A Photo A Day Thread

[xcellerate]

went for a bike ride yesterday and it was quite pleasant on the trail:

 

[Zephos]

Loving this thread.

I decided I'm going to invest in a DSLR soon! Probably a Canon 60D with just a nifty fifty and a kit lens to begin with. I'm a complete and utter beginner, so I'm researching like no tomorrow. Some might call me silly for buying such an expensive body with crappy lens and no knowledge but I'm trying to future proof here. Plus I want to primarily use it for film making, in which case many of the features are right up my alley. But I'm also a silly man.

Hope I can contribute soon

 

[Stormy]

Its often said that its better to have a cheaper camera and a more expensive lens! So I'd read into that for sure. I'd guess your looking at the canon 50mm f/1.8? It's a little plasticy and feels like it will fall apart, the focus ring is also right on the front which is a pain. But on the other hand its only £75quid so if and when you do decide to upgrade it wont be a massive loss. I've not looked much into the 60d but it looks very expensive for a first camera. Check its specs for the 550d or 600d (similer but 600d has the flip out screen). IMHO get a cheaper camera and a better lens.

At the end of the day its not about how expensive your camera is, its about how you use it.

Also check ebay, not so much to buy lenses second hand but you will get an idea of how well lenses keep their value if you decide to sell later on. For example I bought a 10-22mm wide angle for around 570 and sold it a year on for 500. Just make sure you keep all the box and interia leaflets somewhere safe to keep them in good condition.

 

[Zephos]

Its often said that its better to have a cheaper camera and a more expensive lens! So I'd read into that for sure. I'd guess your looking at the canon 50mm f/1.8? It's a little plasticy and feels like it will fall apart, the focus ring is also right on the front which is a pain. But on the other hand its only £75quid so if and when you do decide to upgrade it wont be a massive loss. I've not looked much into the 60d but it looks very expensive for a first camera. Check its specs for the 550d or 600d (similer but 600d has the flip out screen). IMHO get a cheaper camera and a better lens.

At the end of the day its not about how expensive your camera is, its about how you use it.

Also check ebay, not so much to buy lenses second hand but you will get an idea of how well lenses keep their value if you decide to sell later on. For example I bought a 10-22mm wide angle for around 570 and sold it a year on for 500. Just make sure you keep all the box and interia leaflets somewhere safe to keep them in good condition.

Mm certainly. I have indeed heard the mantra. 600D I ruled out due to an issue I had with the filming aspects, and the 550d I'm not sure about. I will certainly go to the stores and have a play with both. In terms of the lenses I'm choosing I'm just going for cheap to get a general feel and upgrade later when I feel I have a better understanding of what I want from a lenses. Altogether those two will cost me $250 all up, so it's not a big loss on my part, especially since (despite the plasticness) I've heard the nifty comes in much handy.

Thanks for the advice though, much appreciated! I do have a photo to contribute I guess, from my recent Japan trip. I shot it with my iphone but I don't know, I loved the morning colours (it does come through with a weird 3D blurring because of the Iphone's HDR adjusting, lots of weird artifacting :/), the scenery in the background (it was honestly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to) and the people within.

 

[Stormy]

550 seems pretty good, guy at work had one and had a good play with it. Nice build quality and takes nice pics! Canon and nikon do seem to have a tendency of just throwing random crap onto cameras these days tho just to improve their feature list to get more sales. Ie 600d with flip out screen, its all just bullshit and you pay more for it.

If you want film go with the 550 if you dont want to do any film stuff the 500 might be more suited.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/ - Lots of useful information here
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/ - lots of good tutorials here and just general interesting reading

Be carful with hdr tho, that shot above is nice but HDR is there to use when there is do much dynamic range to fit your camera sensor. People seem to think of it as some magic make pictures look different + artistic tool but often it looks really naff! - imho hdr looks best when you cannot tell its been used. like your pic above.

 

[Zephos]

550 seems pretty good, guy at work had one and had a good play with it. Nice build quality and takes nice pics! Canon and nikon do seem to have a tendency of just throwing random crap onto cameras these days tho just to improve their feature list to get more sales. Ie 600d with flip out screen, its all just bullshit and you pay more for it.

If you want film go with the 550 if you dont want to do any film stuff the 500 might be more suited.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/ - Lots of useful information here
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/ - lots of good tutorials here and just general interesting reading

Be carful with hdr tho, that shot above is nice but HDR is there to use when there is do much dynamic range to fit your camera sensor. People seem to think of it as some magic make pictures look different + artistic tool but often it looks really naff! - imho hdr looks best when you cannot tell its been used. like your pic above.

