PF Photography: Tips, Tricks, & Photo Sharing

[lisab]

Yes, that's Phoebe in her tux - all dressed up, with nothing to kill. (She's quite the mouser -- good cat!)

When I sent in that photo, I was at home, using my laptop. The light/dark looked well-balanced. But here at work, I have an older CRT screen and the photo is very dark. Is the difference due to different monitors? Other photos I've viewed on this site, with this CRT screen don't look so dark. Is there something I can adjust to fix it?

 

[slider142]

The two monitors have different gammas. Older CRTs and LCDs are notorious for bad default settings (Some cheap LCDs still can't get within a good range of the standard).You could try doing some basic calibration with help from this site to get the best color range from your display devices.

 

[lisab]

Thanks, slider!

 

[binzing]

He he, we've had 3 ferrets. They're so cool. Its funny how the will go under rugs and blankets. They definitely earned the nickname "Carpet Snake"

 

[GeorginaS]

I just wait until Bean's already comfy and then I shoot a dozen pictures or so (until she gets annoyed with the flash and walks away). I generally get at least one I'm happy with. I'm nowhere near the technique and image and composition quality of people around here, though. I'm just enamoured of my cat.

 

[lisab]

Oh, Bean is so sweet! And I love her smile - it's so Mona Lisa!

 

[GeorginaS]

Thank you so much, lisab. Mona Lisa smile is apt; she even has her paws crossed. Bean owns my heart, just ask MoonBear. I like the way her eyes turn out in photos.

My other cat, who had blue eyes, always had red-eye in photographs. I'm really impressed with the shots larkspur's able to achieve with a blue-eyed cat. If anything, Bean gets green-eye.

 

[Math Jeans]

Yes. Unfortunately I have no photo experience either, however, because everyone was posting them, here it a picture of my cats.

 

[larkspur]

Yes. Unfortunately I have no photo experience either, however, because everyone was posting them, here it a picture of my cats.

Ha! They are cute. Did you have the red eye reduction on? That usually makes my cats shut their eyes in photos.

 

[larkspur]

I just wait until Bean's already comfy and then I shoot a dozen pictures or so (until she gets annoyed with the flash and walks away). I generally get at least one I'm happy with. I'm nowhere near the technique and image and composition quality of people around here, though. I'm just enamoured of my cat.

A lovely cat! If you have Photo Shop or equivalent I can tell you how to fix the pupils. I found this on flickr a few weeks ago. I don't have the link on my work computer or I would go ahead and post it now.

[EDIT]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nogood/1905902640/in/pool-technique
"How to remove green/red/blue eyes (works great for pets)

1. Open your picture in Photoshop.
2. Pick the burn tool, set range to shadows, and exposure to 100%. Take a brush small enough, and very soft. Now carefully paint over the pupils. If the eyes look unnaturally black, reduce the exposure and try again.
3. Pick the sponge tool, set the mode to "desaturate", and flow to 100%. Now paint over the pupils again to remove the color cast to your likings."



[/EDIT]

 

[~christina~]

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/9268/bwcopyln7.jpg

Mew-mew=> my cat.

I was sitting in my chair and I looked down and took a pic.
hm...I like the pic but when you make it a b/w you can see that some parts have no detail such as the washed out part around his mouth and eyes.

 

[larkspur]

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/9268/bwcopyln7.jpg

Mew-mew=> my cat.

I was sitting in my chair and I looked down and took a pic.
hm...I like the pic but when you make it a b/w you can see that some parts have no detail such as the washed out part around his mouth and eyes.

Cool. Would be really cool if you could leave the eyes colored and the rest black and white.

 

[Math Jeans]

Ha! They are cute. Did you have the red eye reduction on? That usually makes my cats shut their eyes in photos.

Nah. they were just sleepy.

The one on the right just fell asleep on my desk, and wouldn't you know it, his tail is on the keyboard.sssdf4 **sorry, that was the cat**

Is it custom for all cats to fall asleep right where you are trying to write?

He just walked on my keyboard and now the PF screen has somehow compressed. How do I fix this?

 

[binzing]

Nice pic, christina. Kind of like the "Emo cat" though.

 

[GeorginaS]

A lovely cat!

Thank you!

