Author Topic: The Bore Photography  (Read 107319 times)

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TVC15

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Re: Evilbore Photography Q2
« Reply #60 on: July 05, 2008, 04:18:29 AM »
No, I haven't.  I will try to think of something to take advantage of it.  I hate to be a local yokel, but I could probably do with a photo expedition to Seattle Center with the Space Phallus and all.

I haven't been taking many pictures the past two months.  I've been occupied with other things.  Once I explore a bit with driving I am sure I will be more active than ever.  I want to hit up Rainier and Olympic National Forest pretty bad.  I eat that shit up.

I am debating what my next lens should be.  Either the Canon 50mm Macro lens (I think f/2.4) or a quality telephoto with IS.  The Macro lens is like, sub-300 cheap, but since it's cheap, it's also rather slow, and that f-number is, well, kinda not that good.  A quality telephoto with IS would be, well, fuck awesome, but even with IS, I'd still need a tripod when zooming far away, and it would also be kinda pricey, probably 600-700 minimum.  But still, a quality zoom telephoto is like, important and shit, and my current one focuses like old people fuck.

Also, on the 40D, ISO 400 is like, not noisy at all in comparison to the XT.  It's so much less noisy in general that I can see 1600 actually being useful.  800 is really the first place there is a quality hit, and I figured it wouldn't be that bad in my case since the color range of the images I was shooting would be rather low.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2008, 04:20:51 AM by TVC 15 »
serge

Re: Evilbore Photography Q2
« Reply #61 on: July 09, 2008, 08:10:43 PM »
TVC, you're shooting with a Nikon D40 or something else?  I'm not sure if you're referring to a camera I don't know or if you're just reversing the order of the letter/number :P

Anyone interested in some tips on shooting stuff, Ken Rockwell has a site with a shitton of articles on the basics of photography.  His information is generally pretty solid, even if I'm not a fan of what he shoots.  Especially useful would be his article on how to get your wife behind your camera and lens purchases :)  I don't have a wife, but the same principles seem to work well with girlfriends also.  :rock


BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography Q2
« Reply #62 on: July 09, 2008, 08:32:47 PM »
Ken Rockwell's writeups are fantastic and it led me to www.onexposure.net which fired up my interest in Landscape photography. Man, so many people on another level, I need to level up. Time to grind my photog skill.
:9

Re: Evilbore Photography Q2
« Reply #63 on: July 09, 2008, 08:52:40 PM »
Ken Rockwell's writeups are fantastic and it led me to www.onexposure.net which fired up my interest in Landscape photography. Man, so many people on another level, I need to level up. Time to grind my photog skill.

 :lol :lol :lol

jiji

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Re: Evilbore Photography Q2
« Reply #64 on: July 10, 2008, 09:47:17 AM »
Ken Rockwell's articles led me to buy a D40 when I knew little about photography, and I've regretted the decision ever since, thanks to the camera's poor compatibility with older lenses (and other random nerfing).  Everything he says should be taken with a tablespoonful of salt.
OTL

Re: Evilbore Photography Q2
« Reply #65 on: July 10, 2008, 12:59:03 PM »
Ken Rockwell's articles led me to buy a D40 when I knew little about photography, and I've regretted the decision ever since, thanks to the camera's poor compatibility with older lenses (and other random nerfing).  Everything he says should be taken with a tablespoonful of salt.

:(

Bummer about the lens compatibility.  That sucks.  Yeah, his stuff has it's uses but even so I posted with a caveat.

Mupepe

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Re: Evilbore Photography Q2
« Reply #66 on: July 29, 2008, 03:47:03 PM »
taken with my friends kodak point and shoot while i was drunk, but I liked it anyways and thought it was decent enough to post...

And again a little earlier in the night from the same camera...


And these were shot with my Fuji Finepix S700 (I took it along since my D40 can't do video and I wanted to record some.)  They were taken at the Houston Lonestar Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championship.







BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #67 on: July 30, 2008, 03:52:37 AM »
Nice pics, Mupepe. Love the one of the Sunset and Skyline.

Here are some I took yesterday morning...










:9

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #68 on: July 30, 2008, 06:53:24 AM »
Greenhill Park in Worcester, Massachusetts. They recently built a memorial for Vietnam vets. Its fairly small but the large stone structures with letters from the soldiers are really moving.
:9

Mupepe

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #69 on: July 30, 2008, 11:33:54 AM »
Nice pics, Mupepe. Love the one of the Sunset and Skyline.

