The Photography Thread

[Herbalizer]

Haven't posted in here for a while as we haven't really been anywhere. I did get to go to Mumbles yesterday though.

I'm not sure if this shot works as you can't see the boat.




Some nautical rope knottings.






I liked the bright colours of the sail, boat and sky in this photo, proof it doesn't rain every day in Swansea, just most of them.





Last one.





As always constructive criticism is welcome, some talented people on here and I would appreciate any hints.

[Alastair]

There's some very good shots on this page, loving the portraits Ish and the first pier shot Spags.

Herbalizer, try to get away from centred composition. You're probably right about the water skier in that it would be better if you could see the boat too. I like the rope shot, could benefit from more contrast though. The bottom one is a bit over exposed but sets a nice scene.

I worked 10 hours on a festival on Saturday, was strange shooting music shots in daylight. Allowed me to use decent apertures and high shutter speeds which was a nice change, trouble was that it was hard to get anything interesting lighting wise. Stage was set up a bit high and the pit was massive so to get a decent sort of angle I had to move back and actually used the 70-200 for 90% of the shots.

Took in the region of 550 shots and edited that down to about 400 after getting rid of the blurry ones and the ones where people moved or pulled a stupid face at the wrong time. Have only processed these at the moment though.

Million Dans DJ chilling back stage in the sun.


Soweto Kinch with the crowd in his shades.


Skinnyman striking a pose.

There's a BW version of this one in a comment on Flickr but I think the colour version has a little something extra.

[funkydan]

Nice shots Al, I love the first 2 especially. I have the Big Chill festy coming up in less than 2 weeks now - really excited and partly terrified! I'm borrowing a friends 70-200mm f2.8 and hoping the sun and blue skies hang around until the first weekend in August!

Herb, I like your shots but would agree with Al's comments. Do try to raise the contrast on your rope shot - you'll be amazed at the difference it makes. And yeah, the waterskiing shot would perhaps benefit from having the boat in the photo as well, but don't beat yourself up over it as you can't do much about now or until next time. I'd actually be tempted to mask out the ski rope he's holding onto

Here's some more live shots from me. This is a band called 'Ghost in Mirrors', fronted by a beautiful French girl, whose name (get this!) is France! France Amann to give her full name Needless to say, most of my shots were of her and here's a little taste, un petit peu if you will

















More here. Feel free to comment as I would love to know what you guys think

[Herbalizer]

Cheers for the feedback. I remember screwing round with the exposure levels on my camera when i last used it. I don't think i ever reset them, hence the over exposure.

Here is a photo including the boat.

[Magnakai]

Spag, that Rubik's cube shot is nice, but the shape around the Corona bottle is more interesting to me, especially as you aren't obstructing the subject so much. It's a good concept, and I'd be tempted to try it again if I were you. The last pier shot is really nice too. I like how you've pulled the perspective to align with the curve of that dialy thing. The first pier one could be way improved if you tilted the camera up a bit. Put the horizon about a third of the way up and it should be a lot more interesting.

Alastair, your close-up shots of the b-boys are really nice. (but then you know that already ) The festival ones are really tight, especially the two close-up portraits. Very clean and charismatic.

Ish, your portraits are especially nice. Always very well lit, very detailed but very flattering. That black & white wall is nicely textured but a bit too high contrast for me. Those guys in the masks are freaking me out though.

funkydan, that set of your friend's band is very nice. I quite like the grungy look you've got on some of them. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I have noticed that your black & white images aren't really converted very well. They top out at a mid-level grey, giving you a really narrow range of tone. They make some potentially nice shots look really flat. Remember, in b&w a variation in brightness is literally all you have. I'd also be a bit more selective with that french band. Apart from the first one, the images you've posted up here are all great, but there are definitely too many in that set.

Winky, your insect shots are pretty amazing. Seeing a spider spin its thread like that is fascinating. I don't really know how you got so close to that bee. Amazing.

Herbalizer, try cropping the bottom third or so on that waterskiing shot. It'll make the subject a larger proportion of the image and make it more interesting.

I need to process and upload some images. I've been distracted lately. Very naughty!

[spagmasterswift]

Spag, that Rubik's cube shot is nice, but the shape around the Corona bottle is more interesting to me, especially as you aren't obstructing the subject so much. It's a good concept, and I'd be tempted to try it again if I were you.