Wow, larkspur, that's incredible. You captured her eyes perfectly. I have Photoshop, but I'm seriously an amateur with it. I'll have to try following those instructions, though and see what happens.

That's a nice shot of your kitty, Christina. I'm a fan of black and white.

Andre had an owl photo back a few pages that I wanted to compliment. The perspective was terrific.

 

[Andre]

Thanks Georgina.

Nice cats all, Somehow it occurs to me that the feline density in PF is way above global average.

 

[lisab]

Thanks Georgina.

Nice cats all, Somehow it occurs to me that the feline density in PF is way above global average.

I was thinking the same thing, Andre!

 

[~christina~]

Well, when I was young I was not happy carrying a 20 pound case with SLR, 4 lenses (no zoom, those early ones were inferior) further a plethora of filters, macro stuff, flash, tripod on the hikes while trying to keep a couple of kids heading roughly in the same direction at the same pace. All of that replaced by a single 0.7 pound camera.

After I get my new lens I'll have a total of 3 lens' to haul around. (I don't have a tripod, or filters...but I want a circular polarizer)
I don't know but my cam is one of the lightest dslr's out there from what I've heard so it's pretty good since I just carry it in a sling bag.

Although a mini tripod comes in handy occasionaly and 1-2 dioptry macro lens, since in telezoom, macro, the minimum distance is one meter which is simply too much in crowded places.

not really...if you stand in the back on top of something the range is just fine since most people hover around the front of the exibit.

Also at the zoo, grey owl again at max range zoom, free hand, no glass available.

In winter time, the animals are much more response to public, which makes nice pictures but with bad light.

funny owl, I've never seen one like that in person. They have snowy owls at my zoo but they were dozing off when I got there...so you can't really see their yellow pupils.

The light is bad in the winter but late winter photography is better.

I admit that the image quality of a bridge camera is slightly inferior (noisier) to the DSLR's. But there are tricks (self processing of RAW images) and composing a much large picture of several pictures, partly covering the landscape with "panorama maker" and then decrease the size again, this reduces noise and increases the resolution and sharpness.

I've tested that out myself...it's quite interesting.

However or studio work I'm beginning to start contemplating getting a DSLR, additionally, I'm not going to part with the FZ8.

I have to say that that panasonic you have is quite expensive. My bridge camera was much cheaper and my dslr (body only) is still cheaper than your bridge cam.

Cool. Would be really cool if you could leave the eyes colored and the rest black and white.

It looks creepy that way (he has green and yellow eyes) and somehow it looks nicer when cats have blue eyes, but thanks for the advice.

That's a nice shot of your kitty, Christina. I'm a fan of black and white.

Thanks GeorginaS

 

[lisab]

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/9268/bwcopyln7.jpg

Mew-mew=> my cat.

I was sitting in my chair and I looked down and took a pic.
hm...I like the pic but when you make it a b/w you can see that some parts have no detail such as the washed out part around his mouth and eyes.

Mew-mew looks great in black and white! Love that! It really suits a tabby cat.

I tried looking at some of my photos in black and white...I hadn't thought to do that since I switched to a digital camera. The landscapes look OK if there's enough contrast, but most of my pics are of cloudy days.

Of course Miss Phoebe is already in black and white - there's no difference for her !

 

[~christina~]

Mew-mew looks great in black and white! Love that! It really suits a tabby cat.

I tried looking at some of my photos in black and white...I hadn't thought to do that since I switched to a digital camera. The landscapes look OK if there's enough contrast, but most of my pics are of cloudy days.

Thanks lisab

You can always up the contrast and pull down the brightness in your pics. (not too much but a little could make it look more dramatic)

 

[binzing]

So what DLSR do you have?

 

[~christina~]

So what DLSR do you have?

If your talking to me I have a Nikon D40X. I hear that the Nikon D40 is better when it comes to noise but...well I purchased mine before I heard that.

 

[binzing]

Cool, I have an Olympus Evolt E-500. I probably would have gotten a Nikon or Canon, but they were too expensive. Question: On Canon's you are able to have the camera connected to your computer and when you take a pic it sends it straight to the comp, or at least views it on it. What is that feature called and is it Canon specific?

 

[larkspur]

Cool, I have an Olympus Evolt E-500. I probably would have gotten a Nikon or Canon, but they were too expensive. Question: On Canon's you are able to have the camera connected to your computer and when you take a pic it sends it straight to the comp, or at least views it on it. What is that feature called and is it Canon specific?

