Digital Camera & Photoshop tips

[K9]

I like that one more than the others. There's a lot more going on, although the pose is erring ever so slightly on the tryhard, not enough to cause a problem though.

I'm hardly an expert, but how important is it to shoot against a white background? It seems that pale girls on a white background end up looking a bit lost. Could you shoot them against a black canvas perhaps?

[tgr]

To each their own tgr, what do you like to shoot? Do you have it online anywhere?

Used to be trackday pictures, but got bored after two years of taking mostly the same picture over and over, so moved over to have it more a thing I do during the summer holidays. I bought a gigapan epic pro (yes, I know the name is awful) to better take good panorama pictures, but I've yet to manage to take something I find adequate enough to actually put up online from that era.

Actually I haven't really put up much of my pictures on my own gallery, I should sit down and really go through my collection. I keep saying that, one of these days...

[Merusk]

Know what sucks?  Going to take photos of a stream and hearing a hawk as you're taking a few shots.  You realize it's flying right overhead, so you swing the whole tripod up and around only to catch... a blur because you were still at only 1/80th of a second.  Sonofabitch.  That hawk is mocking me.  It flew over my house 3-4 times this summer, always when my camera wasn't set-up.  I finally left it set it up once and... the hawk stopped coming. 

Got a few I'd like any critiques on.  I think I may have added too much yellow in trying to warm them up, but given the cheapness of my monitor I can't be certain.

Not sure which of these two I like better.  I'm leaning towards the B&W but I think the color has merit as well.

As I was packing up I heard these Jays screaming down the river at each other.  I got a few at range before I walked down to them and they flew off, and this was the best of those.  I can't enlarge them too much more because this is already cropped.  Damn nature being all scared of me and natural.

[K9]

The photo of the jays is pretty irredeemable I think, there's just too much uninteresting foliage. Unless you get wacky with the effects, I don't see that one going anywhere.

For the picture of the flower, I'm leaning with you that the coloured one is actually really nice, the light shades work well I think. The black and white version just seems a lot less interesting.

I would be interested to see the first shot in black and white. Are you using lightroom (or similar) to work on these? On my screen the tone seems fine, I'd say you could probably toy with the saturation and contrast a bit.

[Ookii]

Yeah, I believe the first is too yellow, I'd also try and brighten the whole thing up in general.

I'd definitely go with the black and white! I usually crank up the contrast on b&w stuff, but it does look nice. I'm also the kind of person who would get rid of the branches in the background.

It doesn't look like you got a clear shot of those two, there's too many branches for a clean composition. It also looks like you cropped it at full size, so it's a bit too sharp. An unfortunate side effect of having a less than 2000 dollar camera with a 1500 dollar lens.

I also decided to go with this:

[Bunk]

Nice. There's a few little details one could nitpick, but I really like the composition as a whole. At first glance I thought she had rainbow colored hair, then I looked more at the lighting, then back to her hair, then the Monroe shirt caught my attention - in otherwords, its an engaging shot.

[Merusk]

Been a few days since I was able to go back and revisit them but thanks for the comments guys.

The photo of the jays is pretty irredeemable I think, there's just too much uninteresting foliage. Unless you get wacky with the effects, I don't see that one going anywhere.

For the picture of the flower, I'm leaning with you that the coloured one is actually really nice, the light shades work well I think. The black and white version just seems a lot less interesting.

I would be interested to see the first shot in black and white. Are you using lightroom (or similar) to work on these? On my screen the tone seems fine, I'd say you could probably toy with the saturation and contrast a bit.

The Jays are interesting to me just because they're two spots of color in such a mass of uninteresting foilage.  I'll also say that I'm a big fan of texture over color, something that doesn't work so well in photography, I know, but is a holdout from Architecture.  One of the reasons I love Alvar Aalto's work and a lot of the craftsmen is that they were the same way.  So, where some see uninteresting foilage I see rough tree bark, intertwining with smoother branches and then the bright spots of the Jays.   I've just gone ahead and cheesed it out in the revision, though.  It feels like a Franklin Mint Collector plate now.. which is also amusing.

