PF Photography: Tips, Tricks, & Photo Sharing

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around photography tips and sharing personal experiences with capturing images. Participants offer advice on hosting photos, suggesting platforms like ImageShack and emphasizing the importance of image size to maintain thread readability. Several users share their photos, including pets and wildlife, discussing composition, focus, and post-processing techniques. There is a focus on improving image quality through tools like GIMP for editing, with discussions about color balance and white balance settings to enhance photos. Users also exchange feedback on each other's work, highlighting the importance of constructive criticism for growth in photography skills. Additionally, there are mentions of joining photography groups for more in-depth critiques and learning opportunities. The conversation touches on the challenges of capturing wildlife and the technical aspects of photography, such as aperture settings and lens choices, while fostering a supportive community for beginners and experienced photographers alike.
  • #551
Borek said:
Ah well... once you know details, magic disappears :wink:

wazon2.jpg


Exit to the backyard/garden. Vase with a dried rose is there all the time, just stands about half a meter to the left. Single halogen light on most of the time. Blinds (shades? not sure how to call them in English) are semipermeable, so the shadow is visible on the outside - and I took the picture standing behind the door. Add some position/light adjusting for the best effect.

Very nice, Borek...it still has magic, even after learning its history.

But I keep waiting for someone to walk through the door...CRASH!
 
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  • #552
Andre said:
and the same flowers with the Canon 450D with 18-55mm kit lens reduced to 18% x 18%
That kit lens is pretty amazing. I was put off by the lightness of mine when I unpacked it, and figured that I would be replacing it with a "proper" short lens soon. Wrong. The plastic body holds a really wonderful suite of glass.
 
  • #553
Borek said:
Ah well... once you know details, magic disappears :wink:

wazon2.jpg


Exit to the backyard/garden. Vase with a dried rose is there all the time, just stands about half a meter to the left. Single halogen light on most of the time. Blinds (shades? not sure how to call them in English) are semipermeable, so the shadow is visible on the outside - and I took the picture standing behind the door. Add some position/light adjusting for the best effect.

Thanks Borek.
 
  • #554
lisab said:
But I keep waiting for someone to walk through the door...CRASH!

Won't happen, I have put the vase in this place only to take the picture :smile:
 
  • #557
Andre said:
But it's fun, isn't it?

Anyway for those who seriously want to try photography on tight budgets (<150$) DP-Review has just published a comparison review.

Not surprized about the overall winner

I have to say that it's treated me well since I got it three years ago...taken many, many, many photo's with it. That review is an interesting read though.

Still can't wait to finish my studies, get a decent job and buy myself that elusive DSLR! :wink:
 
  • #558
phyzmatix said:
Still can't wait to finish my studies, get a decent job and buy myself that elusive DSLR! :wink:

Better be really sure if you need one. For instance check these two macro pictures with 100% crops of the head:

Taken with the 150$ Panasonic FZ-8 (but excluding the additional required close up lens #1.5 of some 20-30$):

33a712p.jpg


taken with the $600 Canon 450D (XTi) with the kit lens:

2myqnhd.jpg


Having discovered that neither the Canon kit lens nor the telezoom are particulary good at this kind of work, I'm intending to do some more extravagant spending and getting a dedicated macro lens. On the short list are the Canon EF 100mm USM Macro and the Tamron 90mm Macro. Suggestions anybody?
 
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  • #559
Hi, Andre. I just hopped out to the kitchen table and snapped a picture of the root-end of a bulb of garlic with a penny for scale. The lens is the 28-135 USM IS. It's not a great macro lens, but it covers a fair range of focal lengths, and close-focuses to 18" or so. It's a nice walk-around lens. Poor incandescent lighting on a dark snowy day = shallow D.O.F.
macro.jpg

macrocrop.jpg


And here is a tight crop using less than 20% of the frame. Same lens.
damnBeetles.jpg
 
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  • #560
turbo-1 said:
Hi, Andre. I just hopped out to the kitchen table and snapped a picture of the root-end of a bulb of garlic with a penny for scale. The lens is the 28-135 USM IS. It's not a great macro lens, but it covers a fair range of focal lengths, and close-focuses to 18" or so. It's a nice walk-around lens. Poor incandescent lighting on a dark snowy day = shallow D.O.F.

