The Photography Thread

[Ginger Tosser]

I've not actually been able to find the 100mm canon lens anywhere.

It seems Canon are having a great deal of problems getting a lot of lenses at the moment, Jessops in brum told me they have 5 customers waiting for the lens and 95 ordered for stock.

The Tamron looks o.k., but i'd prefer the Canon lens over a 3rd party as there might be compatiblity problems in the future (My sigma lens doesn't work with my 5d). Just would prefer the price to come down a bit. Still there's always the import route, but thinking about it i'd rather get it locally.

[Alastair]

Its not the worlds greatest picture but I learnt quite a lot about my camera while doing it.

It's still bloody good though, well done Ish.

I did brave the weather on Saturday to go to a Lamborghini meet on Brighton seafront, got some good pics so will upload them and post a bit later.

[Alastair]

Here we go. I love cars and love decent car photography, looking through EVO magazine every month is as much about photography as it is cars

The Lamborghini owners club had a super car celebration in Brighton so I went along to take a few shots. Weather was absolutely terrible though, was blowing a gale and the cloud cover was very unpredictable changing from shadows to sun and back very quickly. Luckily it didn't rain whilst we were there.

I must admit to not knowing really what I was doing and it wasn't ideal as people were all over the cars all the time but I pleased with some of the shots.







As usual, click on the thumbnail to go through to my Flickr page to have a closer look, all of the images look a lot better when viewed in large size.

Let me know what you think.

[PeteJ]

Like the first shot, the reflection is cool. Did you use a polorizer for this? I find they really help on car shots as you can get rid of unwanted reflections.

Ish - I really like that. How'd get get the background so perfectly clean?

[Alastair]

Like the first shot, the reflection is cool. Did you use a polorizer for this? I find they really help on car shots as you can get rid of unwanted reflections.

Nah, Only have a polorizer for the 80-200 and that wasn't in use for the cars. Was also pretty grey so might have been a bit tricky.

[Fibber]

I love cars and love decent car photography, looking through EVO magazine every month is as much about photography as it is cars
Let me know what you think.

I like the reflection of the building in the car window. I don't like the backgrounds much but there's not much you could've done to get rid of all the people and other cars etc and I think you cropped it as much as you could. I also thought that the photo of the two dogs on your flickr page was pretty cool.

[Ish]

Like the first shot, the reflection is cool. Did you use a polorizer for this? I find they really help on car shots as you can get rid of unwanted reflections.

Ish - I really like that. How'd get get the background so perfectly clean?

Thanks (and to agentl too).

I got it like that with some serious patience!

I constructed this whitebox:



And then spent a lot of time positioning the lights so that the image came out right - taking a lot of test shots. I ended up sliding the piece of paper at the back of the box under the paper on the floor and bending it into a curve - oddly enough the initial right angle showed up in the photo (you can see an example on my flickr site).

The final photo was taken with the camera on a wide aperture setting and about a 1.5 second exposure. And then I converted it to black and white in Photoshop 'browning' it a little to make it less stark (as if it had been shot through a warm brown filter).

I think it took me 4 or 5 hours from start to finish but it was a really rewarding day learning lots on the way.

[PeteJ]

Very nicely done, the effect is striking to say the least.

I used some photographic paper (shiney side up) as the bottom section and the result was quite good - the shine made for a nice reflection (example ) but the lighting wasn't consistant enough. Think I'll be stealing some of your ideas

[Ish]

Thanks!

It was photographic paper I used for that shot too.

I got two cold cathode lights. They're the kind you'd find above workstations under cupboards in a kitchen. About ?10 each. They give off a nice even light.

I love all the close up stuff. If you buy one of those lenses you'll have to post some sample shots.

[Ginger Tosser]

Went in to Dixons today to ask about a lens (they can be cheap sometimes!) to be told 'sorry we don't sell lenses'

[HaHaUK]

Two shots I took today:


Wet Flower
Flower Ant

[Alastair]

Thanks Fibber.

HH, that wet flower is a good shot, nice.

[Fibber]

Here is my efforts at micro...

The Fly

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=52396590&size=o

and The Slug

http://static.flickr.com/28/58272302_5a037b64da_o.jpg

tell me what you think.

[PeteJ]

Here is my efforts at micro...

The Fly
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=52396590&size=o

and The Slug
http://static.flickr.com/28/58272302_5a037b64da_o.jpg

tell me what you think.

Superb colours. This is what I love about macro shooting - the detail you can get is incredible and the colours are just so vivid.

[Paleface]

re: buying lenses;

I just bought one from these lovely folks: http://onestop-digital.com/

They're based in Hong Kong, and do free delivery. If you get stung for customs, they tell you to pay it, fax them the receipt, and they'll pay you back. Delivery time was about two weeks from paying - regular airmail - and they kept in touch with me throughout the process. Some real bargains on there; I just bought a NAF 50mm f1.8 for ?69.99 delivevered. In Jessops it's about ?124, and I can't find it cheaper than about ?100 on the web.

So they definitely come recommended, and they have fair stock of Nikon, Canon, and Sigma lenses, as well as other gear.

The 50mm is fab, from what I can see. Haven't had much chance to use it, but will post some results when I do. It's *so* fast