PF Photography: Tips, Tricks, & Photo Sharing

[turbo]

A tighter crop of my ladybug buddy from earlier today. Shot at 135mm (closest focus) with the 28-135 EF.

 

[hypatia]

My Lake

 

[~christina~]

Edit: I was just suggested (on some other forum) that this picture should be titled UFO over Warsaw. As such it is for Ivan

It would be if you cropped above the stick that the man is using to throw the disk with.

 

[larkspur]

Here is a blue-flag (iris) in the shaded little frog-pond near my vegetable garden. As luck would have it, the only little glimmer of sunlight that got through the trees was on the flower. I'm not really happy with the DOF, but it was pretty dark in there.

Lovely color you captured Turbo!

 

[larkspur]

My Lake

That is beautiful hypatia! I really like the clouds.

 

[Astronuc]

Turbo, that's a beautiful flower and great picture. Nice pic of the ladybug (ladybird beetle). If you see a 2-spotted or 8-spotted one let me know. We're looking for indigenous ladybugs.

Borek, thanks for the wonderful pictures from Warsaw. It's on my list of places to go.

hyaptia, I love the picture of the beach, lake and clouds. It's looks so inviting.

 

[turbo]

Thanks, larkspur! It was glowing beautifully in that deep shade. I lost some detail due to the shallow DOF, but that's the price you pay when shooting hand-held with short shutter-speeds. One of my favorite parts of this image is the blue sky reflected from the meniscus at the base of every piece of foliage penetrating the surface of the water. Silly detail to get caught up on, but I like it.

 

[matthyaouw]

Lovely flower macro Turbo, and that lakeside view is amazing hypatia. I love the soft orange light.

I've just bought a hoya r72 infrared filter which I've been playing with today. It blocks out nearly all visible light and if you use long exposures you can cach images using only near infrared, which most digital cameras have some natural ability to pick up. The colours here have been messed with substantially

 

[hypatia]

matthyaouw, looks like we're about to see the strange new world

Thank you larkspur,matthyaouw and Astro, my summer place is just around the point.

 

[turbo]

Lovely flower macro Turbo, and that lakeside view is amazing hypatia. I love the soft orange light.

I've just bought a hoya r72 infrared filter which I've been playing with today. It blocks out nearly all visible light and if you use long exposures you can cach images using only near infrared, which most digital cameras have some natural ability to pick up. The colours here have been messed with substantially

Thanks matt! That's actually a tight crop of a 135mm shot from across that tiny pond.

Nice IR shot. I might want an IR filter someday, if I ever get around to buying a head for my massive old Bogen. There a guy on another forum who plays with IR a lot and his landscapes can be ethereal.

 

[larkspur]

Lovely flower macro Turbo, and that lakeside view is amazing hypatia. I love the soft orange light.

I've just bought a hoya r72 infrared filter which I've been playing with today. It blocks out nearly all visible light and if you use long exposures you can cach images using only near infrared, which most digital cameras have some natural ability to pick up. The colours here have been messed with substantially

Very interesting matthyaouw!

 

[Andre]

Castle Gardens in Asten

fits to:

More to follow

 

[Andre]

That famous sun ray through the tree canopies:

 

[Andre]

All my shots here and most on the other photo threads are made by a new Canon Rebel XSi AKA Canon EOS 450D. I spent weeks selecting the camera and the final decision was only made when comparing reviews were available at DP-review. I really thought that it was going to be a Sony or a Pentax, but one has to be objective. Image quality must prevail especially at higher sensitivities.

But if you get inspired, assuming that I did my homework well enough and follow my example, be careful. The XSi/450D is not a beginners - point and shoot camera, like the Sony A350 for instance. You need to be aware of several pecularities. Nowadays the photography forums are getting flooded with threads like: "My Rebel is consistently focussing badly. it's no good so I returned it and got a Nikon/Sony instead".

I had some focussing issues in the beginning but quickly discovered that it was my own fault. My EOS is fine but you need to know how to handle it. For instance you cannot merely point at the main subject, push the shutter button halfway to do the metering and then recompose the picture, moving the camera. This works fine with most of the digitals but for the Canon, you have to select Auto Focus "one shot" first, then it will focus only once and you can move anything you want.

However if you are in a dynamic situation with subjects moving around constantly then you would select Autofocus "AI-Servo", which keeps checking the distance to the subject in the selected sensors, trying to get you the best focus all the time. Nice for sports but not something you'd like during recomposing.

But there is a compromise setting "AI-Focus", which basically assumes that your subject does not move. But it will check it and if it finds that the subject did move then it will refocus. However this is not fail safe and it may get active refocussing during recomposing resulting in "My Canon is focussing badly - no good".

