Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by FBM » Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:06 am

Xamonas Chegwé wrote:
hadespussercats wrote:I have a serious question-- I have some seriously shaky hands, which often leads to blurry photos. Any suggestions that wouldn't tie me down to a tripod?
If you invest in a digital SLR camera, you can buy lenses with built in OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_sha ... bilization

There are several methods used by different manufacturers but they are all expensive - add at least 25% to the cost of an equivalent lens, often much more. A few of the top-end compact cameras have basic OIS as well but you get what you pay for.

Worth the price, in my case. You can't always rely on a lighting situation that allows for fast enough shutter speeds to eliminate the blur. OIS does drain batteries, though, so I only use it when it looks necessary.
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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by hadespussercats » Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:15 am

FBM wrote:
Xamonas Chegwé wrote:
hadespussercats wrote:I have a serious question-- I have some seriously shaky hands, which often leads to blurry photos. Any suggestions that wouldn't tie me down to a tripod?
If you invest in a digital SLR camera, you can buy lenses with built in OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_sha ... bilization

There are several methods used by different manufacturers but they are all expensive - add at least 25% to the cost of an equivalent lens, often much more. A few of the top-end compact cameras have basic OIS as well but you get what you pay for.

Worth the price, in my case. You can't always rely on a lighting situation that allows for fast enough shutter speeds to eliminate the blur. OIS does drain batteries, though, so I only use it when it looks necessary.
Might be a while before I have that kind of dough-- nice to know the technology exists, though. I can start saving my sheckles.
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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by CJ » Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:02 am

A monopod is a good idea, make it a Manfrotto or other high quality make. Get one that just screws into the base of the camera to begin with.

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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by Reverend Blair » Fri Apr 09, 2010 5:56 pm

Yeah, monopods are great. I have a rather ancient Manfrotto with a pretty basic head, and I use it a lot, often in combination with the OIS feature. Since I'm often shooting in construction sites, etc, a tripod is too cumbersome, and there's no room for off-camera lighting. There's also little or no time for set-up. A monopod works really well in those conditions.

The other camera support I use a lot is the simple beanbag. Place the beanbag on a solid object and the camera on the beanbag. The solid object stops major camera movement, and the beanbag stops minor vibrations.

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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by Taryn » Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:26 pm

This is a photo I've been working on for a competition. It was made up from nine shots and it's the first time I've tried stitching shots together for a panorama. I used Microsoft Ice, a very simple way to create a panorama I know, but I haven't got round to learning how to use layers yet. Image
It ended up looking really dull, probably the wrong settings in the first place knowing me, but I've not got time to try and get anything better. I have used unsharp mask and enhanced it a bit using curves. Have I over done it, should I crop it a bit more? Any comments would be welcome.

The first is the original the second is the one I've played about with. They have both been reduced to 1024 pixels in length because the originals were huge.
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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by Twoflower » Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:36 pm

I am looking to upgrade my camera within the next few years. I currently have a Cannon xti, and would like to stay in the cannon family. Any suggestions?
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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by CJ » Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:32 am

Pluto2 wrote:I am looking to upgrade my camera within the next few years. I currently have a Cannon xti, and would like to stay in the cannon family. Any suggestions?
Technology changes so fast it's a difficult call. First and obvious stay with Canon, top marque, you already have lenses and new Canons will have similar controls and menus. The next question is sensor size. Your current sensor is an APSc size (smaller than full frame) this effects your lenses and extends there focal range, it is also possible that your lenses are designed to work with this size of sensor and won't work with full frame sensor. You will need to check this. Post details of your lenses and we should be able to find out. Pixel count will be what is available at the time and that will change a lot in two years so all one needs to say is what Rolls Royce used to say about Horse Power 'Sufficient' :D The trade off that may decide you is the length of time you want to own the camera, you may be better to go for a stronger body with a smaller sensor (smaller being relative to the market two years from now). So lens details please.

