Any keen photographers?

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Stick

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Since my early 20s a camera has always been a part of my life. My pride and joy was a Pentax ME Super (I still have it) and I used to put rolls of slide film through it. That camera was a constant on all my expeds around the world. It's been dragged up rock faces in Yosemite, over high passes and down rapids in the Himalaya, as well as used around the home. A truly superb bit of kit that really taught me to see and engage with my environment in a way that I wouldn't have thought possible.

In order to embrace the digital revolution I recently bought a reconditioned Nikon D80 DSLR with a Tamron 18 - 270mm lens and am using Raw Therapee for editing. It's great to be behind a view finder again. Some of my pics can be seen here:

http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/profile/1672333/#b/

Anyone else keen on photography?
 
My father was aaphotographer so I grew up looking thrugh a viewfinder ( or the back of a view camera, got used to things being upside down and reversed right for left ! ) and the smell of D76 ! I don't have a digital body but do occasionally use my F100, which I got 10 years ago or my F2. which I got back in the late "70s or my Nikkormat which I got in '69 and used in Vietnam, shooting mostly color print film but I do get a disc when i get the film processed so I'm 1/2 digital ! :twisted: I've got a full range of Nikkor lenses from that period with my fave being my '69 35mm f2 which I use for most of my pic taking and my '78 135mm f2 DS for portrait work. I have a 50 mm f1.8 and the same 135 in auto-focus that I use on the F100. Getting harder to find film proccessors so I don't take many pics these days as I can't afford a Nikkon F7 body ( or any other Nikkon digital body on my income these days! ) ! Ce la vie ! :twisted:
 
My wife, who has an artistic eye and a background in journalism, said that you had a great eye and your photographs were outstanding.
Since I would like to take great photos, what do you attribute your success to?
Thoughts that come to mind are camera, knowledge about photography, practice, and of course Photoshop.
Since many of the pictures appear to come from slides, it looks like you have a great eye, know how to set up your camera and when to press the button.
 
Funny you should bring up photography. I just moved all of my boxes so I could start sorting through them. I have 3 Minoltas that I used for work with a ton of lenses. My personal camera was a Pentax K1000 and the newest one I have is a Cannon Rebel. Somewhere I should still have a couple of medium format cameras and then there are all the boxes of darkroom equipment. I was actually thinking about setting up again and doing some of my black and white film again. I sorly miss spending time in the darkroom.

Jim
 
I'm not much of a photographer, but I sure did enjoy looking at the shots that you posted. The extent of my photos are done on the old cell phone-mostly of my daughter and my pipes.

Cheers.
 
Bub":7tve8l2n said:
My wife, who has an artistic eye and a background in journalism, said that you had a great eye and your photographs were outstanding.
Since I would like to take great photos, what do you attribute your success to?
Thoughts that come to mind are camera, knowledge about photography, practice, and of course Photoshop.  
Since many of the pictures appear to come from slides, it looks like you have a great eye, know how to set up your camera and when to press the button.  
Thank you Bub, both to you and your wife.

I would attribute any success that I do have with first of all having the camera with me. I don't mean this to sound flippant, but I've often been in situations when I've seen sights that just beg to be captured but didn't have my camera. They're the ones that got away so to speak. So, first rule, take your camera with you as much as is practicable.

Applying the simple technique of the rule of thirds transformed my images. Happy to explain if you're not sure.

Understanding ISO, depth of field and aperture and how they interact helps enormously. Of course, most DSLRs have an auto mode that turns it into a 'point and press'. This will still give excellent results but removes all control of your images. If I was to pick just two concepts that I would say made my photography turn a corner, it would be the rule of thirds and understanding depth of field. This can be achieved by using the aperture priority mode on a DSLR.

As for the camera, my current hardware is a reconditioned unit that is approx. 10 years old and only boasts a 10 mega pixel crop sensor. This is fine for me as I won't ever be enlarging and printing bigger than A3. Fact is, mega pixels sells cameras and whilst it is nice to know you have 24 up your sleeve, for most folks it simply not needed.

I do use post processing software - RAW Therapee is very good and is a free download and also Photoshop CS5 which I've only just acquired - but only use it to make the picture 'pop'; adjusting contrast, saturation and a few other tweaks. I'm not a fan of doing anything else as I believe it makes the image become artificial. Back in the days of film all processing labs tweaked images to some degree or other to make the pictures look a little more appealing. Fujichrome was a slide film famed for vibrant colours. The tweaks I do in post processing just mimics this.

You're right about a schooling with slide film (or print). This really taught me to get things right and carefully consider the image before I pulled the trigger as there was no such thing as post processing and of course film could get expensive.

And you don't need a big posh SLR either! The cameras built into phones these days are quite remarkable considering their size and the lens used. Apply the rule of thirds, shoot from interesting perspectives and you'll get great results.