Here are some I took yesterday morning...


(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)
Thanks, man.  I LOVE these ones.  The lighting is perfect.

GilloD

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #70 on: July 30, 2008, 12:27:30 PM »
On the theme of a light box:





Other stuff:







Sorry. I'm having fun going through my Flickr account!



This is like that completely generic "Europe" photo:


I totally forgot all about this. This is when my evil twin tried to off me:


Finally, also from many years ago. I took a pottery class with a master potter. This is a photo of the anagama, a wood fired pottery oven. It was the first of it's kind in North America. Basically you load the back with pots (Maybe 30-40 feet in length) and start a fire from the front. It gets hot enough that the wood ash fucking MELTS and creates a nice glaze on the pots. Temps ran up to 2400 Fahrenheit. The big iron door on the front would glow red and you had to wear asbestos gloves and a welder's mask when you opened the door. It was awesome.

wha

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #71 on: July 30, 2008, 12:28:17 PM »
This thread makes me really want to get into photography. I did my first real editing in photoshop today. Basically I made the photo look like it was taken in the 1950's. Incredibly basic, but it's a start.

Anyone know of any good photoshop tutorials on the web? I can't really buy any books at the moment, so I'd love something web based. And I'm sure I'll be coming to you guys for camera recommendations in the next few months.

The way I learned Photoshop was just by using it :) . Its very intimidating at first and even I don't fully use everything it has to offer. Though, I don't use Photoshop for Post Processing, I use Lightroom. Its very streamlined and is awesome for working on a bunch of photos. I tailored for messing with Photos at a Non-Graphic Design level. I recommend that if your going to get into Photography.

The only reason I would use Photoshop is for advanced stuff like Bracketing (HDR) Photos and merging stuff. Basically going into the realm of Graphic Design.
:9

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #72 on: July 30, 2008, 12:38:47 PM »
Thing is, it just so happens that I have Photoshop CS3 on my computer, but no Lightroom. So unless Lightroom is easily torrentable, I'd rather not get a new program just yet.

Oh, it is torrentable. I actually torrented the Beta version of Lightroom 2.0 and it works like a charm. You'll love it once you get to learn the controls. Importing and Exporting pictures is disgustingly easy.
:9

Mupepe

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #73 on: July 30, 2008, 12:42:34 PM »
i don't use any editor except paint to crop sometimes :-\

cloudwalking

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #74 on: July 30, 2008, 01:31:44 PM »
here are some random ones from my flickr, i haven't had much time to take photos all that much lately. but i'm going to be in the south of italy for 2 weeks this friday, so i'll hopefully get some good shots then.

i also took some photos when i was in germany on the weekend, i need to get them off my memory card though. hopefully i can post them tomorrow.

all of these have no/minimal post processing:













i've taken a lot more lately that are just sitting on my memory card. if i have time before i leave i'll try to get them sorted out.

Mupepe

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #75 on: July 30, 2008, 01:46:54 PM »
cloud is a cat lady LOL

cloudwalking

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #76 on: July 30, 2008, 02:44:29 PM »
i only have 2 cats. the last two are the same cat.

besides, i'm only half cat lady, because the orange one acts like a dog. he's a dog in cat's clothing.

duckman2000

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #77 on: July 30, 2008, 02:53:17 PM »
This thread makes me really want to get into photography. I did my first real editing in photoshop today. Basically I made the photo look like it was taken in the 1950's. Incredibly basic, but it's a start.

Anyone know of any good photoshop tutorials on the web? I can't really buy any books at the moment, so I'd love something web based. And I'm sure I'll be coming to you guys for camera recommendations in the next few months.

There should be a good deal of tutorials in the actual software.

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #78 on: August 04, 2008, 12:43:31 PM »
New one, taken this morning...



*I would like the cross to be more in focus but I was hand shooting at 1/15 Shutter Speed  >:( My elbows were anchored to the counter top which helped steady my hands.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2008, 12:45:47 PM by BlueTsunami »
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BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #79 on: August 23, 2008, 03:07:42 AM »












BAM!
:9

cloudwalking

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #80 on: August 31, 2008, 04:27:16 PM »
also posted these on gaf, here are some photos i took today at the tutankhamun exhibition here in zürich. it was extremely dark and i had to hand-hold all of the shots, so some aren't the sharpest, but it was fun anyway!








