Official Photography thread?

I'm not sure how much interest there is for this since i don't know how many empires players are interested or involved in photography but i just wanted to throw this out there.

This would be a thread to talk about photography and post pics you've taken.
4th of July Boston

Random Stuff

My Backyard in the winter


Imageshack destroys my image quality but i don't have my own protfolio yet ill get around to making it at some point.

My Gear:
Cannon Eos 1000D
18-55mm f/3.5-f/5.6
75-300mm f4.6-f/5.6
28-80mm f/2.8
50mm f/1.8

 

Why did I read it as official pornography thread?

Edit: I might post something later, Im actually quite interested in photography, but I own a really bad camera in my opinion. I might buy a real one in the close future.

 

Photography isn't art.

That is all.

I can go outside on the street with an expensive camera and pretend that I'm a professional.

And don't tell me I can't, because I took shitty pictures on flick and those idiots still praised me.

 

That's a little like saying there are no professional level designers because you can make a fullbright block and people on this place will call it awesome.

 

Photography is what you make it.
But I have to agree, that all people running around with expensive system cameras without having a clue about what photographing is, is rather annoying, but it doesn't make them professional.

 

Good photography - framing everything right, setting the correct timings and levels is not easy and takes time. Putting the camera on auto mode does not look as good as someone going through the settings properly. If people thought crappy photography looked good, then they just don't know what good photography is.

It's like giving people a pair of crappy headphones and letting them try them out. If they've never heard anything better, they will like the headphones. Not until you give them perspective will they be able to tell the difference. I USED to think cheapy $50 headphones sounded good...then I got into audio equipment with simple stuff like HD280s, and later DT250s & SE530s...and now am eyeing DT880s with a nice tube amp. But if I l try to listen to the $50 headphones again, they sound like garbage.

 

Flick is hardly a good photography website... IF they're idiots then their opinions don't matter... Photography is an art and a very complicated and tough one that has a very very hard learning curve. Any bum can press the shutter button it takes an artist to take a good shot.

Likewise cameras barely make any difference at all. Any SLR on the market today can take stunning pictures regardless of company (although Nikon and Canon are the best no argument.) But most compacts of reasonable quality ie: Canon G10 can take amazing pictures as well cameras and equipment hardly make a difference that was something my father always told me when ever we went out to take pictures i complained about something gear related.

I rarely see people "pretend" they're pros since obviously they're not for example during the fourth of july fire works i saw someone trying to take pictures of the night scape before the fire works with flash and no tripod and he was using a Nikon D200...

There isn't any reason to be annoyed at all its their money what they do with it is their business as galling as it may be i really don't care what they do with their money.

So judging by what you say if i go outside to play soccer with 150 dollar cleats with a expensive custom jersey but if i'm bad at soccer that means its not a sport? Maybe i misunderstood but just because some idiots buy expensive gear and don't know how to use doesn't mean its not an art. In fact that shows that people have such a hard time that they believe that expensive gear will yield better results and in my opinion that merely reinforces the fact that its an art many people have a hard time with and that it takes much experience to become an artist or photographer.

On a side note what kind of photography do you guys focus on?

I'm all over the place but i mainly focus on wildlife(birds for the most part) and nature photography but i do like to dabble in urban and abstract urban as well.

And @ Rampantandroid:
Photography is so much more then that i would gladly take an overexposed slightly blurry picture that has amazing action and composition then one with a boring subject that's perfectly exposed and tack sharp many people don't understand this but controls and exposure and sharpness only get you so far.

 

http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/4259/dscf2048.jpg
I might aswell contribute with something. Im think of buying a 40D. My father will let me use his old objective lenses, which I guess will work with a new digital camera, but it's still a lot of money.

 

The usually dont work with a digital camera if you mean objectives for analog ones.
Well maybee they work but you have to calculate sharpness and their like in a
different way cause the distance to the expose material is not the same.

 

I would like to see some typical photos of the region you are living.
This could be very interesting, because players are spread all around the world.

No photo by myself but a good view at my region:
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/310418.jpg

 

Im bottom right in that picture. Don't hunt me down now.

I have heard that EOS objectives for analog should work for digital without problem. But of course I will check it before buying something.

 

if you put enough time in it everything is art

art is the means of expressing yourself with craftsmanship, so anything you make can be art if you put some expression in it (this can be like "i like pretty twigs" to "this is my life story" to "lulz poop is dirrrrty lets make a pooping machine")

here is some of the pictures i have taken that i like

im not a good photographer, but i like building architecture and how it works so i tend to capture it on photo

 

my dog



brother with his GF on his bike



The ISS passing over

 

I used to have a pair of those jeans worn in the dog picture. They were cool.

Also, I quite like landscape scenes. I can't do photography myself, but I do have some cool landscape pics.

Also, this is a rig my dad worked on, I went up on it and shit. Thought this was a cool pic of it.




These 2 are out of my landscapes folder, not sure who they're by.





This one I took about 2-3 years ago on my phone. Still thought it looked kinda cool.

 

My long winded response to Sonechas 40D statement/question

I would rather buy something like the 450D or 1000D and use the money saved on a high quality lens as that would probably result in better pictures then a 40D with a old lens. Old lenses should work fins since 2 of my lenses are about 22 years old from the 1980's-90's but they work great. But anything older then that probably won't work very well. With lenses that old you may have compatibility issues or just very difficult to use since if they're very old then autofocus won't work.

