Re: Photography Thread
 

That is just awesome... composition and all! :tu:tu

Re: Photography Thread
 

These are all from last night. Pics were shot with my Canon T1i, Tamron 28-75 f/2.8, and Canon 430EX II flash (hehehe). Most shots are at 200 ISO, f/5.6, and 1/125-1/200 SS. Flash was usually set to bounce @ 75 degrees. Use an exif viewer to see the specific stats. Post-processing was minimal in Aperture. Some of these I might do a real PP on in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop; but that'll wait....

Caught a friend at a moment of insight, converted to B&W:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4049/...57ed8946_o.jpg

Tweaked with the lighting and got an interestingly lit pic of the DrMS:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2511/...c6b47266_o.jpg

Not the sharpest photo of the county courthouse ever; but not bad for 1/25 handheld (no IS):
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/...b0cb0b37_o.jpg

Played with flash on the second curtain when this drunk guy came over to our table:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2724/...7a7c02e6_o.jpg

I swear I shot in color all night; but another turned to P&W in post:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2631/...c4e641eb_o.jpg

C&C appreciated....

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Awesome Pics, D!:tu Do You Give Lessons?:banger

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I know you're a Dokk, but are you a surgeon? ;) Hahahaha... 1/25 with no IS, no tripod taken by me would look like sh1t.

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LoL! Thanks for the kind words, Greg.

For the last time, Dan, I will NOT do your operation. :su

Thanks for the compliment. I have a steady hand sometimes. If you were to crop in, the flaws would become more apparent. Truthfully, it'd be an awesome shot with a long exposure -- I just think my town's old courthouse is cool as hell. In fact, here's the view on a sunny day from the other side of the square:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/...d0a0e11f_o.jpg

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Okay ... one last pic. Wife was totally perplexed as to why I was taking a photo of her hands and drink. I thought it turned out nicely, though. B&W was a must here with the lighting and detail.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2566/...83c8032a_o.jpg

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Perfect sense. Will I lose that cool blur of the background though if I raise the F stop?

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It depends on how much you raise the number (which lets in less light), it depends on the lens, and it depends on other compositional factors. But generally, yes -- as you raise the f-stop, depth of field increases and that background blur (called bokeh [click the link]) goes down.

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Most likely. That's the thing with Photography. You have to find the right balance of everything to make the perfect picture. You can keep the cool blur (boque) If you adjust the distance between the subject and the lights in the background.

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Nice Doc. Almost the same answers. :tu

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Get out of my brain! :tf

:r

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Darrell,
that is what makes it so much fun.
It is all a combination of speed with which you take the picture (more speed, less light, less speed, more light) coupled with aperture (the lower the f stop number, the more light but less depth of field, the greater the f number, the less light but more depth of field/more sharpness).
For example, with manual focusing medium format cameras that most wedding photographers used in my days, we use to set the lens to f 8, adjust shutter and flash as necessary for that f stop and hence they can set their range on the lens to a focus of 15 feet and close their eyes when shooting couples walking into a church or hall. There is no way anything within an 8 ft focus range will not be clear.

So, it all depends on what you seek. In the photos you posted, I agree with them comments that you needed to adjust your depth of field to better capture ones eye to your subject. By increasing your f stop and by reducing your shutter speed, you would have accomplished the same lighting result.
While you learn, I recommend you go with the aperture priority setting on your dial and play with higher f stops. As you do that, the camera will automatically reduce your shutter to compensate for your new setting. After you have played with that a while, you can go to full manual mode and control both as you see fit for the result you seek.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Darrel,
It takes practice and not all can do it but you can actually hold down pretty well as low as 1/15 and possibly 1/8.
I can do 1/8 no problem but have done stuff like that for years so I set my body up in a tripod type stance and have adopted ways of pulling it off. Doesn't always work but I can usually pull it off more times than not.
Don't be afraid to try it. Also, don't let the camera tell you what f stop. Open it up manually as you go lower and you will open up light.

I have to go back and check my settings but this is an example of one I recall shooting at least at 1/15, if not 1/8.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...o/IMG_0069.jpg

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Great shot.

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Thanks for all the info, Carlos. I will certainly keep it all in mind and apply it. I have been shooting with A (aperture priority) only really. Not sure why, just the shots come out best with that.

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You shot that at 1/5, Carlos ... with a Point-and-Shoot (Canon PowerShot G1). Nice. :tu

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Wow.
Lower than I thought.
I was going to look it up but you saved me the trouble.
I miss that G1.
That was one neat non SLR almost professional digital.
Long gone now as the board sizzled and not worth repairing.

To this day, in spite of my D80, I often find myself using my Nikon CoolPix.
Those little guys can take some amazing photos but limit your manual mode creativity. The G1 allowed me to do anything except change lenses. Come to think of it, that camera had an amazing panoramic capability that use to stitch photos to create a 360 view if you wanted it. I think in spite of some computer crashes I may have one or two of those stitches around. Let me see if I can dig it up.

Why did you mention that G1?:r I am having fond memories now.

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Aaron,
Where is the top photo taken at?

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House of Blues Orlando Fl. Only leveled

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...ng8810/HOB.jpg

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http://m-mason.smugmug.com/Machines/...1_Hvhe2-XL.jpg

http://m-mason.smugmug.com/Machines/...3_mv6js-XL.jpg

-Roland.

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This is gonna sound dumb but I have very little experience with Photoshop... What part do you all use to edit raw files off of a Nikon because Photoshop keeps telling me it's not a valid file type. All help appreciated :tu

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Adobe Bridge will take care of that. right click the file and in the list should be "Open in camera Raw"

What version of PS are you using?

