Official Photography Thread: Vol. ICan'tFindTheLastOne

[fatboyslim891]

all shots on a Nikon D80 With VR 18-200 Lens
the ones i edited in flick'r are all except the picture of the supra sky tops
editing without photoshop didn't give me the best results

 

[kingcrux31]

^ Is that your mom?

 

[jeuce]

I fairly new to HDR photography. Heres some of my first few attempts at it. I know its not the best picture composition, but I was mainly just testing outthe different exposures.

 

[yamakazi18]

Originally Posted by Ross Is Here

Sup...just ran across this dudes profile on Flickr. I'm pretty Mr. Fongstarr would most likely appreciate this

this dude got some sick @$@ panos...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/t1ger/

with something heavily processed like this, combined with his fisheye lens and an extreme amount of distortion correction and cropping in PS, the photoscan look amazing.

a tip for those who want to get the same sort of exposures as he does: buy/use a ND gradient filter. usually when shooting outdoors in the daytime, eitherthe sky is overexposed, or the cityscape is underexposed. ND gradient filter can be artificially applied in PS, or you can buy an expensive piece of glassfilter ($50+) for your camera lens. this applies to SaNTi0321, whose panorama is welldone but suffers from sky overexposure.

 

[duncarooos]

hey guys I have a question... I have a canon s3 is (NOT A DSLR)

When I'm taking pictures outside on an average cloudy day, should I use my flash??? How about indoor when I want to take pictures of people should I usethe PORTRAIT mode to get

the best quality pictures or just manual.. Also what ISO setting should I use??? Lastly I'm fairly new to photography so I've been using the AUTOsetting for quite a while now... i'm

trying to make the jump to the next level should I use TV AV or P..??

THANKS FOR THE HELP

 

[dunks r nice]

^nice pano up there, i need to try one.

 

[qkslvrtypes]

 

[fatboyslim891]

Originally Posted by kingcrux31

^ Is that your mom?

yessir

 

[ross is here]

any of you use Flickr?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26387024@N03/

add me...lol

Just opened one last week...they got weird people there. hahaha

 

[mjbetch]

Originally Posted by I fLiPzKiCkZ I

^When you use the tripod, try it without the flash. The flash kinda defeats the purpose of the tripod because the light source freezes any motion anyway. If you still insist on using the flash and a tripod, try doing a second-curtain shutter sync, which will fire the flash when the shutter opens, then once more before the shutter closes. This effect will illuminate the background and foreground. This technique is used a lot in club photography (which is why you can see the background lights well). The tripod will stop any light trails from forming, thus you get a well exposed picture, granted you use the right settings.

i didnt use a flash. i just had a really long exposure.

 

[yamakazi18]

Originally Posted by duncarooos

When I'm taking pictures outside on an average cloudy day, should I use my flash??? How about indoor when I want to take pictures of people should I use the PORTRAIT mode to get

the best quality pictures or just manual.. Also what ISO setting should I use??? Lastly I'm fairly new to photography so I've been using the AUTO setting for quite a while now... i'm

trying to make the jump to the next level should I use TV AV or P..??

THANKS FOR THE HELP

when shooting on cloudy days you don't need to use flash unless there's not enough light...flash is only artificially applied outside in thedaytime on really sunny days, where you're trying to photograph something in the shade but everything else in the photo is super bright and you don'twant to underexpose/overexpose. when you're taking pictures of moving people in a party or something, go ahead and use the auto mode, the portrait modesoftens lines and adds a slight warming filter to your pictures, which you don't really need unless the people you're photographing are standing still(like for a family picture).
you should always go with the lowest possible ISO, unless it affects the shutter speeds so much that you begin to get blurrypictures. this happens a lot more indoors/at night, obviously because of the low ambient light.

using the AUTO setting is fine, i shoot most of my photography on aperture priority or auto setting, unless there is uneven light distribution, where i have tomanually manipulate settings to get decent exposures. digital photography nowadays lets you get as much as you can in the picture, then later play around withPS to add the effects you would do if you were in a darkroom.

 

[fatboyslim891]

^^
i find that using auto on an SLR is kind of a waster cause the in-camera picture processing adds alot to an individual style. i found program mode (the P onthe rotator knob) the best for general shooting because you can adjust the in-camera saturation and blah blah while the camera can adjust the apreture andshutter to make the shot as convenient as possible

 

[yamakazi18]

Originally Posted by fatboyslim891

^^
i find that using auto on an SLR is kind of a waster cause the in-camera picture processing adds alot to an individual style. i found program mode (the P on the rotator knob) the best for general shooting because you can adjust the in-camera saturation and blah blah while the camera can adjust the apreture and shutter to make the shot as convenient as possible

a lot of the time i don't have the luxury to set everything the way i want, which is where auto comes in play. i also use P, but to me there's noreal difference because in the end i'll be adjusting it in PS anyway. the biggest difference for me is the light balance and contrast, which can affect howmuch adjustment i can do in PS; P doesn't automatically do it for me, so i'm more prone to get overblown skies and the like.

my printed photos come about 30% from auto/P, 10% from A, and the rest from manual (i shoot landscapes so i usually get a lot of time to play around withsettings). every photo i've printed has been adjusted from the RAW format in PS to correct for everything from B/W levels to saturation and faux-filters.