Nice work Turbo, I'll have a closer look at that glass. Actually I was contemplating the primes since it's the sharpest you can get, especially in the 100mm range. the Tokina 100mm wins here on crispness but dropped out of the shortlist due to poor focussing. Actually the Tamron is still sharper (a wee tiny bit) than the Canon but the latter has a quick silent focus with no moving parts on the outside, scaring off butterflies, while the Tamron is a scaring beast, popping out the big cilinder suddenly with a lot of noise. Yet is the Canon worth an additional 130 euro?
 
  • #561
Andre said:
Nice work Turbo, I'll have a closer look at that glass. Actually I was contemplating the primes since it's the sharpest you can get, especially in the 100mm range.
I was considering a prime, too with the intent of getting a fast macro, and then this lens came up with a 30D body as a new-but-out-of-box combo from a store at a really good price so I snagged it. It's great for sunny days, and 18" focus at 135mm (plus the crop factor of the smaller chip) magnifies things pretty well.

When I was shooting film, I would drag around several OM-1s and an OM-4, all loaded with fast primes. That's a lot of gear to take care of. The quality of the Canon zooms let's me pare down to two lenses on two bodies to cover 28-400mm (plus the kit lens if I want to go down to 18mm)
 
  • #562
turbo-1 said:
I was considering a prime, too with the intent of getting a fast macro, and then this lens came up with a 30D body as a new-but-out-of-box combo from a store at a really good price so I snagged it. It's great for sunny days, and 18" focus at 135mm (plus the crop factor of the smaller chip) magnifies things pretty well.

When I was shooting film, I would drag around several OM-1s and an OM-4, all loaded with fast primes. That's a lot of gear to take care of. The quality of the Canon zooms let's me pare down to two lenses on two bodies to cover 28-400mm (plus the kit lens if I want to go down to 18mm)

Granted but if you want to see the facets/ compounds of the butterflies eyes then the zoom may be disappointing. I did a direct comparison here.

Hover over the arrow on top of the crop to toggle between the two and see why I still think about the prime, although it's more expensive and sadly without IS.
 
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  • #563
You're right, of course. One cannot expect the sharpness and lack of CA of a nice prime from an inexpensive zoom. If you're going to do a lot of macro photography, the choice is a clear one. Of course, if I could buy all the lenses that I wanted, I'd have to hire a porter to follow me around carrying cases and gear-bags.
 
  • #564
Right, so there is the big bag and the small bag carrying only camera with one other lens, and crossing fingers for having selected the right ones.

Also the (slight) advantage of the prime is the 2.8 opening for better focussing and better bokeh for portraits.
 
  • #565
Andre said:
Also the (slight) advantage of the prime is the 2.8 opening for better focussing and better bokeh for portraits.
That speed can help offset the lack of IS too, if you have enough light to stay with fast shutter speeds.

I've been down this road before and was tempted by the 100mm macro, but when the 28-135 and 30D combo came up new for less than $1000 (including shipping), I had to buy it. It's nice to have the 28-135 on one 30D and the 100-400 on the other. Fewer lens changes = fewer opportunities for dust, pollen, etc to get into the bodies.
 
  • #566
What is a prime lens. I have an DSLR, but I am unsure what one is...?

TFM
 
  • #567
TFM said:
What is a prime lens. I have an DSLR, but I am unsure what one is...?

TFM

A prime lens is fixed focus. No zoom. The drawback is obvious but the advantage is that prime lenses are always crisper. For a lot more of terminology go here:

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/
 
  • #568
Ah, Thanks for the information/link :smile:

TFM
 
  • #569
turbo-1 said:
That speed can help offset the lack of IS too, if you have enough light to stay with fast shutter speeds.

I've been down this road before and was tempted by the 100mm macro, but when the 28-135 and 30D combo came up new for less than $1000 (including shipping), I had to buy it. It's nice to have the 28-135 on one 30D and the 100-400 on the other. Fewer lens changes = fewer opportunities for dust, pollen, etc to get into the bodies.

Absolutely, ideally you want a single lens and the Panasonic FZ-x8 series is an excellent solution (although the focussing is too slow for action).

But the larger aperture is not helping the exposure in macro situation, you simply have to work between F8 - F16 and have a little more than a paper sheet thick depth of field. So it's always a trade off, flash, sun, tripod, high ISO.
 
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  • #570
Yep! Trade-offs all around. The IS let's me get away with some shots that really shouldn't be hand-held otherwise.

I have an old Bogen tripod, but no head. I put the head on my old Gitzo Pro Studex 412, and later sold it. So all my shots are hand-held, which is OK. Really good, solid tripods are heavy, and that's just one more thing to lug around. I should probably break down and buy a head to get long-exposure shots of streams and waterfalls (which we have in abundance here), surf, etc.
 
