The Photography Thread

[vanpeebles]

Can we have a mini distopian photo competition?

[funkydan]

No no no, the flat comment relates to the B&W, nothing to do with the effort the guys put in as they seem to be going for it. See how in yours there is no white? Almost all of the tones that aren't black are some sort of shade of grey. This is something that Gareth C pointed out to me about a B&W conversion I'd done and after I understood it it was a revelation to my B&W shooting.

B&W is the area that digital really falls down compared to film, when shooting B&W in camera you just don't get any white (maybe because it thinks true white is overexposed?), same happens when you desaturate the image in PS. To get good black and white results I always shoot in colour and then go through a B&W conversion for each image to get the best look (to me that is - totally subjective). If you're happy with the results, and I think you are, then who am I to try to make you do it otherwise, that's the most important thing after all, to please yourself.

Re the keepers comment, NO. If I shoot a event I want at least 60% keepers (good shots), fair enough I may only upload a couple to Flickr that are the cream of the crop and I do get a fuzzy feeling about that one amazing shot. The difference between us I guess is that I may be hapy with 1 GREAT shot out of an entire event but if I took 200 I'd want at least 110+ that were usable and printable. I'm struggling to word that so it doesn't sound like some sort of defensive tirade!!

Did you get in the paper yet by the way?

And Thanks about my shot

I see what you mean - as my shots are more black and grey, as opposed to b+w. I think if I'm honest it's me being lazy by shooting in b+w and not wanting to spend that much time post-processing (in fact, my current post-processing technique may have something to do with it)! But as you say, I do like my results so I guess if I don't mind it, it's ok - hey, that could be my thing: black and gray photos

RE: KEEPERS - apologies, read you all wrong (bit thick me, see!)

I don't think we need to worry about maybe sounding defensive as I think we both know that that what we say to each other is friendly, constructive and in no way meant offensively. So now we can write what we want without worrying if it's offending the other

No paper yet, but thanks for the reminder - I think I might give the band a nudge as I want to see my stuff in print!

Vanpeebles - I had to look up distopian

Me too!

[Ginger Tosser]

I had to look it up as well and i'm still confused

[vanpeebles]

Just think of films such as Brazil, Clockwork Orange, 20 Minutes into the Future etc etc

[funkydan]

It's the opposite of utopia, which is apparently the world which mankind strives to inhabit (everyone's happy and no-one would want for anything, I think). Distopia would be chaos, death, despair, doom and gloom (I think)!

[Magnakai]

Isn't it spelt dystopia?

My friend was showing me the pics she took from a £30 digital camera from Tescos. They're bloody great! Really nice light and colour, and she just happens to have a great eye for composition too. It's a nice contrast to the bajillion megapixel images I have to deal with.

[funkydan]

Anyone else here enter this? I've made a few entries today (not many categories left though), nothing to lose really

[funkydan]

I quite the whole 'caught in the headlights' look he's sporting here:

[MartyG]

Anyone else here enter this? I've made a few entries today (not many categories left though), nothing to lose really

Yeah, I put some pics in the macro section quite a while back - seems I'm too late to enter my Meerkat shot though :/

Got to be worth a punt

[Alastair]

[funkydan]

Al, that's well cool. It has a real HG Wells 'Time Machine' feel about it! Love the DOF, and the clarity and crispness of the light stand too

Also, I was down in Brighton last night to see Queens of the Stone Age at the Concert Hall of the Brighton dome. We were looking for the Church Street NCP car park and I took a wrong turn into Jew Street, the road on the left just before the car park. Anyway, it was a dead end street but with a massive wall on the right that was covered in awesome graffiti! Have you seen it? I need to get back down there with my camera sometime soon and shoot that ****!

[Ginger Tosser]

Like the lamp, nice exposure.

Anyway, not been upto much of late (having a cold for a week or so does mess you up a bit).



Wife woke me up to tell me to shot the sunrise, glad I did. Nothing special but i like it.

[MonkeySteve]

That is a lovely sunrise capture GT. If only you lived on a cliff overlooking some spectacular vista

[funkydan]

A couple of arty shots from me - decided not to venture outside today as it was too cold to go photo-ing. So I found a slinky and an old tarnished silver pot at home to photograph:

[Gareth C]

I think the teapot could be the subject of some great photos but for me the crop is too tight and the shadow too distracting, I reckon it would be better shot in a more 'real' environment, rather than the white neutral space.