The Photography Thread

[IanE]

They look like a bunch of old men, but really, try their music in recorded form, they're fantastico.

[TommyG]

The Canon G9 looks the most suitable for me. As you can fiddle around a bit with the picture settings and all that, yet it still remains small in proportions so that it's more convienient for me to carry around.

By the way; when you buy a camera, does it usually come with an editing programme for the pictures you take for your computer?

That's exactly the reason I bought it. I really wanted a DSLR and no doubt in the future I will definitely get one, but at this point in time I wanted a camera I could take anywhere and would introduce me to some of the manual controls of a SLR, so when the time comes to get a SLR the step up isn't as daunting.

The G9 comes with some very basic software for editing, brightness, contrast, saturation, trimming, sharpening and that's about it (or at least that's all i've touched with it) Taking the pictures is where i'm at atm, editing they say is another 50% of photography, so i've alot to learn......baby steps atm

Thanks to EB, i've just found another feature of the G9.... Photostitch! I read the thread this morning and then promptly leant out my bedroom window and snapped this....



Then on the way to Uni i crossed a field where a tractor was cutting the grass and got this and another photostitch shot, it's a great feature and as EB says really easy to use






Thanks to spagmasterswift as well i tried my first light drawing shot, nothing fancy just testing it and finding the settings via manual controls that make it work.... it's fun


Still working on the landscape shots, not quite got there. Here's an attempt I made at lunch.....tbh I don't really like it and it's still not as sharp as i'd like but it'll come i'm sure, i'm just enjoying taking photos.



I like water drops! Cliche I know but i'd love to get a good water droplet shot one day, in the mean time i'm practising




Is it me or does your perspective on the way you look at the world start to change when you get into photography?

Happy shooting guys

[IanE]

The light pictures.. is it just a really long shutter with a torch? Do click-torhes work better for it, so you can press it in then release when you want to do a new line? Looks lovely!

[TommyG]

Yep exactly IanE, I set the longest exposure I could with the G9, then used a pen torch to swipe across the air. It's easy but you have to learn to write backwards >_<

[IanE]

That's a G9! Wow, it looks like what you'd get with an SLR like the 400D, nice stuff dude, especially the water, I'm a sucker for that, heh. The dock picture looks great, good colour in the sky and great clarity.. darn.. I've been hanging round with an Italian guy who has a 5D with a few lenses.. and a G9. I see why now.

[Magnakai]

Is it me or does your perspective on the way you look at the world start to change when you get into photography?

Happy shooting guys

Absolutely! As soon as you realise that you're capturing light, you start to look at shadows as almost physical objects. Because as far as the camera's concerned, they might as well be.

Alright, anyone used a Canon 85mm 1.8? Any feedback?

[Ginger Tosser]

I've not been here much recently, but what great images of late.

Alright, anyone used a Canon 85mm 1.8? Any feedback?

I tried one when I was looking at the 50mm f/1.8. I found it to be a nice fast lens, sharp as well. I decided to go with the 50mm f/1.4 instead as the 85mm was probably too close to my 100mm f/2.8. Still a great lens though.

[Malc]

Tommy - Those pictures you took are really great. Well done!

I especially like the last one with the rain drops on the leaf.

[TommyG]

Thanks Malc

A whole new world is opening up in front of me and i'm getting quite excited to say the least. There's so much that can be done it's amazing...

My next challenge is to see if i can get a shot like this....



and this is how he does it....



looks fun

[Alastair]

Why did that need a setup explanation? It's kinda obvious. Looks cool though.

[TommyG]

Haha that's true, plus I think it would be easier for him as he has a left hand drive car and therefore can use his right hand to shoot rather than using the left hand. Will give it a shot tonight, although there aren't many well lit busy streets and/or underground tunnels in Maidstone lol

EDIT: I tried tonight to get the shot but it's harder than it looks lol....lets just say that's work in progress

So instead I shot the moon



Shots like this make me realise I need a tripod, this was a hand held shot, full zoom, manual settings and holding my breath

[spagmasterswift]

Yep exactly IanE, I set the longest exposure I could with the G9, then used a pen torch to swipe across the air. It's easy but you have to learn to write backwards >_<

Try standing with your back to the camera and holding the pen backwards.

Great to see you getting stuck in and some lovely results man!

[fuse]

As for a meet-up - definitely! Let's do it. There are plenty of public art-type events going on all the time. In fact, I think there's a big thing happening at the Tate Modern next weekend. Sounds sufficiently bizzare! Is anyone up for that?

I'm game Just thought as well, there's the Banksy Tunnel too if that's to anyone's tastes?

Few shots from the gig I was at last night. Excellent show, and security were surprisingly cool about the photography thing - doorman said he would need to check with the band first about whether they were cool with it, and in the end one of the guys from the band came to the door and said it was anything goes - nice one. Shame that after that, every band after the first played with next-to-no lighting Two other guys there taking photos too, one with very expensive-looking gear who was getting in the way ALL THE TIME even when he wasn't shooting, and being rather excessive with his use of flash... grr... anyway. My first real time having to use flash since having got the speedlight 400.







Full set here

[Magnakai]

They came out quite sharp, and I like the dark tone. They're nice and clear, but I think they'd nicely constrast some with a bit more energy in them, and, for me, the colours are a tad muted. For instance, you could try pulling some longer exposures. Stop the lens down a bit and go for 1/8 or 1/4 of a second or so. The flash will freeze the action and the longer exposure will let the camera fill in some colour and give the movement a touch of expression. It's what I do in my social shots:


Though I typically prefer available light photography with bands. A lack of flash means that the movement and energy of the musicians can come through and give your shots a lot more interest:



In all honesty, I think the best shot in that set is this available light one. I've seen you give your concert photos a lot more drama.

Edit: Sorry, upon re-reading this it sounds a bit arrogant. I honestly didn't mean for it to come across that way! I know it's un-asked for advice, so apologies if it comes across at all patronising. It wasn't my intention.

[TommyG]

Sounded like nothing but helpful advice to me Magnakai. I love the second shot of the guitarist Fuse, I don't have anything technical to say other than I like the lighting on the guitar itself, looks great

Ok, so I have a question. What do you do when you get a mark/smudge on your lens?

I noticed a spot on the lens today and swiftly went and got a lens cleaning cloth, wiped it and managed to just smear it across the lens even more rather than removing it, it now won't come off by wiping with a cloth alone

Here's a pic of the smudge taken with my phone camera, it's pretty small but i've highlighted it with a red square...




What a guy do?