The Photography Thread

[HaHaUK]

Bowser is certainly the best of these, shadows would have been as the composure is excellent, were it not for the specs of dust everywhere, it's very distracting.

Didn't have time to clean up for the shadow picture was just testing out my flair

And cheers for the advice. Hope to do some magic now

[HaHaUK]

Was taking some dark pictures last night and uploaded them today and saw a red dot in the middle of the screen. First thought it was a dead pixel on my laptop screen but now took another picture and its still there.

Any ideas how to rectify this? Or is it bust?

[DaiSuki]

It's a sniper, out to get you but always aiming just in front of you >_<

I think I've got a few dead spots like this on my Sony, which only tend to appear with longer exposure shots. I never tend to notice them most of the time, to be honest. You could just photoshop it out; of course, you shouldn't have to so if you're under warranty you may as well just take it back

Oh, and the good bits of this weekend's work:

Nice Work If You Can Get It, Part II
Dad
Perfect

So warm and bright and fantastic up North today, I might even've got a bit of a tan.

[MartyG]

Hope you killed that perfect after you took a shot of it. Evil buggers.

[DaiSuki]

Harsh

They're beautiful things. And the stings don't hurt that much (unless you're one of those people who go into anaphylactic shock and die, I suppose).

[Gareth C]

A couple of shots from my honeymoon in Indonesia...

[Ish]

After buying my D50 today I felt obligated to post a photo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92815096@N00/134291156/

(please be kind!! - I have barely used a camera for anything other than holiday snaps)

[PeteJ]

Nice Ish, great colours. Vibrent.

Started my night school digital photography earlier, seems pretty good so far. A bit worried it will focus too much on the digital side rather than photography however. We spent most of tonight (2 hours) talking about different versions of photoshop which was a bit meh, but it was interesting hear other peoples views on the subject. Is nice to know that there are other people out there who have a similar problem of not being able to get their ideas successfully into the camera, something I'm hoping the course will fix.

Homework is to take some "continual shooting" shots, which should be OK. Probably take some kite surfers if we actually get the right conditions!

[MartyG]

Aye colours are nice, the cropped one is the best of those. There's nothing that really stands out though - I get that these were trial photos, but try looking for something a little less ordinary

What's the course you're doing Pete? I did look at doing the next one this year from the progression on what I've done previously, but at ?300, it didn't seem worth it, especially at the cost of new lens.

[PeteJ]

It's called Digital Photography: Moving on.

A 'second level' course, cost me ?55 for 10 weeks (two hours each). It's hardly pro standard but it should set me in the right direction. There is a beginner one which I avoided as I know a little, and also an advanced which they won't let you do until you complete this one.

I'm hoping it gives me more confidence with the camera. When in my room with the manual in hand, I fully understand all the controls and what to do, but when taking a 'real world' shot I tend to rush the shot and go for the easy auto modes, a habbit I want to get out of.

[Ginger Tosser]

I guess the advantage of continuing with EOS system for me has been not having to learn a new camera. My 5D works almost the same as my 50E, that said i can still take some real ****e.

[Ish]

but try looking for something a little less ordinary

I guess thats a large part of the skill/art of photography. Hopefully with practice and time I can do some interesting shots.

Out of interest, there are a lot of really good photos in this thread - bot beautifully shot and of interseting subjects. When you've taken an intersting photo how often do they come "straight off the camera" and how often do you use something like Photoshop to tinker with color levels?

[DaiSuki]

I don't very often, because my ****e colour vision precludes any editing which might be pleasing to look at for the 95% of the population who can see properly. My edits are generally restricted to conversion to black and white.

That said, a good crop in Photoshop makes all the difference, I find; I'm far less concerned about framing a picture on my camera properly than I otherwise would be, because I know that if I purposefully take too big a picture I'll probably be able to get decent results with a quick cut. This, this and this for example, were very dull pictures when they were in their original 3600x2000 format but a quick letterbox shaped crop cheered them up immeasurably. I'm not saying they're great pictures, but they're certainly better than they were.

[bangaio]

Long time no pics - some from the last couple of weeks....

[bangaio]

The post about post processing is I think interesting. Here are two images, the same shot - one is a raw file out of the camer with no pp. The other has had levels and curves adjustments, whit balance and a slight change to the colour pfofile all within Canon DPP - the raw processing software (which I am straing to use more as my other processor - Raw Shooter Premium is starting to annoy me with the results and sharpening / detail output bu that is by the by). You can see the differecne some pp makes - infact and RAW file needs pp and sharpening as a matter of fact.

Is this ok - of course it is. In a darkroom I have contrast filters, different processing solutions, different papers, hell even a different enlarging lens. A cibacrhome printer has control over their final image as does any printer, tjhe shot image is just the start. Some of the finest prints have hours of dodging and burning and contact test printing, we can just now use a computer and not inhale vicious chemicals!

Anyway - piccies: