The Photography Thread

[Ginger Tosser]

Of course, the prices may be higher in the first place!

Possibly, some have noticed body prices have been increase slighty since the offer started (there was a european rise at the start of the year).

Ish, first image through a keyhole?

Odd pattern in the second one, what is it?

[Ish]

Both shots were taken in the V&A. The keyhole one was shot through a hole in some dark glass. The second was (believe it or not) just a lamp. An led lamp I think. I fiddled with the camera settings to get a dark background and bring out the red lines (you couldn't actually see the red lines with the naked eye).

Been out again today and will be posting some shortly! I think I got a great bug one

[Ish]

A bug shot. I'm really pleased with this. Being critical there are a couple of areas where I need to do more work to tone down the highlights. But I'm just chuffed I caught the detail and colour so well on something so small. It was only tiny...

[Ginger Tosser]

Looks fine to me! My macro shots are fairly poor, think I need to spend time on bug watch in the garden.

[PeteJ]

Looks great, the colour is excellent.

[Ish]

Thanks guys. I must say I love this D80. It really feels "right" for me.

GT - Aperture Priority mode is your friend for bug shots . For the one I posted a few minutes ago I also used a proper flash as I'd cranked the aperture down to about f/30.

I'm kind of obsessed by macro photography. I always loved looking through microscopes as a kid. I love the transformation that something everyday and mundane goes when you get it up close.

[Richard.John]

Yes, nice shot. Lovely bokeh.

[Ish]

Thanks, as ever, for the comments

I really struggle with landscapes. Here is an effort from yesterday however.



My macro obsession does get in the way of my landscape efforts. I go out meaning to take landscape shots and end up getting distracted by tiny details then it tends to be game over as far as the landscapes go

[Richard.John]

Great colour, though how much saturation did it take to get that look? A nice shot.

[Ish]

Not a lot for the yellow - it was pretty vibrant with direct sunlight on it. I saturated the green channel a little more but had to area select the soil at the top in Photoshop and boost the saturation a lot as it began as a murky brown.

I'm getting a lot more confident with my post-processing. Previously I would probably have just upped the saturation a tiny amount and left it alone. I'm finding I'm really interested in strong colours and contrasts - hence the plain black and whites and the above..

Also... the sensor on my D80 seems to have richer colour tones than on my D50. I'd have quite liked to have tried side by side shots of the two cameras but I've given my D50 to my sister.

[Richard.John]

Yes, PP is like a black art to me. I want improve my basic skills but it's hard.

[Ish]

I used to consider post-shoot manipulation as cheating. Then as I learned more about photography I realise people have always done it - just in a darkroom rather than with a mouse.

I've been lucky enough to have a plague of ladybirds descend on my garden this afternoon. Some of them have been really rather amorous. Fantastic! The bug hunter in me is very happy. I'd actually planned to play some games but priorities, priorities

And here's some of that bug love. So sweet:



I was amazed to see that the female ladybird seemingly has handholds for the male to hang on. Of course knowing nothing about bug anatomy or breeding habits that previous sentence could be a pile of tosh. Maybe its the male with the handholds. Either way, and to coin my avatars phrase: fascinating.

And another landscape effort. Not as well composed as I would have liked. The white line through the middle would be better on a "line of third" I think. It splits it two neatly in two as is.

[Richard.John]

Ladybirds doing it doggy style. Or should that be bug style considering that they have been doing it like that for millions of years, long before mother nature sketched what we today know as mammals.

Fascinating indeed.

[Ish]

A more "serious" ladybird shot.



And something more abstract and simple but which I really like:



(and yup I've pretty much spent all weekend with my camera)

Does anyone here know where I can get some decent frames at a reasonable price. I've got three large prints here (16"x12") that I want to get framed.

[MartyG]

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Picture-Pleasure - this eBay seller is about the cheapest I've found for frames.