PF Photography: Tips, Tricks, & Photo Sharing

[Andre]

happy Valentine picture

 

[neutrino]

Yeah, sure! In the short time you've had that camera, you've posted some great pictures. I love the silhouetted crows.

You have some very nice shots in your group Nutrino.

If you really want to learn how to improve I would suggest joining the Flickr group Photowalkthrough. Then post a photo in the discussion section with the title RIA. ( Rip It Apart.) They will be brutally honest but that helps you learn faster when someone points out the flaws and tells you how to improve.


Another group that will be brutally honest is http://www.photosig.com" . If you can take the constructive criticism you will improve rapidly.
Just reading the criticisms of other peoples work will help you.

I am not a very good critic because I am too positive and I hate to hurt someones feelings with critical remarks (even if I can sugar coat it)...these groups don't care about feelings. They just want to get quality work from you.

Thank you for the kind words, guys. And thank you, larkspur, for the links. I belong to one http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/index.php", where I post occasionally (under the name of 'underexposed').

The problem(s) I have with photography, apart from actually composing, exposing and capturing an eye-pleasing scene, is that I'm very impatient when it comes to post-processing.(At least make the bad ones look decent, even if you can't create a good one in the first place. ) I'm not really sure what I'm doing when I'm moving the levels slider or adjusting curves, and I also have this nasty habit of preventing the photo becoming even a tad unrealistic.

I have a couple of photos that I was "working on," which haven't yet been posted to Flickr. I'll post the shots in the groups you mentioned over the weekend.

 

[turbo]

Hey, Nav! Here's a shot you won't see at home. I was working at my computer when I saw a big dark shape outside my window, I grabbed the body with the 100-400mm on it and took a few shots through the window. There were 4 turkeys and since the snow in front of the house is over four feet deep, they were nearly at eye level.

 

[larkspur]

Be My Valentine

 

[larkspur]

Hey, Nav! Here's a shot you won't see at home. I was working at my computer when I saw a big dark shape outside my window, I grabbed the body with the 100-400mm on it and took a few shots through the window. There were 4 turkeys and since the snow in front of the house is over four feet deep, they were nearly at eye level.

Wow! I would have been excited to get that shot too!

 

[Cyrus]

Fantastic work!

 

[hypatia]

Hey, Nav! Here's a shot you won't see at home. I was working at my computer when I saw a big dark shape outside my window, I grabbed the body with the 100-400mm on it and took a few shots through the window. There were 4 turkeys and since the snow in front of the house is over four feet deep, they were nearly at eye level.

What a great and tastie shot! The birds look really healthy for this time of year.

 

[turbo]

larkspur and hypatia, thanks both. The birds were only about 4-5 feet away, and I should have grabbed my other 30D with the 28-135mm lens on it, but the 100-400 was closer at hand and I didn't want to miss the shot. When I see these birds in the road and I'm on my Harley, I think "DANGER" - got to miss them or risk serious injury or death. But when they're just out my front window in the sun, it's pretty neat. Their iridescent body feathers almost make up for their almost-naked vulture heads. No Toms today, just hens and young-uns.

 

[larkspur]

Fantastic work!

Thanks Cyrus!

 

[turbo]

Fantastic work!

Par for the course for larkspur. If she ever posted images like some of the stuff I come up with, I'd ask if she had a bad day. Usually top-notch stuff from this lady.

 

[larkspur]

Par for the course for larkspur. If she ever posted images like some of the stuff I come up with, I'd ask if she had a bad day. Usually top-notch stuff from this lady.

Thanks turbo.
What do you mean "the stuff I come up with"? You have some great photos in your collection. You have a real talent with the squirrel photography.

 

[Cyrus]

Thanks Cyrus!

The eyes look like an ocean of water with sandy white beaches of fur surrounding it.

 

[turbo]

Here is a female Hairy Woodpecker that knocked herself silly hitting a window. I ran out and held her until she came around, and then held her up to the fascia-board on our eaves where she liked to perch until she wanted to cling to that, then hung out with her until she felt well enough to move off to a nearby tree. I love these birds! PEEK! My wife snapped this pic with my old Olympus 3040 P&S.

 

[Math Jeans]

I envy you.

 

[~christina~]

I just wanted to show what my new camera has produced for me
now all I need is a longer lens ...