So! Get out there and take some pics Mr and Mrs Bub!
 
huffelpuff":202x3g9e said:
Funny you should bring up photography. I just moved all of my boxes so I could start sorting through them. I have 3 Minoltas that I used for work with a ton of lenses. My personal camera was a Pentax K1000 and the newest one I have is a Cannon Rebel. Somewhere I should still have a couple of medium format cameras and then there are all the boxes of darkroom equipment. I was actually thinking about setting up again and doing some of my black and white film again. I sorly miss spending time in the darkroom.

Jim
Do it Jim and get some pics up!
 
BriarBeagle":z3jkomtl said:
I'm not much of a photographer, but I sure did enjoy looking at the shots that you posted.  The extent of my photos are done on the old cell phone-mostly of my daughter and my pipes.

Cheers.
Pleased you liked them BB! As outlined above, there's a lot to be said for phone cameras!
 
monbla256":x7rugmzf said:
My father was aaphotographer so I grew up looking thrugh a viewfinder ( or the back of a view camera, got used to things being upside down and reversed right for left ! ) and the smell of D76 ! I don't have a digital body but do occasionally use my F100, which I got 10 years ago or my F2. which I got back in the late "70s or my Nikkormat which I got in '69 and used in Vietnam, shooting mostly color print film but I do get a disc when i get the film processed so I'm 1/2 digital ! :twisted: I've got a full range of Nikkor lenses from that period with my fave being my '69 35mm f2 which I use for most of my pic taking and my '78 135mm f2 DS for portrait work. I have a 50 mm f1.8 and the same 135 in auto-focus that I use on the F100. Getting harder to find film proccessors so I don't take many pics these days as I can't afford a Nikkon F7 body ( or any other Nikkon digital body on my income these days! ) ! Ce la vie ! :twisted:
Wow Michael, you took it seriously! Sounds like you had some great glass too. I'd got my eye on a Nikon 50mm f1.8 prime lens so hope to add that to my bag some time soon. Tough as it must have been, your experiences in Vietnam must have provided you with some remarkable photo opportunities.

Ref DSLR affordability, check out getting a reconditioned unit. Most likely have a 12 month warranty, will be fully checked over and will save you packet!
 
Great photos! Love the tree with the fog. I’ve been doing photography since high school, 35mm, 120, digital. For the past few years I’ve been shooting almost exclusively with a 4x5 view camera and am actually expecting an 8x10 to arrive this week from a builder in the Czech Republic.
 
I had a Pentax ME Super also.  A Special Edition, as I recall.  Don't remember what was so special about it.  Mostly outdoors photography.  Nothing outstanding.  A lot of Field Archery and whitetail deer.  Great film was already starting to slowly go away in the late 1970's.  My opinion of course, but digital still has a long way to go to get near the eye appeal of Kodachrome or really fine Black & White film types.

I really like that website to display your work. Nice format.
 
Carlos":ne3o4m8p said:
I had a Pentax ME Super also.  A Special Edition, as I recall.  Don't remember what was so special about it.  Mostly outdoors photography.  Nothing outstanding.  A lot of Field Archery and whitetail deer.  Great film was already starting to slowly go away in the late 1970's.  My opinion of course, but digital still has a long way to go to get near the eye appeal of Kodachrome or really fine Black & White film types.

I really like that website to display your work.  Nice format.
Couldn't agree with you more Carlos.  This is probably why I always up the saturation and contrast a tinch in post processing.  Good to see another ME Super user too.

 
Stick, there's some really awesome shots you took! WOW!

I bought a Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80 last year, which is supposed to be an excellent entry camera for the beginner that I am. Needless to say, I am far from mastering it, it's a rather complex beast!

 
Falcon Puffer":6r8jz90x said:
Stick, there's some really awesome shots you took! WOW!

I bought a Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80 last year, which is supposed to be an excellent entry camera for the beginner that I am. Needless to say, I am far from mastering it, it's a rather complex beast!
Great camera FP. Stick to a couple of basics... rule of thirds and depth of field and you'll get some tremendous results. Look forward to seeing how you get on!
 
Stick":y3r4w6g6 said:
Falcon Puffer":y3r4w6g6 said:
Stick, there's some really awesome shots you took! WOW!

I bought a Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80 last year, which is supposed to be an excellent entry camera for the beginner that I am. Needless to say, I am far from mastering it, it's a rather complex beast!
Great camera FP.  Stick to a couple of basics... rule of thirds and depth of field and you'll get some tremendous results.  Look forward to seeing how you get on!
I'll make sure to read your exposé further up in this thread. ;)

Here are 2 pics I took with it. Both were taken without a tripod and neither has been edited in any way:





Obviously, I still have much much to learn.
 
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