Post your photography skills! (self-gloss)

[trader]

it mostly depends on location. you need to get somewhere where light pollution from cities is minimal. i think the general guide line is 300 km from a major city center.

for shots of stars you have to be aware of the planet's movement. with wider focal lengths like 17 mm on a full-frame (10mm on crop) you can shoot for about 30 seconds before you create star trails. with longer focal lengths like 200mm you're limited to only a few seconds. for this shot i used a 14mm on full-frame at f/2.8, 800 ISO for 30 seconds. what a lot of star shooters do is take a bunch of shots and stack them together using a program like this http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html. it lets you get better details out of the stars. my shot was only 1 frame but hopefully soon i'll be doing it again with 20 or so shots. i'm not sure how much better it'll look since i've never done it before but i guess we'll see

 

[Szeph el raton]



^Wow, those HDRs are great! I like the first photo also Kind of a funny photo.

il- congrats! Send us a couple of issues of the magazine

Thought this was pretty cool.

That pic is great, it looks really creative and artistic.

I received my filters last week but had no time to try them. Quickly shot a small river on my way home from work.



6 second on a blazing bright afternoon. Turned out that 2 filters stacked is fine, 3 gives you a purple nightmare. I use the filters because I don't want to spend much time in post processing, therefore I'm not sad that the filter holder only has 2 slots. I hope I'll be able to shoot some nice stuff with them on my vacation, I already have some ideas in my head. Later this week I'll try to shoot the beautiful sunset behind Swiss hills that I can see from my office.

 

[Krp480]



it mostly depends on location. you need to get somewhere where light pollution from cities is minimal. i think the general guide line is 300 km from a major city center.

for shots of stars you have to be aware of the planet's movement. with wider focal lengths like 17 mm on a full-frame (10mm on crop) you can shoot for about 30 seconds before you create star trails. with longer focal lengths like 200mm you're limited to only a few seconds. for this shot i used a 14mm on full-frame at f/2.8, 800 ISO for 30 seconds. what a lot of star shooters do is take a bunch of shots and stack them together using a program like this http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html. it lets you get better details out of the stars. my shot was only 1 frame but hopefully soon i'll be doing it again with 20 or so shots. i'm not sure how much better it'll look since i've never done it before but i guess we'll see

Ah, alright. When I did a couple I was in NC I actually probably took about 50 shots and they all looked like ****. The were all also 30 seconds. I don't know if it was because I didn't have a remote so the camera shook when I went to take the picture OR if tey were just plain out of focus.. I was also in the mountains so I didn't have to worry about light. But thanks for the advice! When I am somewhere dark and remote again I am definitely going to try it again.

That pic is great, it looks really creative and artistic.

I received my filters last week but had no time to try them. Quickly shot a small river on my way home from work.

6 second on a blazing bright afternoon. Turned out that 2 filters stacked is fine, 3 gives you a purple nightmare. I use the filters because I don't want to spend much time in post processing, therefore I'm not sad that the filter holder only has 2 slots. I hope I'll be able to shoot some nice stuff with them on my vacation, I already have some ideas in my head. Later this week I'll try to shoot the beautiful sunset behind Swiss hills that I can see from my office.

Thanks I think its cause my camera could see the sensor reflection. As per your shot I find filters suck with that stuff or at least ND filters. If you have ever heard of them Lee filters are verrrry dark filters quote from their website:

Calculating the correct exposure for a long exposure filter is very simple. Take a meter reading as normal WITHOUT the filter in place, and decide on the aperture required for the shot. If using a 10 stop long exposure filter you need to add 10 stops of exposure to the shutter speed that matches your chosen aperture (double the exposure length 10 times). For example a metered exposure of a 30th of a second at f11 would need to be increased by 10 stops making a new exposure time of 32 seconds.

I am definitely going to have to try it one day, but they are expensive which is the only downside.

Was not even aiming for this type effect but I like the way this came out. Thank you photoshop!

Dead Flowah

 

[Krp480]

Was experimenting with some lighting today.. Tomorrow I am supposed to take pictures of someone for money, so hopefully they'll like my work. Going to be using a canon 420EX II speedlite (borrowed).

 

[Crane's]



Was experimenting with some lighting today.. Tomorrow I am supposed to take pictures of someone for money, so hopefully they'll like my work. Going to be using a canon 420EX II speedlite (borrowed).

Keep in mind it's not your project, it's the client's. Part of your job is to be good at communications before you even bother picking up a camera. By that I mean you should have an idea of the client's personality, what the general idea for the shoot is, color of clothing and whether or not it works with their skin tones, location and so on. Your job at this point is to transform your client's ideas and expectations into an image that they will love.

 

[Krp480]

Trust me, I got everything down... just should have worded my statement differently. I am more so nervous though, I just don't want to take the pictures and he winds up not liking them. As for everything else I am pretty sure I am going to shoot him in my room since I have a white tarp up. I will most likely post up some examples if it all works out.