Tried fading the background more on the thistle shots.  I think I should post the full-rez version because you're losing a lot of texture on these smaller versions, and that's what makes it for me.   I think I agree with whoever said the branches were getting distracting.  I originally thought they were helping to lead the eye but I'm not seeing it in these versions.

I dropped the icicles into B&W and added a blue filter to bring out the clarity of the ice on the color version.  I toned down the kelvin, too but punched up the saturation.  I haven't punched the b&w contrast up a lot because it starts to blend things together too much.

[Ookii]

Which one do you like better? I'm having a tough time deciding. I'm leaning towards the one on the right.

[Furiously]

One on the left has too soft of a focus in the face. That being said, it looks a lot more casual. And the outfit is more appealing in my mind.

One thing I am noticing is your poses look like....poses. Not that I want slouched over models, but something that doesn't look forced would be better in my mind.

[Mosesandstick]

I'd say the one on the right. I think the pose and lighting suits her face better (noticable jaw). I also think the white top and the grey background don't provide enough contrast for a B & W.

[K9]

Sign me up for team right too. She has a stronger pose, everything is clearer. It is definitely the one I would pick.

[apocrypha]

I prefer the photo on the right and the outfit on the left. 

[Merusk]

I like the outfit on the right, but I've always been a fan of one-piece dresses.   Consensus has already determined it's all about the right for the photo.

[NiX]

The one on the right and her number too. She's quite pretty.

[Furiously]

I'm giving some consideration to getting a Nikon P7000.  I have fairly old digital SLR and a few nice lenses but I never pull them out.
http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/digitalcamera/coolpix/performance/p7000/

[Bunk]

I prefer the pose and the outfit on the left one, though it is a bit soft in the face. I like the lighting on her, but that distinct a shadow on the background always bugs me.

I actually like the fact that the left one shows her strong jawline.

[Khaldun]

I like the shadows on the face, the expression, the hand touching the hair in the left one, otherwise the right. Both have some nice elements.

[Mosesandstick]

I'm giving some consideration to getting a Nikon P7000.  I have fairly old digital SLR and a few nice lenses but I never pull them out.
http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/digitalcamera/coolpix/performance/p7000/

Have you looked at the Canon G12 or Lumix LX-5? I think they rate better than the P7000.

[apocrypha]

I'm giving some consideration to getting a Nikon P7000.  I have fairly old digital SLR and a few nice lenses but I never pull them out.
http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/digitalcamera/coolpix/performance/p7000/

Have you looked at the Canon G12 or Lumix LX-5? I think they rate better than the P7000.

^^ This for sure. The P7000 hasn't had great reviews - it's chunkier than other similarly-spec'd cameras, not very responsive (lots of talk of button lag) and overpriced. For that size of camera the Canon G-series are amazing little cameras in my book.

[MisterNoisy]

So I've been reading/enjoying this thread and sellout.woot was recently selling the Pentax K-x with the 18-55 kit lens for $440.  After a bit of research at dpreview and photographyblog, I jumped.  Any of the diehards here have any recommendations as to additional kit/gear that I'd want or need right out of the gate?  I've already got tons of SD cards/rechargeable batteries.

[apocrypha]

The cheapest thing that'll make the biggest difference to the range of photographs you can take is a decent tripod.

At a later date, if you feel your photography needs a boost then I'd recommend a cheap, manual flash and a simple remote trigger and learning off-camera lighting.

[Mosesandstick]

Pentax might have the best range of lenses available at the moment. Try and grab a prime lens as well, such as the 35mm f/2.4.

[apocrypha]

I've forgotten what we decided about which thread to put these in, but this thread feels neglected!   More of my usual kind of stuff:


Quite like this one, took a lot of setting up, but looking at it again now I don't like the processing, far too orange, may revisit it soon.

And then a couple from a shoot with a friend earlier in the week. Mostly it was just about seeing what we could get from a very small space.


