Photography Discussion Thread

go for it bigtime its what this thread is for..not just to show off..im a nub myself. ;-)

 

Color effect pro filters like glamour glow or skin softener get rid of a lot of skin mess. Skin softener is really good, as long as its used in moderation... A bit of skin ironing goes a long way... Hey Cheryl Cole??? Lol

 

Yeah, the buildin flash would just flatten the picture, best way to do what I said is to use external speedlight and a reflector, even a buildin little white plastic is ok most of the time. Then just set the flash 45 deg from vertical, mount a reflector\this little white plastic, and shoot with TTL. This way it will give a nice bright spot in the eyes and a more balanced exposure without making the subject under or overexposed, of course if you don't shoot little stuff in macro.

 

that filter took off about 10 years even in the face...nice!

 

Not good photos..I hate the color of the grass...its all sandy here so gross..but here's the goose that my kid almost got into a smack down with

P5051371 by -FaM-, on Flickr

P5051370 by -FaM-, on Flickr

and another of crazy kid...

P5051366 by -FaM-, on Flickr

 

Not sure about the goose pics, but that last one is good although his face is in a shadow.

Random blip. I was just informed about a concert I really want to go to in California in July 4th weekend and I might not sell my camera just yet. *Whew*, luckily I read up on my bands to catch this info early on. I guess it would be really hard to plan on what kind of lighting they would have, but yall think my good ol 18-105 is plenty enough?
Some sites I flipped through said to go with the 50mm 1.8, but what if I can't get close enough? What I hate about the Nikon D40X is it's ****ty ISO performance. Anything above 800 ISO at night is junk to me with this body. If I can cough up enough cash to buy a new body I would, but I gotta buy a plane ticket, hotel, and rent a car.

Anyhow, anyone here have any experience taking photos at a concert with a DSLR? Did you get close lined by security for getting too close? Where were you at? This is going to be a convention, so I'm not sure if there's going to be like barricades and what not to block people from getting too close. I really want to get pics from different angles also.

**Edit, actually I need to first find out if pics are even allowed at the concert. If pics arent..well....that's gonna suck.

 

Man, i like Depth of Field sense in photos all the way indeed no idea how to do that ...with a normal samsung or sony small home use cameras..lol.

 

Well, getting such shallow DOF is a mix of long focal length and wide open aperture, to me it's F4.0( I might be wrong but my sigma gives similar results as on FaM's pictures on 4.0). To get it on a concert you need a tele- at least 200mm, preferably with stabilizer, because the light might not be as well as you'd need it to keep ca. 1/160s exposure at 200mm. I made some photos in a theatre with 50mm 1.8 and to make a good composition I had to photograph right from the edge of the stage. Luckily I went there with a man who knew a man... and I could do it.

To Mr. Bigtime: because most Point'n'Shoot cameras have pretty crappy lens, comparing to those used in DSLRs you can't really get such effects, unless it's something like Fuji Finepix HS20

 

Its not to do with the lens and aperture so much as sensor size. compact cameras have a tiny sensor, so absolutely everything is in focus even at f0.5 with a 1000mm lens at 1cm from the subject (exaggeration). DSLR's and other more "professional" compacts such as the m4/3 or sony NEX have larger sensors, so they can achieve shallower DOF much easier.

 

Fulmtl a lot of concerts wont let you bring a camera in more less a dslr, even most basketball arenas wont let you bring anything with a lens longer than 3". Take it with you but be prepared to take it back to the car and use your crappy cell phone camera....unless you can rock a press badge.

 

Biggie, it is possible to a achieve a somewhat blurred background with a superzoom point-and-shoot camera by zooming in as far as you can. These were shot with a Sony DSC-HX1:





Having moved on to a dslr, however, I can tell you there is no comparison. Creative control and image quality are leaps and bounds beyond a p&s, and have me excited about photography like never before.

 

Here's a couple from my old point and shoot as well...I guess if all youre wanting is a blurred background effect if your subject and your background are really far apart and your focused on the subject close enough, it will blur it although its minimal on point and shoots.

My old fuji finepix s1000fd I paid 120 for refrubished on newegg, had for a year and sold for 100 on craigslist...shoulda kept it around as it had a 10x optical zoom...kind of miss it but it had a ton of noise and colors werent always right.

DSCF0362 by -FaM-, on Flickr


5975_128988988592_503278592_2978157_4838154_n by -FaM-, on Flickr

outside 065 by -FaM-, on Flickr
outside 095 by -FaM-, on Flickr

 

thanx for the info guys! i will ask here which cam to get. first i must make a research about what is available here at a affordable price.

 

Depending on your budget, might I make a few suggestions that could cut down your research time?

If you want a P&S camera, look no further than the canon s95, or you can also consider the Olympus XZ-1. If you want something better than a P&S, but not a DSLR, look into the Olympus e-pl2 or the Panasonic GF1, they're m4/3 cameras and will have much better quality than P&S cameras.

 

My suggestion would just buy a used entry level dslr locally which would be about the same price as a nicer point and shoot new.

 

I wouldn't suggest olympus pen or other micro 4/3 cameras - those are small but to get nice results you still need proper lens which is usually bigger than those bodies. Also 4/3 are more expensive than entry-mid dsrls. Don't be afraid to buy cheaper body(as long as it's not sony alpha, heard that those're horrible). I myself use Canon 1000D and apart from having just 10mpix (14 would be perfect) it's great. I just don't need 18 AF points, 99% of the time I use the centre one(as most photographers) and less mpix on the same sensor size (aps-c) means less noise. The picture quality is amazing and it doesn't have any problems with autofocus\colors\etc. IMHO I wouldn't buy more expensive body unless it has bigger sensor size. 3.something fps is also enough unless you plan to photograph lot's of sports, but it's another story(waaay more expensive).

 

Fam, looks like harsh midday sun (maybe a little exposure compensation could help), plus these geese aren't all that colorful. I shot this in the parking lot at work last evening (hence the less-than-lush background )



As close as I could get - these suckers are aggressive!

 

Actually, I use a m4/3 camera as a more portable alternative to my DSLR, and I've got a pancake lens with it (not a zoom, I agree those are rather pointless to have on the m4/3 since they defeat the whole concept of portability) which although larger than a P&S, gives great quality, and is still far more compact than even the smallest DSLR. About the price, thats also true for the higher end/newer models, but its what you pay for small, good quality products.
Sony actually make very good DSLRs (or SLT's), especially the a55, which is better than canon or nikon's offerings at the same price point.

 

Yeah I knew it was a crap shot but had to snap a few since they effectively chased me and my son for a little while lol