Thanks for the comments Mag. Until I get a tripod all the 'light painting' stuff is just pure experimental, I'm trapped setting up the camera on a table and putting objects in front of it at the moment...feels like working in a lab >_< Hopefully by the time I have the money to invest in a tripod my meths will be honed and I can start creating some quality stuff!! The colours on my laptop at home compared to my iMac at work are very different indeed, which is making processing a tad hit and miss. The cube stands out more on my laptop, but the colours are fresher on my iMac.

I'll give the pier a bit more time when its a sunny day

[funkydan]

funkydan, that set of your friend's band is very nice. I quite like the grungy look you've got on some of them. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I have noticed that your black & white images aren't really converted very well. They top out at a mid-level grey, giving you a really narrow range of tone. They make some potentially nice shots look really flat. Remember, in b&w a variation in brightness is literally all you have. I'd also be a bit more selective with that french band. Apart from the first one, the images you've posted up here are all great, but there are definitely too many in that set.

Thanks for the kind words Mag, and for being honest too. I'm glad you like the first lot - I was pleased with those as were the band. As for my black and white conversions, I'm not entirely what I'm doing I guess - I see what you mean about them being more gray than white - any advice you could throw my way? And as for the French girl's band - I put the shots on Flickr for them to see, the amount doesn't bother me as they're there for the band to review. I do exercise some restraint though - I had about 50 photos for them but only put my favourites on Flickr. I will send all 50 to the band though. I know it's all to do with the whole less is more epithet, but I usually take about 300 shots of each band I shoot and then wittle them down to between 30-50 to give to the band. Any more than that is too many as far as I am concerned, but I find it hard to go less than those amounts. Besides, the band can link to my Flickr so others can see them too until I get the CD to them. I appreciate the comments though, please keep 'em coming

[EDIT] Mag, you were right, despite what I usually do for the bands, there were still far too many in that set, so I've managed to wittle it down further to just 15 shots in that set. I think that's better now, wouldn't you say?

[Ish]

For black and white the key is contrast and saturation and combining that with selective filters. Most of mine are pushed through a blue filter or infrared filter. It's worth experimenting with the filters and selectively boosting saturation of particular colours.

I also find it helps to have a really sharp image.

I'll try and add some more info later - this is a rare post from my phone - had to reply as I'm a big black and white fan - as you've probably gathered

[funkydan]

Ah right, I would usually drop the saturation completely to phase out all the colour and then alter the contrast and not much else. I'm pretty much out of the habit of shooting in my camera's b+w setting, preferring to convert the colour images instead, but I'm obviously still not quite there and would appreciate some further assistance!

I have an old crappy version of Photoshop which I don't like to use as it removes all the EXIF data so am currently using Windows Media Gallery to PP my images. I think it works ok with the colour images as I usually just crop if necessary and up the contrast a little, but I don't think it's ideal for b+w conversions (well, it obviously isn't!) - HELP PLEASE!

[Herbalizer]

I'm yet to buy any filters, I'll get some soon though.

When you are talking about changing Contrast and Saturation - Is this done in the camera menu or in post processing?

Sorry for the Noob question.

[Alastair]

I'm yet to buy any filters, I'll get some soon though.

When you are talking about changing Contrast and Saturation - Is this done in the camera menu or in post processing?

Sorry for the Noob question.

Ish will be referring to filters as in software 'filters'. I doubt he takes the images with a blue filter on.

Contrast and saturation will be done with software too.

Dan, 'get hold' of PS CS3 or 4, lightroom or aperture. These will all help you out loads with post processing.

I personally use the channel mixer method to convert to B&W.

[funkydan]

Cheers Al, my boss has just allowed me to take home our work copy of PS 5 that we don't use any more so I'll be sorted with that I think - histogram-a-rama! Don't know if it has the channel mixer, but hopefully it will

Any ideas if PS 5 (PC version) will retain my photos EXIF data? It should do, shouldn't it?

Thanks for all the help dudes

[Ish]

Yeah i shoot raw and its all done in software. I use a mix of aperture, cs3 and something called lightzone. I usually get what I want out of aperture and lightzone - which are great for quick and straightforward jobs. Use cs3 when I need more control and or selectivity.

My fave bw I've done was the rocks - I'll try and post master, intermediates and final tonight. May give an idea of what I did.

That said when I'm rich and famous I'd love a body hacked for infrared.

[EvilBoris]

Those Infrared photos are awesome.

[Ish]

Obviously I'm running through a software filter when I've done them which isn't quite the same - but it still gives excellent skies.

Couple more from the River Festival at the weekend. Processed at lunch... beats carrying on coding! The first looks much better large.