 

[Szeph el raton]



Trust me, I got everything down... just should have worded my statement differently. I am more so nervous though, I just don't want to take the pictures and he winds up not liking them. As for everything else I am pretty sure I am going to shoot him in my room since I have a white tarp up. I will most likely post up some examples if it all works out.

Really looking forward to seeing it. This sounds really promising, congratulations on this nice task.

Ok, so for once I have something that you guys might appreciate a bit more than my fixation on bugs. As I mentioned I finally shot some pictures from directly next to my desk in the office. Two actually turned out somewhat satisfying. If you don't mind, please give me tips what I could improve the next time.





Ah, forgot it. Finally used my new Hitech Grad NDs for these.

 

[il ciclista]

I enjoy the haze on these. You have an incredible view!

Krp, you'll do fine. Just make sure you get some good poses down at least a few. Also your tarp sentence sounds like you're plotting a murder lol. ..I hope this "tarp" isn't very reflective!

 

[Mr. Moo]

From a recent trip to Yosemite. Don't know why these aren't being posted at their max width, but just right click and get the link to each photo if you want to see them larger.

 

[Krp480]

Thanks! Well it went fine (wasn't THAT nervous, but a bit)... Well we had to improvise - you'll see what I mean as you scroll through my post. The first two photos are post-photoshop and the last two are pre-photoshop. I will probably be posting up more, these are just the ones I just finished editing.


Here are 2 shots I took (out of a hundred or so).





I am thinking the second one needs to be re-edited (ie. look at the records).

Here are the originals to give an idea of how much work I did to get them to look like that (his wish is my command!). I do however want to note these aren't going to be photos that are going to be blown up. He is using them for posters and business cards and such.

 

[Kas]



As for everything else I am pretty sure I am going to shoot him in my room since I have a white tarp up.

I like the first one the best Szeph, the big grey cloud takes up a little too much space for my tastes - would've preferred a tighter crop.

Mr Moo: like the 3rd one the best, the V-form in the middle really makes the composition, 4th is cool too. Don't really like the half-tree in nr2.

Krp480: he's wearing a black shirt, a black cap and shows black records - why didn't you go for a black background, added a backlight to separate him from the background and turn it into a low key portrait? Edit: you don't even need a black background, just move him further from the background and turn down the shutter speed to kill ambient.

 

[il ciclista]

krp the 1st one isn't bad..2nd one looks underexposed . Like Kas said pull him farther from the background. I know you're using a solo lighting..did you use TTL metering? I'd probably played with manual if so. Overall I'd say the 1st one would work for what he needs. I like that he is at an angle, the lighting on his face is good too. I know you said you just got the flash so I would probably boost flash amount in both pics even if you had over exposed a little it'd be okay post editing. Kas's idea of the black back drop with a light (for this shot a gelled light would have been sweet) would have worked great. The 2nd one seems like the WB needs to be changed..it looks like it needs to be a bit cooler. I hope this helps!

 

[Kas]

Ordered a D7000 yesterday, had hoped it would arrive today but alas.


Port Dickson by npmeijer, on Flickr

I like the colors and composition. But I'm not sure on whether or not I should crop it more: I'm not really set on the lack of trees in the upper left corner. However, if I crop it there I won't have the tourists on the left, and the tourists left and locals right is something I like about the shot. What do you think?

 

[Krp480]



krp the 1st one isn't bad..2nd one looks underexposed . Like Kas said pull him farther from the background. I know you're using a solo lighting..did you use TTL metering? I'd probably played with manual if so. Overall I'd say the 1st one would work for what he needs. I like that he is at an angle, the lighting on his face is good too. I know you said you just got the flash so I would probably boost flash amount in both pics even if you had over exposed a little it'd be okay post editing. Kas's idea of the black back drop with a light (for this shot a gelled light would have been sweet) would have worked great. The 2nd one seems like the WB needs to be changed..it looks like it needs to be a bit cooler. I hope this helps!

To both, I would have pulled him further but we had very limited space. I was probably 6-7 feet away from him unfortunately. I am still learning however, but he will most likely be using me again (next time we will rent out a studio). But I think they still turned out OK, I am still editing them, so I will show him once they are done. He also won't really be needing the background since he will be using the pictures on posters that will most likely be photoshopped.

Just a question though, for a release what should be included in it? I know I should have had him sign one before I took the photos but better late then never. I am not uber pro or anything so I honestly don't care what he uses the photos for just as long as he doesn't re-sell them and make money off of my work. So if there is a link or anything that you guys go by please share it !

And both you guys have definitely helped. Like I said this was my first time ever so I am still learning. Next time I will be more prepared!

 

[Mr. Moo]

Light re-work of the first image. Hope you don't mind.