The Photography Thread

[Richard.John]

Amazing stuff. The one of Gordon Brown's profile set against Blair's shadow must have been a one in a million shot.

Superb all round.

[Alastair]

Sorry.

[Ish]

Today's efforts. All taken on a cycle ride in Bedfordshire.

[MartyG]

Went out this morning and ended up taking well over 400 photos - I think I liked about two of them. I'm really starting to think that the lenses I have are holding me back, they aren't totally poor, and I do sometimes get nice results, but I find far too many of them end up looking really soft, I don't think it's down to my ability to focus.

These were taken with my tamron 200-400

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/164764490/ - family of ducks
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/164764491/ - another bug
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/164795016/ - Bird Silhouette in a tree
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/164795017/ - Chaffinch in a Tree

This with my 28-200
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/164698461/ - Red Wine

Neither of these is really optomised for digital SLRs, so maybe that's the issue. I have an old Nikon 50mm F1.8 which is a manual lens that takes some really nice shots though, so maybe it's purely down to 'cheap' lenses ( relatively speaking, they still cost a bloody fortune ). Or maybe I'm just being very selective - over 4000 photos with my D50 now.

[Ish]

I like the ducks and the red wine!

[PeteJ]

Was playing with bracketing earlier and managed to get this shot
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjohns/164849740/

I quite liked the colours, so posted it

I also got this fly, which is a lame shot all said and done, but I like the composure!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjohns/164849739/

[MartyG]

Sorry Pete, don't like either shot - the first needs a longer exposure to get that water flowing effect. The second has far too much dead space. The fly is the focal point, it needs a far tighter crop.

Your tree shot here ( though perhaps slightly cropping tighter on the right as I posted on a note on flicker ) and the dart photo are majorly superior shots.

I'd love to know how kees gets the shots he does - his photos are stunning: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keesssss/ - from the discussion I've had with him, he mostly uses a canon 60mm efs f/2.8 1:1 - he must really have an eye for detail.

[PeteJ]

I know what you mean about the exposure not being long enough, but I'm struggling to keep the image from going completely overexposed. Anything over a second and it almost completely burns out. I've returned (to garden) and retaken the shot with longer exposure, but I found it is now a completely flat image. Any advise?

Those Kees shots are stunning.

[MartyG]

You need a ND filter as discussed earlier in this thread

A polariser will also give you two stops and help in certain circumstances ( not quite the same effect as an ND filter though ).

Or take the shot later in the day when the light is lower and you can extend the exposure length.

There are suppose to be thunder storms here later - still seems very bright atm. I'm hoping to get some lightning shots later. Never managed them before, but I'll get my tripod set up if it becomes stormy.

[Alastair]

Sorry Pete, don't like either shot - the first needs a longer exposure to get that water flowing effect. The second has far too much dead space. The fly is the focal point, it needs a far tighter crop...

Pete,

I agree about the need for an ND filter for the water. I still haven't purchased one though and all my water shots look the same as yours! For the time being I've given up on them.

Don't listen to Marty about the fly shot though, I really like it. It seems very fake (in a good way), almost stylised. I would crop it a little tighter and get the fly into the bottom right quarter of the shot rather than dead centre. Other than that I think it's nice, each to their own and all that.

[HaHaUK]

Nice Flower that popped up in the garden.

[dc-arena]

Sorry Pete, don't like either shot - the first needs a longer exposure to get that water flowing effect. The second has far too much dead space. The fly is the focal point, it needs a far tighter crop.

Your tree shot here ( though perhaps slightly cropping tighter on the right as I posted on a note on flicker ) and the dart photo are majorly superior shots.

I'd love to know how kees gets the shots he does - his photos are stunning: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keesssss/ - from the discussion I've had with him, he mostly uses a canon 60mm efs f/2.8 1:1 - he must really have an eye for detail.

Wow Keesssss takes some incredible shots. The one of the fly face-on on page two or three is outstanding - thats a nuts macro lens hes got right there!

[Alastair]

Took a couple more over the w/e.

Nothing too stunning:





The dirt I was talking about on my sensor seems really tricky to track down. It only shows on some shots with the kit lens so I assume it's on the lens now. However, it's not on every shot but it is always in exactly the same place. It's driving me mad ft:

[Alastair]

Actually, I've just looked through some shots from the w/e and the marks on the pics are only when I take shots with the aperture right up in the 20's. What would cause that?

[EJG1980]

Dust on the sensor, most likely. The slower the aperture, the more it shows up.