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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by Twoflower » Thu May 06, 2010 1:53 am

CJ wrote:
Pluto2 wrote:I am looking to upgrade my camera within the next few years. I currently have a Cannon xti, and would like to stay in the cannon family. Any suggestions?
Technology changes so fast it's a difficult call. First and obvious stay with Canon, top marque, you already have lenses and new Canons will have similar controls and menus. The next question is sensor size. Your current sensor is an APSc size (smaller than full frame) this effects your lenses and extends there focal range, it is also possible that your lenses are designed to work with this size of sensor and won't work with full frame sensor. You will need to check this. Post details of your lenses and we should be able to find out. Pixel count will be what is available at the time and that will change a lot in two years so all one needs to say is what Rolls Royce used to say about Horse Power 'Sufficient' :D The trade off that may decide you is the length of time you want to own the camera, you may be better to go for a stronger body with a smaller sensor (smaller being relative to the market two years from now). So lens details please.
Canon EFS 18-55mm Cannon ultrasonic Efs 60mm macro lens Cannon EF 75-300mm telephoto lens and a cannon 35-80mm lens
I'm wild just like a rock, a stone, a tree
And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life

Image

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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by Robert_S » Wed May 19, 2010 6:38 am

I just bought a Canon SX120is to replace the A590is that acquired an annoying hair. I think it'll do until I can afford a really good DSLR camera.

I'm pretty happy with the results I am getting. My question is about free software and the Gimp (Gnu Image Manipulation Program), which I currently use, and Photoshop. Has anyone used both and care to comment about the difference in quality between the two programs?

Here's a pic reduced 25% and cropped.
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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by CJ » Wed May 19, 2010 9:03 am

Never used Gimp. I use Photoshop Elements that I got free with my scanner. I am happy with Elements at the level of basic functionality that I require. I have also used Paint Net and that is very good as a free program.

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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by Rum » Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:12 pm

Just blew the cobwebs off this thread.. Some advice please if anyone can help.

I replaced an oldish DSLR which I gave to my daughter with a Nikon D3000 a couple of years ago now - maybe even three. I have never been very pleased with the results I get though and have ignored the camera of late. But with the Spring coming and lots of time to experiment I got it out again today and had another go. I'm still not happy with the results. The main problem is the richness and depth of the colour. It seems very flat to me. I can mess about with it using software post shooting of course, but that feels a bit like cheating! Any ideas about adjustments I could make to the camera setting to improve the colour quality. There are a lot of settings potentially one can adjust on the thing - maybe too many! Here's an example of what I mean, taken today with no software fiddling about.
Marchuload1.jpg

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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by pErvinalia » Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:16 pm

Looks alright to me. The real trick to getting nice colours is shooting in the right lighting conditions. You can also boost your saturation and contrast a bit in camera if you want. Doing it after in photoshop isn't cheating. It's just doing a similar thing to what the camera is doing when it creates a jpg.

edit: White balance is of course very important for colour in digital too.
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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by macdoc » Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:28 pm

Looks decent....I'm on a high end Retina screen and it's fussy.

I tweaked it up a bit here ...post processing is a fact of life these days and makes for huge improvements but can be over done.
The auto-correct did not do anything to it at all so I'd say if that was the original balance it was pretty near on.

original

Image
tweaked

Image
Last edited by macdoc on Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by MiM » Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:29 pm

I agree with rEv. The colours in that pic are perfectly ok. The problem is everyone boosts their pictures so much that good pictures look bland in comparison. Also agree about about post-processing. It is in no way cheating (until you start mixing content from different images, or such), and especially if you shoot raw it is a necessary process that just has to be done.
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Re: Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

Post by pErvinalia » Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:35 pm

Yeah, the general popular trend nowadays is to saturate the fuck out of your photos. Most of them look terrible. Obviously some are done well and the content lends itself to it.

The other thing I just picked up from your OP... Was your last camera a DSLR or an SLR? If a film camera, it will all depend on what film you used. Where you shooting velvia, perhaps?

edit: scrap that. I can't read, apparently.
Last edited by pErvinalia on Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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