MrAngryFace

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #81 on: August 31, 2008, 04:57:48 PM »
awesome pics! Thanks!
o_0

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #82 on: September 01, 2008, 09:23:10 PM »
Fantastic pictures, cloud! I'm surprised they allowed photography of the exhibits, some places can be anal about that stuff.

So how are you dealing with all the controls on your new camera? Or is all of it not new to you? The particular pictures you posted looked like they could have been a pain in regards to the lighting.

Oh and somehow convince Jarosh to get you this lens for your new camera...

[youtube=425,350]4jqKE9Srtl4[/youtube]

:lol But seriously, if your considering getting a lens at some point in the future consider a Canon 50mm f/1.4 or 1.8 Prime Lens if your mainly into taking Portrait pictures. If you want a Longer Telephoto lens, save up for a 70-200mm f/2.8 with/without IS.

Here's a great link of some of the more known lenses and pictures examples of the quality shots they can take...

http://www.motleypixel.com/reviews/index.htm?openfolder=Canon%20Zooms/Canon%20EF-S%2010-22mm%20f3.5-4.5%20USM/
« Last Edit: September 01, 2008, 09:29:40 PM by BlueTsunami »
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BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #83 on: September 09, 2008, 04:32:15 PM »
I took these today!

























And some of my niece again...



:9

jiji

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #84 on: September 09, 2008, 05:18:25 PM »
Niiice color (or lack thereof) and tone in those.  I like the first four especially, and the one with the tree silhouettes.

Some stuff...

A friend:


My sister:



Girlfriend (she was not happy at the time):


Random street:


:rock BORIS :rock



OTL

Reb

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #85 on: September 09, 2008, 05:20:59 PM »
Your sister looks sweet.
brb

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #86 on: September 09, 2008, 05:34:04 PM »
Niiice color (or lack thereof) and tone in those.  I like the first four especially, and the one with the tree silhouettes.

Some stuff...

Love your style, Jiji! There's something particular about the way you Post Process or something else that feels unique to the pictures I've seen you post. It always looks nice. The shots of your friend, sister and girlfriend are fantastic portraits/snapshots.

And yeah, in regards to the first 4 pictures... I've been messing with Split Toning. I have a tendency to convert pictures to B&W (I have a thing for contrast) and the Split Toning just added another layer to the fun  :D
« Last Edit: September 09, 2008, 05:36:28 PM by BlueTsunami »
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cloudwalking

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #87 on: September 09, 2008, 05:36:57 PM »
Fantastic pictures, cloud! I'm surprised they allowed photography of the exhibits, some places can be anal about that stuff.

So how are you dealing with all the controls on your new camera? Or is all of it not new to you? The particular pictures you posted looked like they could have been a pain in regards to the lighting.

Oh and somehow convince Jarosh to get you this lens for your new camera...

[youtube=425,350]4jqKE9Srtl4[/youtube]

:lol But seriously, if your considering getting a lens at some point in the future consider a Canon 50mm f/1.4 or 1.8 Prime Lens if your mainly into taking Portrait pictures. If you want a Longer Telephoto lens, save up for a 70-200mm f/2.8 with/without IS.

Here's a great link of some of the more known lenses and pictures examples of the quality shots they can take...

http://www.motleypixel.com/reviews/index.htm?openfolder=Canon%20Zooms/Canon%20EF-S%2010-22mm%20f3.5-4.5%20USM/

hey, thanks! sorry i missed this post.

the camera controls i'm pretty much used to by now, although i'm still a little slow and clumsy with some of the settings sometimes which can cause me to miss a shot. i do however have a good enough grasp on how everything works by now.

and yeah, the lighting was really a pain. it was super dark in there with little spotlights on a couple exhibits, and usually the quickest shutter speed i could go was 1/4. i had to hand-hold some really long exposures. somehow i managed though. flash photography was not allowed.

thanks so much for the lens info. i am not in a real hurry to get a new lens yet because i'm still not feeling all that limited by the kit lens although i know it sucks. but that seems to be my indication that i need to play around with it more, that i haven't used it enough yet. i looked into the portrait lens you mentioned and it seems great. i am going to ask for that protrait lens and a wide angle lens (since i like taking architecture and landscape pics) for xmas.

