Photography

[Yuiichi]

I expect gorgeous photos from both of you when you get back! Can't wait to see them!

[nobody101000]

If you have an iPhone, you have to see this funny trick on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsnEXnfIzsU

[baseballboy828]

Originally Posted by GadgetComa

Have a great trip. Can't wait to see your photos.

I'm off to Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, and Grand Teton starting tomorrow. I too will be going through tech withdrawl since I won't have a laptop!

Enjoy the rest of August and I'll talk to you again in September.

Just got back. That's where I was last year. I'll try to get some stuff up soon for you all to look at.

[baseballboy828]

I put my stuff up on flickr. I have still some more post work to do, but the stuff I put up is basically how I want it. Enjoy.

Banff and Jasper 2007 - a photoset on Flickr

[Yuiichi]

Some really great shots BBB! I love the few Panoramas you have - they look excellent! I wish I could go somewhere for better photography!

[baseballboy828]

I went to B&H today to spend my birthday money and here's what I got:

Nikon SB-600 Flash: An amazing flash. Tilts every which way, and puts out a ton of light. Not too expensive either.
Slik Pro 700DX Tripod: This is is ridiculously heavy, at 7 pounds (3.18kg), it's very heavy but extremey solid. All-metal construction, and it holds up to 15 pounds (6.8 kg). I could have gone with an equal bogen/manfrotto for $150 more, but the slik was constructed sturdy, with metal pieces in area where bogen used plastic.
Lowepro Mini Trekker Classic Backpack: Great backpack. Not mini by any stretch. It holds all my stuff and has a few slots left. The only disadvantage is that you have to lay it flat to take stuff out.
Gary Fong Lightsphere II: The best flash diffuser ever made. It spread light and shots with it rival studio lighting quality (not as good, but close). At $50, it's kinda pricey but avoids you the expense of a flash bracket, and can work with high ceiling, a feat impossible for bounce flash.

Overall, great purchases. I've been inheriting my dad's stuff, but some things he still keeps or never bought in the first place. When you're a high school freshman, you can't spend $5000 on a system. All the stuff I got was relatively cheap yet very powerful and of top quality. By the way, I am also ordering some cheap stuff online such as a rear lens cap to replace the cheap one nikon used, a lens hood for a lens I have that didn't come with one, as well as a neutral density filter. Plus I will soon order a Pantone Huey Pro off of amazon. They're super cheap ($97). If you ever print anything, buy one. If color is at all important to you, you need to calibrate your monitor. Have any of you purchased something photography related recently?

[baseballboy828]

Here's another tip:

Getting Maximum Image Quality from your Consumer-Grade Lens

Whether it's the kit lens that came with your dSLR or the lens affixed to your point and shoot, you have a consumer level lens. There are many reason users don't upgrade do a pro lens. Reason one: they are poor. Heck. I'm 14 and until I find a good way to sell images, I can't afford the $1,200 lens that most adults at my skill level use. I need to spend that money on tripods and other accessories, and can't afford to spend a year's savings when I'm not working with clients or selling prints, only doing this for fun. Then, there's reason two: you just don't care enough to spend that much. Though I scoff at the fact that many people own dSLR's but not tripods, a home-theater geek would be horrified that I use the built in speakers on my TV at home. If photography isn't your life as it is mine, there's no reason to spend $5,000 on a solid lineup of lenses.

However, I didn't write this to tell you to go out and spend your life savings on lenses. I'm here to tell you how to get the most out of what you have now.

This tutorial requires the following: A) a camera in which you can set the aperture value; B) Eyes and Hands (and a Brain, which is pretty much a given).

I'll start off by explaining what the problem is. The issue is that these consumer lenses use lower grade glass than a pro version. The result is not only lower image quality, but a smaller area of maximum image quality. Every lens has an aperture value and focal length that achieve maximum sharpness. This is equally true with pro lenses, however pro lenses have a larger range of both focal length and aperture values that are at maximum or near maximum sharpness. Now don't get me wrong. If you use an 18-55 at f/22 at 18 mm you won't get a bad image. In fact you'll get a great one. Zoom lenses have evolved from completely inferior to prime lenses to near-prime quality in the pro lineup of zooms. If you are using a specific aperture to achieve a specific effect (ie: a shallow depth of field to blur the background of a portrait; or a large depth of field to keep both the foreground and background sharp in a landscape) then do that. An image with the best creative depth of field that sacrifices a tiny bit of sharpness is far superior to one with poorly thought out depth of field but at the apertures I will soon suggest. The same goes for focal length. If 18mm is the best for a given scene, then 18mm it is. Worry about the technical shortcomings of your lens last, think of composition and creative depth of field first.