  • #571
Andre said:
Better be really sure if you need one.

I'd go for anything that can shoot RAW and have interchangeable lenses. My point and shoot ALWAYS has either jpg artefacts or a lot of noise (even when shooting manual with low iso). Unless it's your ideal 25 degrees C, sunny day, 5 metres from subject type conditions, it just doesn't do what I'd like it to do.

Oh, and here's another of my creations, a heavily manipulated find from a museum in Lviv, Ukraine:

http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/border:noborder/product:mounted-print/size:small/view:preview/373985-6-scratch-this.jpg
 
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  • #572
phyzmatix said:
I'd go for anything that can shoot RAW and have interchangeable lenses. My point and shoot ALWAYS has either jpg artefacts or a lot of noise (even when shooting manual with low iso). Unless it's your ideal 25 degrees C, sunny day, 5 metres from subject type conditions, it just doesn't do what I'd like it to do.

Oh, and here's another of my creations, a heavily manipulated find from a museum in Lviv, Ukraine:

http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/border:noborder/product:mounted-print/size:small/view:preview/373985-6-scratch-this.jpg
[/URL]

Nice work.

The Panasonics are all RAW capable and the supporting software includes the http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/SILKYPIX-Review-78117.shtml but noise is a problem for all smaller sensors. One should not use any ISO higher than the basic setting. That's why I moved to the SLR, where image quality at high ISO was the main criterium, since if you want to shoot butterflies and such, you need but small apertures and short shutter speeds, hence you're forced to crank up the ISO or use flash.
 
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  • #573
Well I've finally got fed up of having to choose between my old Olympus OMs (pain of having to get the film and photos developed!) and my low resolution 'idiot camera' (pain of such little control over the settings), and have treated myself to a nice new shiny Olympus E420 DSLR, with a 14-48mm f3.5 lens. What a fantastic camera. The lens is ok for the price too, but I'm looking at their 'pancake' 25mm f2.8 prime. Still trying to get to grips with the autofocus system but you'll hopefully be seeing a few more of my entries in the photo competition now!

I took this one this morning in the woods up behind my house.

PB290541.jpg
 
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  • #574
brewnog said:
Well I've finally got fed up of having to choose between my old Olympus OMs (pain of having to get the film and photos developed!) and my low resolution 'idiot camera' (pain of such little control over the settings), and have treated myself to a nice new shiny Olympus E420 DSLR, with a 14-48mm f3.5 lens. What a fantastic camera. The lens is ok for the price too, but I'm looking at their 'pancake' 25mm f2.8 prime. Still trying to get to grips with the autofocus system but you'll hopefully be seeing a few more of my entries in the photo competition now!

I took this one this morning in the woods up behind my house.

PB290541.jpg

Beautiful shot!
 
  • #575
brewnog said:
Well I've finally got fed up of having to choose between my old Olympus OMs (pain of having to get the film and photos developed!) and my low resolution 'idiot camera' (pain of such little control over the settings), and have treated myself to a nice new shiny Olympus E420 DSLR, with a 14-48mm f3.5 lens. What a fantastic camera. The lens is ok for the price too, but I'm looking at their 'pancake' 25mm f2.8 prime. Still trying to get to grips with the autofocus system but you'll hopefully be seeing a few more of my entries in the photo competition now!

I took this one this morning in the woods up behind my house.
Very nice! I hope you have fun with the new gear.

I sold off my OM-1s and OM-4 and primes on eBay years back, got a small digital camera, and waited until the prices of the DSLRs came down to the point where I could jump in. Even so, to get the body and lenses I wanted, I had to sell off a bunch of my antique Winchesters.
 
  • #576
larkspur said:
Beautiful shot!

Thank you! Freezing my arse off this morning was worth it!

turbo-1 said:
I sold off my OM-1s and OM-4 and primes on eBay years back, got a small digital camera, and waited until the prices of the DSLRs came down to the point where I could jump in.

Well I've kept hold of my OM lenses, and have ordered an adapter such that I may be able to use them on my DSLR. I know the focal lengths will be screwed up and focusing may be tricky, but those old OM lenses aren't even worth selling now and it pains me just to lock them away never to be used again. It might not work, but the adapter is only a few pounds so I thought I'd try it.
 
  • #577
Congrats, Brewnog, a lot of bang for the buck, see the review here. For this one, it's advised to either turn the noise filter off or shoot in raw to avoid too much loss of detail.
 
  • #578
brewnog said:
Thank you! Freezing my arse off this morning was worth it!



