Physics Forums photography thread and image sharing

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So Turbo, will you ever dust off the Canons again?

Anyway I was walking with the junior today, looking for 'perspective' when we passed swan lake.

A white mute swan on dark rippling water, with both wings spread wide and its long neck arched upward, its orange bill with black knob facing right.


a juvenile one in unusual perspective.

Juvenile mute swan with grey-brown fluffy plumage and a dark bill, swimming on still water in profile, with reeds in the background.
 
So I was sitting outside having a smoke break at work, and just out of curiosity I took this pic:

Bright sun behind scattered clouds in a blue sky, with a lens flare streak, a tree branch at upper left, and a parking lot with cars and a low building at the bottom.


with my Nokia 6650 phone. Thought it turned out pretty good so I figured I'd post it up here.
 
Andre said:
Anyway I was walking with the junior today, looking for 'perspective' when we passed swan lake.

Who took the pictures - you, or Junior?
 
Andre said:
So Turbo, will you ever dust off the Canons again?
I certainly will, especially in controlled environments or when my wife is available to keep track of the new dog.. I'm busy training Duke and trying to make him safe around roads, etc, so most of my current photo-opportunities are more appropriate for the pocket camera. It's a handy little package, and I can shoot lots of stuff automatically with just one hand.

Going out with Duke, a training aid or two, a 30-foot training lead, treats, etc, doesn't leave a lot of spare resources to handle DSLRs with manually-zoomed lenses. Maybe if I had an extra hand or two.
 
Borek said:
Who took the pictures - you, or Junior?

Must have been junior, considered the frog perspective. At least the neck strap got soaking wet.

He also took this pic at the other extreme, about 13 mm wide angle, practicing 'perspective' shots on the same swan

Low-angle photo of a calm river with reflected clouds, grassy bank on the right beside a dark stone-filled retaining wall with a lamp post, and trees on the far shore under a partly cloudy sky.


Right Turbo, I'm happy to drag all the stuff around and switch lenses frequently, shooting always in RAW, just to get the highest possible quality on the big prints

Nice job, Kronos
 
Kronos5253 said:
with my Nokia 6650 phone

Just wow.

That's probably the first time I see picture taken with mobile and I like it (meaning technical side). So far everything I have seen was crappy, unles it was in an ad :wink: Could be subject helped.
 
Well, my first bird in my garden shot, a blue tit:

Tinypic logo with the message: This image or video has been moved or deleted


but it was a though one, the light was bad deep down in the shrub; From the exif:

Shooting Mode... Program AE
Tv( Shutter Speed )... 1/100
Av( Aperture Value )... 5.0
Metering Mode... Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation... 0
ISO Speed... 800
Lens... EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Focal Length... 165.0mm

and the window was refecting a lot, as you can see on the unprocessed jpeg output of the full shot:

Blue tit perched on a thin branch among green leaves, with a hazy, washed-out background and a pale, low-contrast overall tone.
 
Borek said:
Just wow.

That's probably the first time I see picture taken with mobile and I like it (meaning technical side). So far everything I have seen was crappy, unles it was in an ad :wink: Could be subject helped.


Thanks :) I appreciate it!

I have a bunch more that I want to put up on here, I just haven't switched them to the computer yet
 
I took Duke to the scenic lookout to exercise and walk a bit, and in between his unplanned visits to every rock and tree, I managed to snap off a shot of Sugarloaf. Winter is here - at least in the higher elevations. There was a picture in todays paper of some Sugarloaf employees riding a Snow-Cat on their way back from tending to snow-making equipment.

Noting the softness, I should have been using a tripod, but that's just too much extra gear to lug. I have a hiking staff with a 1/4"x24 stud under the knob, so maybe next time, I'll at least take that and have a monopod for support.

Wide view of snow-dusted mountain ridges under overcast sky, with autumn-colored forest in the foreground and valley below.
 
Hmmm maybe more a focussing problem Turbo? Check the tree low corner left, appears sharper than the background.
 
Andre said:
Hmmm maybe more a focussing problem Turbo? Check the tree low corner left, appears sharper than the background.
Could be. Next time I'm up there, I'll compare hand-held with monopod-mounted, in Auto, Custom, and Scene(landscape) modes to see what's up. This camera (at least in iA mode) fires a burst of flash as a focusing aid, and perhaps that foreground tree caught enough of it to sway the autofocus to the foreground.
 
