Real life photography/photo editing

[Cpt. FrostBite 0]

Some awesome photo's in this thread. Some of the "area-photo's" make me wish I had vacation so I could actually go there. Good stuff.

Unfortunately I don't have vacation and my home is not the most interesting object you can see, but the "skies over Holland" (the netherlands) are famaous and I love them, so here's a pic I took a few days ago. I wanted to see if this could be done and it worked out pretty well IMHO;

[blackdog~ 0]

Republican Senator Bill Morrow in a Humvee in a Fourth of July parade..... my jeep was in the parade too but I'm too lazy to post another picture. We put a Mk19 on it

[EiZei 0]

Looks like a red square parade.

[granQ 293]

Looks like a red square parade.

more like disney goes army?

anyway, this picture was a tricky one, did a couple of shots but either over exposure or under.. but this one got best balance (even if you see the white is very overexposed)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/sfpcrew/lovely_sky.jpg

Somewhere in the middle of sweden this midsummer (saw the sky, lake from the road..so no idea what the place is called)

EDIT: Above link is at 150 kb, that broke the rules. Totaly respect that and have adjusted:

The above shows two diffrent pictures, first one at 93 kb and second at 70 kb. According to the rules.

[ralphwiggum 6]

the file size of the photo is over the forum file size limit for image. please adjust.

[SpeedyDonkey 0]

Looks like a red square parade.

Last time I saw some tv footage from the celebration of the itsenäisyyspäivä in Finland I saw a similar parade. What is wrong that?

[denoir 0]

I bought a Canon EOS 350D DSLR today as a birthday present for my dad. Of course I had to try it out to um.. make sure that..um it was working properly.  

Here you can se it next to my Minolta Z3:

The problem with it can be summarized as follows:

ME WANT!

Basically, I'm beginning to like it a bit too much. I'm very tempted to order one for myself. I'll give it to him on Saturday, so I have a few days to take pictures like a maniac and hopefully get it out of my system.

Anyway, here are a few shots:

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Now I'm off to try some night long exposures

[Supah 0]

Trust me denoir ... you wont its a great camera!

[SpeedyDonkey 0]

Yes, the image quality itself seems to be close to what many would describe as on the verge of erotic.

[denoir 0]

Here are a few more shots:

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Now the camera is really great - it feels, looks and behaves like a real camera should. My Z3 feels really like a plastic toy after using the 350D. Well, it has decent image quality as well.

Having said that, it's not an easy camera to use. If you are considering buying a DSLR, you have to know that they are quite a bit different from the regular digital cameras. In a regular digicam you have the optics focused on the CCD sensor which records what comes through. This is used to give a live preview on the screen on the back on of the camera or through an electronic viewfinder. The advantage of such a system is that you can get a fairly good idea of how the image will be exposed. The software in the camera can take into account aperture, shutter speed, ISO values etc, to give a fairly good idea of what the final image will look like. The down side is that today electronic screens have very low resolutions.

DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras on the other hand mirror the output of the optics to an optical viewfinder. The result is a much clearer picture - you can easily see exactly what is in focus, unlike on the low-rez electronic viewfinders. The down side is that as the light goes up to the viewfinder, you can't have a live preview on the back screen of the camera and you can't get any picture of how aperture, shutter speed etc will affect your image. Bottom line, you really have to know what you are doing. You can only review the image after it has been taken.

Now for a very amateur photographer, like myself, it means that instead the usual 30-50% of good pictures, the number drops down to 10% or less. I shot some 300 pictures today, and of those perhaps 20 were technically speaking really good. So you have to know your stuff when you are using one of these - something that I clearly don't.

There are of course some other nice things about DSLRs. First of all, the size of their imaging sensor are far larger than in regular digital cameras. This means that you get far less noise in the images. On the 350D with ISO 1600, I get less noise than what I get with ISO 50 on my Z3. This is important when taking low-light or fast-movement images. A second excellent thing with DSLRs is that there is no waiting time. There is no shutter lag, the auto focus is more or less instantaneous and turning on the camera takes no time. You just have to press the button and it starts taking images.

Overall, I think it might be worth waiting for when they synch the traditional digital camera technologies with the DSLR ones. The "live preview" on regular cams is an excellent feature that I'm really missing. Beyond that, I'd trade my Z3 for one of these any day.

