The Photography Thread

[charlesr]

Heheh, been trying to emulate that macro monkey, so been out in the garden....

Full size pics (2592x1944) on-click temporarily (don't let your browser resize them!!)
Smaller ones attached to post forever.

[Paulos G]

I do love a good macro!

I've been lurking around this thread for a while as I enjoy dabbling in photography a bit. Nice to see so many creative people about.

Seeing the bit of bug love happening recently has prompted me to de-lurk and point you to some of my efforts:

http://www.pbase.com/paul_g

You can find the creepy crawlies in the "This 'n' That" galleries.

Cheers

P

[charlesr]

Nice. This one looks like he's made of honey.

[Ish]

I like the ladybird love

[Ish]

Right. I now know how you get the blurry backgrounds. Buy a macro lens. You can reduce the depth of field to pretty much zero!!!

Mine came today. Just downloading the pictures from my camera now. Will post some if any turn out ok.

Edit: here's one

[PeteJ]

Ain't macro great

Do you find it scary how limited the depth of field is when looking through the view finder? I was really shocked at first. One thing I will say about your lens (and mine) - its more versitile than first meets the eye. Takes *excellent* portrait shots.

Nice shots though Ish, I really do look forward to seeing what you can achieve with the lens.

AgentL - how'd you get that clone image from your flickr account? I have a few ideas for cloning but do not know how it is done.

[Ish]

Yeah the depth of field thing is quite shocking. The first thing I pointed it at was the spider I posted the other night (its still there) and I was shocked to find half the spider in focus and half of it out. Which is a complete contrast to my 18-55mm camera in which I struggled to blur the bricks behind.

I've taken a few test photos at a more portrait distance and yeah it looks pretty impressive at that range too and I remember your excellent shots of that dog thing.

One thing I've already found is that when shooting in auto focus mode I use the focus limiter a lot. That said I've been using it mostly on manual.

Loving it already I feel like a have a lot to learn about this lens though and I can tell its going to require quite a bit of work until I can consistently produce shots that do its quality justice.

[PeteJ]

I'm still learning with mine to be honest, everytime I think i've got it sussed I get home to find a blured mess on my screen. Then I plug in my camera and look at the images to see the photos I've taken haven't come out particularly well.

A tripod is essential most of the time to control the depth of field; usually you'll need a slower shutter speed.

As for your "dog thing" comment - no wonder it looks so pissed off! I stole that as the title btw

Yeah the depth of field thing is quite shocking. The first thing I pointed it at was the spider I posted the other night (its still there) and I was shocked to find half the spider in focus and half of it out. Which is a complete contrast to my 18-55mm camera in which I struggled to blur the bricks behind.

I've taken a few test photos at a more portrait distance and yeah it looks pretty impressive at that range too and I remember your excellent shots of that dog thing.

One thing I've already found is that when shooting in auto focus mode I use the focus limiter a lot. That said I've been using it mostly on manual.

Loving it already I feel like a have a lot to learn about this lens though and I can tell its going to require quite a bit of work until I can consistently produce shots that do its quality justice.

[Pavey]

Can you over ride/increase your asa on your digital cameras?

Should help your DoF.

[Ginger Tosser]

Yes you can. Mine can be changed from 50 to 3200. Though there is a fair amount of noise at the higher end. I tend to up my iso when the lights a bit cack.

I'm still learning with mine to be honest, everytime I think i've got it sussed I get home to find a blured mess on my screen. Then I plug in my camera and look at the images to see the photos I've taken haven't come out particularly well.

Yep, same here. I'm finding macro is either a tripod or indoor activity. Doesn't stop me trying though. Also with digital it doesn't really matter as it doesn't cost to take pictures.

[Ish]

Yes you can. Mine can be changed from 50 to 3200. Though there is a fair amount of noise at the higher end. I tend to up my iso when the lights a bit cack.

Same here. I like my photos to be really really clean so tend not to do it to be honest. Its like a last resort.

[Ginger Tosser]

So, now we've all got nice DSLR's and a few lenses. What bags do you have?

As i've been taking pictures for a while now i realise i have a few.

[PeteJ]

Mine is the medium sized Low-Pro bag right in the centre of the image. It holds 3 lenses (one on the body), but only if my macro is attached at the time. I'm looking into buying a proper zoom lens later on in the year\early next week, at which point I'll need a new bag!

Regarding Iso - I find the 350d doesn't add much noise at its top end of 1200, which is good. At the same time it means you always have to use photoshop to add in the effect when required. I was invited by a band to take shots of them recently (nothing special, I work with um ffs ), the lighting was dreadful but the ISO setting allowed me to snap away without the use of flash or tripod. Result!

[Ginger Tosser]

I tend to use the same bag as well for everyday use. Usually only carry the 2 lenses though (17-40 & 28-105). The rest of the case has my DS Lite, Ipaq and Wallet.
The Mini Trekker rucksack can hold a lot. It will hold my 5D and the 4 lenses and the flash. But its not as practical as the nova bags. I guess the Nova5 might be worth looking at.

What zoom are you looking at? I can vouch for the quality of the 70-200 f4L, its only downside is the lack of IS. However the IS f2.8 version is nearly 3 times more expensive so i gave that one a miss.

[Richard.John]

I also need a bag after getting my 30D this week. I assume that Lowepro is the way to go?