I think that is called live view. I can connect my digital rebel to the laptop and run a focusing program when shooting astro photography. You can also write programs for the camera to snap at specified intervals. With the EOS 1D Mark III you get this: http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1752""

 

[larkspur]

Snapshot or Photograph

http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2007/05/01/philosophy-of-photography-photograph-versus-a-snapshot/"
It made me think about how I take a picture. When I look through the lens I compose a scene before I press the shutter button. I will pan the area while looking through the lense until the composition is what I am looking for. If I don't think it would look good blown up and hung on a wall I won't take the shot...I find I take less and less photos because my standards have risen (too high maybe). I no longer take a photo to document that I have been there but rather take a photo to bring the scene home with me. I also delete a lot of photos. If they aren't perfect I won't keep them anymore just because I took them.

What do you think about when taking a shot?

 

[marlon]

One of my cats : Gioia : http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/4892/gioiaxp4.jpg

The cat of my girlfriend's mother : Patch :
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1760/patchqb3.th.jpg One of my 2 new cats : Rufo : http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/3508/photo185mi5.th.jpg
marlon

 

[BobG]

After I get my new lens I'll have a total of 3 lens' to haul around. (I don't have a tripod, or filters...but I want a circular polarizer)

I like the circular polarizer. I have a Coolpix 5000 since I don't really have the time and patience for an SLR (I don't think turbo would like it, though - it has a very slow response). It's still hard not to get sucked in with so much nice scenery here to photograph, so I ordered a wide angle lens and a telephoto lens with the filters thrown in along with the package. Tried them out yesterday morning and I'm pretty happy with the results. Here's a sample:

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9314/dscn0308it4.jpg
Maximum zoom without the telephoto lens

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9397/dscn0312hu4.jpg
x3 with UV filter

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3125/dscn0313jr4.jpg
x3 with flourescent filter

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/8403/dscn0314ev7.jpg
x3 with circular polarizer

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9875/dscn0315ys8.jpg
x3 with polarizer rotated 90 degrees

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9792/dscn0315akz0.jpg
Last one touched up on the computer

 

[Andre]

After I get my new lens I'll have a total of 3 lens' to haul around. (I don't have a tripod, or filters...but I want a circular polarizer)

Well in many cases you may find a tripod a necesary gadget.

I don't know but my cam is one of the lightest dslr's out there from what I've heard so it's pretty good since I just carry it in a sling bag.

The lightest DSLR is probably the Olympus E-400/E-410 with an excellent value for money

About range to subject:

not really...if you stand in the back on top of something the range is just fine since most people hover around the front of the exibit.

Well try to back off to one meter distance in a butterfly house to get this:

and you will find two-three people jumping in front of you, trying to get the same picture.

I have to say that that panasonic you have is quite expensive. My bridge camera was much cheaper and my dslr (body only) is still cheaper than your bridge cam.

Really? I paid something like $280 in an AAFCE shop in Europe, which is fortunate since the average price in Europe for camera's in general is more in Euro than it is in dollars in the US. This FZ8 should not be confused with it bigger brother, the FZ18, which retails for about 375$. That's a fun camera to play with, omnipotential, but with slightly inferior pictures. I don't want to concede on quality and of course the Leica lenses are superior to the competition.

 

[binzing]

Nah, that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm thinking of only allows you to see after the picture has been taken.

 

[larkspur]

Another tongue shot.

 

[larkspur]

Can you spot what is wrong with this photo? Not something little like dust but a major oops on my part.

 

[Andre]

Nice picture, the oops?

Well I see that the left side of the cover is out of focus, you're probably not happy with the small reflection just below the ring on the right and the horizontal slightly lighter bar on the left but it's probably about the clock face being rotated 90 degrees to the left.

 

[Astronuc]

Another tongue shot.

Love the tongue. That's probably the sexist cat photo I've ever seen.

As for the oops on the watch picture, I'd say that the depth of field could have been deeper, or the lighting a little different, but I'm not sure what effect one was intending. The clock face orientation is interesting, a little beyond 90° conterclockwise, as Andre indicated, but that's not an oops in the photographic process, but the watch.