A situation where you can afford to ignore creative depth of field is one where the field isn't deep, meaning that all objects visible in the frame are in very close proximity of each other, also assuming you aren't using a long telephoto or a macro lens.

In these cases, the best aperture to use is what's referred to in "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson as a "who cares" aperture. These values on an SLR are between f/8 and f/11. These aperture are right in the middle, and will produce maximum sharpness. On a point and shoot camera, you might try f/4-5.6.

Also, in cases where you can use "old-fashioned zoom" (move closer to the object with your feet) to achieve the same composition with any focal length, you will be best suited by certain lengths. Some lens manufacturers will tell you this length, some will not. For an 18-55 lens, this focal length will likely be about 35mm. For a lens at about the 55-200 range, anywhere between 105 and 135 will be best. In general, the median focal length (the one equidistant from the smallest and largest focal length) will be close to the sharpest. This also applies for point and shoot users. Also, some lenses are more soft at certain ends of their range than others. For example, Nikon, Canon, Sigma, and Tamron all sell a low end 70-300 f/4-5.6 for about $150. These lenses are all very soft at 300mm. Generally, the cheaper the lens and the larger the range of focal lengths, the softer the lens is at maximum focal length. Lenses tend to suffer more at their maximum length rather than their minimum.

Remember, use these guidelines only when they don't interfere with any other aspects of the image. Never decide to crop the image later to make up for using a shorter focal length to retain sharpness. The one exception to that is if you're using the recently announced Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, with a 21 megapixel sensor. Of course with an $8,000 body, you can probably afford good lenses. Remember, if you crop out 50% of the pixels, you turn your 6 megapixel camera into a 3 megapixel camera, which will only get you moderately passable 5x7's. The best ways to get tighter are as follows:

1)Actually move the camera closer.
2)Zoom with your lens.
3)Crop with an image editor (Don't rely on this. Always practice good capture. Pretend that what hits the sensor is the final image and all you can do is make tiny adjustments to exposure.)

If you follow these tips, you'll get sharper image. They might not be visibly sharper as 4x6 prints or as medium sized images on your screen, but if you print at 8x10 or larger, or use a large monitor with your photos shown full screen, you'll be sure to notice the difference, and your wallet will stay nice and full.

Hope you enjoyed these tips. Post any questions in this thread or email me and I'd be happy to help.

[GadgetComa]

I have returned. Vacation is over , but at least I have lots of photos. Check out my Flickr photostream. Not quite as stunning as BBB's Banff/Jasper pics, but I'll get there once I get my Nikon D300 next year (and practice a lot!)

- Leon

[baseballboy828]

Originally Posted by GadgetComa

I have returned. Vacation is over , but at least I have lots of photos. Check out my Flickr photostream. Not quite as stunning as BBB's Banff/Jasper pics, but I'll get there once I get my Nikon D300 next year (and practice a lot!)

- Leon

I remember a lot of the stuff you saw (I was there last year). I can't tell if you're kidding or not on the D300, but I will say the following:

If you are in the market for a nikon dSLR, get a D80, or a D40x if you just want to use the kit lenses or brand new nikon lenses. The D40x won't work with the old nikon lenses that are super high quality and very cheap. You can get the same thing in a modern, AF-S version (With AF-S, the lens does the moving of glass elements, not the camera. With old lenses, the camera motors move the lens elements. The camera is louder and a tiny bit slower, but will work just as well.) for much more money. Same quality though. Spend your money on lenses. If you need advice on nikon lenses, ask me. I know all the lenses fairly well so I can recommend something for you depending on what type of lens you want. By the way, anyone who is seriously interested in photography, head over to Digital Photography School

I've been hanging around there recently. People post on it almost constantly, but there're some good stuff buried in there.

[notabadname]

I enjoy working with images on my Mac in Photoshop also (CS3). Lately I've been shooting cars a lot. I usually shoot with a Nikon D70, which I have been very happy with. Here are a couple of my favorites:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1115/...fac00d.jpg?v=0

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/155/3...99d289.jpg?v=0

and lastly, a favorite of mine I took in flight of my home city, Cincinnati:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/86/39...8a88a4.jpg?v=0