Real Life Photography/Photo Editing II - NO IMAGES >100kb

[Ranger Bob 0]

[im]http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s158/thedickens666/epictreepussy.jpg[/im]

trepussy hunterprohibitus

Rommel? Haha... cool pic, I recognised it from the org.

edit: please do not quote photos.

[Ranger Bob 0]

Mountains & Clouds

Actually, I haven't really given any feedback... I really like the B & W photos, Sniper, you're pretty good at them - you capture a nice atmosphere.

Tovarish, those Hdr pics are great, especially the last. How do you do them without getting one slightly out of position? Tripod and hope nothing moves?

Cheers for the help on the lens Supah, I'm going to get it soon hopefully!

[Tovarish 0]

Tovarish, those Hdr pics are great, especially the last. How do you do them without getting one slightly out of position? Tripod and hope nothing moves?

Only the last one is HDR . But yes, I used a tripod on all but the first, and yes, it can be challenging to get 5 exposures without a millimeter of movement, especially when changing shutter speed on the camera.

Good shot BTW, like the mix of red and greens

[allanorg 0]

ranger bob, my time here is limited. this place is simply fascist compared to the anarchy that was the org!

[GoOB 0]

Interpol.

[Daddl 10]

3.5 - 5.6 isn't really good enough for low light even if the lens has got IS. A 2.8 lens (or better) is a must for bad lighting conditions - IS helps but is only really useful when making still pictures (i.e. nothing involving humans or movement) or when using a large zoom (200+). The IS just allows you to skip the tripod in many occasions. For everything else kick up the ISO and use a wide aperture lens.

Perhaps you should go and try some low light photography. I have with the exact same lens and the aperture settings are quite enough. Try finding a 2.8 lens with this magnification range and then good luck finding the funding.

Your ideas about Image Stabilisation are false. Image Stabilisation is quite usefull for taking pictures of people too. It allows you to use a lower shuttertime and still get sharp images of ANYTHING, even humans, then you would have without it. For action photography (Sports and aviation) some canon lenses have a switch between modes of Image Stabilisation (1 - 2) the second is more usefull for panning. Image Stabilisation if anything is usefull for almost everything except still pictures, in that region nothing will really replace a tripod especially once you get into shutter times of more then 1 second.

About upping you ISO, never ever shoot at anything but the lowest ISO setting your camera can handle. Using anything else introduces way to much noise. If you need to shoot at a higher ISO you are wasting your time and need to get a tripod or more light. Most dSLR's are allready limited to 100 ISO as the lowest setting which I think is rediculous. I don't want a automatic sensor cleaning system (which doesnt really work better then keep your body upside down with the mirror up and hold a vacuum cleaner underneath it) or 12 megapixels (O wow billboard sized prints .... yeah I really do a lot of those) I want 54 ISO. My old Olympus C8080 consumer+ camera had that and it produced the most wonderfully noise free images. To this day I regret not keeping that camera as a second camera. It's image quality can't be beaten, not even by an expensive 5D which still has more noise.

So what shutter time will you use at ISO 50, when trying to get a good shot of two people talking at a party at night - without using your flash? Are you sure IS will help you there??? You think you'll get a sharp image of them (even using an f1.4 lens)??? What if you need a certain focus depth despite bad lightning??? Are the people you want to photograph always going to stand still for such a long time???

The results high ISO settings produce aren't really great with todays consumer grade sensors, but how are you going to reduce them in bad lightning conditions if not by using a wide aperture lens? The point is, the worse your aperture, the more you have to crank up the ISO to make the camera sensitive enough for the same lightning conditions. And with 'low light' ISO 100 isn't going to cut it even with an f1.2/f1.4 lens.

I've found that good software (in my case Adobe Lightroom) combined with raw images usually helps me get very nice images with my EOS 350D even at ISO 1600, and at ISO 400 or less there isn't any noticeable noise anyways. If ISO 100 still gives you noise I recommend you send your camera body in for professional cleaning at the lab. Must be dust somewhere.

Anyways, back to the aperture/IS topic:

At less than 1/100s most people will be at least somewhat blurred (I'm not talking sports or fast action here, just normal people) - except when they are completely standing still, for example posing for your photo. Might be the face because of them talking, might be the arms or legs because of them moving, might be them turning their head that very moment or them (being at a party) dancing. IS only stabilizes the lens, it doesn't freeze movement, which is what you usually need at least to a certain degree.

This image (f1.6, 1/125s, ISO1600, only ambient light) would have been impossible with a f3.5 IS lens - even with 1/125s the shutter time could have been higher for a better result:

Or this image (f1.4, 1/250s, ISO 400): IS would have been useless as it's the shutter speed that's important for freezing the action:

And yes, I know about the single-axis stabilization mode the Canon IS offers for panning - it's still the same. It helps stabilize the lens in a difficult situation, but it's still your own responsibility to move the lens properly in the other axis to keep the moving target 'frozen' until the shutter closes to get a sharp picture. Again, the IS only stabilizes the lens in one or both axis against shaking - it doesn't increase shutter times.

Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the IS for what is intended to do - that is helping with freehand shots where otherwise you would have to use a tripod:

If I want to make a picture of someone posing still or sleeping, of a broken car, a house or other non-moving objects, that's perfect. Night scenes where movement should be blurred but the background clear? Long zoom shots with less-than perfect lightning conditions (like a 400mm shot at 1/125s)? Perfect with IS, and all without having to use a tripod. I appreciate the way it helps with stabilizing the lens while I'm trying to eliminate the relative motion of a moving object in panning mode. Love it!