 

[larkspur]

Nice picture, the oops?

Well I see that the left side of the cover is out of focus, you're probably not happy with the small reflection just below the ring on the right and the horizontal slightly lighter bar on the left but it's probably about the clock face being rotated 90 degrees to the left.

Yes!

Love the tongue. That's probably the sexist cat photo I've ever seen.

That is a sultry pose isn't it?

As for the oops on the watch picture, I'd say that the depth of field could have been deeper, or the lighting a little different, but I'm not sure what effect one was intending. The clock face orientation is interesting, a little beyond 90° conterclockwise, as Andre indicated, but that's not an oops in the photographic process, but the watch.

Yes, the DOF and lighting are flawed.

 

[turbo]

The rotated watch face is really not a flaw. Many men's pocket watches were made with such a rotation. It suited right-handed people who retrieved the watch from a pocket using a watch chain cradled between the thumb and forefinger. They could actuate the case latch with the thumb and the watch would be perfectly positioned in the hand to have the 12 up. Many women's watches were made in Hunter cases with the 12 on the opposite side as the winding stem. These watches were often meant to be hung from chains or pinned to clothing, so simply flipping them upward would put them in the correct orientation for reading. Sorry for being pedantic, but I really love antique watches.

 

[turbo]

This does not qualify as good-quality photography for this thread, but I present it as an excuse for why I haven't been posting any nice nature shots for a long time. The weather has been particularly nasty this winter.

 

[Andre]

Better seasons will be here soon, Turbo, can't wait to capture the natural -rather rare- Pulsatilla vulgaris (in Dutch "wild mans herb") blooming very soon here, probably the end of the week

 

[larkspur]

This does not qualify as good-quality photography for this thread, but I present it as an excuse for why I haven't been posting any nice nature shots for a long time. The weather has been particularly nasty this winter.

WOW! That is a lot of snow!

 

[larkspur]

Better seasons will be here soon, Turbo, can't wait to capture the natural -rather rare- Pulsatilla vulgaris (in Dutch "wild mans herb") blooming very soon here, probably the end of the week

Those are beautiful Andre!

 

[Evo]

One of my cats : Gioia : http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/4892/gioiaxp4.jpg

The cat of my girlfriend's mother : Patch :
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1760/patchqb3.th.jpg


One of my 2 new cats : Rufo : http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/3508/photo185mi5.th.jpg
marlon

Cute kitties!

 

[turbo]

Better seasons will be here soon, Turbo, can't wait to capture the natural -rather rare- Pulsatilla vulgaris (in Dutch "wild mans herb") blooming very soon here, probably the end of the week

What's the usable part of the herb, Andre, and what does it get used for?

 

[turbo]

WOW! That is a lot of snow!

And that is the reduced snow-depth due to a couple of thaws and a couple of heavy rains. We are at severe risk for floods if spring brings us extended cold followed by several days of warm rainy weather.

 

[Andre]

What's the usable part of the herb, Andre, and what does it get used for?

I see that it is called Pasque Flower. It grows here on the mountain, where I live. But we just had a few inches of snow, so it's probably burried now.

This herb is poisenous, the dried leaves is an old medicine for all kind of diseases.

 

[~christina~]

I like the circular polarizer. I have a Coolpix 5000 since I don't really have the time and patience for an SLR (I don't think turbo would like it, though - it has a very slow response). It's still hard not to get sucked in with so much nice scenery here to photograph, so I ordered a wide angle lens and a telephoto lens with the filters thrown in along with the package. Tried them out yesterday morning and I'm pretty happy with the results. Here's a sample:

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9792/dscn0315akz0.jpg
Last one touched up on the computer

Awsome...I really need a polarizer. The one for the nikon 58mm size I think is about $90 and I can't get it at the larger stores near me. Since it's the multicoated lens it's more expensive than the lens' that are coated less and I can't get it unless I order it online. Unfortunately I'm not sure how reliable or safe it is to order from that site.

Well in many cases you may find a tripod a necesary gadget

The lightest DSLR is probably the Olympus E-400/E-410 with an excellent value for money

About range to subject:

Well try to back off to one meter distance in a butterfly house to get this:

and you will find two-three people jumping in front of you, trying to get the same picture.

true, but I'm referring to the larger mammals

Really? I paid something like $280 in an AAFCE shop in Europe, which is fortunate since the average price in Europe for camera's in general is more in Euro than it is in dollars in the US. This FZ8 should not be confused with it bigger brother, the FZ18, which retails for about 375$. That's a fun camera to play with, omnipotential, but with slightly inferior pictures. I don't want to concede on quality and of course the Leica lenses are superior to the competition.

