Any photographers in the house?

tke364 wrote:

Shot my first concert a couple weekends ago and am pretty pleased with how the 50mm handled the crazy light. I was a few rows back with the majority of the shots taken using the live viewfinder tilted down at me with the camera extended over my head. Took quite a few shots with different iso and f-stop to see what the sweet spot would be. Below is a picture of Brock Butler of Perpetual Groove.

IMAGE(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6935067635_9a25f8b76b.jpg)

Great light and silhouette!

That's a great shot tke364.

tke364 wrote:

IMAGE(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6935067635_9a25f8b76b.jpg)

That's awesome! Love the colour and shadow and highlight!

I tried on manual over the weekend but i think i had my ISO too high as all my shots were grainy.

I got my wife a Nikon D3100 for her birthday. Maybe she'll end up posting here with questions, comments.

Did this for a friend. They took this muddy not so interesting shot and I thougth it would be cool to edit.
Original
IMAGE(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kS5yu8s0lA4/T0qUvX-NuXI/AAAAAAAAFIM/qg0W11Q1eoQ/s740/cheryl-woods-web-orig.jpg)

Edited (this was my favorite)
IMAGE(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BGiiUn2cNC8/T0qUu3asC8I/AAAAAAAAFIA/NHO2amzjab4/s740/cheryl-woods-web-muted-flame.jpg)

There are 2 others found here
https://plus.google.com/u/0/11388456...

Thank you all for the comments. Below is another of the same show that I think turned out well.
IMAGE(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7192/6793869788_55e1427527_z.jpg)

That's rad!

Kittylexy's been playing with the camera a bit more, and wanted me to thank everyone again!

Maggie:
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/SvkIh.jpg)
Ash:
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/cdQ5F.jpg)
Tanglebones:
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/SY2W8.jpg)
Kittylexy:
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/xapOL.jpg)

I'm a bit worried with the way that Tanglebones is the only one giving the camera "come hither" eyes. I'm also worried that I can't stop looking at his picture...I'm so confused!

Great pictures, btw. Love the first one especially.

Yeah, great detail on that first photo. Really love the texture of the fur. Why doesn't stroking the screen seem to work?

Bit of constructive criticism: I think the crop is a bit tight on the photo of your good lady, but that's me.

Playing around with my Macro lens this weekend.
I'm also about to build one of these for said macro shots.
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07...

I have a bunch of semi-precious rough gems at home I hope to turn into subjects. Should be fun.

IMAGE(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ou5k49gYVI4/T1QcCOyj0LI/AAAAAAAAFTE/dJdUz-fp5To/s647/amathyst-2.jpg)
IMAGE(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_B9gbATlyRM/T1QcG7GGthI/AAAAAAAAFTU/Ul6HW6orLo4/s744/shell-fossil.jpg)

So I don't know a lot yet about how to use my new dslr camera (nikon d3100) because I've been to busy to read the manual or anything. But here are a few pics I've taken so far. First are some macro shots for my website and festival applications, then a few random shots of our monsters. When I have time I'm sure I'll comb through this thread for tips and tricks.

The macro shots are in a lightbox, with the lights turned off, using only the flash for a lightsource and with a diffuser over the flash to prevent reflections. The monsters are taken on just auto everything.

IMAGE(http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0147/4462/products/DSC_0030.jpg)
IMAGE(http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0147/4462/products/DSC_0064.jpg)
IMAGE(http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0147/4462/products/DSC_0063.jpg)
IMAGE(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/423664_2957377847620_1056697761_3479918_1386576714_n.jpg)
IMAGE(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/422945_2957385047800_1056697761_3479928_806067712_n.jpg)
IMAGE(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/402767_2957385767818_1056697761_3479931_2128893658_n.jpg)

We just got our new baby backpack so my wife used this as an excuse to use the blue bonnet.

IMAGE(http://popspond.smugmug.com/Amanda-Steve/Raw/SS/i-RZP9p5h/0/X2/12-03-02-1621-Leland-X2.jpg)

IMAGE(http://popspond.smugmug.com/Amanda-Steve/Raw/SS/i-GCrbWBk/0/X2/12-03-02-1633-Leland-X2.jpg)

A site enjoy is Digital Photography School. Good tips and a fun weekly assignment to get you thinking and more importantly, out shooting.

Yelleck, something you might want to try with the jewelry shots is to place them on a sheet of plexi or glossy granite tile for a soft reflection.

Granite example
IMAGE(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7177/6853996049_e4626c2ce1.jpg)
7:46 by RichyRambo, on Flickr

Plexi example
IMAGE(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H6sSyPkc77Q/T0gXUx43mAI/AAAAAAAABZU/uP71qBf54kw/s288/365%2520%25282%2520of%25207%2529.jpg)
D20

And a shameless plug for a time lapse I recently did for my theatre company:

My wife and I got a DSLR and I am looking to see what I can get for my Minolta 35mm. Any thoughts/bright ideas on places I can go that may be interested?