Anyway, I'll continue shooting pics like a mad monkey for the rest of the week. If the novelty hasn't worn off, I'll probably buy one for myself.

[earl 0]

Overall, I think it might be worth waiting for when they synch the traditional digital camera technologies with the DSLR ones. The "live preview" on regular cams is an excellent feature that I'm really missing. Beyond that, I'd trade my Z3 for one of these any day.

Anyway, I'll continue shooting pics like a mad monkey for the rest of the week. If the novelty hasn't worn off, I'll probably buy one for myself.

Buh, it's contagious!! I want one.

Is there not any kind of information displayed while you are taking the photo? I've never looked at one, for fear I might actually buy it, but I expected live histograms overlayed/projected into an optical viewfinder. I suppose professional simply don't need these things.

I'm trying to talk myself into (and also out of) buying an Olympus C8080. But in the meantime I've been reunited with my old clunker SLR, the only thing mildy electronic about it is a light meter. I think I'll put that to work and re-learn the fundamentals.

But now for some photos. Some friends came to visit the other day.

Unfortunately, they couldn't stay long!

[Supah 0]

Hey Denoir, I have a couple of questions about that last batch of pictures you posted. Hope you dont mind answering them:

1. What file format did you use in the last ones on the camera? Compression? No compression?

2. How large are the files on the camera?

3. How many megapixels does it have?

4. Whats the aperture range like?

The only way for me to get that quality images out of the C8080 is to shoot them as TIFF (no compression) with a low ISO value and Digital Noise Reduction on and then the images on the camera are about 20 MB. I can get that quality image though just dont think of shooting something fast moving with those settings

[denoir 0]

Is there not any kind of information displayed while you are taking the photo?  I've never looked at one, for fear I might actually buy it, but I expected live histograms overlayed/projected into an optical viewfinder.  I suppose professional simply don't need these things.

As the light is fully directed via the mirror to the viewfinder, the sensor doesn't get any data - so no, there are no live histograms (a feature that I really use much on my Z3). The information you get on the view finder is a red dot that indicates where the auto focus has locked and you have a small LCD line that displays shutter speed, aperture etc

And yeah, DSLRs are mostly for professionals and people who have it as a serious hobby. They probably don't need to get a preview of the exposure. Personally, I do, so in my opinion it is a real shortcoming for amateurs like myself.

The funny thing is that it's still very good as a point-and-shoot camera, when set in one of the fully automatic modes. It's speed of operation makes it ideal if you just want to take a lot of pictures, without caring too much of getting an image exactly the way you envisioned it. Beyond that however, you need to know your shit.

Quote[/b] ]I'm trying to talk myself into (and also out of) buying an Olympus C8080.

A very good friend of mine has one. It's a very good camera, but probably not worth the money. For a little more, you can buy a DSLR which is an order of magnitude better when it comes to image quality and camera operation. The zoom on the C8080 is pretty weak as well. In addition, that camera is getting fairly old - Olympus will probably come out with a new one in its class pretty soon.

In my opinion the best performance/price you can get today is the Konica Minolta Z5. It's an improvement over the Z3 but at significantly lower price. It has good image quality, a 12x über-zoom, anti-shake stabilization and good on-camera software. I have the Z3 and I'm quite pleased with it (although it feels a bit toyish now after playing with the EOS 350D)

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supah

Quote[/b] ]1. What file format did you use in the last ones on the camera? Compression? No compression?

JPEG, fine quality.

Quote[/b] ]2. How large are the files on the camera?

Depending on the picture, but on average ~3-4 Mb

Quote[/b] ]3. How many megapixels does it have?

8 megapixels

Quote[/b] ]4. Whats the aperture range like?

It depends on the lens you use. The one that came with the kit, an EFS 18-55mm (28-88mm equivalent on 35mm) has an F3.5 limit on the wide and and a F5.6 on the zoom end. Max Fstop is something like F256 or F1024 - don't recall the exact value, but a lot. You have to remember however that DSLRs have a far larger sensor, meaning that the aperture is different from the regular digital cameras. A DSLR has a much shallower depth of field - you have to go high up in the F-stops to get a deep DOF. The image of the flower above for instance was taken with a shutter speed of 1/500, F7.1 at ISO800.