I got confused with the panasonic lumix with another camera...oops.
I don't know about olympus slr's ...I think there's a reason that they're so cheap. I know someone who uses the e500 and I'm not impressed by the quality...=( that's why I chose my cam even though it was more expensive.

 

[~christina~]

http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2007/05/01/philosophy-of-photography-photograph-versus-a-snapshot/"
It made me think about how I take a picture. When I look through the lens I compose a scene before I press the shutter button. I will pan the area while looking through the lense until the composition is what I am looking for. If I don't think it would look good blown up and hung on a wall I won't take the shot...I find I take less and less photos because my standards have risen (too high maybe). I no longer take a photo to document that I have been there but rather take a photo to bring the scene home with me. I also delete a lot of photos. If they aren't perfect I won't keep them anymore just because I took them.

What do you think about when taking a shot?

I think that that taking pics of the landscape is quite different from taking pictures of animals. I can't usually compose a shot. (I wish there was enough time to though) I have to wait awhile sometimes and I think it pays off.

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9175/polarwarsbywhitepegasusek4.jpg
I swear this bear has some sort of skin problem.

 

[Andre]

I know someone who uses the e500 and I'm not impressed by the quality...=( that's why I chose my cam even though it was more expensive.

Well it's about a par if you'd compare the score of both latest (E510 instead of E500) judged by the experts:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond40x/page27.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse510/page31.asp

So it's indeed an excellent camera.

Personally, I'll looking a bit at the http://www.dpreview.com/shop/merchants.asp?id=sony_dslra300 since I it seems that I can use my old Minolta lenses again.

 

[larkspur]

I think that that taking pics of the landscape is quite different from taking pictures of animals. I can't usually compose a shot. (I wish there was enough time to though) I have to wait awhile sometimes and I think it pays off.

Yes, landscapes are different from wildlife photography but good composition is still required. Just zooming in on your subject has changed the composition of the shot. You probably do a lot of through the lens adjustments that affect the final composition without realizing it.

 

[matthyaouw]

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9175/polarwarsbywhitepegasusek4.jpg
I swear this bear has some sort of skin problem.

And an attitude problem! Great shot!


Has anyone much experience with night photography? I gave it a proper try for the first time last night with mixed success. How do you deal with the wide range of light intensities that you find? I found that a lot of shots were too dominated by light sources (streetlights etc) if i had a long enough exposure to illuminate the details of a scene. There was also an unpleasant orange hue in many shots, which i could eliminate somewhat by a shutter speed/aperture a little less than the display on my camera advised, but at the expense of underexposing the scene a tad. Any tips? Am i missing anything obvious here?

Here are a couple of my better shots:

 

[larkspur]

And an attitude problem! Great shot!Has anyone much experience with night photography? I gave it a proper try for the first time last night with mixed success. How do you deal with the wide range of light intensities that you find? I found that a lot of shots were too dominated by light sources (streetlights etc) if i had a long enough exposure to illuminate the details of a scene. There was also an unpleasant orange hue in many shots, which i could eliminate somewhat by a shutter speed/aperture a little less than the display on my camera advised, but at the expense of underexposing the scene a tad. Any tips? Am i missing anything obvious here?

Here are a couple of my better shots:

Those turned out great! Night shots are difficult to expose correctly and many people will take bracketed shots and then combine in HDR. I took a few late evening shots a while ago. I didn't know about bracketing at the time or I think I could have had better results.

 

[matthyaouw]

Those turned out great! Night shots are difficult to expose correctly and many people will take bracketed shots and then combine in HDR. I took a few late evening shots a while ago. I didn't know about bracketing at the time or I think I could have had better results.

Thanks! They are few among many though- most aren't worth seeing. I guess that's the advantage of digital- I can waste as many shots as I like on experimentation without having to shell out for film/printing. I've not tried HDR yet but I'm sure I'll give it a go at some point.

I love the picture of the bridge. The reflection and the angle is great.