PF Photography: Tips, Tricks, & Photo Sharing

[Mech_Engineer]

Basset Attack!

 

[Mech_Engineer]

A little resemblance...

http://www.masterpiecepumpkins.com/Graphics/AlfredHitchcock%20%20_orig.jpg

 

[larkspur]

Basset Attack!

Love those! My fav is the smiling one.

 

[larkspur]

M&Ms Pastels

Light tent macro lens shots from today.

 

[GeorginaS]

Light tent macro lens shots from today.

I just love that, larkspur.

 

[larkspur]

I just love that, larkspur.

Thanks!

 

[larkspur]

Black and White Rose

I don't have much experience with b&w photography. Thought I would turn this pink rose into black and white...
What do you think? more contrast needed?

 

[turbo]

There is a lot of grain and banding in the image that I see, larkspur. I realize that there are a lot of artifacts involved in processing, and lots of the images I post here suffer from similar faults. That said, I love the composition, and the dynamic range is nice.

I'm still learning how to deal with DSLRs, so if you can improve this image, I would be very grateful for any hints as to how you pull it off. I'm a film dinosaur.

 

[larkspur]

The banding showed up when I downsized it to 650...not sure how to fix it.

 

[turbo]

That might be a clue, larkspur! Maybe I should try downsizing the image first, then applying any processing (brightness/contrast) to see if that reduces the artifacts. Thanks!

 

[larkspur]

Here it is after flickr downsized it no banding:

 

[Holocene]

I know these aren't anything "special". Hope I can share though.

 

[larkspur]

I know these aren't anything "special". Hope I can share though.

I enjoyed these Holocene. Thanks for sharing.

 

[turbo]

Nice. That middle one looks similar to Kingsbury Pond - a place where my friends and I often stop for a bite and a breather when riding.

 

[lisab]

Here it is after flickr downsized it no banding:

WOW :!) that's a cool pic!

 

[larkspur]

WOW :!) that's a cool pic!

Thanks Lisa!

 

[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:

Have you taken any more shots lately?

 

[Evo]

My older daughter Spawn took this picture of a bird the other day. She's just learning to use the camera, a Canon G9, amazing detail on the feathers.

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/7873/ezekiel491fr7.jpg

 

[Andre]

Amazing picture and a nice camera, Evo, But colors should not be discouraged.

 

[Ms Music]

Light tent macro lens shots from today.

That looks like something I would do! Actually, I was going to photograph m&ms about 20 some odd years ago. I was going to take about 3 to 5 pounds of m&ms and then make a puzzle.

I am interested in hearing what tricks you guys have for night time photography too, I have failed so far. The only way I can take a shot is with the camera's built in settings of fireworks or nighttime. I can't seem to do ANYTHING with my manual settings, which is what I need to use my remote control, so most of my photos come out slightly blurry from manually pressing the shutter. I miss the days of shutter cables! I need to take classes, but haven't been able to yet.

 

[Andre]

Well, it all depends on the camera for night shots, Ms Music, but a tripod is mandatory. The good old remote control cable can be replaced by the self timer function (2 sec is nice). Exposure modes as per camera but 5 -15 sec and F: 8 at 100 ASA is to be expected. be sure to check the white balance.

 

[matthyaouw]

Here it is after flickr downsized it no banding:

Fantastic pic. Leave the contrast as it is- it's perfect.

Have you taken any more shots lately?

No, nothing since the last ones I posted. I've just not had the time lately

My older daughter Spawn took this picture of a bird the other day. She's just learning to use the camera, a Canon G9, amazing detail on the feathers.

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/7873/ezekiel491fr7.jpg

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Great pic. The detail is amazing.

 

[matthyaouw]

I am interested in hearing what tricks you guys have for night time photography too, I have failed so far. The only way I can take a shot is with the camera's built in settings of fireworks or nighttime. I can't seem to do ANYTHING with my manual settings, which is what I need to use my remote control, so most of my photos come out slightly blurry from manually pressing the shutter. I miss the days of shutter cables! I need to take classes, but haven't been able to yet.

I don't have a remote or similar either, so all mine were taken with a 2 second delay on the self timer like Andre suggests. If gives you plenty of time to get your hands off the camera before it shoots.

 

[Ms Music]

I never thought about the self timer. Thanks guys! Too bad I didn't know that for the moon eclipse, I got some great shots, but they are all slightly fuzzy. Now I can't wait for the next (visible) full moon to try it out!

 

[larkspur]

My older daughter Spawn took this picture of a bird the other day. She's just learning to use the camera, a Canon G9, amazing detail on the feathers.

Nice details, you can even see the iris and pupil. Good catch light too.
I would love to see the color version.

 

[neutrino]

I present to you, Her Ubiquitousness Columba livia.
(click for larger picture)

 

[larkspur]

I present to you, Her Ubiquitousness Columba livia.
(click for larger picture)

Nice shot nutrino. A pigeon in that setting looks like a beautiful bird.

 

[neutrino]

Nice shot nutrino. A pigeon in that setting looks like a beautiful bird.

Thanks.

There are a ton of them around my house, and I almost never take their photos. (Apart from the times when I shoo them away to try and get a decent high-speed shot of them flying.)

