The Photography Thread

[winky]

Amazing foxy picture spags. Browsed through them all - nicely done.

[winky]

Some snow pictures from Monday:

[Garf]

Couple from the last few days - struggling with photography a bit at the moment, not really feeling it, if that makes sense ?

[winky]

Couple from the last few days - struggling with photography a bit at the moment, not really feeling it, if that makes sense ?

Yup, I have been forcing myself to take pictures. I blame the depressing weather (and light).

PS The life ring picture is amazing.

[Garf]

Yup, I have been forcing myself to take pictures. I blame the depressing weather (and light).

PS The life ring picture is amazing.

Cheers - saw the comments on Flickr as well - thanks. Think it may be a little distorted as you say.

Think you're right, it is the poor weather and light - enough of Winter and grey flat skies, bring on the Spring, blue skies with some wispy clouds and sunrises/sunsets that actually have some colour in them !!

[demon9k]

Hope you guys like them

[eASY aDDICT]

Anyone know of a good GPS to use with a Canon EOS 400D for geotagging?

Cheers.

[superkully]

This seems to apply to so much in my life at the moment...

Ah well, at least I have KZ2 pre-ordered...

[spagmasterswift]

Great stuff Garf!

[funkydan]

Winky - Love that holly/snow shot mate

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Garf - loving that shot of the two little figures, is that 'your' current expression on the one on the right?! I know how you feel - I really need to get out and start snapping again!

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Demon9k - I'm going to be honest as I think the fact that you have posted here warrants a constructive response:

The first shot is nice, but could benefit from an increase in the contrast levels and little more saturation to bring out the greens.

The second image seems to have a definite blue hue all over it and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at in the pic - there's a lot going on. I would maybe crop off the l + r edges and the crosses at the bottom.

The third shot is a nice idea, but it's hard to look at due to the lack of focus in the image.

So, some nice ideas there but don't be afraid to post-process with something like photoshop etc. I hope you don't think I've been too harsh and I look forward to seeing some more photos from you soon

[demon9k]

Demon9k - I'm going to be honest as I think the fact that you have posted here warrants a constructive response:

The first shot is nice, but could benefit from an increase in the contrast levels and little more saturation to bring out the greens.

The second image seems to have a definite blue hue all over it and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at in the pic - there's a lot going on. I would maybe crop off the l + r edges and the crosses at the bottom.

The third shot is a nice idea, but it's hard to look at due to the lack of focus in the image.

So, some nice ideas there but don't be afraid to post-process with something like photoshop etc. I hope you don't think I've been too harsh and I look forward to seeing some more photos from you soon

All comments welcome! Not to harsh, you should see some of my other shots I have only been out 5 or so times with my camera so I'm really just beginning to learn what everything does.

I also find it hard to tell if things are in focus on the camera screen once I've taken the shot. I have come back a few times thinking the shots have been focused but then when I get them on the computer its way out of focus. However that last shot with with a tripod and IR remote so I'm not sure why its out of focus. Any ideas?

I've got another couple of lenses coming from my uncle, although I'm not sure what they are. I was also trying to find out about filters. What type of filters are good? I've got a Canon 400D btw.

Cheers for the tips

[funkydan]

With regards to your focusing issues, it could be any number of things but, if you set your camera to aperture priority and set it to a small aperture (f.11 for example), then you get a longer depth of field (DOF) which will allow everything in the frame to be in focus.

And consequently, should you want a short DOF (i.e clearly focused item in the foreground, and the background all blurred), you should set the camera to a large aperture, f.4 for example.

Just remember:

large aperture = smaller 'f' number = shorter depth of field (only foreground in focus)
small aperture = larger 'f' number = longer depth of field (whole frame in focus)

Hope that helps

What settings are you using on your camera out of interest?

Filters are a good way to protect the end of your lenses. Did you want them for another reason? You can get coloured ones which maybe something you might want to experiment with.

[demon9k]

I was mainly using the auto modes to start with but I used "TV" to allow me to use the setting on my camera which takes 3 snaps quickly at different exposures. Maybe I'm jumping in at the deep end? I can't help myself though, the more complex the better imo. Love figuring stuff out.

As for the filters I was thinking of a polarising filter. From what I've read/seen it looks like the sort of thing I want for landscape photography. Do you have any experience with them?

Cheers for the info! I've got loads of walks around Scotland planned over the next year, I hope to get a lot better at this.

[Magnakai]

I'd strongly advise not bothering with things like coloured filters in digital photography. There's just not really any point! A gradual ND (darkening) filter in something like a Cokin system (look it up!) would be useful for landscape photography, as it would allow the sky to be a similar darkness to the rest of the image.

I wouldn't touch that first landscape - I think it's lovely and the muted tones really work well with the spectacular view and great clouds.

The last shot looks like it's focused on the tree branches. Since the rest of the landscape is very far away, it's going to get a bit blurry. If you close the aperture down, the depth of field increases, bringing more into focus. Do that, and with a longer exposure to compensate, you should be okay. Definitely a tripod shot tbh. I'd also focus close to infinity on the lens.

Kully - nice shot. You have an M8? Totally unfair!

Garf, that lifering shot is nice, but looks a bit over-processed to me. I like the composition.

Winky, I like the third snow picture. It's really busy and nicely composed.

[Garf]

Great stuff Garf!

Cheers

Garf - loving that shot of the two little figures, is that 'your' current expression on the one on the right?! I know how you feel - I really need to get out and start snapping again!

Thanks - Yep, not far off for me at the moment

Garf, that lifering shot is nice, but looks a bit over-processed to me. I like the composition.

Thanks - didn't do too much to it (cropped, straightened and play a little bit with the levels and exposure) but it does look a bit unreal - although the lifering really is that decrepit - wouldn't want someone throwing it to me if I was in the water !

Demon9k - love the clouds in that first one - cracking.

Superkully - that's a fab shot - really like that a lot.