Post your photography skills! (self-gloss)

[JetBlast]

We have CS2 at our school, I may shoot a few sample shots and take them in to format.

 

[hamish5178]

I have a questions for the experts here. How do you get that sort of synthetic/surreal quality to your pictures (I assume they're digital)? Here's one from Muelleran on page 5 that shows what I mean:

The birds look unreal, like something from a Final Fantasy commercial. And here's an old one of me by a guy named Charlie ****:

Here it's my hair and guitar that stand out the most. Is this a special filter or effect? Or simply high quality equipment and a lot of skill?

 

[totally epic]

Originally Posted by JetBlast

+1. Where is that?
It's the Transamerica building in SF.

 

[migo]

Originally Posted by hamish5178

I have a questions for the experts here. How do you get that sort of synthetic/surreal quality to your pictures (I assume they're digital)?

Here it's my hair and guitar that stand out the most. Is this a special filter or effect? Or simply high quality equipment and a lot of skill?

I think it's just the way the light has bounced off the subjects. The second one looks a bit overexposed + your hair being action frozen

I think it's just the moment being captured at the right time and in the right light

 

[ghulkhan]

 

[AnGeLiCbOrIs]

My brother took this one. I find it rather clever.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by hamish5178

I have a questions for the experts here. How do you get that sort of synthetic/surreal quality to your pictures (I assume they're digital)? Here's one from Muelleran on page 5 that shows what I mean:

The birds look unreal, like something from a Final Fantasy commercial.

I don't think there's anythign special about the bird photo other than the timing of it and how the light is hitting their wings on the far side of the viewer (gives them a glow). He had a high enough shutter speed to totally freeze their movement. You can see the clouds are blown-out. If it were some kind of merged image, they likely would not have been.

Some of the surreal-looking shots are done with a technique known as HDR. The photographer will take photos at different exposures are merge them so taht the full dynamic range of the scene can be presented. The reason some do this is the difficulty of taking a picture that captures enough detail in low light areas without blowing the sky or some other bright area of the frame (like a window when shooting inside a cathedral).

 

[bkk]

Do you guys have a website for tips on settings? I'd even take an in depth tutorial on what each setting does (more than ISO effects this, the end). I think the settings on my camera is the main reason my pictures don't look as crisp as I expect.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by bkk

Do you guys have a website for tips on settings? I'd even take an in depth tutorial on what each setting does (more than ISO effects this, the end). I think the settings on my camera is the main reason my pictures don't look as crisp as I expect.

just read photography forums and you'll catch-on (there will be tons of faqs and stuff stickied). i only really read dpreview but i'm sure there are others. For your specific camera, definitely check dpreview and someone might have an in-depth tutorial on it along with suggested settings (which some cameras demand because they don't ship with good setting out of the box--these more affect color than sharpness though). The manual for my e-3 was very large but i found a great tutorial by a member there and it helped me set the most useful featurs on my camera (programmable Fn button and dials) without having to a read a huge 200pg manual.

basically though, increasing iso increases the sensitivity of the sensor to light, so you need less of it to get your picture. This means you can increase the shutter speed (which decreases the light that hits your sensor), and freeze the action. If you want crisper (do you mean sharper?) pictures, you need to increase the shutter speed and learn how to hold your camera properly. If you have a point&shoot, i can almost guarantee you don't hold it in a way that is conducive to sharp photos. Night and low-light shots demand tripods for the most part, although image-stabilization definitely helps. The other huge factor is the lens. A large set of compromises are made to produce a kit lens.

 

[bkk]

dpreview looks like it will keep me busy for a while. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Tokyo Slim]

 

[whodini]

^^^

Hahahaha.

Where's the Saturn???

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by whodini

^^^ Hahahaha. Where's the Saturn???
The "REO DeathSaturn" Didn't make it. I believe it still may require some fiddling. I'm not really up to date on that project.

 

[whodini]

Too bad. I've been looking forward to some pics of it in action.

 

[Tokyo Slim]