edit:

And yeah, in regards to the first 4 pictures... I've been messing with Split Toning. I have a tendency to convert pictures to B&W (I have a thing for contrast) and the Split Toning just added another layer to the fun  :D

how did you do the split toning? looks awesome.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2008, 05:39:33 PM by cloudwalking »

Brehvolution

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #88 on: September 09, 2008, 08:31:48 PM »

 :lol :lol :lol

 :heartbeat jiji's sister :drool
©ZH

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #89 on: September 09, 2008, 08:53:49 PM »
Fantastic pictures, cloud! I'm surprised they allowed photography of the exhibits, some places can be anal about that stuff.

So how are you dealing with all the controls on your new camera? Or is all of it not new to you? The particular pictures you posted looked like they could have been a pain in regards to the lighting.

Oh and somehow convince Jarosh to get you this lens for your new camera...

[youtube=425,350]4jqKE9Srtl4[/youtube]

:lol But seriously, if your considering getting a lens at some point in the future consider a Canon 50mm f/1.4 or 1.8 Prime Lens if your mainly into taking Portrait pictures. If you want a Longer Telephoto lens, save up for a 70-200mm f/2.8 with/without IS.

Here's a great link of some of the more known lenses and pictures examples of the quality shots they can take...

http://www.motleypixel.com/reviews/index.htm?openfolder=Canon%20Zooms/Canon%20EF-S%2010-22mm%20f3.5-4.5%20USM/

hey, thanks! sorry i missed this post.

the camera controls i'm pretty much used to by now, although i'm still a little slow and clumsy with some of the settings sometimes which can cause me to miss a shot. i do however have a good enough grasp on how everything works by now.

and yeah, the lighting was really a pain. it was super dark in there with little spotlights on a couple exhibits, and usually the quickest shutter speed i could go was 1/4. i had to hand-hold some really long exposures. somehow i managed though. flash photography was not allowed.

thanks so much for the lens info. i am not in a real hurry to get a new lens yet because i'm still not feeling all that limited by the kit lens although i know it sucks. but that seems to be my indication that i need to play around with it more, that i haven't used it enough yet. i looked into the portrait lens you mentioned and it seems great. i am going to ask for that protrait lens and a wide angle lens (since i like taking architecture and landscape pics) for xmas.

edit:

And yeah, in regards to the first 4 pictures... I've been messing with Split Toning. I have a tendency to convert pictures to B&W (I have a thing for contrast) and the Split Toning just added another layer to the fun  :D

how did you do the split toning? looks awesome.

Yeah, the kit lens you get with the Rebels are good all round' lenses when it comes to Portrait Focal lengths and Landscape shots. Very good lens to learn with. You'll flip out with joy though once you get a lens with 2.8 and lower Aperture though and have the Bokeh effect (subject is sharp with a blurry background, shallow Depth of Field basically).

The Split Toning can be done with Photoshop and Lightroom but I think CS2 and lower requires you to mess with layers and stuff (basically crafting it yourself). Where Lightroom (and possibly CS3) already has sliders devoted to adding color and manipulating the intensities of the Highlights and Shadows (which is what Split Toning is). I personally used it in Lightroom. You can fine tune the effects with different colors (as seen in my pictures) and when you factor in lighting, shadows of different picture... you open up a whole new way to mess with B&W pictures.
:9

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #90 on: September 18, 2008, 06:53:46 PM »
Some new stuff... my foray into Macro photography...















:9

T-Short

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #91 on: September 19, 2008, 06:07:20 AM »
this is my fave macro shot, think so



地平線

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #92 on: September 23, 2008, 02:08:14 AM »
Some recent shtuff.... all taken with my 50mm 1.4



















:9

Mupepe

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #93 on: October 12, 2008, 06:54:00 PM »
I've been trying to change my low light settings on my D40 and I think I've finally gotten it.  I like the way this turned out...

http://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0228fk3.jpg

It still has some quirks though.  I took this last night in one of the courtyards of my apartment.  I was watching Dexter and thought it looked really cool.  It came out blurry though.  It's what convinced me to start changing settings.

http://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0198ed6.jpg

Now this is the issue I'm having.  In a low light area with multiple sources of light, my shots keep coming out blurry :(  I can't find any settings to fix this and I think it just might be an issue of the lighting settings making my hand shake a bigger problem.