Thanks for the info! I've been looking up Ken and also philipbloom.net for advice. I must admit, the flip out screen does appeal to me very much for the purposes of filming video So far I'm leaning even more towards the 600D because it's only roughly $50 on top of the 550D (flippy screen!) and the 60D itself is a good $400 more expensive, and with that price difference I could easily get some nice accessories for filming like a tripod and such. I had a look at both today and the 60D felt so much sturdier and nicer, but I'm thinking it's not worth the difference in price. It was so lovely, though

I see what you mean about HDR, I wasn't really intending or even aware of the setting on my Iphone, just was taking snaps everywhere I could. I still regret not having a proper camera for that holiday, it was absolutely stunning.

 

[kineaesth]

does this guy have a robotic hand?!?!?!

As in, what the **** is going on here

 

[morgs]

"Where is Sarah Connor"

 

[xcellerate]

Moved apartments recently, I thought the colors were nice.

 

[Dynasty]

Thread is win. Need to upload my Thailand pics.

And for some reason, I got rid of my Nikon D5000 a few months ago, realised I was off to Thailand and bought a Lumix FZ45, which isnt THAT bad, I just miss having a decent depth of field through a lower f number. But the lens on the Lumix is very, VERY diverse, if a but crap with macro. Though I havent really read the manual yet, so Im not sure how the macro settings work.

I love bokeh shots though, so I think I need another £400-or-so camera again and a decent lens.

 

[Stormy]

Zephos - Tripod wise make sure what ever you buy you get a chance to give it a good push around to make sure its stable! They should have max weight they can hold so make sure thats rather high too. That tripod you buy is going to be holding $1000+ worth of kit and it would suck big balls if it topples over!!

 

[Stormy]

Seven Sisters, East Sussex down the south coast. Really hard walk up and down the hills over the cliff top! woohoo

 

[Quixoticism]

That is beautiful Stormy

This big boy was right outside my front door one evening. I was amazed at how massive it was.

 

[Stormy]

Ah thanks fella.

That moth is ****ing massive. If my GF saw that she would scream so loud your ear drums would explode and your brain would turn to mush and dribble out of your ears. No joke!

 

[KiplingsCat]

What a pretty moth! Moths are awesome. They're one of my favourite types of creepy crawly.

 

[Iron Kat]

I took this last year from the other side of the Irwell Valley looking over to Noel Hill in Edenfield.

 

[kineaesth]

textural work and etc

 

[Hectic Glenn]

That is beautiful Stormy

This big boy was right outside my front door one evening. I was amazed at how massive it was.

That is indeed a massive moth, nice find. Any idea on the species?

edit: I did some digging for species found in Utah and specifically Salt Lake county area and the giant hawk moth species are found there! The family is called Sphingidae but there are a huge variety of species and sub-species but I matched it closest to the Modest Sphinx (Pachysphinx modesta). Here is another reference picture of it, see if you agree with the ID - http://i.imgur.com/uRwXf.jpg

 

[Iron Kat]

I took this about three years ago. I was using my (then) new phone so the picture isn't in the best quality.

I actually hate hawk moths (twice I've had one fly into my eye. That would make you pretty phobic of them) but I thought it looked quite interesting up close. There was a closed window between it and me so I wasn't scared of it!

 

[Quixoticism]

Glenn: That looks pretty close. I guess the one I saw had it's head tucked down or something because I didn't see any antennae. I should have examined it more closely though. It was just sitting there perfectly still even with people checking it out.

These were some baller biker cops. They must have been chatting on the radio because they never broke formation while driving through miles of traffic.

 

[Lokain]

I took a photo of a friend behind a dirty window edited the shot with a lower exposure and higher contrast.. Look kewl





and I went to a comic convention a few months ago and took a snap shot of one of the best costumes I saw

 

[Barnz]

 

[Zephos]

So, it's been a month since I got my camera, and I'm still shockingly bad. I haven't had as much time to tinker with it, or study up on photography and whenever I took it out it'd generally be on automatic. However, I recently I took a trip down to Melbourne to see Modest Mouse and Wild Beasts in concert with a few friends, where because of the many low light situations my automatic settings absolutely failed, so I had to quickly, on the job scramble to use and understand manual exposure. It was a really good learning experience, something that just reading up on wouldn't have taught me half as fast.