So i would suggest getting the 40D just with kit lens or buying a 1000D and spending the 500-600 dollars saved a good high quality lens something like

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-28-135m...r_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1247242109&sr=1-15

+

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-50mm-1-...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1247242109&sr=1-2

OR

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-70-300m...=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1247242109&sr=1-7

And Kit lens

It all depends on what kind of photography you focus on if you do everything i would go for the second kit. But if you focus mainly on Urban portraits and anything that doesn't involve telephoto i would go with 1st kit.

I would also highly recommend the Tamron 18-270 if your on a tighter budget or just don't want to carry multiple lenses. The 18-270 works surprisingly well considering its extreme range it works well throughout that range and is a good performer.

Essentials

Tripods/Heads
A good tripod is a must mounting a 700 dollars camera and lens on a 15 dollar tripod is not good it endangers you equipment and will result in blurred pictures i would suggest something like the Bogen 3021 which is an exceptional tripod for the price (around 150). I wouldn't think of getting a ballhead yet because although they are useful they are a bit overpriced and they aren't all that they're made out to be.

Filters
A UV filter is a must not for the image quality but to protect your lenses. A 10 dollar filter is much easier to replace then a 500 dollar lens and thats why i always have one on my lens when im out. Another filter that is very fun to use and gives great results is the polarizing filter it brings out and saturates colors, it subdues reflections and allows for longer exposures. There are many more filters but these are the 2 i would start with.

Cable Releases
They allow you to press the shutter button remotely without actually pressing the button. When you have 5-10 second exposures even pressing the shutter button results in vibrations and even putting it on selftimer can make you mis out on some shots so i would suggest getting a cable release they're much cheaper then much other gear and you can get a high quality one for around 20 dollars. They do have high-tech wireless ones but they aren't worth it unless your really specialize with them.

Memory Cards
A good memory card is very good to have i would suggest something around the 4-8 gigabyte range but even more important then that is the writing speed when you're shooting in RAW or burst mode nothing is more annoying then waiting 4 seconds for the buffer to complete and miss shots you could have otherwise gotten.

Stuff to Haul Your Gear
Any good high quality bag will do as long is holds your stuff and works well.

Somethings you can start cheap and work your way up but its much easier just to save up and just get a good tripod and a good lens from the start now that doesn't have to mean you spend 200 dollars but its good to start with relatively good gear because you end up spending more money if you just start with crap and continually upgrade, I made that mistake and probably spend another extra 700 because of it.

I take it you know about the differences and benefits/shortcomings of RAW vs JPEG? Because otherwise thats another 7k character response :p

 

I'm considering the 40D over the 450D and 1000D because of picture quality. The new features of these cameras doesn't seem very important, and I think it is the quality of the picture that matters most for me. It's the whole reason why I stopped photographing, I do never get happy with the quality of the pictures I'm taking, and I want next purchase to be a big step from what I have got already.

They are EOS, from after 1987, and they don't seem to be in bad shape or something, barely used. He got a 28 mm, 35-105 mm and a 100-300 mm, all canon. I seriously doubt that the lenses themselves have improved much over the years, and with this I should cover the most for free.

I will also be able to lend a 420EZ speedlite, several filters, tripod and a bag.

 

I just got a Panasonic Lumix G1 and I like it. I'm not that great with it, but I'm learning.


This is Zion National Park, where I visited earlier on my road trip.

This is the view outside the cabin I'm staying at right now in Flathead Lake, Montana. The sunsets out here are gorgeous.

(Yeah, I like landscapes)

(also, I feel bad for any low-bandwidth people who browsed to this topic)

 

Bottom line: 40D will barely give better quality then 450D or 1000D if image quality is all you care about sensor is very similar it is not larger then etheir camera its processor is the same and its megapixel amount is same as 1000D so it will not give better image quality. "It has the same 10 megapixel sensor used also in the Canon 400D and Canon 40D". and regardless most the image quality is in the photographers hand not the cameras. 99.99% its the photographers fault not the cameras.

MageKnight:

Love the sunset but try to not put the horizon in the middle as that's boring. For that sky i would go for 3/4 sky 1/4 But any combination that looks well would work just remember the rule of thirds when composing while there are times for these rules to be broken most of the time they apply and result in much better images. Putting subjects/horizons/whatever in the middle of a image is boring and uninteresting.

I would highly recommend checking this site for everyone there is much to learn:

http://www.juzaphoto.com/eng/articles.htm

I would check out the nature photography section first.

 

But it is supposed to be a better camera? That's what I thought. If it lacks the fancy new features of 450D and 1000D, and at same time have the exact same sensor, what is making it considered a better camera? And no, I don't care about the actual megapixels of the sensor, more about noise in the picture and things like that.

I checked the differences quickly, and it seems like the major advantage is the speed of the processor, otherwise there is not much that differs.

But what would you suggest? Buying a 450D or 1000D rather? I will at least not buy new objective lenses when I already have a wide range that I can use, even if they are not the most modern.

Edit: Anyway, have you any suggestions on where I should take this question if I want more opinions on it? It feels like empires one isn't the right one.

 

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Taken by me with a Fujifilm Finepix S700 (7.1MP, 10x optical zoom). Was on the Sunrise preset (essentially automatic with some tweaks to make the colours more vivid). I'm still working on composition, will move on to manual modes soon enough.​