playing with processsing

[PostmodernProphet]

picture #4 I don't like.....I think the central focus effect loses something when the bike isn't centered.......puts my mind in an "unease" mode......

also, the technique in the dog picture is very good for the subject......probably wouldn't have worked if you used a picture of a Shitzu.......

[darin]

One of my good friends from the AF was an AF photographer. Ended his 22 year career traveling with the Thunderbirds as their official photographer. He's the one that inspired me to buy my first decent camera, a Canon AE-1. He taught me a lot about photography, and I used to hang out with him at the base photo lab at Nellis. Got plenty of free film too.

My Dad was a Master Printer, and among his skills was dark room. We almost had a small printing business going here in SW WI. We had a really great little print shop complete with a dark room and the biggest camera I've ever seen. It sat on the floor and was a good 3x8 feet. My dad showed me how to use it and develop the pictures using the fixer and all that stuff. We never developed the business but printing wasn't my bag anyway. We had two very nice Davidson offset presses, one that would do color, we were ready to go... kinda sad.

I like the digital photography too, and had a new Canon 7D MkII, but after weeks of trying to figure out how everything worked on it and still not figuring it all out, I came to the conclusion that it was far more camera than I needed and sold it. I still have my trusty little Canon PowerShot SX280 HS, which has full manual capability and takes what I think really good pics, but, I have been looking at the new mirrorless 35mm, or just a newer upgrade to my little point-n-shoot.

Excellent! I try to stay with a camera until it is the limiting factor in producing what I want. I'm probably not there yet with my camera; although I will get a full-frame sensor camera (probably a used ~1500 dollar Canon 5d MkIII) soon as I can.

Cool images! What is the first one?

Thank you, Pete. Thats the Bean -downtown Chicago. Taken from underneath.

picture #4 I don't like.....I think the central focus effect loses something when the bike isn't centered.......puts my mind in an "unease" mode......

also, the technique in the dog picture is very good for the subject......probably wouldn't have worked if you used a picture of a Shitzu.......

Thanks on both statements!

[Kathianne]

Excellent! I try to stay with a camera until it is the limiting factor in producing what I want. I'm probably not there yet with my camera; although I will get a full-frame sensor camera (probably a used ~1500 dollar Canon 5d MkIII) soon as I can.






Thank you, Pete. Thats the Bean -downtown Chicago. Taken from underneath.




Thanks on both statements!

Wow, you know I was going to say that looked like The Bean, but figured with you being in Germany, lol! My kind of town!

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Excellent! I try to stay with a camera until it is the limiting factor in producing what I want. I'm probably not there yet with my camera; although I will get a full-frame sensor camera (probably a used ~1500 dollar Canon 5d MkIII) soon as I can.

The one thing I've been made aware of when buying a used camera is "shutter count." I never knew they were rated on how many times the shutter could trip but they are, and there's a way to find that count. Full frame cameras definitely best for portrait, landscape, stationary type photography. I'm a Canon fan too, although my AF photographer buddy is full Nikon, but am I stupid, or is there just what seems to be an infinite amount of controls that are even programmable and customizable on the plethora of buttons on these new high end digital SLR's? I even bought an 8 hour long DVD video on how to use the 7D MkII, but trying to remember it all was like information overload. I definitely know the basics like aperture, shutter speed, depth of field, ISO, things like that, but that's just scratching the surface, then there's twenty buttons to learn and what they change, and if you want to program them to do something different, and the menus seem to go on forever. It's just a lot to retain. But if you're really into it, I can see where it would not only be a challenge but fun.

So did you use an FX plugin with Adobe on the bean pic? I have a couple discs from my son of those effects but have never loaded them. Yeah I enjoy the photography too but have never taken it to the next level. I've used the Adobe Photoshop more for picture correction than anything else. The one filter that has been extremely useful is the "shadows and highlights."

[darin]

No plug-ins - but did some faux HDR stuff.

Yes - tons of features on today's DSLRs - I rely on just a couple tools - maily keep the shutter speed twice the focal length to help ensure sharpness. I strive for lighting - good lighting is everything. Also would spend more on glass than a camera body because I think glass is the central part of how to capture a scene. And when I process I work in layers to maintain the original image integrity

[High_Plains_Drifter]

No plug-ins - but did some faux HDR stuff.

Yes - tons of features on today's DSLRs - I rely on just a couple tools - maily keep the shutter speed twice the focal length to help ensure sharpness. I strive for lighting - good lighting is everything. Also would spend more on glass than a camera body because I think glass is the central part of how to capture a scene. And when I process I work in layers to maintain the original image integrity

My Buddy used to tell me never to shoot under 1/125 shutter speed, or you chance movement blur. I think the new digitals are more forgiving in that manner than the film cameras.

Yes lenses, holy cow, you can spend a small fortune on glass, but, ya gotta have it with an SLR, digital or otherwise.

Do you shoot in RAW? I hear that you never have to worry about degradation when processing a RAW image.

[darin]

My Buddy used to tell me never to shoot under 1/125 shutter speed, or you chance movement blur. I think the new digitals are more forgiving in that manner than the film cameras.

Most cameras and/or lenses has image stab but that buys probably one stop at best. If you're using a 17mm lens, shooting at 1/50th is fine, most of the time - but yeah, I prefer shorter shutters when I'm hand held.

Yes lenses, holy cow, you can spend a small fortune on glass, but, ya gotta have it with an SLR, digital or otherwise.

Do you shoot in RAW? I hear that you never have to worry about degradation when processing a RAW image.

I shoot only RAW. Because i want the most data possible in the image. And yeah, glass is expensive. I've used $1500 glass on a 200 dollar camera with good results. But $200 glass on a $2500 camera makes little sense to me.

I buy used now - my fav lens is probably my used $500 17-40 f4/L or my used $500 70-200 f4/L. I have a used 50m 1.8 - which was $60. And a 300mm f/4L I got new for about $1200 maybe?

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Most cameras and/or lenses has image stab but that buys probably one stop at best. If you're using a 17mm lens, shooting at 1/50th is fine, most of the time - but yeah, I prefer shorter shutters when I'm hand held.

Yes, FOR SURE, IS. I've shot shutter speeds of half a second and gotten an in focus picture with the IS. Image stab is surely a gift from the photography gods...

I've been contemplating a new camera for awhile, but it's not in the top 10 in my current priority list, but when that time does come, I like this camera...

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/c...t-g7-x-mark-ii

Seems like a really nice, all around, feature packed point 'n shoot.