The Photography Thread

[funkydan]

I thought I'd try my luck with something: I contacted the organisers of a fairly new festival, Electric Gardens, to see if I would be able to have a photo pass for this years festival in Kent in August. They have yet to decide about passes as they are due to have a meeting about it soon. But the guy I emailed asked if I would like to come along to The Loft in Maidstone to take shots of their 11th Birthday Party and the evening is being headlined by Josh Wink!! He said they'll put my shots up on www.club-class.org and it would also stand me in better stead for getting a photo pass for the festival....which is nice!

I don't think I can pass this up and will definitely go. Any tips for night-club photography? I think my bro has a Nikon flash gun so I think I will see if I can borrow that.

[Ian(not Ian)]

Dunno if you photographer guys have seen this yet, similar to that big ol' lens a few pages back prolly.

http://gizmodo.com/353073/canon-120056l-usm-the-bfg-of-telephoto-lenses

[Ginger Tosser]

Aye Ian, I seen it on a few forums. And I've actually had a quick play with one of those lenses. Canon had one at focus on imaging a few years back. It is quite a beast!

[Anpanman]

Agreed with Dan, I really like that tube/train platform shot.

Me too, don't normally comment on the photos much but that one is class.

Well done.

[Gareth C]

Well it seems that leica have tried to play a good hand but fallen short...Future Proofing...

Leica's new concept allows it's customers to invest in the photographic equipment they need sure in the knowledge that they will not miss out on improvements and technological developments in the future.

The first update package entails the fitting of a scratch-resistant sapphire glass LCD screen cover as well as a shutter that is quieter; one that is closer to a well-tuned classic analog Leica M.

Plus additional two Year Warranty.

Basically the idea is that any M8 owners can keep their camera up to date with constant upgrades. Will this include new sensors? The gossip says yes.

The problem is that the first upgrade includes a new shutter system that is very quiet...all good except it also brings the fastest shutter speed down to 1/4000th. And who needs a new LCD 'saphire' screen?

All in all a great idea especially considering the price of an M8 but all in all I think I will pass for now...

[Magnakai]

Plus it costs €1200...

I wonder if it comes built into future M8s?

Still want one...

[MartyG]

Then again, who needs 1/8000th unless you're shooting directly into the sun at f1.8 on ISO 3200?

[Number45]

Been messing around more with the camera this evening, just seeing what does what. Hopefully I'll get something online sooner or later for you to see, just need to find something worthwhile to shoot.

One question. I understand what modifying the exposure does (Increases/decreases light allowed in, right?) but can't really think of any obvious applications for it. Does anyone have any examples where they might mess with that?

[MartyG]

Plenty, in fact it's probably one of the functions I use most - cameras aren't always accurate with their exposure valuation they tend to expose for the middle ground - and that isn't always helpful.

Sometimes you need to make things lighter and darker, so you use the compensation.

One good example is snow, if there's a lot of white in the scene, the camera tends to under-expose, adding a stop with the exposure compensation corrects for this. If there's a lot of black in a scene, the camera will tend to over expose, taking away a stop compensates for this.

Another reason to use would be in back-lighting situations, for example the sun behind a building - the camera will tend to under-expose, Or if there's a lot of shadow in the scene, the camera will tend to over-expose.

So, there are quite a lot of reasons to want exposure compensation

[Gareth C]

Then again, who needs 1/8000th unless you're shooting directly into the sun at f1.8 on ISO 3200?

Well once I HAVE MY F1.0 Noctilux I will be needing that 1.8000th all the time

[Magnakai]

If there's a lot of black in a scene, the camera will tend to under expose, taking away a stop compensates for this.

Over! He means over.

One thing to remember is that the cameras have a much shallower dynamic range than our eyes. They generally can't see the full range of white and blacks at the same time. If you put deep black next to brilliant white, one of them is invariably going to lose some detail. One of the most important reasons to adjust exposure is to ensure you catch the detail in something that might be either over or under exposed away.

[MartyG]

Yeah, I meant over - now fixed

Spot on Magnakai - you compensate so you're getting the part of the image you're wanting detail in exposed properly.

Of course you can always use exposure bracketting if you're still not sure - the camera will then take, normal, under and over exposures at the what ever stop compensation you've picked ( bracketting usually allows adjustment in thirds of a stop ) - the results from bracketting can then be used to create HDR shots, compensating for what Magnakai described above.

[funkydan]

I thought I'd try my luck with something: I contacted the organisers of a fairly new festival, Electric Gardens, to see if I would be able to have a photo pass for this years festival in Kent in August. They have yet to decide about passes as they are due to have a meeting about it soon. But the guy I emailed asked if I would like to come along to The Loft in Maidstone to take shots of their 11th Birthday Party and the evening is being headlined by Josh Wink!! He said they'll put my shots up on www.club-class.org and it would also stand me in better stead for getting a photo pass for the festival....which is nice!

I don't think I can pass this up and will definitely go. Any tips for night-club photography? I think my bro has a Nikon flash gun so I think I will see if I can borrow that.

I could really use some advice on this. I can borrow my brother's flash and I have been reading on this, and it seems that these settings are desirable:

Flash gun - rear curtain mode (how do you alter this on a D200 and what do the different settings mean? I also plan on tilting the flash to about 75 degrees - sound good?)
Low ISO - about 400 or so
slow exp - 1/2 to 1 second and keep the camera moving apparently
I was going to mainly use my 50mm f1.8 lens but would I be right in thinking that I would need to use my 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 for the 'crowd' shots that are needed? I think the 50mm will be ok for the portraits in 'da club', would you agree?

I really want to get this right and could use your help guys! If I can do this well, then chances are I'll be allowed a photo pass for Electric Gradens 2008

Thanks

Dan

[Number45]

Thanks Marty and Magnakai, hopefully I'll get the chance for some outside shots at the weekend and I can really put some of it to the test.

Need to pickup a case first though. >_<

[Number45]

Does anyone have any tips on taking pictures from a TV screen? Mine's DLP at the moment so it's not as reflective as some surfaces, but still struggled tonight:



^^ that's the best I came up with after a few tries.

Uploaded primarily because I finally beat Phantom and I'm shaking like a leaf. He let fly with his huge Fireball attack that should, by rights, have finished me off... but **** me if I didn't time the swing perfectly and smash it right back at him! </ot>