 

[turbo]

Nice bird shot neutrino! Here's a picture of Sugarloaf and some neighboring mountains of western Maine, as seen from the road that I live on. I just took a load of garbage to the dump, and took my cameras in case I saw any of the eagles that live along the river. No birds, but the scenery looked good.

 

[neutrino]

I can clearly see that spring is in the air...the land seems to be lagging behind, though.

Your house has the best views. :)

 

[turbo]

Just as long as spring doesn't come all at once. A few warm rainy days, and we'll be losing dams, bridges, houses...

 

[larkspur]

Just as long as spring doesn't come all at once. A few warm rainy days, and we'll be losing dams, bridges, houses...

Nice shot turbo. My goodness! How deep is that snow?

 

[turbo]

The snow is compacted by thaws and rains, but we have gotten well over 10 feet this winter so far (we're not out of the woods yet!) and the mountains have gotten significantly more. We're currently in the top 25% of historical snow-pack. In 1987, we had normal snow-pack with moderate flood potential and a couple of warm rainy days gave us this April Fool's trick.

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/Flood87slideshow/

 

[larkspur]

The snow is compacted by thaws and rains, but we have gotten well over 10 feet this winter so far (we're not out of the woods yet!) and the mountains have gotten significantly more. We're currently in the top 25% of historical snow-pack. In 1987, we had normal snow-pack with moderate flood potential and a couple of warm rainy days gave us this April Fool's trick.

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/Flood87slideshow/

I think if I lived there I would be moving my belongings to higher ground now, just in case...

 

[turbo]

As you can see from the photo, I live on a very substantial hill, so that's all to the good. The problem is that the rivers powered a lot of mills, etc, years ago, and all the big towns here are in river-valleys. If you hear of warm rains forecast for Maine, drive up with your new camera gear to shoot breaching dams, buckling bridges, and floating houses.

 

[larkspur]

Solitude

Taken outside in natural light with tripod. Burned in the shadows.

 

[lisab]

Taken outside in natural light with tripod. Burned in the shadows.

Wow :!) !

 

[B. Elliott]

A few neat pictures that I've taken over the past year. The second one down usually invokes a response lol. Wish I had a better camera.

 

[matthyaouw]

Taken outside in natural light with tripod. Burned in the shadows.

Very nice! would have guessed that was in a studio if you hadn't said.

 

[turbo]

Very nice! would have guessed that was in a studio if you hadn't said.

I agree! It looks like one her trademark light-tent shots.

 

[Andre]

Nice shot indeed, but that black...

I think I would have chosen for a complete white background getting a delicate high key study.

 

[NeoDevin]

I'm thinking about getting a digital SLR for general picture taking, any recommendations, benefits, and drawbacks of particular models? Price is not a huge issue, as long as it's not ridiculously expensive.

 

[Andre]

Best to check this:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/default.asp?view=rating

 

[turbo]

I'm thinking about getting a digital SLR for general picture taking, any recommendations, benefits, and drawbacks of particular models? Price is not a huge issue, as long as it's not ridiculously expensive.

Define "ridiculously expensive" and you'll get more feedback. I'm hooked on Canon gear - their pro and pro-sumer cameras and lenses are top-notch. They are pricey, but they deliver top-quality images in a wide range of conditions.

 

[rewebster]

cute chick!

 

[NeoDevin]

Definitely no more than $1000, preferably around $500.

 

[turbo]

Definitely no more than $1000, preferably around $500.

I bought an out-of-the-box store display model Canon 30D (now I have two of those bodies) along with a 28-135mm EF lens for $1000. That's a really nice walk-around lens since it covers a handy focal length range from moderately wide-angle to moderate telephoto. The 40Ds had come out and the store was displaying them and clearing out their 30D display, and an employee of the store (whom I know from another forum) picked up the body and lens at a good price and offered to give the forum members first crack at it.

If you can get your hands on a decent camera like this with a modestly-priced lens, you'll be well-poised to upgrade should you really catch the photography bug bad and want to add a macro lens or a telephoto. You might want to watch classified ads, because some people eventually decide to move up from these high-end pro-sumer cameras to the pricier Canons with full 35-mm coverage. If they have spent much money on EFS lenses (as opposed to EF) you may get a good deal on those lenses too, because the EFS lenses cannot be fitted to the cameras with the full-sized chips. The reason is that EFS lenses penetrate too deeply into the camera body, and the large light-boxes of the pro model Canons require larger reflex mirrors which would hit the back of the lens.

 

[Andre]

The short list:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse410/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse510/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond40x/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos400d/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Sony/sony_dslra200.asp

but perhaps also have a look at a surprizing toy like this:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz8/

 

[turbo]

Amazon's got the 30D with 18-55mm EF-S kit lens for $900.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000DZFPKC/?tag=pfamazon01-20

It's a lightweight lens with a plastic barrel and mount, but the optical quality is very good. That is the set-up I bought initially, along with a 100-400mm L-series zoom for nature photography.

 

[binzing]

I recommend the E 500 rather than the E 510. I haven't used the 510 but it just seems crappier. The E 500 is a great camera.