Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Taran Rampersad on December 3, 2010 at 1:34am

Hi.

How did I get interested? Shooting. It kind of just grew on me. I'm one step below a DSLR at this point - still having fun with high end point-and-shoots. Since I like to get shots outdoors when hiking aloine, preferably landscape and critters, I opt for the 20x optical of my Canon SX20is and am planning to purchase a Canon SX30is in the near future. The Flickr account now stands at a little over 14,000 images and helps me, kind of like notebooks help a writer (I also write).

Other equipment: Me, an old tripod, lots of SD cards and lots of rechargeable batteries. I have a macro lens and filters.

I bumped into another photographer in another group and found out that atheists can have photography clubs, too. :-) Froody.

Photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose - I expect I'll add some shots here as I get more into winter.

Permalink Reply by Ken Jackson on December 3, 2010 at 11:07pm

Hey Doc, Welcome aboard shipmate. We gots lotsa good peeps around here to learn from and others like me who need teachin really bad.. Like your HDR wurk.... How bout some lessons? Whatcha Usin and how you using it??? I am just getting ready to get my feet wet in this and saw some of your wurk.....

Permalink Reply by Taran Rampersad on December 3, 2010 at 11:50pm

Hey shipmate! :-) For the cheap seats, Ken's talking about my relatively new start at playing with HDR which you can see here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/sets/72157624720061879/with/...

I'll write it up as if you're completely new. I'm pretty sure you have the equipment, but someone else might be curious so I'll be verbose.

The HDR is pretty simple, really. It's simpler with a camera that has Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB), but you can do it with any camera where you can change the aperture. You also need a good tripod. I'm using a Canon SX20is (soon will be a Canon SX30is). Amusingly, most point and shoots these days seem to have AEB, so just about any camera will do these days...

When you set up, you make sure that either AEB is on or that when you manually change the aperture in steps that you don't shift the camera. While the camera, software and postprocessing can accomodate minor shifts, it's best to pretend that they don't.

Take your shots. With AEB on my SX20is, I get 3 shots of different aperture settings - I call it a lazy HDR (depending on where I am, I like to manually step through the maximum amount of aperture settings I can. I'm not sure that it helps, but I feel better about it. I should experiment and see.)

For postprocessing, I have used the Gimp and Luminance when I really want to do some hardcore postprocessing. The Gimp is... hard to explain to someone new. So I won't get into that.

The easiest way to postprocess I know of is with Photomatix Pro. ( http://www.hdrsoft.com/ ). It's $99, and despite being an open source advocate I found that Photomatix was best for quick HDR for me. As much as I enoy postprocessing, my fun is out shooting!

You can download the free version to try it out (http://www.hdrsoft.com/download.html ), but you end up with their little stamp on the output until you buy. You can see one of my successful experiments with the stamp here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/4931504600/in/set-7215762472... Made that old car with bad paint interesting.

I'd suggest playing with the free version first before purchasing - look around at HDR software, play with the postprocessing and see.

I'm still experimenting. Contrast helps a lot. Motion of water or clouds, or similar things, is also fun and interesting.

You can also do single shot HDR - where you create 3 images with different luminosity- but it doesn't come out nearly as well. Also, some claim that RAW works better when postprocessing. With the hack on the Canon SX20is ( see: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK ), I can shoot raw- but having experimented I've seen no real difference. That could be because of the limitations of the sensor on my camera.

I want to play with it some more, and likely I will this winter. I found some black velvet and want to do some macro HDR... and since I'll likely run out of fresh landscape snow footage after a while, I'll likely end up shooting indoors. I'll still be hiking and looking for wildlife to 'catch and release' with the camera, but I don't expect much HDR in winter aside from macro shots.

Hope that helps!

T

Permalink Reply by Cynical Drake on February 13, 2011 at 2:59pm

Ello! i started getting very intrested in the actual digital way of photographing in 2007, and have loved it ever since. i use a Canon T1I, with 6 different lens and 1 flash with various minor accesories attached, i have two tripods and love to do paining with light and dark looking portraits but i'm not above photographing georgous flowers, abandoned building are my home. if you would care to see my work here is a link http://www.flickr.com/photos/29482035@N07/ please either comment on there of on my profile with the name of the photo :D please and thank you

Permalink Reply by Liz Vicious on June 11, 2011 at 7:47am

I love Photography from fine art to film, to digital it is a great area to have as a hobby.

I am currently interested in anarchy photography in political statements especially what has been occurring around the world recently.

I would say I am a huge fan of Mark and Stephen Zurek. I do not work as a photographer but it is a passion and a hobby of mine.

Permalink Reply by sydney.tinker on July 11, 2011 at 5:17pm

Long-time photography nut, working on my DSLR skills these days.

 

Canon T3i with a decent kit lens & a couple of primes (50mm & macro 100mm) are in the bag, and any post processing is in Lightroom 3.

 

I'm gnosticmoron on Flickr if anyone cares to see my style.

Permalink Reply by Jason on September 1, 2011 at 6:16am

Just found this group. I added some of you as contacts on flickr. I got into photography in high school. I took an elective photography class because it would allow me to leave school property and hopefully smoke cigarettes so I could be cool. Anyway, that was film. I lost interest due to hassles and cost of film, then about 7 yrs ago my mom gave me a point and shoot for christmas. I started using it after awhile and gradually got more into photography again. I bought a Nikon D40, and then a D90. Now a friend and I are doing weddings and I'm starting a website to pursue it professionally. I'll post a link to my flickr later (I'm using a cell phone right now).

Permalink Reply by Jason on September 1, 2011 at 10:56am

Here's my flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/yorkjason/
My favorite subject is people, but also composing photos or capturing moments of anything that will say a lot visually.
My main reason for doing it professionally is that I see other people charging for photos that I think aren't very good and I could do better. Not that I think I'm so amazing, but if people are going to pay for photos then they should get good photos, lol.

In addition to the D40 and D90, my equipment is an sb900 and sb600 speedlights, some umbrellas and reflectors, 50mm 1.8, 85-200mm 2.8, and the standard kit lenses (17-55mm 4.5 & 55-200mm 4.5 both of them suck though).
Adobe Bridge, Lightroom, and Photoshop CS4 extended.

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