PF Photography: Tips, Tricks, & Photo Sharing

[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.

 

[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.