So should you select the Canon for superior images at economic rates, be prepared to keep thinking what you're doing and check and adjust your settings beforehand, otherwise you'll not be amused. Finally, the "canon - bad" threads all over internet could be a hoax but it's more likely that it's the result of pointers and shooters converting to a real quality machine without doing the homework.

 

[turbo]

Good advice, Andre. My transition from Olympus P&S to Canon 30D was fun, but not trouble-free. The incredible flexibility of the Canon EOS invites experimentation, but the hard reality is that the flexibility offers you a LOT more ways to screw up shots - especially if you change several settings to try to get a particular effect, and neglect to reset them afterward. When I bought the second 30D, it was an out-of-the box new body that had been on display in a shop. The very first thing I did was restore all settings to default (Clear Settings function) because there are just too many options that curious customers might have played with.

Like you, I suspect that people who have negative things to say about these cameras were unprepared for the complexity they would encounter, and they gave their opinions before they had learned how to operate their cameras properly. Getting less-than-ideal photographic results is rarely the fault of the camera.

 

[Andre]

Right, it's fun to play with. I'm getting a bit addicted a bit playing with RAW.

The basic raw shot on 8% (full frame):

After tuning just about everything:

Of course you stumble upon this scenery after the contest is closed.

It's in the shallow IJssel river valley near Zwolle in The Netherlands

 

[Monique]

My attempt of a macro picture

A larger shot, I succeeded in getting both subjects in focus and the sun helped a great deal with the lighting of the church

 

[Andre]

Nice work, Monique, such a extreme large field of view is only possible with a small sensor camera, getting a very small magnification, lens in wide angle and much light for a small aperture. Sensors of pocket camera's are usually around 25% of the size of a DSLR semsor.

Incidently, it is a common mistake to assume that the focal length of the lens is not a factor in determining the field of view. It does, albeit a small factor. Working out the math for that is first years level. It will show that the focal length will remain the in the outcome.

 

[Andre]

A bit more about depth of field (DOF). My extremes, the Panasonic FZ-18 small sensor at wide angle (28mm equivalent SLR) at F8:

and the same begonia moments later taken by Canon large sensor 300mm (480 mm equivalent SLR) at F5.6:

The larger the image the shorter the depth of field. Sometimes benificial, sometimes not.
Reason to keep your point and shoot camera when converting to a DSLR, since the latter won't follow this act:

Depth of field 15cm - infinity. Camera FZ-8 this time.

 

[~christina~]

I wished I lived in such a pretty place Andre, Monique, and hypatia. Too bad there isn't much of that here.

 

[Andre]

Thanks, Christina, In the Netherlands we tend to think that our country is flat and boring, but compared to many places it's very green and life is everywhere. The last picture was taken in southern Germany, where I used to live part time, which is even more green with much more flowers and hills too as you can see .

 

[Andre]

Talking about pretty places, it's my sis who really lives in a pretty place, we came to talk about that in this thread:

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=250146

A few pictures I made the other year.

View from the garden:

The little chateau

Morning fog in the valley:

This is what you see when that morning fog starts to lift up due to convection in the heating of the sun.

Now I know why I travel those 1200 km again so happily.

 

[Borek]

Erm, after Andres pictures the one I am going to post looks completely out of place... But after I have posted photo contest picture Lisab commented on the desk and I just happen to have picture of my desk here, taken last year - and I should not post it in the contest thread, so I am left with this one.

If a clean desk is a sign of sick mind, I am a real picture of health

 

[Astronuc]

If a clean desk is a sign of sick mind, I am a real picture of health

I'm healthier.

 

[turbo]

I'm healthier.

My wife has to clean my desk periodically to make sure that I won't be immortal. The stress of trying to find all my papers, little notes to myself, etc isn't enough to kill me, but it probably cuts my longevity somewhat.

 

[Andre]

Sometimes I hear people wondering: can that bear fly??

Yes, that bear can.

 

[lisab]

Andre, is Pooh Bear more than just your avatar...is it also a nick name, perhaps?

 

[Andre]

Andre, is Pooh Bear more than just your avatar...is it also a nick name, perhaps?

I'm afraid not, Lisa. One does not choose ones own nickname. Mine is `Bee´. We had a very authoritive general. who did not like his nickname `Alf´, since the size of his nose competed with the nose of the alien with that name. No luck, he stayed Alf.

 

[Lisa!]

Is it strange for a woman to be healthy? Anyway add me to the list of healthy PFers!

