The Photography Thread

[Magnakai]

Okay, I don't mean to keep spamming this thread, but I muddled my way onto the site of professional retoucher Amy Dresser.

Oh my god! Freaking amazing stuff! If you roll over some of her images she compares the before and after. For quite a few it goes waaay beyond retouching, but it's still interesting to see. For instance, go to Beauty, and then look at the pretty blonde lady about five blocks down. Then roll over to see the original.

I don't think I'd ever need to be that accomplished at retouching images (although those who have seen my photos might disagree) but it's a fabulous skill. At times like this, the line between photography and digital painting seems really blurred.

Anyway, here's a tutorial apparently detailing some of her technique.

On a completely different note, I came across this excellent video explaining the concepts of off-camera lighting: http://www.pduncan.com/strobiststart/index.html
It's quite interesting, but potentially a bit of a rabbit hole filled with a spiral of umbrellas and gobos etc. Potent stuff!

[PeteJ]

They are excellent examples of how to improve a photo, every one of them. Amazing stuff.

I have also been looking into a Huey or Spyder, I feel I do need something since my shots are all going up way too bright and lacking contrast (though on my monitor they are fine). They seem expensive though, not sure on the worth.

Two old shots retouched:

[Ginger Tosser]

But then I took a few pictures and was quite pleasantly suprised. I still can't get my head around a zoom lens, but the quality's pretty decent.

I think the kit lens is often slated, but stopped down it performs well.

I still think it'd be better to bundle something like the 35 f/2 with the camera, but I'm a total prime snob.

Nothing wrong with being a prime snob, I've got 4 primes and love em!
(that said my zooms are nice though).

Anyways, one from my new unofficial role as Birmingham tourist board promotions



Btw, some great shots of the last week or so.

[MartyG]

Went out taking pics with my brother today - end of an era as I've given him my D50 - now it's the D80

[PeteJ]

Excellent shot marty. Unless it has been very heavily photoshopped, to get such black tones in that light is very well done indeed.

[MartyG]

Thanks, pretty much out the camera - the trees were in shadow from the house left of it which helped a lot. My brother got a few nice shots too - though he chose way more than I'd have done - but he's just getting started with a DSLR.

[Magnakai]

Nice black and white conversion GT, though a tad sharp for me.

Marty, I like the shape of the branches and the edge detail on them, but I think the moon's a bit lacking as a main subject. It does look a lot better bigger, but I think you need a flock of geese flying overhead, or a UFO or something.

I don't know if this is going to look horrible on other people's monitors or not, as I can't calibrate my ones properly. This looks nice on my Samsung external one, but a bit lame on my Macbook. But if I calibrate it for my Macbook, it looks absolutely horrible on my Samsung. I can't get the monitors remotely similar, so I've uploaded the Samsung one. Mainly because the monitor's bigger, so **** you Macbook.

[MonkeySteve]

Works for me , looks great

This one has been heavily processed, so may be more appreciated in an art thread than a photo one

[Magnakai]

Is that a strawberry cake? Looks yummy. But yeah, the filter's a bit heavy for my liking.

Speaking of which, there are some interesting Lightroom presets at this site: http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/archives/presets/

Not all of them are going to be useful, but there are some that have nice creative effects.

[MonkeySteve]

White chocolate and raspberry cheesecake that the lady made for valentines day. And yes, it is very yummy!

[Ginger Tosser]

Nice black and white conversion GT, though a tad sharp for me.

Yep, I've just reinstalled my MacMini. Think I left the default CS3 settings on.

Anyway. Nice sunny day yesterday, so went for a walk to the airport!

[funkydan]

That 1st shot is ace GT - nice work!!

[Magnakai]

Beautiful. I particularly like the second one actually, though it's slightly less immediately striking. The light is really gorgeous, especially the way it streams through the clouds on the top right.

[MonkeySteve]

Lovely shots GT, especially the second. Both great compositions.

Couple of aquatic shots from last summer which I have recently re-discovered

[winky]

GT: great plane shots. They are really striking. Im curious did you wait for that plane? The colours are perfect against the sky.

Monkey Steve: Love the second shot at the aquarium. Its hard work shooting at these places the light has some strange colours. Oh yeah and do you have any of that cake left over?

A couple from my spray and pray shooting at the weekend
For anyone doubting the quality of the kit lens:

Worth clicking through for the nose and hair detail. And the lens wasn't stopped down (I think that is the lingo :P) On review there is a garden chair in the background which I never spotted until after. Its the green blur above the dogs head. The dogs are so restless though I take what I can get.

This is what happens when you try to get clever:

Originally I took the photograph for the colour in the red buoys, but they just over powered the image. So the image was convereted in Picassa, a little bit of softening blur for the the three out of focus buoys and some film grain for a bit of texture.