I find myself focussing manually more and more. In a burst sequence for a more or less static subject like grandson babies for instance, there is no need for distracting in between focussing. Also working with wide angle to optimize depth of field, as well as macro tripod work when quick reaction is not a factor.
 
Interesting. We bought in June second hand (but barely used) A590 for bike trips - and this is uncropped zoom:

Blurry zoomed photo of a flat rural landscape with farm fields in gold and green, tall trees, and a small wooden gazebo on the right under a pale blue sky.


and same picture, not cropped, just resized:

Photo of a harvested field with straw rows receding toward a line of trees under a pale blue sky, with a small shed visible in the distance.


To some extent similar lack of sharpness.

I forgot to reserach it in more details, could be that happens only on the long end when taking pictures that need DOF. Most pictures were taken in just a landscape mode, and they were reasonably good and sharp:

Small flat-deck cable ferry on a wide river, with a central wheelhouse, railings and a rope running across the water toward a wooded bank.


Cream-coloured two-storey building with a red tiled roof and tall white-framed windows, beside a paved square with a fountain, a green car and a red car parked nearby, under a blue sky with clouds.


At least they are much better than no pictures from bike trips at all :wink:
 
Interesting, Borek. I hope the ZS3 performs better than that at full telephoto, and it's just a matter of user-error. Certainly, normal and macro shots are top-notch with this little pocket-cam.
 
Borek said:
Interesting. We bought in June second hand (but barely used) A590 for bike trips - and this is uncropped zoom:

Rural landscape in summer with a harvested wheat field in the foreground, tall trees and a small wooden shelter with a pitched roof on the right, under a pale blue sky.


That looks really awesome zoomed and cropped like that. Makes it look kind of like an old oil painting.. It's a pretty cool effect
 
Here are the few more that I said I took with my Nokia 6650 phone :)

Overcast sky with grey clouds, a bright sun glowing through a gap in the clouds, and the corner of a building with windows at the right edge.


Photo of a blue sky with scattered white cumulus clouds, with dark tree leaves in the upper left corner and a street lamp at the lower right.


Phone photo of a blue evening sky with wispy cirrus clouds, a band of glowing yellow and orange light near the horizon, and dark rooftops and tree branches at the edges.

I have another version of this taken with my Nikon coolpix.. I'll post that up when I get home, the quality is 10x better

I took two of these.. One with the auto setting on the phone, one on the "sunny" setting

This is auto
Tinypie logo with the text 'THIS IMAGE OR VIDEO HAS BEEN MOVED OR DELETED' beneath it.


This is the "sunny" setting
Parking lot at sunset with a bare-looking tree and a tall light pole, warm orange and pink sky with scattered clouds, cars parked along the lot.



If you can't tell I like taking pictures of the sky haha
 
Kronos, that phone has a pretty decent camera function, and at least you'll always have it with you so you can snap off a shot anytime.
 
turbo-1 said:
Kronos, that phone has a pretty decent camera function, and at least you'll always have it with you so you can snap off a shot anytime.

Ya that's what I love about it :D The quality is alright.. It's grainy though. If I would have posted the full size pics you would see the colored grains in it. It's actually only a 2MP camera haha I just like to think that I'm pretty good with a camera
 
Nice work Kronos, composition ideas are great but you notice the hardware limitations indeed.

Next shots in one session ware made with a EOS 450D with a Tokina 12-24mm wide angle zoom, mostly at 12mm wide in the hunt for the photo contest perspective, all but one are on 18% of the real size, with some crops on the original 100% size, so you can judge if you can settle for a camera phone or if you need heavier hardware.

Canal scene in autumn with a tree showing yellow and green leaves on the left, red begonia flowers on the right, grass in the foreground and a willow tree beyond the water.


crop on 100% of the standard jpg output.

Clusters of bright red begonia flowers with green leaves in the foreground, with a blurred willow tree and still pond water behind them.


Same crop from a RAW image after some processing, sharpening, reducing noise reduction, and some more image tuning

Red begonia flowers and green leaves in the foreground, with a pond and a weeping willow trunk behind them in soft focus.


and the uncropped frame again on 18% after RAW processing, obviously the changes will be more clear on a poster of 24 inch.

Canal scene on a sunny autumn day with a tree showing yellow-green and golden leaves on the left, a row of red begonia flowers on the right, grass in the foreground and a willow beside still water.


Some more unprocessed JGP's:

Wide-angle view of a calm canal in a park on a sunny day, with grass and leaves in the foreground, a weeping willow and autumn-coloured trees along the far bank, and a dark conifer branch with red berries overhead.


Photo of a tall brick gate tower with three pointed slate-roofed turrets and a central clock spire, with a pedestrian archway at street level and a yield sign nearby.


Yellow begonia flowers in the foreground with a brick gatehouse tower with pointed spires and a clock, under a blue sky, with a red-tiled roof to the right.


(this one was cropped to remove some nasty signs)

Low-angle photo of a red brick medieval-style tower with crenellated battlements and a stone corbel band, a small cannon at its base, and large planters with silver-green shrubs and red flowers in the foreground under a blue sky.


Low-angle view of a tall red brick medieval-style tower with crenellated top and arched corbelling, beside a white gabled house, with a red-wheeled black cannon in front.
 
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Andre said:
Nice work Kronos, composition ideas are great but you notice the hardware limitations indeed.

Next shots in one session ware made with a EOS 450D with a Tokina 12-24mm wide angle zoom, mostly at 12mm wide in the hunt for the photo contest perspective, all but one are on 18% of the real size, with some crops on the original 100% size, so you can judge if you can settle for a camera phone or if you need heavier hardware.

Park scene with a river running through it, autumn-yellowed tree on the left, bright red begonia flowers on the right, and grass in the foreground under a blue sky.


crop on 100% of the standard jpg output.

Clusters of bright red begonia flowers with green leaves in the foreground, with a weeping willow and calm pond water blurred in the background.


Same crop from a RAW image after some processing, sharpening, reducing noise reduction, and some more image tuning

Clusters of red begonia flowers and green leaves in sunlight beside a pond, with a weeping willow trunk and grass in the foreground.


and the uncropped frame again on 18% after RAW processing, obviously the changes will be more clear on a poster of 24 inch.

Sunny autumn park scene with a tree showing yellow and green leaves on the left, a calm canal or river running into the distance, and bright red begonia flowers and green grass in the foreground.


Some more unprocessed JGP's:

Low-angle view of a calm canal or river curving through a grassy park, with a weeping willow and autumn trees along the far bank and drooping evergreen branches with red berries overhead.


Brick gatehouse with two tall pointed-roof towers and a central spire, an arched passage at street level, and a neighbouring brick townhouse under a blue sky with clouds.


Brick gatehouse with two tall pointed-roof towers and a clock on the central spire, under a blue sky, framed by yellow flowers in the foreground and a tree at the upper left.


(this one was cropped to remove some nasty signs)

Low-angle view of a red brick tower with crenellated top and stone corbelled base, a small cannon on a carriage in the foreground, and flowering planters beside it under a blue sky.


Low-angle view of a tall brick tower with crenellated top and arched corbelling, beside a red-wheeled black cannon on a cobbled square, with a white gabled house and blue sky.

Oh I'd love to have a better piece of equipment rather then use a phone.. But I be poor haha My wife is big into photography and she wants a nikon D90, but we don't exactly have the spare cash for that haha The Nikon Coolpix actually takes really decent pictures though, but I'd much rather have, say, my dad's 35mm manual focus. It's like, 20-30 years old, but it takes BEAUTIFUL pictures. Someday I'll inherit it.. Some day. But for now I guess I'll just have to stick to my phone or the Coolpix.

Those are great pictures though... I think I would have used the under the tree picture (5th one down) for the perspective shot. I like the angles and the way the line for the water passes through the picture.
 
Right the fifth one down was on the short list as were all these. However maybe a bit too artifical looking. Suspicious persons could think of photoshopping. I almost went for #1 but that was maybe too dull. So I thought that the one I selected had the most extreme perspective.

Anyway, nice to have a hardware dream. I do too, it's called Canon EOS 7D, but there is also something like rational acceptance factors. The Nikon D90 is a fine piece. Just keep an eye on the sales market. It's prices will come down as new hardware floods the market.
 
Andre said:
Right the fifth one down was on the short list as were all these. However maybe a bit too artifical looking. Suspicious persons could think of photoshopping. I almost went for #1 but that was maybe too dull. So I thought that the one I selected had the most extreme perspective.

True true, and I agree, the last one has the most extreme perspective. Makes the building look way bigger than it is, and the cannon adds a nice touch to the line of sight :D

Andre said:
Anyway, nice to have a hardware dream. I do too, it's called Canon EOS 7D, but there is also something like rational acceptance factors. The Nikon D90 is a fine piece. Just keep an eye on the sales market. It's prices will come down as new hardware floods the market.