http://img524.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0225pl6.jpg

Now this one was one I took of my bar stools.  It came out a bit blurry, again due to the lighting making my hand shake more noticeable.  Time to start using my tripod more I guess :'(

http://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0238wo2.jpg

However, I also changed my Manual settings and I love the difference in color I get now.  Below is from the roof of my apartment to the Courtyard and into Downtown Houston and one of my new bed.

http://img524.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0217it9.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0219mo8.jpg
http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0224tm7.jpg

I'll resize in a second

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #94 on: October 12, 2008, 07:10:33 PM »
I'm not familiar with Nikon and how their Shutter/Aperture/ISO info is setup but make sure you check out what the shutter speed is if your shooting at low light.

Depending on the lens and what Focal Length your shooting at, you'll have a minimum hand held Shutter Speed. For instance, at 50mm I believe its suggested that you have a minimum shutter speed of 1/60 for Hand Held shots. After that, depending on how steady you are, the shots will be a little blurry to a lot. The inclusion of IS (or VR for Nikon, I think) you can shoot at slower speeds.

For the shots your trying to shoot at, try bumping up the ISO to 800 or 1600. Also, if you really want to shoot at low light, check out Prime lenses. larger apertures will allow you to shoot at faster shutter speeds without having to bump up your ISO too high.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2008, 07:18:04 PM by BlueTsunami »
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Mupepe

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #95 on: October 12, 2008, 07:18:32 PM »
cool man.  Thanks for the info.

I don't know what lens I have.  The lens was a hand me down from my mom's boyfriend.  I'll try those setting adjustments though. :)

Bildi

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #96 on: October 12, 2008, 09:54:35 PM »
Some recent shtuff.... all taken with my 50mm 1.4

Great pics.  I love going to an "ordinary" place and trying to find interesting pics.  Nice choices for the B&W - did you take them B&W or make them B&W later?

I've been trying to change my low light settings on my D40 and I think I've finally gotten it.  I like the way this turned out...

http://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0228fk3.jpg

Nice...

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #97 on: October 12, 2008, 10:25:27 PM »
Some recent shtuff.... all taken with my 50mm 1.4

Great pics.  I love going to an "ordinary" place and trying to find interesting pics.  Nice choices for the B&W - did you take them B&W or make them B&W later?

Shot in color and Post Processed it to B&W. I used Lightroom for the colored Black and White pictures (Split Toning function). It allows you to assign a tone for the Shadows and/or Highlight of the image. You can get great effects with it. Here are two other B&W pictures I had taken recently...





Those two I processed in Canon's DPP (Digital Photo Professional). Used the Red Filter to make the leaves a uniform white (brought out the branches even more).

:9

Bildi

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #98 on: October 12, 2008, 10:59:15 PM »
Those are some gorgeous pics BT.  Great use of the red filter too - that pic is stunning.

MrAngryFace

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #99 on: October 12, 2008, 11:12:21 PM »
Wow some of these are pretty good
o_0

Bildi

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #100 on: October 13, 2008, 10:45:37 PM »
Some B&W's I have online.  I don't take much B&W, but I like the challenge of looking at the world in a different way, trying to see things that would look good in B&W.  I usually only get a couple of pics in a day if I'm searching for B&W subjects since I'm not very good at it.







Does Flickr care if you link like this?  I've never done it before direct from Flickr.




Mupepe

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #101 on: October 13, 2008, 11:37:48 PM »
I really like that marina b&w.

Here's one I took today.


Bildi

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #102 on: October 14, 2008, 12:44:48 AM »
Great idea for a B&W - I like it.

muckhole

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #103 on: October 14, 2008, 12:58:51 AM »
Those pics are awesome, Bildi. Especially the guitars.

fek

Bildi

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #104 on: October 14, 2008, 02:14:26 AM »
Thanks. :rock

A couple more guitar-related pics:





That's not my amp, but oh how I wish it were. :'(

muckhole

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #105 on: October 14, 2008, 02:17:05 AM »
Excellent. Now I want a camera. :'(
fek

Bildi

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #106 on: October 14, 2008, 02:21:02 AM »
Great pics shinobi.  Low light is hard with compacts because they often get less clear with the aperture wide open.  You can try closing the aperture a bit (to say f5.6 or smaller - they're usually their sharpest around F7 or smaller) and slowing the shutter speed to compensate.  Obviously steadiness becomes an issue but you can try resting on or against something (you can always carry around a mini-tripod or similar - Ultrapods are excellent because you can strap them to things too).  Higher ISOs on compacts can be terribly noisy so try to stay as low as possible or go to maybe ISO400 at most.

