The Photography Thread

[Magnakai]

A quick, and suprisingly handy tip for autofocus in low-light environments - try to focus on a point of high contrast. That'll make it much easier for the camera to pick up the right distance. Remember, you lock focus by holding the button pressed halfway down.

I like those shots. The B&W one's nice. I'd be tempted to leave it as it is, as you'd lose the nice detail of those knobs through the... umm... blurry out of focus... thing, though maybe a bit off the right wouldn't hurt.

That first one's alright, but next time I'd try getting a bit closer. Closer crops are usually more interesting. Don't worry about annoying the band. **** em, they're up there for your delectation.

[Alastair]

I've been getting all soft and fluffy, have some street:

[Alastair]

Like the mixing desk shot by the way fuse, could be framed better but sometimes you don't get the option/positions. Good human element. I took a desk shot last summer too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/agentl/718917440/

[funkydan]

Well, I have a couple of mixing desk themed shots too :



and



Anyone else?

[babs]

I'm off to a big martial arts expo in April, and I'll be taking my D40 along with me again. Last year I'd only had it for days and frankly, was a bit rubbish with it. I think I may have asked at the time, but there's no harm in asking again. For the sort of scenario I'm going to be in, which is a big expo hall with very high and relatively poor lighting, photographing fast moving people, what tips can the collective give me for getting good results.



That's about the best I managed (1/160, ISO800), but even then there's quite a bit of PP to get the contrast up. I know I'm going to be restricted by the stock 18-55 lens (I really can't afford anything longer sadly), but any tips are welcome. Am I just going to have to live with high ISO and a bit of grain?

(I really should've cropped that ref on the right out!)

[Magnakai]

Speaking as someone with absolutely no experience with this kind of stuff, I'd say get close and crop tight. Add a teeny bit of motion blur, and try to contrast that with something still to emphasise the speed and movement.

I have some better ones on my computer, but these are the best mixing desk ones I can post at the moment:

[Magnakai]

Also Babs, if you want more reach, there are some relatively cheap lenses that'll do that for you. You're compromising on speed, but they probably won't be any worse quality than your kit lens, and they'll do the job:

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/BaseCategory.aspx?Cat03=3078&attrib1246=55_200&price=_250

Not to encourage spending your baked beans money, but thought they might be cheaper than you expected.

[babs]

Hmm that's not too bad at all. Would something like http://www.warehouseexpress.com/prod...px?sku=1011873 suit me to get used to shooting with a bit more length? I realise it's going to be manual focus (at least I think so), as the D40 has the AF motors in the lenses rather than the body, but I quite like the idea of the challenge

[Alastair]

High ISO and a big aperture is about all I can suggest, I know little of martial arts but I'd guess they move fast enough that motion blur will be a problem at anything under 1/100. Bear in mind that a long lens will mean shaky shots unless you can keep the shutter speed at least 1/focal length, therefore, at 200mm you'll be wanting to shoot at at least 1/200 if you want to avoid camera shake.

Found this cool little flickr interface for browsing tags:

http://airtightinteractive.com/projects/related_tag_browser/app/

[Magnakai]

Yeah, I'd imagine it'll do the job. There are some nice examples here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/ta...0/interesting/

From a bit of vague googling, though, there doesn't appear to be any autofocus. I'd be suprised if that ends up being anything less than incredibly frustrating in the long run, though more experienced users are sure to correct me.

Only thing I'd take paint to point out is that longer lenses are much more susceptible to camera shake. You generally want at least 1/the lens length, and anything below 1/60 leaves room for shake. Hopefully the light'll be up to the task, but really the only way to get around pumping up the ISO and living with the grain is to get a lens with a wider aperture. That'll basically let more light in, but they're way beyond your budget. You could rent one for the day, but then we're starting to get complicated.

Edit: Err, yeah. What Mr Alastair said. Guess I should hit post before letting my posts languish in a minimized window for half an hour.

[MartyG]

I got some of my old rolls of film back today - six of the nine. Turns out some of the film was 17 years old, so it has somewhat deteriorated and most is pretty grainy.

Two of the rolls were from my USA trip in 2002 - another from my 18th birthday party, two from when I was working at the BBC Ealing studios in 1990 and some other random crap.

[Magnakai]

Love that one from outside the Met! The colours are gorgeous, and the framing makes it twice as cool. Let's all revert to film!

[HaHaUK]

Lovely stuff from everyone as usual. Alastair, loving that squirrel picture mate!
A few from me over the past week:

[Magnakai]

Here's one I took the other day

I tried reshooting this one, just for fun. It came out slightly differently.

[PeteJ]

I love that Mag, I think that's a much better shot than the one you were reshooting.

Also love Haha's shots, very nice comp. Almost looks like you've applied a bloom effect!