Which body and lens do you have?

Camera Body: Minolta X-370N
2 lenses: 1 MD Zoom 35-70 mm
2 FOCAL MC AUTO ZOOM 80-200 mm

Demand for manual focus minolta bodies and lenses isn't high. A used dealer like keh or b&h will give you a fraction of what you might get on e-bay, but even on eBay you're probably looking at under $100. I'd check for expired auction prices on the same model to get a better idea.

Any thoughts on Lightroom 4? It is cheaper then Lightroom 3 was. Worth the upgrade?

MonoCheli wrote:

Any thoughts on Lightroom 4? It is cheaper then Lightroom 3 was. Worth the upgrade?

I ordered it after working it in beta.

The review at DP review gives good detail on what has changed between the two.

What camera bag is everyone using? I have a Vegas trip coming up for work and want to take my camera along with me. I would need to take my laptop and camera with an extra lens but also my Gorilla pod. I'm thinking about this this , but am concerned that the tripod won't fit.

tke364 wrote:

What camera bag is everyone using?

There's a question for the ages. Ask ten photographers, get fifty answers.

I personally have a collection of about 6 camera bags. On my last trip I actually took two with me, one to carry the majority of the gear on the flight itself, and one for carrying around shore excursions. I tried to take a third for lighter hiking duty, but the wife drew the line.

Here's my primary camera bag. It will fit all of my standard gear with a bit of squeezing, though it tends to get a bit heavy that way.

And I use this one for lighter hiking duty.

Funkenpants wrote:

Demand for manual focus minolta bodies and lenses isn't high. A used dealer like keh or b&h will give you a fraction of what you might get on e-bay, but even on eBay you're probably looking at under $100. I'd check for expired auction prices on the same model to get a better idea.

Yeah, from what I had been seeing, the 80-200 lense was worth more than the rest of it combined.

tke364 wrote:

What camera bag is everyone using?

This is the one I use for walking around.

Teneman wrote:

Here's my primary camera bag. It will fit all of my standard gear with a bit of squeezing, though it tends to get a bit heavy that way.

I have the very similar Amazon Basics version of this bag and have hiked with it, with the tripod in the straps (cheap tripod, mind you, if I'm going to be setting it down in mud/rocks/etc). As long as you're not carrying one of those massive telephoto lenses, it's comfortable, and usable for hiking. I even squeezed a camelbak in that one pocket.

It's a nice bag.

I use this bag http://www.amazon.com/Lowepro-SlingS... have have been very happy with it

MonoCheli wrote:
tke364 wrote:

What camera bag is everyone using?

This is the one I use for walking around.

I've been using the Amazon Basic pack for most of my stuff (see NSMike's link), this Messenger bag that Mono linked (be warned it is not heavily padded), and a Sling pack for hiking shoots.

I like the sling and satchel style because it is easy to get to and change another lens while out and about - no taking off the pack and setting it down.

Just noticed that amazon is doing a knock off of the one Rahmen posted.

RichyRambo wrote:
MonoCheli wrote:
tke364 wrote:

What camera bag is everyone using?

This is the one I use for walking around.

I've been using the Amazon Basic pack for most of my stuff (see NSMike's link), this Messenger bag that Mono linked (be warned it is not heavily padded), and a Sling pack for hiking shoots.

I like the sling and satchel style because it is easy to get to and change another lens while out and about - no taking off the pack and setting it down.

Just noticed that amazon is doing a knock off of the one Rahmen posted.

Yeah it is not heavily padded. I don't throw that bag around it is the bag i use for walking around town and looking normal etc. It normally gets set on my car seat or in my drawer at work. I just carry my body with my 50 prime and a flash with a could things like spare batteries and a lens cloth.

Put me down for a LowePro too... I think it was linked somewhere back in thread but I'm feeling a bit lazy today. It's a mid-sized backpack with two compartments and I even use it as a normal backpack too.

IMAGE(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Njq9-HDOEXI/T2yQ69qEdCI/AAAAAAAAGC4/tnOhvnn56_o/s720/Azalea-buds-stacked-2k.png)

Most of you may already know this...
Macro photography creates very short depth of focus. Using a technique called stacking I was able to take 5 images, each taken with a different focal point and stack them together to create one image that has the buds in focus from front to back.

This is my first attempt at stacking in Photoshop CS5. This was done from 5 images using the stacking and blending functions in CS5.
I used this video to guide me
Focus Stacking in Photoshop CS5
and it was much easier than I thougth it would be.

I love the result. It's my new background

Here's a link to the 17MB full size image to see detail.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7779045/Azal...

Taken with a Nikon 60MM Micro on a Nikon D90 at 200ISO, f22 1/60 with off-camera flash. The flash is positioned right on top of the lens pointing at the subject with a Lumiquest Softbox for diffusion.
Post processing included the stacking/blending and added saturation and a touch of contrast.