 

[hamez3]

i just found a pretty killer deal on a black rebel XT on craigslist that i think i might capitalize on. i have been looking for a black XT for a whileconsidering they dont sell them with the kit lens anymore so it was a relief to find one. hopefully i will start contributing a little more the this thread nowother than my standard"nice picture" comments.
does anyone have experience with the XT? Thoughts?

 

[nayokochan]

^^ Did you check bhphoto.com? I just checked on their website and they still have black Digital Rebel XT's in stock with the lens kit and everything for$450. I don't know if that's cheaper than what you've found on craigslist but it's definitely in stock at B&H. Here's the link -->http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/371191-REG/Canon_0209B003_EOS_Digital_Rebel_XT.html

 

[hamez3]

^ thanks for the help with the link
edit: the jerk off craigslist decided to sell it to another person.

 

[ross is here]

can some one please explain what does the M, A, S, P mean on the rotator? I've only 'A' on my D40 so far, cause that's the only that I knowwhere I can adjust the shutter speed.

 

[kdwallace]

M is manual - you can alter the shutter and aperture

A is Aperture Priority - you set the aperture and then it automatically adjusts the shutter to an appropriate level

S is Shutter priority - you set the shutter speed and then it automatically adjusts the aperture

P is Program - the camera chooses the shutter and aperture - a step above manual and handy for taking quick shots.

 

[ross is here]

Originally Posted by kdwallace

M is manual - you can alter the shutter and aperture

A is Aperture Priority - you set the aperture and then it automatically adjusts the shutter to an appropriate level

S is Shutter priority - you set the shutter speed and then it automatically adjusts the aperture

P is Program - the camera chooses the shutter and aperture - a step above manual and handy for taking quick shots.

oh cool. thanks. I think I was messing with the Aperture not the shutter speed when i was using A mode. So is it the aperture or the shutter speed thatdetermines how much light comes into the camera?

 

[bayareakickz]

aye mr fongstarr where was that 2nd graffiti picture taken on mission st. what st. i mean

 

[ii2cky]

^^ ur camera came with a book right? hahaa jk

aperture mode is all i use, unless i wanna take some headlight streaks then im switching to S

M is too scarry for me

btw thanx for the add!

 

[j paycheck]

hamez3 wrote:

---

i just found a pretty killer deal on a black rebel XT on craigslist that i think i might capitalize on. i have been looking for a black XT for a while considering they dont sell them with the kit lens anymore so it was a relief to find one. hopefully i will start contributing a little more the this thread now other than my standard"nice picture" comments.
does anyone have experience with the XT? Thoughts?

Coincedentally I found a killer deal on craigslist too for a black silver XT too... im debating if I will jump on it (too bad the dealdidnt workout for you... but trust me more will show up). I debating because I dont know if im ready for a dslr because im still learning (and the G5 has beendoing all I need for now) and I want to do the research on this cam first. I bought various things from craigslist without any problems but somethings I thinkshould be bought new with warranty... we'll see.

Anyways... I havent shared anything recently (heck I havent uploaded to my comp pics I've taken recently either), but here is a small something (nothingmajor photography wise, more just showing off a postproc technique... I don't see anything wrong with a little postproc)...

Original

PostProc

As always please C&C andfeel free to check out the Flickr www.flickr.com/jaypic

 

[nayokochan]

^^ I used to be pretty afraid of M too, but recently I decided to try it out. It's not as bad as you think, you just need to get used to playing aroundwith the lens a bit to get the focus just right. But then again, you can never go wrong with AF.

Edit: J Pay Check, I like both of those shots, but the first one is a bit better IMO because it's sharper. I knowthe point of the second picture is to show what the shot would look like with a softer effect added to it, and it looks quite good, but sharper and morefocused just seems better to me.

 

[kdwallace]

oh cool. thanks. I think I was messing with the Aperture not the shutter speed when i was using A mode. So is it the aperture or the shutter speed that determines how much light comes into the camera?


Well, both really.

The aperture defines how big the 'hole' is so the bigger the aperture (but smaller f-number confusingly) the more light comes in at the same time.

I like to think of it that the aperture controls the depth of focus - a smaller aperture gives you a large field so is good for landscapes and then a biggeraperture gives a shallower field so is good for portraits. Then you just alter the shutter speed to give the correct exposure. Obviously if you're using alarger aperture then your shutter needs to be open for less time and vice-versa.

The 3rd part of the exposure triangle is ISO - but I only alter that if I'm shooting handheld and can't get enough light in - so make the camera moresensitive and you can manage that.

 

[ross is here]

Originally Posted by ii2cky

^^ ur camera came with a book right? hahaa jk

aperture mode is all i use, unless i wanna take some headlight streaks then im switching to S

M is too scarry for me

btw thanx for the add!

yea I read that manual...probably the only manual I've read in my whole life. But some of that *!#% doesn't make sense to me...