I hate the idea of friends posing for a photo, it generally comes out all the same, so I decided to take a stupid amount of spontaneous photos. I think my friends also got accustomed to me having a camera in their faces all the time and started to act a lot more natural. Sometimes I think it worked well.

These three were taken when I went to see Wild Beasts in concert. SLRs are obviously never allowed inside a concert unless you have a pass, but I (even surprising myself) bluffed my way past the security into the gig itself. I was so surprised, that I had forgotten to bring my nifty fifty, and still had no idea about manual exposure. What followed was basically the best class I could get for understanding my camera. The lighting in the show was obviously always changing, so I had to constantly adjust to keep up. Not only that, but the mosh meant I had to keep the steadiest hands in the world. The lack of my nifty fifty made afterwards really made me understand the power of its 1.8 f/s. Pretty much 90% of my photos came out underexposed because my kit lens was struggling like hell to take in enough light. I also had to slam the ISO up, so the grain came through thick and fast. Most of my photos came through as if they were taken on an iPhone sadly, but I have a very good idea of what to expect next time I manage to get into a gig. It was still incredibly fun though, and a great learning curve. I'd love to get into this sort of photography.


I've got some stunning photos of my female companion but I'm not sure if she'd like her photos up on Flickr, I shall ask. I think I now have to definitely invest in a tripod, and perhaps a sexy zoom lens. If anyone is willing, feel very free to criticise my photos as much as you can. I need all the help I can get.

 

[Acepilotf14]

I took this picture when I was in LA for MEPS.

 

[Stormy]

Zephos - First and second from last pic are pretty nice. The first has some great depth although it looks a tad wonky. The second from last has the exposure spot on but not the best of compositions - but hay your at a gig your never going to get in the perfect spot. What camera did you get in the end?


Saw the Red Arrows at Cows on the Isle Of Wight lastnight. Was the first time but as always had the wrong lens for the situation. The 70-200 would of been awesome for some sexy zoomy shots but it was sitting at home and had to make do with the 24-70.

Cpl more from IoW

 

[Stormy]

Super foggy outside in Brighton tonight

Light Graffiti Shot - hope to get some more up soon!

 

[Stormy]

Woo got my first film developed today from a camera I got off my dad. There where a few pictures on there which where 20 years old! Nothing special so I wont post them but I just finished up the film that was already in the camera

They are quite grainy and there is a bunch of light leaking but it kind of gives them a bit of character!

 

[Stormy]

Really starting to like black and white

 

[Unfocused]

Haven't you posted those two before, I think I saw them .

I like the photos taken with your dad's camera; as you said they have character.

 

[Unfocused]

Haven't you posted those two before, I think I saw them .

I like the photos taken with your dad's camera; as you said they have character.

There's a little problem with the panorama - one or two shots (where the sky is brightest) have different... something with them - they are less saturated and brighter I think. I tried adjusting saturation, brightness, contrast, played with levels etc., but I can't seem to make the colors match the rest of the image. Any tips?

 

[kineaesth]

 

[YROC]

Some photos I took while waiting on the bus today.

Edit for new photos.

Chill spot at work. Won't last much longer with winter approaching.

 

[Neutrino]

Still lurk occasionally... Thought I'd share some recent pics. Sorry for the bad lighting...was really overcast and I was distracted:

 

[Quixoticism]

Still lurk occasionally... Thought I'd share some recent pics. Sorry for the bad lighting...was really overcast and I was distracted:

I would like high resolution versions of the last two. They look amazing!

 

[Zephos]

hi lol just went to a concert the other day and saw mono!! they were rly good! i got some fotos but it wwas really dark and i culdnt see them most of the time but i like this one i put it in photoshop and made him black and white i thort that was prty inovative hahhah anyway rate and comment plz xx

 

[morgs]

 

[Stormy]

Zephos, I like the pic but personally id make the hole thing black + white. Really not a big fan of the half and half thing.

Just got back from a holiday in dubrovnik so expect a spam of pics over the next few days

To start with found this squished praying mantis, poor thing has its eggs splatted all around its lifelss body too.

 

[Zephos]

Zephos, I like the pic but personally id make the hole thing black + white. Really not a big fan of the half and half thing.

Haha yeah, I was doing it more tongue in cheek.. though I question why I put all the effort into uploading it in the first place. Sadly I still suffered from being inside the mosh but talking to a friend of mine that might change very soon (media passes!). Here's some more:

 

[Vegeta897]

Is that woman asian?

 

[kineaesth]

Japanese!