The Photography Thread

[Garf]

Couple of water drop shots - bit cliched, but always promised myself I'd have a go at this - it's quite tricky to do..

[spagmasterswift]

Really like those Garf, how many shots did you end up taking?

Here are some from Venice this week.

[Garf]

Really like those Garf, how many shots did you end up taking?

Here are some from Venice this week.

About 50 !

Really like the Venice shots, especially the last two. Nice to see it from different angles/perspectives.

[Magnakai]

I did my first big-scale shoot today. It was an 8am-7pm job, with 7-10 actors/models and two or three lights roaming around various locations on a school. Enormous, enormous work, but great fun!

[funkydan]

Hi Magnakai, so what was the shoot for (new promo shoot for Skins?! ) and can we see some results please

[Magnakai]

Oh god no, nothing that big (in terms of profile or budget!) It's for a marketing campaign related to a new low-budget British horror flick. I can't share the results quite yet, but as soon as the company gives me the go-ahead, I'll let you guys in on the action.

[funkydan]

Cool....I look forward to hearing and seeing more

[funkydan]

I'm thinking of getting either Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop Elements 7 so that I can start shooting in RAW format.

So, which would be better for converting the NEF files? I'm guessing P.E.7 as apparently, PSP will only make your RAW files read-only; is this true? All I want to do is take photos in RAW, sort them out (in either PSP or PE7) and save them as large jpg files.

Your advice would be appreciated chaps

[Magnakai]

Photoshop. I haven't used the Elements edition, but I can't (offhand) think of another niche which is so totally dominated by a single program as image editing is by Photoshop.

I'd also recommend Lightroom if it wasn't being as slow as a pig right now. It's an image library program with Photoshop's RAW conversion and a bit more. Try the demo at least.

I'm sure PSP is competent, but with PSE7 you'll at least be used to a familiar interface etc. In a way I hate that there's no competition for PS, and that Adobe have a total monopoly of the image editing space. It's really blocking any serious innovation. That said, Photoshop is an astounding piece of software. That said, I've barely used PS since I got Lightroom.

Oh, and to get back on topic - Dan, the Adobe Camera Raw converter is the industry standard. OTOH, my friend swears by the Nikon software, which does seem pretty good.

[funkydan]

Photoshop. I haven't used the Elements edition, but I can't (offhand) think of another niche which is so totally dominated by a single program as image editing is by Photoshop.

I'd also recommend Lightroom if it wasn't being as slow as a pig right now. It's an image library program with Photoshop's RAW conversion and a bit more. Try the demo at least.

I'm sure PSP is competent, but with PSE7 you'll at least be used to a familiar interface etc. In a way I hate that there's no competition for PS, and that Adobe have a total monopoly of the image editing space. It's really blocking any serious innovation. That said, Photoshop is an astounding piece of software. That said, I've barely used PS since I got Lightroom.

Oh, and to get back on topic - Dan, the Adobe Camera Raw converter is the industry standard. OTOH, my friend swears by the Nikon software, which does seem pretty good.

Thanks for the advice Mag Which Nikon software is that then mate - is it Capture NX? I may have it at home (fingers crossed)

[Magnakai]

Yup, Capture NX. He gets some nice colours in his images. But he's also a great photographer, so that may have something to do with it

[funkydan]

A bit of good news: an online company, musicpictures.com (part of Redferns!) have agreed to represent my live music shots on their site! Quite chuffed about this, tbh

[Magnakai]

Nice one Dan! Good work

[Garf]

Magnakai - nice one on getting the marketing gig.

Dan - well done on getting your stuff represented.

[funkydan]

Thanks guys!

Right, I'm going at bit mental now - I am on the cusp of getting a new lens and just thought I'd get a Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. However, those are a bit difficult to get hold of online sometimes, and so, I was toying with the possibility of maybe getting a Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 instead. Does anyone here experience of these lenses? Are there any noticeable differences that I should be aware of? I've read up on both on the web a great deal, but still cannot decide! Any advice you can give me would be appreciated