Well I've kept hold of my OM lenses, and have ordered an adapter such that I may be able to use them on my DSLR. I know the focal lengths will be screwed up and focusing may be tricky, but those old OM lenses aren't even worth selling now and it pains me just to lock them away never to be used again. It might not work, but the adapter is only a few pounds so I thought I'd try it.
Good luck! Some of my old Zuicko primes were hard to part with... 24mm, 50mm (f:1.2 and f:1.4), 135mm were all good performers.
 
  • #579
turbo-1 said:
Good luck! Some of my old Zuicko primes were hard to part with... 24mm, 50mm (f:1.2 and f:1.4), 135mm were all good performers.

Anybody care for a Minolta MD11 set? From 1978, first electronic camera with shutter speed adjustment when the light was to low for the largest aperture. The lenses are worthless for Minolta/Sony A-type, nowadays.
 
  • #580
brewnog said:
Thank you! Freezing my arse off this morning was worth it!

Definitely!
 
  • #581
brewnog said:
I took this one this morning in the woods up behind my house.

Nice shot! Was there natural fog there?

I wish I had such nice scenery.
 
  • #582
~christina~ said:
Nice shot! Was there natural fog there?

I wish I had such nice scenery.

The fog was entirely natural! Bloody freezing it was too.

Don't be so downhearted about the lack of scenery, you can find the prettiest landscapes in the strangest of places. I have a great series of photos stashed away (not digital, sorry!) taken in industrial wastelands; cooling towers, steelworks, abandoned warehouses etc. Just go out with a camera and an open mind.
 
  • #583
Andre said:
On the short list are the Canon EF 100mm USM Macro and the Tamron 90mm Macro. Suggestions anybody?

Well the first one won. I just unpacked and tried it.

20jfpls.jpg


To the left the full frames on 10%, to the right 100% crops (red rectangles). The first shot is a small candle holder on a comfortable butterfly distance. The second the details on 1:1 magification (on the sensor). The lower crop is about 1-2 mm in real size.
 
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  • #584
That is most impressive. Well Done :smile:

TFM
 
  • #585
To compare:

some_bee1.jpg


That's my 75-300 mm with a lens, not sure about magnification, but that's just crop of the original image (full frame visible here):

some_bee.jpg


Upper image scale must be similar to Andre's lower crop.
 
  • #586
Andre said:
Well the first one won. I just unpacked and tried it.

20jfpls.jpg


To the left the full frames on 10%, to the right 100% crops (red rectangles). The first shot is a small candle holder on a comfortable butterfly distance. The second the details on 1:1 magification (on the sensor). The lower crop is about 1-2 mm in real size.
Congrats, Andre! Watch out, butterflies!
 
  • #587
Thanks,

This is a screen shot or "print screen"

nausw.jpg


Notice that the greens are crisp and the reds are not
 
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  • #588
Andre said:
Thanks,

This is a screen shot or "print screen"

Notice that the greens are crisp and the reds are not
Interesting that the blue and green pixels terminate rather cleanly at top and bottom, and the reds seem to bloom, giving them rounded-looking ends.
 
  • #589
Andre said:
Notice that the greens are crisp and the reds are not

Chromatic aberration?
 
  • #590
exactly

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/47/Lens6a.svg/415px-Lens6a.svg.png
 
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  • #591
Foggy evening and two dollars laser pointer.

laser_fog.jpg


It doesn't look like that, but it was lying on the camera, about 6 to 7 centimeters from the lens center.
 
  • #592
Borek said:
Foggy evening and two dollars laser pointer.

laser_fog.jpg


It doesn't look like that, but it was lying on the camera, about 6 to 7 centimeters from the lens center.
Oh, noes! Your laser set that house on fire!
 
  • #593
shot that I had sent everyone on their postcards.

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/9639/sunrisekx7.jpg
 
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  • #594
It is a very nice picture that was badly printed (all PF postcarders know what I mean).
 
  • #595
Playing with laser pointer part two.

laser_globe.jpg
 
  • #596
That is great!
 
  • #597
Hey, nice! I've seen the light painting thing done a few times, and this is a really original take on it. It bothers me ever-so-slightly that there's a bit of colouring over the lines on the globe's shadow, but I bet it must be really hard to avoid.
Great shot!
 
  • #598
I suppose that's all in the way you move your hand - I was just standing few steps away and waving.
 
  • #599
Borek said:
Playing with laser pointer part two.

laser_globe.jpg

wow! do you got an HD version. I'd love this for my desktop background.
 
  • #600
PMail me.
 

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