The point is if you have static objects then all you need is to keep the camera & lens from shaking for long enough. Hell, even a f20 lens could make nice 'low light' shots under these conditions. Usually when people talk about low light photography they mean situations where that isn't possible, but using a flash isn't acceptable either. Situations like parties, concerts, indoor sports events, or for example even photographing wildlife. These are situations that have at least some movement and where the object of your interest (band, guests, the animal) isn't going to be standing perfectly still. While the IS might help to get the background sharp even when shooting at 1/10s, the very thing you want to photograph will still be blurred. In these situations only a wide aperture lens (that is f2.8 or less) helps reduce shutter times - especially when you're concerned about high ISO settings.

I don't say that the lens you use is bad - it's affordable, good quality, offers a nice zoom range and it comes with IS. That's great! It just isn't suitable for low light photography because of its aperture. But then there is no such thing as the 'one lens to rule them all' anyways. That's just not possible. For low light situations I always recommend a fixed focal length lens like the (dirt cheap) Canon 50mm f1.8 - they are usually superior to zoom lenses in image quality and are affordable even with large apertures. And with 8 or 10MP (or even more) cropping is no problem if you lack the zoom for a specific shot.

Edit: grammar & spelling

[Ranger Bob 0]

[im]http://www.morganmalaska.se/dump/interpolrock.jpg[/im]

Interpol.

Awesome! Really nice shots, they really capture the Interpol mood... if you know what I mean! Interpol are good, shame they don't come this way much.

I'm surprised you were allowed your SLR into the arena, I know for most large concerts here you aren't even allowed point & shoots and sometimes mobile phones with cameras!

[Tovarish 0]

Canada Day!

[Tovarish 0]

[Tovarish 0]

[Tovarish 0]

[Daddl 10]

Nice shots Tovarish - especially the last one: great portrait!

[Tovarish 0]

Thanks Daddl . Bit OT, but just found this video of the performance of the first band in my photos (with the fiddler and the Irish dancers) -Delhi2Dublin - Pretty unique, and very enjoyable - check it out:

*edit* Just noticed that the fiddler's wearing a different pair of tights than in my pictures, so the video must have been from an evening show - the one I caught was just afternoon.

To keep it ontopic, another shot of them:

And another later that night:

Handheld at 200mm - Who'da thunk 3200 ISO would come in handy?

[AfrographX 0]

Some clumsy attempts at concert photography:

Shot at Jazz Baltica Festival with a Canon A1 and a 200m lense combined with an extender. First row was occupied by three tv cameras so I had to make the photos from my seat quite a distance away from the stage. Used an ISO800 film, aperture 4.0 and 1/60s.

[sniperuk02 0]

Some pics with me new camera.

[Ranger Bob 0]

Awesome! What camera did you get? I just bought a canon 50mm f1.8, and I plan on getting Supahs lens soon too!

[killagee 0]

Tovarish those photos are amazing. Well Done! Very sharp and well composed Looks like a groovy gig.

SniperUK2 nice flower shots mate. What did you get in the end?

Re: the current VR/IS vs Wide aperture debate going on here... You are both right... If your subject is moving, VR/IS wont help you much... but if its low light you can get arty motion shots easier with sharp backgrounds etc.

I have recently bought a 70-200 f2.8 VR lens... Best of both worlds!!! I cant wait to use it at an actual concert...

I am in London at the moment, and went to Natural History and Science museums yesterday... I will post some pics soon

I was going to go to the Duxford Flying Legends Air show this weekend, but the weather is forcasr for real bad, and the combination of extra security / central tube derailment yesterday / tour de france etc I might just hang out with my friends and have a few brews... I am off to RIAT for a week on tuesday so I dont want to 'Aeroplane' myself out too early... Also my VISA's and Itinery for the MAKS Airshow in moscow have come through! Boy just you wait until early sept when I get back NZ, I am going to totally post this board full of russian aircraft...!

P.S. There is a rumour that there might be a BlackJack bomber coming to RIAT...

[sniperuk02 0]

Cheers, I got an Eos400d in the end, with a 18-55(kit lens) and a Tamron 70-300mm, which so far is performing far better than my dads Sigma lense.

I'm going to Fairford and then Duxford for a dander round the museam. Not looking forward to the trip, about 8 hours in a car and 12 hours on a boat over 3 days..

[killagee 0]

Let me know when you are going to the museum at duxford we could hook up?

[Ranger Bob 0]

Flower

I absolutely love the Canon 50mm, at f2.8 its pin sharp, and even at 1.8 its pretty good. Its amazing for portraits.

[Commando84 0]

sweet pics dude,

[smiley nick 51]

He is my first attempt at a proper photo shoot! Go easy on me  

Some sort of grasshopper on my wrist bracelet

The cloud before the storm, heavy rain in UK still

[Tovarish 0]

Some sort of grasshopper on my wrist bracelet

Very nice!

[sniperuk02 0]

@Killage: I'm not sure when I'll be at Duxford, or if we are even going to it now.

@Smiley: Nice grasshopper..crap wristband.

[Tovarish 0]