Photography in the Playground

[Jimp]

Anyone else here into photography? I've always wanted to look into it some more and at the moment I have the time too, so I've been trying. I don't really have anything to display right now except for these two shots I got in the car park one day a month or two ago:

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I like how you can see my car's reflection in the paint. Not artistic in any way, but just love car reflections

The artsy one. Poignant!

Let's see some more!

[Sneak]

I did B&W film photography for a couple of years. I liked it a lot, actually—it was tons of fun, and it was really satisfying to see a nice picture come out. My favorite parts were probably the actual shooting of the pictures and the printing. I hated the whole absolute darkness part, though—it's not that I'm afraid of the dark, it's just that I'm really clumsy and ineffective in the dark. :/

I haven't done it for a few years, though. Haven't had time. Maybe I should get back into it...the only problem is that I don't have a darkroom, and I doubt my school would just let me use the school darkroom without actually being in photography class.

Meh.

There are still some of my black and white photos hanging around the house, which is nice.

I personally prefer black and white to color. I love the contrast. That said, there are times when digital or color photography can also be absolutely stunning.

[Sub_Zero]

Here are a few that I like to think of as at least accomplishments.

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This one was actually taken out of a car window while we were driving, which is partly the reason I like it.

Here are some I took yesterday since it was a nice day

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I like the way the sky looks, like the clouds are rushing towards you

[Dallas-Dakota]

Hm, I did a photography(which was black 'n white) course a while back.
Its a hobby for when I have time and energy for it, which hasn't been in a long time.

[Sub_Zero]

I've certainly never had classes or anything as fancy as that, I just enjoy taking pictures sometimes. I'd love to actually learn properly one day, but I guess it's all done by the camera with digital cameras anyway.

[Dihan]

I like taking photos of animals and stuff. Here are some I took whilst on holiday:

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[Ego Slayer]

Egostuffhere: http://egoslayer.deviantart.com/gallery/

Crappiest quality pic evar taken. Couple days ago. Srsly... what happened to the quality.

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[Penguinsushi]

Yeah, we talk about this in here from time to time. There are a few hobbiest photographers itp.

I added photography to my list of time-consuming hobbies about 1.5 years ago and have been learning through good old-fashioned trial & error (with some reading of theory on the side, i guess) since. I've had my 40D for just over a year now & have taken about 12k photos with it (*maybe* 300 good ones).

In case anyone wants to see, i posted my best from 2008 here back in january.

@Sneak: Well done b&w photography is wonderful. I love ansel adams' (& similar) stuff. I personally haven't developed a good eye for those kinds of shots yet though...

@Doihave: The turtle shot is particularly nice.

Edit: @Ego: ah, new stuff! Droplets is beautiful. Looks like you just have some dust on the lens with the snowflake (and a possibly higher-than-ideal ISO speed). Wish i could get that close to a subject though - that's pretty amazing. Still don't have an actual macro myself...

~PS

[Athaniar]

I like photography as a hobby, taking pictures with my digital camera of anything interesting, which usually includes food, my cat, and the TV screen.

[Ego Slayer]

Edit: @Ego: ah, new stuff! Droplets is beautiful. Looks like you just have some dust on the lens with the snowflake (and a possibly higher-than-ideal ISO speed). Wish i could get that close to a subject though - that's pretty amazing. Still don't have an actual macro myself...

Thanks. ^^ Yeah, it could have been some dust since I didn't clean off the lens first ('cos I'm lazy and didn't want to find the bottle of cleaner stuff). The higher-ISO was 'cos it was kind of a dark day, and I should have lowered it when I decided to use a flash. It was at 400, though, so I didn't think it would have come out that terribly. And I had to fix the contrast in Photoshop because it was mostly just a white image. o.O

Actually, I thought of the last JC meet (and lol'd) when I showed you my camera and the 100mm lens with the three extension rings. 'Cos it was like "when the heck would you even WANT to go that close?" :P... for snowflakes, I guess.

[Penguinsushi]

Thanks. ^^ Yeah, it could have been some dust since I didn't clean off the lens first ('cos I'm lazy and didn't want to find the bottle of cleaner stuff). The higher-ISO was 'cos it was kind of a dark day, and I should have lowered it when I decided to use a flash. It was at 400, though, so I didn't think it would have come out that terribly. And I had to fix the contrast in Photoshop because it was mostly just a white image. o.O

Actually, I thought of the last JC meet (and lol'd) when I showed you my camera and the 100mm lens with the three extension rings. 'Cos it was like "when the heck would you even WANT to go that close?" :P... for snowflakes, I guess.

