The Photography Thread

[Alastair]

Ish, you're a Nikon user though right!?!

What's focus staking? I'm too lazy to Google



Description/reasons why on Flickr, click it.

[Anpanman]

The pro glass makes such a difference in terms of sharpness, contrast and colour.

Yep, I'm not really into taking pics myself at the moment as I'm saving up (and have been for some time) for a pro lens, still going to be another year before I get one but am loving the sharpness of the pics here, they same to be in another dimension to what I can get out of my Nikon consumer lenses.

[Magnakai]

Alastair, that's an excellent shot. Really good contrast with the original. Adam's wink is starkly sober in comarison with the Vietcong POW. Awesome location too.

Btw, I remember reading a story about the (original) photo. The officer performing the execution was apparently a relatively humane man, who felt compelled to execute the prisoner, as he'd be responsible for some very bad things (that escape my memory.) When the photo achieved fame, the officer was basically held up as an emblem of cruelty, and the infamy followed him for the rest of his life. The photographer felt so guilty about it that he was lamenting it until his death. Says some things about context, I think. I'm sure there's some concrete info a mere Google away.

Ampanman, the Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR is, from what I can see, a damn good equivalent for my Canon lens. But just go out and take photos anyway. The lens isn't nearly as important as what you point it at. It's just a piece of glass.

For a bit of perspective, these are shots by my flatmate, mostly taken on a pair of £20 and £30 digital cameras from Tescos. Check out the EXIF data: "Taken with a Camera." Lolz, but I think they're great photos.

Edit: Alastair, focus stacking is a bit like HDR. You take photos at various points of focus and then combine them all, so that you have a much greater depth of field than would be possible. It comes in handy for macro shots where you've got a really narrow DOF and you don't have the light to do an f/16 shot or the like.

[Alastair]

Thanks for the explanation Mag. I have also heard the same story about the photo and neither can I remember where!

Lighting set-up used on the above shot:



EDIT:

The photo won Adams the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography, though he was later said to have regretted the impact it had. The image became an anti-war icon. Concerning General Nguyễn and his famous photograph, Eddie Adams later wrote in Time:
“The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths...What the photograph didn't say was, 'What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?”

Eddie Adams later apologized in person to General Nguyễn and his family for the damage it did to his reputation. When General Nguyễn died, Adams praised him as a hero of a just cause:
“The guy was a hero. America should be crying. I just hate to see him go this way, without people knowing anything about him.”

[funkydan]

Ish, you're a Nikon user though right!?!

What's focus staking? I'm too lazy to Google



Description/reasons why on Flickr, click it.

I knew I recognised your pic Al, but couldn't think why. Then I remembered - the production company I work for are in the throws of producing a text book for Hodder Education called The USA and Vietnam 1945-75 (we do most of their history books). I do the picture research for these books and that was one I had to find. The caption for the image was: 'One of the most famous and most misinterpreted photos of the war. South Vietnam’s police chief executed a VC in Saigon during the Tet Offensive in 1968'. A fascinating and terrifying time.

Yours is an interesting take on the image, poignant and thought provoking too.

You might want to show the original photo in your post above, although the link to it is on your Flickr page so perhaps you don't you need to worry

P.S. Is your set just lit by using a few speedlights and the overhead lights in the warehouse?

[Alastair]

You might want to show the original photo in your post above, although the link to it is on your Flickr page so perhaps you don't you need to worry

P.S. Is your set just lit by using a few speedlights and the overhead lights in the warehouse?

It's my most memorable photo ever really, it's just so emotive, a deserving winner of the prize it claimed.

I'm a views whore so people can click

Regarding the lighting, what you see in the next shot (set-up) is it. What else did you think we might have used? The flashes lit the subjects and the long shutter (1/15) took in the ambient light. Hope that's clear'ish. EDIT: they weren't overhead 'lights' as the place is completely abandoned but windows in the roof, 'skylights'. Guess that may be what you meant though.

[funkydan]

Regarding the lighting, what you see in the next shot (set-up) is it. What else did you think we might have used? The flashes lit the subjects and the long shutter (1/15) took in the ambient light. Hope that's clear'ish. EDIT: they weren't overhead 'lights' as the place is completely abandoned but windows in the roof, 'skylights'. Guess that may be what you meant though.

