The Photography Thread

[PeteJ]

Just found this on my hdd, I took it a while ago tho

[Ginger Tosser]

Something quite cute about it, even if it is an insect.

Anyway, found this one on my hdd today. Can't recall posting it before



Plus another Scan from St Ives.

[angelox]

really nice photo, almost has a certain painted feel to it with the clouds ^^

[Ish]

Not been doing a lot of photography lately (as in none at all) due to work pressures. But I did go to the Shell Wildlife Photography of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum today. Fantastic stuff and well worth a visit.

[Daragon]

Thought this might be a good place to ask, but i'm thinking of having the parents buy me a proper camera for Christmas so I can persue photography as a bit of a hobby and maybe further what with my visual arts background.
Question is, what sort do I want to go for? The Canon EOS 400D SLR has been recommended to me by a mate in the business for just under £400, but there are some really nice pics in this thread and was wondering what your opinions were. £400 odd is really the budget, also have these photos been enhanced with photoshop at all or similar, as I'm thinking they look really sharp, possibly too sharp to be taken with a mid priced cam.

[Ginger Tosser]

The 400D is a decent camera (along with the others in the price bracket). Current it is available from Amazon for ?400 with the kit lens. The kit lens does get bad reviews, that said plenty of people have it and I guess most are probably happy with it.

As for the sharpness of the images here, the majority of mine have had sharpening applied at some point. Mainly as I tend to resize to either 600 or 800px. Without sharpening then images would look a little flat/blurred. Generally the sharpness of the images has nothing to do with the camera but the lens attached. However the kit lens included can produce sharp images, you just need to know how to get the most out of it.

I'd have a look at the camera in store, just to see if it feels right. I wouldn't discount other brands either. Problem is most people tend to recommend what they have.

[Daragon]

Makes sense, I just want one that takes nice photos really. My current digi cam is about 4 MP I think and the canon one is 10 MP so I reckon there's going to be some improvement.

[Ginger Tosser]

A DSLR at 4mp would be a vast improvement over a compact!

This page on the AP forums is well worth looking at.

[JohnMcL7]

I think it's reasonable to say that none of the entry level digital SLRs are a bad choice and should all offer you decent image quality, each has a slightly different feature set which appeal to different users. Another difficulty is that you're not just buying a camera you're buying into a system which means there are additional factors to consider.

I'd definitely agree with the recommendation to try some cameras out in store, I've seen people debate endlessly over what camera to go for and then finally been into a shop to choose one and immediately decided on one once they'd handled them. The Nikon D40X, Canon 400D, Olympus E-410 and Pentax K100D Super all come in under your 400 pound budget.

John

[Ish]

First photo in ages today:

[Ginger Tosser]

Nice clear image and what a lovely keyboard!

[funkydan]

I must say I'm finding this weather very dull and uninspiring (and I don't think I'm the only one!). Is there usually a creative hiatus while we endure the winter? If we had lashings of crisp white snow it would be different but we don't, at least not in the south-east - here, it's just rain, rain and more rain (oh, and lots of wind too)!

So perhaps we need to get back indoors? Some of us have already (Ish's keyboard, and my slinky) so perhaps we should have a challenge?!

How about we ransack our houses to find the oddest and strangest things we own (that have no business being in there) and try to capture them. Or if you prefer, something very ordinary that you would find in any house, but in an unnatural and unusual place for it/them to be found.

What do we think? Anyone up for this?

Dan

[Alastair]

I must say I'm finding this weather very dull and uninspiring (and I don't think I'm the only one!). Is there usually a creative hiatus while we endure the winter?

Me too and yes there is, it always goes dead quiet.

I've just come up with another project to work on myself that involves less light and lots of artificial light though so that should keep me busy if it ever stops raining. Could easily be done at night but it is outdoors so this week with the rain could be a write off

I'm always trying to take interesting shots inside but do feel that I've kinda exhausted what's in my house already.

I did do this last night though:


That's a very normal staircase in an unusual picture!

Like the keyboard shot Ish. Had a go on a mates new iMac and must say they are very nice to use (the keyboards that is, I still don't 'get' Macs!).

[Ginger Tosser]

Nice image. I've had a play with torches and long exposures before, nothing too good came out of it. Had an idea to shoot a Christmas tree and highlight the edges with a torch. Nice idea, ****e in practice!

My recent images have been me messing round with flash so didn't want to post too many.

[funkydan]

Like the shot Al - but can I ask how you did it please? And come on GT, there has to be something worth showing in with your flash shots!

Maybe I'll try and embrace the rain and see what I can shoot with it....watch this space