Photography

[mf]

back in the days before the invention of the smartphone, people used to carry around big hunks of plastic, glass and metal with them when they wanted to capture still images of things. this thread is for the pictures taken with those old timey contraptions.

[mf]

lately i've been working on a study of various pieces of musical equipment that i own. the end result will be a collage in my little home studio. these are a few that i've got so far. the idea was that i wanted them to all to be close-up, almost to the point of macro, with a narrow depth of field. and depending on your familiarity with guitar parts may be a little abstract.



tubes by mike_foster, on Flickr


amplifier worship by mike_foster, on Flickr


guitar pedals & parts by mike_foster, on Flickr


pots by mike_foster, on Flickr

[nyquillyn]

Very cool stuff, MF. I hope to get out with the new G15 sometime this weekend.

[mf]

Very cool stuff, MF. I hope to get out with the new G15 sometime this weekend.

thanks.

so you pulled the trigger on the G15 huh? i look forward to seeing what you can do with it. you might find it helpful to pick up an illustrated user guide for your camera. i usually do that whenever i buy a new one. i find them a lot more helpful than the manual that comes with it when i'm trying to learn the camera's features.

http://www.amazon.com/David-Buschs-Powe ... n+g15+book

you might also find it helpful to get a small non-model specific digital photography "field guide" book that you can stick in your camera bag for when you need to reference different techniques to capture a specific scene.

[zeb]

mf, I quite like shots one and four above.

[nyquillyn]

.

[mf]

nice. i really like the puddle with the reflection. you seem to dabble a lot in high dynamic range. is that something you do in post-processing with a single image using add-on software, or do you achieve it by bracketing?

[mf]

heres a couple i did last week at a corporate event



T4G Big Data Congress exterior by mike_foster, on Flickr



Joel Plaskett Emergency by mike_foster, on Flickr

[nyquillyn]

.

[nyquillyn]

nice. i really like the puddle with the reflection. you seem to dabble a lot in high dynamic range. is that something you do in post-processing with a single image using add-on software, or do you achieve it by bracketing?

This is the part where I have to tell you that I just set the G15 to the "HDR" setting and snap pictures. I then just bump up the saturation a little and they are generally ready to go.

I took your advice and ordered the David Busch book. I should get it this week. This will be the last week I work 50+ hours, so I'm looking forward to spending more time with my new camera.

[mf]

whoa i didn't even know the G15 had that setting. that's awesome.

[zeb]

I really dislike HDR but a lot of people really seem to dig it.

[mf]

I really dislike HDR but a lot of people really seem to dig it.

I think it has it's place but it can be overdone for sure

[Jorge]

I really dislike HDR but a lot of people really seem to dig it.

THE MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHY THREAD GETS EVEN MORE TENSE

[zeb]

Haha, no, it's all good. Lots of people enjoy HDR, I just don't really enjoy the harsh oversaturated stuff.

[mf]

HDR is like any technique. when used subtly it can be a good tool to bring out detail in a subject. i have the same issue with vignetting and those b&w photos with part of the image masked to leave the color in. color splash i think it's called? actually those color splash photos are beyond redemption but people seem to love them. that's the only explanation i have for why they show up in almost all wedding and family portraits.

in the case of the ones turned2black posted, i think the desert scene with the cacti and sunrise, the puddle reflection, and the curved stretch of highway are all good examples of using HDR to enhance interesting detail without being distracting.


on the flipside you get things like this that look like a trainwreck. it was probably a good picture until someone ran it through an HDR filter cranked to the max.

[nyquillyn]

Well, I specifically went out to shoot HDR those two days because of the weather we were having. I liked what HDR was doing to the clouds and rain-soaked streets. As you both have said, HDR is probably overdone, but I still like it.
And to be honest, it's not as overdone as blurry, washed out cell phone pics. My 68-year-old mother is now pulling over to take pictures of discarded wood that she then runs through Instagram. That being said, I still enjoy creating and looking at those as well.

[mf]

keep it up. it's just art man and it's all subjective. but it's good to learn the technique and even overdo it some so in the future you know when best to apply it. though i don't really think you've overdone it on any of the pictures posted here. once you get that book you ordered learn how to do exposure bracketing with your G15. that is, taking a burst of pictures with different exposure compensation and then composite them and get a feel for the how of HDR. likely your camera has an automatic exposure bracketing setting (AEB) that will shoot a bunch of pictures with different exposure compensations automatically for you.

[Norah]

Getting closer to delving into the DLSR world but I'm looking for a good book that'll teach me things with it.

Anyone have any recommendations? I found this on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0988263408/

[mf]

Getting closer to delving into the DLSR world but I'm looking for a good book that'll teach me things with it.

Anyone have any recommendations? I found this on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0988263408/

there's probably a million how-to photography books out there and i don't think i've seen that one before. but i would say that anything that gets you out and shooting and practicing new techniques would be a good investment and that one seems to fit the bill. also, like i mentioned to turned2black you should buy a 3rd party guide specifically for your camera model when you do end up making the purchase. it's an invaluable resource for the day when you're stumped about how to do a certain technique. the user manual tends to be a little dry and technical.