The Photography Thread

[zoobernut]

I wouldn't limit yourself to one photo a day. If you want to get good take as many as possible and pick the best one to upload each day.

My goal for 2010 is to continue educating myself in medium format and try to save up for a large format 4x5 camera.

Tyche those photos are great especially the one of the girl lying on the floor I really like how it turned out. As for the scrabble board one general rule of thumb (a rule which can be broken) it is jarring to have out of focus items close to the camera in between us and the subject in focus. For those kinds of shots I personally feel it to be much stronger if the part of the scene closest to the camera is in focus and it moves to out of focus as you move away from the camera. Just my personal opinion on those types of photos.

As for the picture of the Guatemalan girl I definitely see what you are talking about and I have had that issue several times with my camera as well. Sometimes the DoF can be so shallow that you can get portions of the face in focus but not others. This is really an issue with my 50mm lens when it is opened up to f1.4 I have pictures of people when the tip of their nose is in focus and their eyes are out of focus.

Either open up your aperture to increase the DoF slightly to include the whole face or just take multiple pictures and move the focus point around until you get the focus you want.

[mootsfox]

I was screwing with the kit lens, a table lamp, and the cliche scrabble board. I shot these wide open at 55mm. 100 ISO. Only PP I did was white balance adjustment, which I'm not sure I like. Makes it seem underexposed to me, but probably my newbie eyes.

Also, My wife's aunt adopted a Guatemalan girl. She is absolutely adorable. I got a few shots of her at christmas. Everything at Christmas was shot in low quality JPEG, but I just wanted to post the picture because I laughed when I first looked at it. I hope it's noticeable in this picture, but if you look closely, the focus point was a couple strands of hair in front of her face. I was shocked the camera picked that up. Maybe I shouldn't be.


It's OK to tell me what I did wrong, I'm new at this, so ripping me is welcomed. I just finished Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure", I think I'm going to read Ansel Adams "The Camera" next. I wish I had the time to take some classes. I'm having a lot of fun with this.

I like the Live, Love, Laugh photo. Good use of DoF there

No it's not surprising that it picked up her hair. AF sensors work on Contrast Detection. They adjust focus until contrast is at it's maximum between the pixels in the sensor. So something like black hairs on a light face will focus fast.

Go try focusing on a wall of a single color with no textures. Your camera should go wild and not lock focus.

[Swatt]

I wouldn't limit yourself to one photo a day. If you want to get good take as many as possible and pick the best one to upload each day.

that's what i meant

[zoobernut]

I like the Live, Love, Laugh photo. Good use of DoF there

No it's not surprising that it picked up her hair. AF sensors work on Contrast Detection. They adjust focus until contrast is at it's maximum between the pixels in the sensor. So something like black hairs on a light face will focus fast.

Go try focusing on a wall of a single color with no textures. Your camera should go wild and not lock focus.

Don't some of the newer better cameras (D300's, D700, 3Ds, 5d mkII, 1d mk4) can use other types of AF other than contrast?

I think it is called phase detection or something like that.

[Tyche]

I think my 500D has phase detection. I have no idea what the hell that means though, I just recall seeing it.

[zoobernut]

Anyone notice the attachments option is gone now? Am I not allowed to attach photos to my posts anymore on BG? I have always used that option to post pictures and have them show up how do I get them to show up now if they are hosted elsewhere.

Sorry for the noobish question just took photo this morning and wanted to share it.

[Tyche]

Attachment is working for me, also, picasaweb is fantastic. Google image hosting.

[zoobernut]

Well that is weird the option is just gone for me. It used to show up at the bottom in additional options area it would say "Manage attachments". Maybe it is because I am at work. So if I have the image say hosted on facebook or picasa or something like that how do I get the photo to just show up in my post rather than having to post a link to it?

[Tyche]

Maybe its a mod thing now, I don't know...

Upload a pic to picasa, and right click > copy image location...

then, use the [img ] tag (without the space)

eg...

[img ]http://pictureurl.here[/img ]

[zoobernut]

Thanks I will try it out now.

Yay it worked. Thanks Tyche.

(These are from this morning.)

Which one do you like better? I was trying out two different perspectives on the same view.

[Tyche]

B without a doubt. Probably because we have no mountains here and I rarely go somewhere that has em.

[deshende]

I like the detail of the ground coverings better on the top one, but I like the sky better on the 2nd one. If only you could get the clouds to pose where you wanted them for such shots


Also, since this thread has been picking up again lately I'll ask again if any of you are on flickr.
I have moots as a contact on their so far. (Not that people can't continue to share pictures on here, flickr is just convenient since it's a site made for photos). If enough people use it we might make a bg group photostream or something.
My stream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deshende/

[Nightbreed]

flickr.com/photos/raypeterson Add me if you want

A few from a shoot in NJ @ Dynalite Warehouse:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2633/...6d73e174e4.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2662/...4cecdd9086.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2665/...db99da729f.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2587/...4c800687dd.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2764/...66843856fe.jpg

[Blabj]

Got a Canon 7D on the way from Hong Kong! Ordered a Canon 50mm f1.8 with it, just for general snaps, and will have access to a 24-70mm f2.8 and a 70-200mm f2.8 so I'm super excited to get a hold of it and start snapping!

Mainly bought it for the video function on the camera, but obviously the stills are a major "bonus", haha. Not looking forward to getting the photography bug, I don't have the money for flashes and more bizarre lenses (I'm already eyeing up a Lensbaby) but I guess it's inevitable when you buy such a sweet camera!

[Nightbreed]

Man with the 24-70 and 70-200 you already hit the lens jackpot

[zoobernut]

Man with the 24-70 and 70-200 you already hit the lens jackpot

That is exactly what I was thinking. Except for me trade the 24-70 for the 14-24.

[Swatt]

i'll take all 3, tyvm

[Blabj]

Yeah, I was a bit worried with the cropped sensor that 24mm might not be as wide as it is on a full frame camera, but at the end of the day this is only really a problem if you're shooting on the edge of a cliff and you can't take a few steps backwards for fear of plummeting to your death.

Need to start thinking of what I might like to go snapping. I was really hoping it'd snow again so I could get some pretty shots (and test the weather proofing on the camera!) but the weather seems to have calmed down a lot

[Mayareira]

Sigh, I really need a good tripod for night shots especially. Getting far from satisfying results when I jack up the ISO high.

[Nightbreed]

Yeah, I was a bit worried with the cropped sensor that 24mm might not be as wide as it is on a full frame camera, but at the end of the day this is only really a problem if you're shooting on the edge of a cliff and you can't take a few steps backwards for fear of plummeting to your death.

Need to start thinking of what I might like to go snapping. I was really hoping it'd snow again so I could get some pretty shots (and test the weather proofing on the camera!) but the weather seems to have calmed down a lot

Here this guy tested the weather proofing for you