Edit: Another from the same shoot, went a bit more nuts with the processing for a different feel.

[Ookii]

I've forgotten what we decided about which thread to put these in, but this thread feels neglected!   More of my usual kind of stuff:


Quite like this one, took a lot of setting up, but looking at it again now I don't like the processing, far too orange, may revisit it soon.

And then a couple from a shoot with a friend earlier in the week. Mostly it was just about seeing what we could get from a very small space.


Edit: Another from the same shoot, went a bit more nuts with the processing for a different feel.

Nice, did you use surface blur on the first pic? It seems surface blurry to me.

It's funny, it looks like 3 and 4 are on the same couch, but I guess you desaturated the fourth? Methinks number three is a bit bright, that would definitely be my fav if that was toned down.

[apocrypha]

Used the Portraiture Photoshop plugin on the first one, but actually on some fairly subtle settings - she did have excellent skin, plus the very soft fill light smooths skin out a lot.

And yep, 3 & 4 are indeed on the same couch, just with very different processing used on them. I'm not intending those as portfolio shots but much more experimenting with things. She's a friend who's a keen photographer herself, which is great for this kind of shoot because there's no pressure at all to produce anything specific - I can just mess around to my heart's content and go all out whacky with the post 

[K9]

I like the first one, I don't think it is noticeably too orange.  With such a cold background, I think it does well to have some warmth in the model's skin.

The second is definitely my favourite though, the light, the pose, the dressing, the background are all right and make for a lovely picture.

The only element of any of the pictures that I find a little jarring in any of these pictures is in the third, which like Ookii, I think is too bright, too luminous; particularly her skin.

[apocrypha]

Done a reprocess of that one, more gentle on the colour pop & contrast. Hopefully working on some more from the same shoot today too, got a quiet day :)

[Ookii]

I would keep the contrast and saturation higher like before but decrease the exposure on the face and hands. That way it still has the appeal of the original while nothing is overexposed.

This is the last photo I've taken in awhile:



Most of the other ones were not good.

[apocrypha]

I would keep the contrast and saturation higher like before but decrease the exposure on the face and hands. That way it still has the appeal of the original while nothing is overexposed.

I have actually overexposed her face & hands in the capture, should have gobo'd at least her face off a bit. It's something I do far too often really, I need to start paying more attention to it when shooting.

Your model there has the "I'm not really a model" look on her face... Model Mayhem TF*? That look is driving me round the bend these days - so many of the aspiring models I shoot from there have no dynamism at all. I even show them YouTube vids of model presentations from agencies and shoots and they go "ohh I see, yeah!".... and then just stand there woodenly.

I find the right music helps sometimes, but not always easy on location. Got another shoot with the same girl from those last shots of mine today, we're hopefully going for a more urban and edgy look, wish us luck :)

[Goumindong]

I've forgotten what we decided about which thread to put these in, but this thread feels neglected!   More of my usual kind of stuff:


Quite like this one, took a lot of setting up, but looking at it again now I don't like the processing, far too orange, may revisit it soon.

Far far too much orange. She looks like she could be John Boehner's daughter.

The shots of your friend are gorgeous however.

[K9]

We should really make it a rule in this thread that all submissions need to include a before:after comparison. I would love to see what the rest of you guys are actually doing to get the end results.

[Merusk]

So on actual tips, where do you guys print stuff larger than 8x10 and what's the cost for say a 16x20?

We went to the wife's best-friend's wedding a few weeks ago and I'm going to send them one of these as their anniversary present next year.

I prefer the second as it's got this great meta heart-shape going with the light & dark of their heads & clothes.

[K9]

Definitely the second

[apocrypha]

Yup, 2nd works for me too :)

I use a local lab called ProAm. They're very cheap and excellent quality prints. You just have to be a bit clued up about colour profiles, file sizing and ftp, although they're also very helpful if you have any problems.

Of course I can't remember if you're UK based or not... if you're not then that will be no use to you at all!

[K9]

What file format is it best to send pictures for printing as: Raw, Digital Negative, JPEG?