Odd - i shoot at 400 (i find it to be a nice 'happy medium' on my camera) 90% of the time and i don't get nearly that much noise... dunno....? Maybe it's more noticeable macro? (you'd know more than me) Or, how cropped/large is that image? Most likely, your bumping the contrast accented the 'grain'...

Yeah, snowflakes... ...and insect eyes. Heh. I enjoy doing close-up work too, but it's usually to the tune of filling the frame with something about the size of a quarter, not something the size of a pin-head... ...but i mean, if you *can*, why not?

~PS

[Dallas-Dakota]

I've certainly never had classes or anything as fancy as that, I just enjoy taking pictures sometimes. I'd love to actually learn properly one day, but I guess it's all done by the camera with digital cameras anyway.

Actually, we developed them with the rolls of film and all that in that course too.

But that course was I dunno, 3-4 years ago...

[Ego Slayer]

Odd - i shoot at 400 (i find it to be a nice 'happy medium' on my camera) 90% of the time and i don't get nearly that much noise... dunno....? Maybe it's more noticeable macro? (you'd know more than me) Or, how cropped/large is that image? Most likely, your bumping the contrast accented the 'grain'...

Yeah, snowflakes... ...and insect eyes. Heh. I enjoy doing close-up work too, but it's usually to the tune of filling the frame with something about the size of a quarter, not something the size of a pin-head... ...but i mean, if you *can*, why not?

~PS

Yeah, I'm thinking it might have just been from the contrast correction. My original images are 3888x2592. Pretty weird number, if you ask me. :P So, its just cropped and reduced to a reasonable size. I'll try again in the next few days with a different ISO and post-production method, if needed, and see if I can get keep the grain out. And find my lens cleaner. I'll post my results.

[Dispozition]

Ah, the return of the photography thread. Third one I've seen in my time here :P

Mine are all here

Ego, check your ISO, might be high, gives a lot of noise. When I'm shooting and I don't want noise I'll set it so that it always uses 200 ISO, nothing more.

[Ego Slayer]

Ego, check your ISO, might be high, gives a lot of noise. When I'm shooting and I don't want noise I'll set it so that it always uses 200 ISO, nothing more.

I usually use 200. I only ever use higher if the flash is doing more bad than good or isn't useful in the situation. 400 usually doesn't come out that terribly, though.

[Sub_Zero]

Right, there's all this talk between people who are good at photography here, people who like to just take photos like me are in the dark. Someone explain what ISO is please. I actually found a setting for it on my camera but Auto was the only option, I coulnd't change it

Edit: I'm also writhing in jealousy of other people's photography here

[Ego Slayer]

I definitely should not be the one trying to explain this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed

It's basically light sensitivity. So, the lower the number the less sensitive and the higher the number the more sensitive. If you have a lower ISO then the speed at which the camera takes the picture (exposure) would have to be slower to get in enough light, and if its higher you can have a much shorter exposure. Graininess can be the result of high ISOs; 400+.

*is forgetting all her terminology 'cos its been a while*

[Penguinsushi]

It's basically light sensitivity. So, the lower the number the less sensitive and the higher the number the more sensitive. If you have a lower ISO then the speed at which the camera takes the picture (exposure) would have to be slower to get in enough light, and if its higher you can have a much shorter exposure. Graininess can be the result of high ISOs; 400+.

Yeah, just about.

The basic explanation (as i understand it):

ISO is the sensitivity of the film/sensor - the higher the ISO/sensitivity, the poorer the quality - poorer quality pictures (in this way) appear 'grainy' (basically, like Ego said).

This relates to shutter speed (the length of time the film/sensor is exposed) as well as aperture (the *amount* of light let in (basically, the size of the 'hole' the light comes through)) to determine the exposure value of a given shot. A slower shutter speed requires the subject (and camera) to be more still (unless you're intentionally going for some blurred motion). A wider aperture lets in more light (so you can have a faster shutter speed and/or lower ISO), but reduces the depth of field. A good chunk of photography is learning how to manipulate these aspects to the best effect for a given composition.


Ok, i'll stop now...

~PS

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

My mum's a professional photographer, if that counts. I dabble occasionally.

[xPANCAKEx]

i got an ex-girlfriend a medium format camera for our 1 year anniversary (a yashica mat 124g if you wanna know - not top flight, but for the money at the time they're decent)... stupidly, i didn't buy myself one. With the ailing pound, and global trade as it is, they're almost four times the price i paid for it now on ebay. This makes me a sad panda.

i'd love to get into medium format photography myself, but i don't wanna lash out too much incase i lose interest in it after a while.

Can anyone recommend any models i should look at that arn't complete junk, but won't dent the pocket book too much either