Erm, after Andres pictures the one I am going to post looks completely out of place... But after I have posted photo contest picture Lisab commented on the desk and I just happen to have picture of my desk here, taken last year - and I should not post it in the contest thread, so I am left with this one.


If a clean desk is a sign of sick mind, I am a real picture of health

I'm healthier.

My wife has to clean my desk periodically to make sure that I won't be immortal. The stress of trying to find all my papers, little notes to myself, etc isn't enough to kill me, but it probably cuts my longevity somewhat.

 

[turbo]

For the past couple of years, I layered my desk with papers loaded with cryptic notes with NGC numbers, ESO designations, Arp and A-M catalog designations. The layers would make no sense to anybody but me, because I knew what kinds of galaxy interactions I was cataloging and why I singled some of these out. The first time my wife cleaned my desk, I probably lost 7-8 of my 9 lives. After that, we came to some sort of agreement.

 

[Borek]

Foggy night here.

 

[tribdog]

I hate it when they build houses on old burial grounds.

 

[lisab]

For the past couple of years, I layered my desk with papers loaded with cryptic notes with NGC numbers, ESO designations, Arp and A-M catalog designations. The layers would make no sense to anybody but me, because I knew what kinds of galaxy interactions I was cataloging and why I singled some of these out. The first time my wife cleaned my desk, I probably lost 7-8 of my 9 lives. After that, we came to some sort of agreement.

And the agreement probably went something like this, I bet:

turbo: Don't touch my stuff.
Mrs turbo: I agree.

 

[tribdog]

And the agreement probably went something like this, I bet:

turbo: Don't touch my stuff.
Mrs turbo: I agree.

Exact opposite I'd bet.

 

[larkspur]

Foggy night here.

\
That certainly is spooky looking Borek. Nice color too.

 

[Borek]

Thank you. Color is more or less accidental (sodium or iodine lamps to the left and to the right), but getting streak of light required some tinkering. Such fog happens here several times a year, there are a large meadows close by (although there are more and more houses built there).

 

[edward]

Foggy night here.

Great picture. I can almost hear the wolves howling in the background...well maybe just an owl hooting.

 

[Borek]

 

[neutrino]

That is one of the domes of the 151 year old building of the University of Madras. The Centenary Building of which this dome is a part was restored last year, as part of the celebrations of the 150th year.

The type of architecture you see here is known as Indo-Saracenic. This incorporates styles from the British/Europe and those native to India, especially that of the Mughals. All the major cities in India which were places of importance during the time of the Raj have buildings in this style.

 

[matthyaouw]

Nice shots Borek. I love the spooky feel of the foggy night one.

 

[neutrino]

[Click for larger version]

I call this Red October. But it was photographed in September.

 

[matthyaouw]

That's a great shot, Neutrino.


This morning I payed the fair a visit, way way before anything was open.

Messed up some of the highlights, but oh well, live and learn.

 

[Andre]

I returned my 70-300mm lens to the retailer today.

Although I've able to make and post many nice crystal crisp pictures, like the flying buzzard, I had many more blurred failures. Sure enough one blames it on motion blur, unsuitable center area for focussing etc but occasional it showed crisp areas close to the real (auto) focus point.

So I decided to test the problem comprehensively and I made a simple test frame on the computer and made many shots from the monitor at an oblique angle

This was the typical result all the time

The center focus point (green crop) blurred while the area slightly closer to the camera (red crop) was exceptionally crisp. Note that -for comparison- the kit lens focussed exactly right all the time. I think I could not accept that the focal point is not within the depth of field at open aperture and hence I made my problem the problem of the retailer.

 

[Borek]

Good catch, got to remember this one.

 

[turbo]

Very innovative, Andre. I've been so impressed by the quality of my Canon gear that I've never bothered to try to locate my old test-chart. Back when I was burning a lot of film with my Olympus 35 mm gear and Bronica ETRs, I gave all the lenses a real thorough going-over.

 

[TFM]

Hi,

I have to say, I have seen lots of great pictures in this thread.

Here is a shot I took over the summer of the great ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2, soon to be a hotel

TFM

 

[edward]

Hi,

I have to say, I have seen lots of great pictures in this thread.

Here is a shot I took over the summer of the great ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2, soon to be a hotel

TFM

That is a great picture TFM. It is almost as if the dark clouds are signaling the end of the QE2 as a passenger ship.

 

[turbo]

Hi,

I have to say, I have seen lots of great pictures in this thread.

Here is a shot I took over the summer of the great ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2, soon to be a hotel

TFM

I like the dark sky, too. It's a nice contrast to the whiteness of the upper decks.

 

[Andre]

This morning. A typical autumn view here.

 

[Borek]

And it is smiling!