It all however depends on the lens. The camera itself supports all from F1 and upwards to something very big (don't recall the exact number).

[Supah 0]

The thing that annoys me most is that its really hard to get a decent narrow DOF in the C8080 no matter what you try. For the rest it has great quality The price ... well it was a gift What is another bad point of the C8080 is how hard it is to get addon lenses for it Really thinking about getting a DSLR .... just have to figure out which one

[GoOB 0]

Rargh! Iv'e been saving up for a DSLR, and the EOS 350D is number one on my drool-list. Granted, my Z3 serves me fine. But Iv'e held a EOS 350D... And, uhm... To tell you the truth, the thought of actually legging it and running away from the owner actually came across my mind.

As for it being a very "advanced" and the optical viewfinder being a handicap, I have to disagree, it's just adds wonderful learning process. That doesn't actually take so long, and with a DSLR, as opposed to a regular SLR. The learning process is free of sky-high development fees that only yield overexposed shots.

And hey, you can always get a really cheap lightmeter, like I did when I picked up my dads old SLR to play around with. It really gives you an idea on how to expose your'e shot, and then you can adjust it to your'e preference. But it's more fun to just snap away without a clue of under/over-exposure  

[Akira 0]

Posting pics of roaches should be a bannable offense!

[denoir 0]

Here are a few more pics:

A somewhat underexposed Mr. Swan and his ugly ducklings:

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Swans are very ill-tempered animals. A second after I took the picture the swan made an attempt to make a 'charge of the light brigade' against me. I managed to move out of the way before he reached my balls.  

Anyway, here's a somewhat overexposed Mrs. Swan:

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Here is Mrs. Duck:

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I almost stepped on this one: Mr. Toad. He was a very unwilling subject for a while, but after I used the flash a couple of times he seemed paralyzed for quite a while.

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And finaly a regular night long exposure:

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[DBR_ONIX 0]

Looks like a really nice camera

I had the same problem with you when I first got my new camera, but you quickly get used to using it (First load of photos I took, lots were blurry/tobright or dark etc).

Just keep taking pictures

- Ben

Edit : About the histogram thing, I think most "normal" higher-end camera have histogram stuff, but the DSLR ones (I assume) can't have this as they divert light (The image) to the viewfinder, without shoving stuff in the way. Not sure if thats right, but it's a good explaination My camera (Fuji S7000) has histrogram on screen/viewfinder when taking photos (if you put it on), and also on the photo-information screen (holding Info button on picture in play-mode)

[EiZei 0]

I have a surefire cure for the 350D lust: the >800e pricetag.

[ralphwiggum 6]

My trip to San Francisco, a few weeks ago

I-5 freeway north bound

cloud was unusually low, but it made up for a good trip. I didn't have to crank up air conditioning system

The evil empire's presence.

When I got to San franciso ans was walking around, found some fountain that was for sale....

[ralphwiggum 6]

Alcatraz, from North west of Golden Gate bridge

Alcatraz from Pier 45.

Fort Spencer(?), located North West of the Golden Gate bridge. It was a fort until 1948 until radars made it obsolete.

A bird at the fort

View of Golden Gate Bridge from the fort

Northern part.

That is another fort. I forgot the name.

[ralphwiggum 6]

On the road to Muir National Monument.

Creek

Walkway

[Supah 0]

Nice shots Ralph! Especially the last couple The fog really adds atmosphere in the roadside shot

[blackdog~ 0]

My trip to San Francisco, a few weeks ago

Hey I pass that IKEA distro center every time I go up North. It's friggin' huge. I also stop at the Dennys at the bottom of the grapevine for breakfast every morning..

I flew to Oakland a few weeks ago too. What a kowinkidink. And I went across the GG bridge. I really wanted to take the exit to go to the fort but I was not on schedule and had a flight back at 9 the same day.

[ralphwiggum 6]

Supah, thanx. On this trip I really wanted to take some picture with fog, and I got more than I asked for. That was taken around 9am, and due to close proximity to the Pacific ocean the fog was really thick.

Monterey Bay

This place is about 100 miles south of San Francisco and is reknown for its Monterey Bay Aquarium

View from the aquarium to the sea.

seals resting on a rock just off the aquarium

Inside the aquarium, Kelf exhibit.

They also made a small portion for birds, mimicing beach condition