Shooting into the light is always hard and you will generally lose a lot of colour.  You can always try a polarising filter to cut down the reflections on objects and let their colour come through a little more.  A circular polarising filter is always something handy to have - I use one almost permanently because you can adjust the amount of polarisation (but they do cut the light coming into the camera so you have to take them off in dim light).

Excellent. Now I want a camera. :'(

Don't you have one as evidenced by a certain sweat-inducing pic?
« Last Edit: October 14, 2008, 02:33:14 AM by Bildi »

muckhole

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #107 on: October 14, 2008, 02:29:23 AM »
Don't you have one as evidenced by a certain sweat-inducing pic?

That's my new phone. It's 5 megapixels, so I suppose it would do to start.
fek

Bildi

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #108 on: October 14, 2008, 03:41:03 AM »
Wow, 5 mp in a phone?  We're going to be taking holidays on Mars soon.

cloudwalking

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #109 on: October 14, 2008, 06:17:08 AM »
shinobi, you should think about getting an entry-level DSLR with a kit lens, and a good photography book to go with it (unless you already know a ton about aperture, shutter speed, iso, and how light works with a camera).

of course i'm going to recommend canon (:heart canon), but nikon is just as good, i'm sure.

here's something i posted recently to help out someone on gaf:

Quote from: cloudwalking
For my birthday at the beginning of the summer I received my first DSLR -- a Canon EOS 450D (Rebel XSi, newest in the Rebel series). I'm still a photography amateur, but this camera was an amazing and easy transition for me from point-and-shoots.

It's very simple to learn and use, it isn't overly huge, comfortable to hold, and I find that Canon has an excellent variety of lenses to choose from. I still only have the kit lens, but I've taken many pictures that I like with it, everything from portraits to landscapes. It's a good all-around lens and great to learn with. The 12 MP on the camera is great too. Picture quality is super. I couldn't have asked for a better "me" camera.

It seems like anyone can pick up my camera and take good photos with it, no matter how inexperienced. But if you have a good basic knowledge of how SLRs work and how a camera captures light, you can really make your images something special. I got a book with my camera, called Exposure and Lighting: For Digital Photographers Only and it really helped make my photos better. I recommend it for any beginner!
« Last Edit: October 14, 2008, 06:19:53 AM by cloudwalking »

Bildi

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #110 on: October 14, 2008, 06:35:13 AM »
The Powershots are a great camera so if you're "upgrading", a SLR is really the only thing to get.  You could get another compact but it wouldn't be vastly different to what you've got (you could get one with a bigger zoom and an image stabiliser say, but you'll still have the other limitations).

But keep your compact and take it with you.  In my opinion, a compact camera is worth just as much as an additional lens for your SLR.

If you're going the SLR route, a Canon SLR will be laid out very similar to your Powershot so the transition will be easy, but Nikons are great too.  I wouldn't buy an expensive camera body - something like a 450D would be very good.  Spending more on the camera body won't net you much difference for your purposes, you're far better off spending the money on lenses.

To help with flare, you can use your hand or a hat or anything handy to shield the lens from the sun (or a lens shade, obviously).  If the sun is behind you you'll be fine, but if the sun is in front of you even a little bit and the sun's rays are shining into the lens you'll risk flares.  You don't have to hold your hand right next to the lens when you shade it, as long as the sun's rays are not shining into the lens. 

A general rule of thumb in photography is to put the sun behind you (but not directly behind, because your subject won't have any visible shadows and your picture will look flat).  Generally, the more into the sun you shoot, the more colour you'll lose.  If the sun is in front of you a little it won't make too much difference, but any more and it can affect the shot considerably.

Spur-of-the-moment photography is damn hard.  An SLR will make it easier - they have manual focus but also their auto focus can work on a specific point.  Compacts are hard because you can never be certain exactly what they're going to choose to focus on.  SLR's are also generally faster at focussing (depending on the lens) and take the picture quicker after you press the button.  A fast motor drive (ability to snap many successive pics when you keep your finger down) can increase the chance of getting "that moment".