I didn't really think you used anything other than the flashes - I was more surprised at the amazing result you got from them.

I'm really impressed mate as the image says so much. Send it to everyone and every on- and off-line photography publication and get it seen everywhere!

I am genuinely moved!

Just wondering if you had thought of perhaps converting it to b+w for added something-or-other? Authenticity perhaps or even more of an affiliation with the original

[Magnakai]

Actually, Alastair, you've just reminded me of a shot I had planned for the next couple of weeks. I think I might adapt it a bit now. You've given me some inspiration.

[Alastair]

I am genuinely moved!

Just wondering if you had thought of perhaps converting it to b+w for added something-or-other? Authenticity perhaps or even more of an affiliation with the original

I have been trying to do a BW conversion but just can't get it to sit right, maybe Ish should do it for me, he seems to be the master now.

Actually, Alastair, you've just reminded me of a shot I had planned for the next couple of weeks. I think I might adapt it a bit now. You've given me some inspiration.

Awww, nice to be inspirational, you can have a too

[Ish]

Alastair - I love that. Great stuff. Very funny. I recognised the inspiration from your shot but you've put a great humourous riff on it.

Yup I'm a Nikon user - I was thinking of the Nikon equivelant. The slow speed of my current zoom I find very frustrating - but I wouldn't want to lug one of those beasts around all the time! And I don't know about being the B&W conversion master - I can't take that level of pressure

[Garf]

Hi, long time lurker, infrequent poster here.

Seeing Alastairs photo combined with this inspired me to quickly knock this up this evening...


lego2.jpg

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[Alastair]

That's pretty cool Garf.

I feel pretty good today after all the nice comments and the community in this thread (and the beers). Interestingly, as of right now that shot has got 127 views, 65 are from flickr but tellingly 37 are from here, I've posted it on RLLMUK too and haven't had one comment and only 18 links through to the picture on Flickr, you guys really do rock

Got another Flickr Brighton meet tomorrow night, should be a good night as that's another great photo community I'm lucky to be a part of.

[winky]

Hi, long time lurker, infrequent poster here.

Seeing Alastairs photo combined with this inspired me to quickly knock this up this evening...


[ATTACH]15287[/ATTACH]

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Haha thats very cool! great work Garf

Al, I have looked at your picture a few times, and while technically sound I dont really like it. Not sure if its because it represents, and the slightly comical take you have produced. At the very least it has had me thinking and looking at it a few times, so amazing job there.
Hope you don't take my comments too harshly, the subject matter just doesn't sit comfortably with me.

PS focus stacking as described above is merging photographs with slightly different focus to create a composite image that it is in focus. thankfully there is a nice little programme that makes it free and easy: CombineZM

I am going fishing tomorrow night and I am also taking my camera, so I may get some shots. But with the camera bag and the stupid amount of fishing tackle I carry I doubt I will make it back without doing my back in! Don't mix hobbies, it will only end in tears

[Alastair]

Al, I have looked at your picture a few times, and while technically sound I dont really like it. Not sure if its because it represents, and the slightly comical take you have produced. At the very least it has had me thinking and looking at it a few times, so amazing job there.
Hope you don't take my comments too harshly, the subject matter just doesn't sit comfortably with me.

How dare you not like a piece of my work? Only kidding mate, I don't expect everyone to like everything I do, in fact, I don't expect anyone to like any of my shots and sometimes it amazes me that people do.

When I was emailing Adam about doing the shot I said to him that I wasn't sure as I thought it may be in poor taste. Regardless, we both thought it a good idea and 'art' should make people think, that's what it's all about for me. There is a point to it in that it's supposed to really obviously show the discomfort of being a subject of a camera, something I suffer from a lot myself, hence why I was the 'minor' character in this piece. It's not meant to be a literal execution but more of a person feeling trapped and nervous of being in front of the camera. Using such an iconic photo as inspiration. Had we used a gun instead of a super 8 camera I think it would have been too much.

I'm rambling, thanks for the comments though, it's good to hear everything, good and not so good.

[Ish]

Great stuff Garf - you should post more often!