(taken at the local zoo..I love those snow leopards I'll post a few more of them if anyone's interested in seeing them)

 

[turbo]

VERY nice shots, Christina, and I'd love to see more. Might I suggest putting your sigs in less-obtrusive locations. I don't sig mine at all, because they're not great enough to steal, but if I did, I'd try to make the unobtrusive.

 

[turbo]

I envy you.

For helping an injured woodpecker? I'm sure you'd do the same, with your love for animals.

 

[hypatia]

Woah, those are some BIG Puddy Tats! Great photos!

 

[~christina~]

VERY nice shots, Christina, and I'd love to see more. Might I suggest putting your sigs in less-obtrusive locations. I don't sig mine at all, because they're not great enough to steal, but if I did, I'd try to make the unobtrusive.

Thanks turbo

About the watermark...my thoughts are that if they are in obstrusive locations then they're less prone to theft.
(people can and will crop and I've seen it happen to others and thus that defeats the purpose of the watermark)

Woah, those are some BIG Puddy Tats! Great photos!

yes they are, Thanks hypatia

 

[larkspur]

I just wanted to show what my new camera has produced for me
now all I need is a longer lens ...

(taken at the local zoo..I love those snow leopards I'll post a few more of them if anyone's interested in seeing them)

Nice shots Christina. My favorite is the leopard.

 

[larkspur]

Thanks turbo

About the watermark...my thoughts are that if they are in obstrusive locations then they're less prone to theft.
(people can and will crop and I've seen it happen to others and thus that defeats the purpose of the watermark)

I have had a photo stolen and entered into contests before. I made the mistake of uploading the full size to a forum and it was snatched.

 

[neutrino]

Thanks for the cold turkey, Turbo! Nice shot. And Christina, I love that shot of the tiger. I look forward for more photos of the snow leopards.

 

[neutrino]

Here's one from Sunday last.

I just increased the contrast a little bit and used unsharp mask. I didn't crop the picture, since I couldn't get the nice portrait dimensions with just the flower.

And yeah, the focus is a bit away from the centre of the flower. :(

 

[~christina~]

Nice shots Christina. My favorite is the leopard.

Thanks larkspur, that snow leopard is just one of the many at the local zoo. (they breed them) I've counted...6 of them and this one in the pic is a female snow leopard.

I have had a photo stolen and entered into contests before. I made the mistake of uploading the full size to a forum and it was snatched.

That's quite unfortunate and it's just another example of how people can be thieves.

Here's one from Sunday last.

I just increased the contrast a little bit and used unsharp mask. I didn't crop the picture, since I couldn't get the nice portrait dimensions with just the flower.

And yeah, the focus is a bit away from the centre of the flower. :(

I like the color and I didn't notice the focus was off until you said it. nice shot overall

 

[~christina~]

Leo

mother of the leopard below and same as the one yawning before

baby snow leopard

well you said you wanted to see what snow leopard shots I had so here they are

 

[_Mayday_]

Where were those shots taken? I would have thought in a zoo or enclosure as the snow leopard os very rare to come across in it's natural environment especially in the summer. They are by far my favourite animal. I've seen some video footage of them on the internet and they are suprisingly petite, with an extremely long tail.

Great shot!

 

[~christina~]

Where were those shots taken? I would have thought in a zoo or enclosure as the snow leopard os very rare to come across in it's natural environment especially in the summer. They are by far my favourite animal. I've seen some video footage of them on the internet and they are suprisingly petite, with an extremely long tail.

Great shot!

Thanks Mayday

Yes these are taken at the zoo. These shots weren't taken in the summer though, since the new camera was a Christmas present

 

[Evo]

Leo

mother of the leopard below and same as the one yawning before

baby snow leopard

well you said you wanted to see what snow leopard shots I had so here they are

OMG, I have to show these to my youngest daughter, they look just like the stuffed snow leopard I bought for her when she was 2. She slept with that snow tiger, named "Catty", until she was 16. He now resides on a shelf in a place of honor at my house. Maybe I'll post a picture of him.

 

[binzing]

Those of you who watermark, don't mean to burst your bubble, but watermarks can be removed in half a second using a very simple program. A better option would be to go into Paint or similar, and muss it up a bit.

 

[larkspur]

Those of you who watermark, don't mean to burst your bubble, but watermarks can be removed in half a second using a very simple program. A better option would be to go into Paint or similar, and muss it up a bit.

I agree that watermarks are easily removed. Another way to avoid theft is to use a smaller sized photo and save it as a lower quality jpg.