Low light is something that will always be a challenge.  Even with a very fast lens (one that can open very wide and let in a lot of light), you'll still reach points now and then where you come unstuck.  If you can avoid a flash do so, because it robs colour and shadow detail.  Steady your hands or arms on any object you can.  And watch the shutter speed.  Compacts often choose a stupidly low shutter speed.  If you're shooting at 1/60th of a second, you have to take care not to move.  Anything slower (such as 1/30) and you're going to have a really hard time keeping steady.

As a general rule, tuck your elbows into your sides for more stability during normal photo taking.

Perhaps one of the best and easiest tips for getting colours more vibrant is to change the white balance on your camera.  Auto white balance tends to produce quite blue shots, which makes them look washed out.

The white balance presets of 'daylight', 'shade' and 'cloudy' white balances are warmer (cloudy being the warmest (most red) if I remember correctly).  I would use 'daylight' for pretty much everything outdoors.  Your pictures will have a nice warm tone.  You can even use 'shade' for all outdoors pictures, it'll be warmer.  Be a little selective with cloudy - it's really quite warm and could outdoor shots in bright sunlight a little too red.  But I'd use 'cloudy' for pretty much all shots in the shade, or if the day is in fact, cloudy.  Basically, the less light you have, the less colour you'll have, and the warmer the white balance should be.  Hence the names of the presets.

Indoors you can use the daylight setting, but it'll often be too warm.  I'd drop back to the 'fluorescent' setting which is a little cooler than 'daylight', but still quite warm.  You'll also have 'tungsten' available, but this is a very cool setting for use under light globes.  You might still find it too cool for your tastes so you may want to use the 'tungsten' present even under light globes.  I'd use the 'daylight' setting at a concert without much worry, or you could drop back to 'fluorescent''.

If you get a SLR, a polarising filter will help you get quite a lot more colour (if need be, you can also shoot through polarised sunglasses on your compact or SLR, you'll get a similar result).  You'd be amazed at how much light reflecting off some objects obscures their colour.  Foliage is a prime example - it looks far more colourful through a polarising filter.

I hope that's useful, sorry if I went over stuff you already knew.

T-Short

  • hooker strangler
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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #111 on: October 14, 2008, 10:49:28 AM »
these two were nice, Shinobi





lightly shopped
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BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #112 on: October 14, 2008, 02:12:30 PM »
If your an constant shooter, look into Lightroom, Shinobi. You can also use Photoshop... I think GIMP too but I'm not sure if its as robust as Photoshop when it comes to Curve tools and stuff.

One of the better things you can do to a photo when Post Processing is a light contrast bump. It'll make the picture less hazy looking and give it more of a punch.
:9

T-Short

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #113 on: October 14, 2008, 04:44:15 PM »
i did individual RGB Levels adjustment, contrast curve, a sharpening routine, and lens vignette. I also reduced the haze on the left side of the bridge pic.
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Mupepe

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #114 on: October 16, 2008, 01:55:59 PM »
omg I love the D300.  But I've seen people argue that you can get better value from Canon at the same price.  Rockwell seems to have a hard on for Nikon.  But still, seeing as how my family is a Nikon family and it's what I've started on, the D300 is hot, hot shit.

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #115 on: October 16, 2008, 04:28:10 PM »
Canon is known for their great assortment of Prime and Zoom lenses but Nikon definitely has Body functionality feature by feature over Canon (at the same price points). I would research into both if your really serious about buying into one of them.
:9

Bildi

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #116 on: October 16, 2008, 08:51:18 PM »
If you haven't been there already, www.dpreview.com has perhaps the best reviews around.

Their D300 review: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/NikonD300/

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #117 on: October 16, 2008, 08:55:21 PM »
What Bildi said and www.fredmiranda.com is a good site for consumer reviews of these products (Bodies and Lenses).
:9

Bildi

  • AKA Bildo
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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #118 on: October 16, 2008, 08:59:48 PM »
Good one - that's a brilliant site.  I've used their consumer lens reviews to pick my lenses in the past since finding one to try out in person is often not possible.

BlueTsunami

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Re: Evilbore Photography
« Reply #119 on: October 16, 2008, 10:51:31 PM »
Depends on how beat up it is and the amount of Shutter cycles its been through (Canon cameras have a rated Shutter life of like 50,000 shots, on the low end).
:9