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CS4 complete

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You need to update your version of PS ... meaning that you just need to run the software's "update" feature (not that you need a newer release of the software e.g., CS4). Software producers release updated camera RAW stuff regularly as part of the free maintenance releases.

Re: Photography Thread
 

open your photoshop then at the top unher the help menu there is a selection that says update. Thats the one. Try updating a few times too.

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Thanks Brothers updating Round 1 911 MB

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Just updated mine too. Camera Raw 5.6 is where you should be

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My wife:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/...e899e3296c.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2750/...327956d43f.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2641/...5537f5346c.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/triplecaps/4235935574/

Re: Photography Thread
 

it's a little big, but here it is:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2750/...5d94e399_o.jpg

(right click, open the image in a new tab or window, and copy the URL that ends in "jpg" ... though it should just be there when you click the photo, click "all sizes," and scroll down below the photo)

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BTW: nice photo, but I'd change a few things.

1. rule of thirds: having the subject perfectly centered doesn't work as well as having them in the right or left third (in this instance)

2. the image looks flat: try popping up the contrast, sharpness, and tweaking the saturation a little.

3. lighting is a little off: note the shadows behind the subject. you'd probably be better off with some additional light placed behind and to the right of you ... but Carlos will probably have a better suggestion than that.

Re: Photography Thread
 

This is just a quick edit using your JPG; but it addresses some of the criticisms above:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/...c9bd1925_o.jpg

I went with a square crop, messed with some of the levels and colors, added a warming filter, sharpened things up, etc. It's still not perfect, but hopefully it gives you an idea of the direction in which to go (assuming anyone agrees with me).

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I disagree!!!!!!





(stirring the pot)

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:r

Well ... there you have it.

:lv

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I need some help from you smart people. How can I take a good picture of my dog? Whenever I snap a photo, I get that stupid "alien eye" effect on his eyes.

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In the flash modes use red eye reduction. It works for green and blue eyes too I think.

Or get down on there level. so the lights over head aren't reflecting of their corneas.

Re: Photography Thread
 

I put up 3 pics... the third one I played with hue and saturation, etc. The first two are just straight out of the camera with no changes made (aside from size). I typically do follow the rule of thirds (as evidenced by the other 2 shots), I just figured I'd have one of them dead center so they don't all look the same. I also typically do a bunch in PS, but I just wanted to throw some stuff up there. I may go through and do some work to them at some point.

Lighting is where I feel I really need the help... understanding that better would be key, I believe. Thanks for the suggestions, though... this one thread has taught me more than any other source! :tu

Re: Photography Thread
 

couple others, no post processing

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/...897831bd_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/...0efc4f86_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/...b62bd7c6_o.jpg

I was toying with slow shutter speeds and no flash (trying to get the lights from the setup). This was Shell's aunt's little xmas village thing...

Re: Photography Thread
 

again, no post processing on these:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4008/...385c2a2b_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4067/...1d30241e_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2512/...26d13f58_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/...7d4059f6_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2645/...e573c4ee_o.jpg

Re: Photography Thread
 

Red eye is caused by the light going straight into the eye and reflecting the blood out of the eye back to the lens. Dogs and cats often reflect other colors other than red where humans are always red.

As mentioned here, red eye reduction does work but does not eliminate it. It works by sending a pre flash the to the pupil, causing it to reduce in size, hence reducing the red eye.

Professionals never, ever get red eye. We do it by two ways:
1) Mount your flash on a bracket high above the camera lens. No more red eye as the flash and lens axis are no longer the same. However, many can't do this with point and shoot cameras.
2) Bounce lighting. No more red eye. However, with point and shoots, this too is out.

So......so much for point and shoot cameras and the ability to eliminate red eye all together.

Re: Photography Thread
 

couple cigar shots (straight from the camera... no PS work done)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/...a3b40dd4_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/...55449391_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2716/...34474a67_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2715/...52a0d92a_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2747/...d992f803_o.jpg

Re: Photography Thread
 

continued...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2696/...dbb78b1a_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/...7aa4b05b_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2594/...cc39e8b7_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/...d8fa9808_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/...185fe9cb_o.jpg

Re: Photography Thread
 

Looking great Dan! Depth of field is better but id still like to see it opened up a little more.

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Nice Dan!

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Very classy photos there!

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Just a little test run have not had a lot of time this weekend

http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/a...dom/Berrys.jpg

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How did you make everything gray except the berries?

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such a great smoke!

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The easiest way to do it is to open up the pic in photoshop or GIMP and find the color you want to preserve. These instructions are for PS, Gimp is pretty much the same, however.

Select it with the magic wand (and if you uncheck the "contiguous" box, it will select everything of that color)... you can fine tune what you select by using the lasso tool and the shift button to add to your selections or the alt button to subtract from it if you grab too much... zooming in is very helpful in this process.

Anyway, once you select everything of the color you want, right click and choose "select inverse" (you have to be on the "rectangle" select tool to find that in the right click menu... you could also "select inverse" from Select --> Select Inverse... or you could use [ctrl]+[shift]+[i]) and then go to Image --> Adjustments --> Desaturate.

That's how to do it. If this isn't clear enough, I can do a little pictoral tutorial for it... it's damned easy.

I was teaching one of Shell's young cousins how to do this and here's the result of her attempt... only took about 15 minutes her first time (note that she also grabbed the flowers on the lapel, also):

http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/w...ingflowers.jpg