Of course, good advice, and dually noted :) The one you posted is the one I'm looking to get, but my wife adores the D90 lol She likes the way it fits in her hand. Prices are a bit much, but it'll happen soon enough.
 
A friend of mine got a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS for Christmas. Apparently it takes pictures on the macro setting, but she can't figure out how it works. (This camera is more automatic and less manual.) Anyone here familiar with the camera and have any hints and/or tips for taking amazing bug shots like Andre and Turbo and Borek do?
 
Hi, Georgina. It's my understanding that the manual shipped with that camera is a truncated version (though it ought to have SOME instructions for putting the rig in macro mode) and you have to go on-line and download the remainder of the manual. In a review, I read that the manual in the box is more like a "getting started" guide, still there ought to be an intuitive way to get to macro mode. Often, there are quick menu options, and "macro" will often be signified by a symbol that looks like the silhouette of a tulip. My Panasonic DMC-ZS3 is a bit too automatic, too, but it has pretty decent macro performance. I bought it because walking a rambunctious young (and incredibly strong) dog several times a day has cut into my DSLR forays, and I needed a pocket camera.

Close-up photo of a 1986 US Lincoln penny on a wooden surface, showing the profile portrait with 'IN GOD WE TRUST' above and 'LIBERTY' and '1986' beside it.
 
I am not familiar with operating that camera, but I assume that it could be similar to other superzooms like the Panasonic FZ18 - FZ28 etc. As far as I know these camera's only have macro capability in the wide angle range and that is not very encouraging.

So what I did for my FZ-18, I bought a dedicated converter tube and a set of macro (close up) lenses to fit on that camera and then the possibilities are awesome, allowing a good distance between subject and camera, so not to disturb them

Some result:

Close-up photo of a Lacewing butterfly with orange and black wings perched on red and yellow flowers and red buds against a blurred background.

Close-up photo of a black moth with bright turquoise-blue bands on its wings, perched on a green leaf against a blurred green background.
 
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Andre said:
So what I did for my FZ-18, I bought a dedicated converter tube and a set of macro (close up) lenses to fit on that camera and then the possibilities are awesome, allowing a good distance between subject and camera, so not to disturb them

Here is that setof tubes and a close up lens with the Panasonic (bridge) camera, which is roughly the same idea as the SX-20

Panasonic Lumix bridge camera on a wooden desk beside a keyboard, with two black Panasonic lens tubes and a close-up lens ring laid out to its right.


and assembled here:

Black Panasonic LUMIX bridge camera fitted with a 58mm close-up lens and stacked extension tubes marked FZ18 and 58mm, resting on a wooden desk.


And this image was taken with that combination, hand held with only light from the monitor from a distance of almost 2 feet / 50 cm (picture size reduced to 20%)

Photo of a computer monitor showing a dark green image above a line of pale grey text reading "Any body of scientists that adopts press... that are worth conserving" with a caption "Sir Charles Fleming 1986" and a link reading "My Mission".


Althought the image quality is definitely less than the Canon 100mm macro lens, it's still the most versatile option to hunt bugs in a dynamic environment -without tripod. Also the lack of image quality is compensated by an effective anti vibration system and a much better depth of field in the macro range.
 
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Hey, here are some pictures I've taken.

Portrait photo of a rural landscape at dusk: green fields, a dirt track running diagonally, dark tree lines on the horizon, and a pale clear sky.


Close-up photo of a black puppy with dark eyes resting its head on an orange rug, with a blurred warm-lit room behind it.


Close-up photo of green leaves covered in water droplets, with a dark blurred background and dry brown twigs at the top right.


Close-up photo of a grey tabby kitten's face, sniffing toward a finger in the foreground, with long white whiskers and blurred light background.


Close-up photo of a dark brown puppy with large dark eyes and a black nose, resting on an orange knitted blanket.


Snow-covered wooden jetty extending over a frozen lake, with a dark patch of open water near its end and a dense line of snow-dusted conifer trees behind the shore under a misty sky.


Photo of a waning gibbous Moon against a black night sky, with cratered grey surface detail and a shadowed crescent along the left edge.


Flickr placeholder graphic showing a grey camera-style icon with an X and the text 'This photo is no longer available'.


You can click on them for (slightly) bigger versions.
 
Vasara said:
Hey, here are some pictures I've taken.

Very nice, Vasara :smile:.