring my coaster trips, or a generic point-and-shoot that I can pocket on coasters, or if I should get an actually nice camera.
I guess, since you guys seem to be the gurus on photography around here, would you recommend anything?

And here are my best night shots (The before I got a tripod):

Maybe see if you can find a Rebel T2i. It's an older model so it should be cheaper (looks like the current price is $650 with the kit lens, which is damn good for whats inside that camera) and it will be great to learn on and a lot of room to grow lens wise. If you want to stick to a point and shoot, Canon's S100 or the Fuji X10 (pricey though) will be hard to beat.

You could also go for a used body but you need to buy from a reputable place like B&H or Adorama, and be sure to ask for the shutter count. SLRs have lots of moving parts and mechanical mechanisms that wear out over time. Buying a camera with 80k clicks isn't a good idea.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/SLR-D ... 4294182649

Before you buy anything though go to a store and handle different brands and get a feel for where they place buttons and how comfortable the camera feels to you. Canon people and Nikon people are extremely polarized but really the differences in quality are so insignificant that it just comes down to what feels better. I and Real happen to fall in the Canon camp, though IMO for bottom of the line SLRs Nikon's D3100 feels great (if only they didn't bury everything in menus). Be sure to check out some mirrorless cams too, the Olympus Pens are pretty nice.

Any of the smaller, cheaper DSLR's are pretty great now. I think though the ones a few years older are actually ideal. The newer ones are cramming way too many pixels into the sensors which is actually reducing image quality - ESPECIALLY sharpness. Sure the image is huge but its pretty simple mathematics.

I think on the cropped sensor, about 14mp to be the MAX before you start losing quality. The Rebels and the lower Nikons are all great.


My stance has always been this:

Canon - edges out Nikon in the action department. Lenses and bodies seem to be geared towards it. Look at any sporting event. The White lenses are Canon Leses.

Nikon - seems to edge out Canon for Landscape/portrait in controls and body/lens setup.



But its all personal preference. Im on Google+ where the photography field is THRIVING like no where else. There isnt a single place where so many photographers have come together and theres so much sharing of photos and conversation. Flickr is a joke next to it. I highly reccommend signing up to G+ and if anything, look me up - Anthony Harrison and Ill share my Photography Circle with you to get you started. I've been learning so much just browsing photos, reading the hundreds of thousands of comments, help articles and conversations.

And that doesn't count all the video Hangouts I've NOT attended that are free and contained all sorts of training sessions.


Even if just for inspiration on all levels of photography, that side of G+ has absolutely exploded.

I'm by no means a good or experienced photographer, but a few years ago I got a Sony DSCH55 or whatever point-and-shoot, and it's been phenomenal. It's got all sorts of manual controls on it, and it was only $200. 14 MP, 10x zoom, 28mm lens I believe (but don't quote me on that). So if you're looking for a cheapish camera that takes really good pictures, I highly, highly recommend that one.

The following are shots I took with nothing but the camera and an $8 mini tripod from the microcenter.

A small selection of some pictures I like.

[Coasterkidmwm]

Goddamn the little horizontal sections on the supports of the tophat turn thing on Blue Fire irk me. Can never figure out what they're for.

The Starflyer picture is excellent. I was it was slanted around 30 degrees less but that is probably an impossiblity given how the ride runs.

[hyyyper]

Here are some of my best.

Shot with a Canon SX100IS:





Canon SX110IS:













Canon SX1IS:

Holy File Size Batman! Come on guys, resize that stuff! I shouldnt have to wait for the whole thread to load even with pictures, Im on 24mb internet here! LOL

Gouldy will never have this open. His torrents get him like 100kbps, poor chap.

[TheArchitect]

hyyyper can you email me that one of Katun's helix, like, as big as possible. Thanks man, amazing shot.

I really want to stick to a point-and-shoot just because I need to be able to pocket stuff - I don't carry much with me and all of my photography will be at amusement parks or hanging out with friends when we go adventuring. Combine that with the stupid Six Flags locker policies and I'd rather be able to just slide past the locker attendants and not have to pay $1 everytime I wanna ride something.
I really fell in love with the S100... too bad I can nowhere near afford it. XD I think I might eventually get the S90 instead, simply because it's cheaper and doesn't seem to sacrifice much of what I want from the S100... I'm still looking into point-and-shoots with long shutter speeds though. Mine had 4 seconds, I think, but I want at least that, if not more. I want to get something small to hold me over until I can afford better cameras, but it's difficult searching for specific shutter speeds.