Photographers' Union Thread

[ntalwar]

Should I be aiming for less detail in the shadows when playing with the contrast?

Not necessarily - I did that really fast and blew out some highlights. The trees and sky looked a bit "hazy" to me. So local adjustments to contrast can be made if one wants to get really detailed. A lot of the pro landscape photographers use layers, masks, local adjustments, etc. for different elements (sky, trees, etc).

 

[Jive Turkey]

No worries on the tweak. I will have to bump the contrast, but the image definitely lost some quality on picasa, especially in the shade of El Cap. Should I be aiming for less detail in the shadows when playing with the contrast?

If you change the blending mode of your contrast layer to Luminosity, you can affect the lightness and darkness of your image without messing up the colours.
Another thing, when you're first learning about photography, they always hammer into your head "always maintain detail in your shadows and highlights". That works fine when you're learning and without a doubt, you need a stong technical base to build off of, but I think the best thing you can do is throw all of that out the window. To me, aesthetics win over technical details every time. Look at a guy like Anton Corbijn. He's an unbelievable photographer, but guess what. He routinely has ZERO detail in his shadows. Work your images to your personal taste. I mean, dont go clipping half of your shadows, but dont get too hung up on technical details. If it looks good, it looks good

 

[Jive Turkey]

That poor tree in the foreground still has patchy foliage near the top

 

[waynetravis]

 

[major_panic]

Haven't been shooting many things of note at all, but I did buy a 40D with my tax return money - I'm just waiting on a battery grip to arrive, then I'll be in full blast with it!

Meanwhile, a fun photo from Friday night:

 

[mad1]

God Part III's photo there would be excellent for an exhibition.

 

[ntalwar]

Haven't been shooting many things of note at all, but I did buy a 40D with my tax return money - I'm just waiting on a battery grip to arrive, then I'll be in full blast with it!

That's a good camera. Supposedly the 60D is coming very soon (maybe next week) - probably with HD video.

 

[Justin24]

Some from this past weekend.

Some rusty bars, chipped paint and a laser shooting fire hydrant! (well just a car passing by but it looks like it's shooting a laser beam.)

 

[Justin24]

 

[Mofo]

hey guys it's been a while, just got back from Europe, trying to catch up with work, here's a few, nothing to fancy just a bit of saturation in certain colors and contrasts

 

[Justin24]

hey guys it's been a while, just got back from Europe, trying to catch up with work, here's a few, nothing to fancy just a bit of saturation in certain colors and contrasts

Love it!

 

[mad1]

Some images from last weeks photo shoot.

wow, sorry only now am I going back over to see shots Ive missed, and this is a fav one our of that session Justin

 

[God Part III]

This is excellent.

God Part III's photo there would be excellent for an exhibition.

Thank you very much, as a matter of fact it will be exhibited next month in Copenhagen

 

[Mofo]

definitely one of my favorites from the whole trip!! thanks guys!

 

[Justin24]

wow, sorry only now am I going back over to see shots Ive missed, and this is a fav one our of that session Justin

Thank You

 

[bonocomet]

If anyone is interested in checking out some photography by The Edge, I've gathered all of his photos (over 100 so far) from Twitter into one thread. He's using his Blackberry, but there is some interesting stuff there. He has a good eye

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f195/photos-from-the-edge-200448.html

 

[ntalwar]

If anyone is interested in checking out some photography by The Edge, I've gathered all of his photos (over 100 so far) from Twitter into one thread. He's using his Blackberry, but there is some interesting stuff there. He has a good eye

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f195/photos-from-the-edge-200448.html

I've been following him for a few weeks. He's definitely improved his composition skills - some of his earlier stuff was so-so. Looks like he's getting better with practice like most people.

 

[bonocomet]

I've been following him for a few weeks. He's definitely improved his composition skills - some of his earlier stuff was so-so. Looks like he's getting better with practice like most people.

Yes you can see he's improving with his Blackberry skills as time goes on. However I know he has always been into photography and has taken some amazing photos. Have you ever seen some of his real camera photography? I know he had some up in one of the Music Rising auctions.

 

[Justin24]

Death Creeping up. Took this last night. I used a tripod and remote shutter release and yet it still came out a bit blurry.

 

[Liesje]

Anyone care to comment/critique? My mom always gripes I only shoot dogs, still objects, and macros so I'm trying to shoot more people. These are just some shots of us knee boarding but I wasn't really sure what settings to try (and wish I'd had more zoom).

My dad did these of me

 

[Justin24]

Another from the other night.

 

[jets]

Anyone care to comment/critique? My mom always gripes I only shoot dogs, still objects, and macros so I'm trying to shoot more people. These are just some shots of us knee boarding but I wasn't really sure what settings to try (and wish I'd had more zoom).

My dad did these of me

Pretty good; you've stopped the action pretty well

Some more zoom would help get that bit closer.

or maybe try a slower shutter speed for some shots & pan (if you canget at an angle to the action) to get a feeling of motion ?

 

[ntalwar]

or maybe try a slower shutter speed for some shots & pan (if you canget at an angle to the action) to get a feeling of motion ?

That bicycle racer photo you did that with (on page 1) is pretty cool. It takes practice though. I tried it with a couple of shots and they didn't come out well. I'll have to work more on it.

 

[mad1]

I like the second one best Lies.

you may shoot a lot of the dogs, but they are really good photos! (dog ones)

 

[Justin24]

My modern take on Eve and Temptation. Used Grapes instead of an apple. Taken at Coyote Point in San Mateo, CA.

 

[ntalwar]

Some football game photos. I had to use mostly ISO 3200 because it was at night.
I wish every event (concerts, etc) had the same liberal camera policy.

 

[jets]

Pretty nice for 3200 ISO, not much noise at all.

I know what you mean about taking cameras to events, I was threatened to be ejected from our stadium last year if I didn't put my camera away.


So I moved to a different spot & kept shooting....

 

[Justin24]

She moves in Mysterious Way's

 

[ntalwar]

Pretty nice for 3200 ISO, not much noise at all.

I know what you mean about taking cameras to events, I was threatened to be ejected from our stadium last year if I didn't put my camera away.


So I moved to a different spot & kept shooting....

Thanks - I'm impressed with high ISO on the 5D2. I did use some NR in post. My previous camera (rebel xt) would smudge the details and make it look like a painting.

They were cool about cameras - it's nice when you can move around though.
Took some shots of other stuff too :

 

[jets]

Took some shots of other stuff too :

hmm....no "other stuff" at our games