The photography thread

[Loren Littlejohn]

I'm finding manual focus is the way to go IMO. Still learning how ISO, shutter speed and aperture all work together.

Do you guys mostly just stick with matrix for metering?

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

 

[AudioGeekZine]

If matrix means average over the whole frame, then sometimes. If you have a scene with a bright light or deep shadow it won't work.

That pic to me seems a couple degrees off from straight.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Man if all you have to say is my photo is crooked, then I have to say that makes my noob ass pretty happy.

And yes matrix meaning multi zone metering, it's just what my camera calls it.

 

[HCL]

The guy on the left also needs a snapback.

There's actually only one in that, mine and the second from the left are five panels.

 

[arvoitus]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments! I'm really happy with the new way of HDR editing. Now i'm waiting for the next trip to another great location.

I purchased a D3200 on Tuesday. So far I have found that I am terrible. Messed about with the auto settings and quickly wanted to move past that because I was having a hard time getting the camera to focus on what I wanted unless it was a landscape.

So dove into manual and still learning, seems like another hobby you learn by doing a lot (well and checking out what other people are doing).

Also I need to pick up software and don't want to spend a fuck load on it so suggestions?

The auto mode is a terrible mode. Manual mode sounds cool and you learn a lot from using it, but i find it really annoying to use and almost never use it (except for concert photography).

99% of the time i'm using the A mode (aperture priority). With the A mode you set the aperture by yourself, and the camera figures out the rest. By using the same aperture all your pictures have the same depth of field, and you don't have to worry about the correct exposure. Subject and composition is for more important to learn.

AudioGeekZine explained a really great way of using the autofocus system. It's called the Focus and recompose technique. Manually focus is not a ideal way of focusing, because in 98% of the situations the AF system is faster and way more accurate then you.

I started photography with a full manual analog SLR. It usually took me 4 months to shoot 36 pictures, because film is expensive and i was really careful to not waste my shots. So for every picture i triple checked if my subject was interesting enough, if my composition was good, if my framing was right, if my focus was dead on and which shutter speed or aperture i had to choose.
Very difficult, and i still wasted a lot of pictures ... but i really learned the essential basics for photography.

And not without result ... because with the 65th picture i took on that analog SLR i won the 1st price (a Nikon D5100) on a photo competition.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

A couple of quick snaps with the Helios 44M-4. Things are looking pretty damn dull here this time of the year, but it seems like a nice little lens and I really like the swirly bokeh!

 

[AudioGeekZine]

@jarkko love those 2 middle ones.

What's your Flickr? I want to follow and favorite those.

Speaking of swirly bokeh
I got this $20 lens on eBay. F1.4, 25mm C-mount.

Which makes images like this, it kind of makes me dizzy.

But it's really sharp

Now on the subject of Auto Focus vs Manual. I bought my second "modern" lens last week. A Sigma EX DN 19mm F2.8, a cheap lens for micro four thirds system. I'm not sure if 19mm (38mm full frame equiv) is for me, it doesn't separate the foreground from background as much as I'm used to with my 55mm Takumar (110 full-frame equiv). This focal length is a bit wider than naked eye. I spent most of yesterday out shooting with only that lens. It was nice to know I wasn't going to miss focus, but I don't feel I got anything really interesting because of the wide angle. It was a sunny day and I was surprised I had to shoot at the max shutter speed at times.

I'm done editing these shots yet but here's a puppy I met at the farmers market.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

@jarkko love those 2 middle ones.

What's your Flickr? I want to follow and favorite those.

Cheers, really appreciate it! I just got back into Flickr and noticed a lot of the people I used to follow are gone, so I'd love to have some more peeps to stalk. Here's the link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jarkkomattheiszen/

 

[arvoitus]

Cheers, really appreciate it! I just got back into Flickr and noticed a lot of the people I used to follow are gone, so I'd love to have some more peeps to stalk. Here's the link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jarkkomattheiszen/

You have some really great landscape shots on there!

 

[AudioGeekZine]

This 20 under 20 showcase has a lot of good and interesting photos.
https://www.flickr.com/20under20/

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I went to check out the view from a bird tower near a local limestone factory today, since I heard they got really cool water pools they use for precipitating the lime. I spent two hours there shooting the pools and the sunset and got pretty much nothing worthwhile. When the sun finally disappeared, I was pretty disappointed in myself and packed my shit up. When I was (incredibly slowly and carefully) climbing the dangerously steep steps down, I heard a ridiculous cacophony of squawking behind me and nearly fell off the damn tower. When I regained my balance, I noticed a huge flock of birds approaching, quickly climbed back up, dug out my camera again, somehow fumbled the ISO to 1600 which is pretty much useless on my old 400D, adjusted the focus and aperture (gotta shoot in manual mode with the Helios lens) and tried to get a really quick composition of the scene. The result was pretty horrible, and it took a shitload of work in LR to remedy the damage done by the ISO setting, but in the end I'm actually somewhat fond of the shot and it's pretty much the only shot I ended up liking:

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Oh yeah, these are the pools I originally intended to shoot, but pretty much failed to capture their awesomeness:

 

[Soundlurker]

Started a project to help out local bands. They send us shirts and we promote them,

The rest can be seen here:
https://facebook.com/B.Kostadinov.Photography

 

[~BURNY~]

Shots are great. Kind of wish she had a bang/fringe whatever that's called instead of the fancy eyebrows but she's damn pretty.

 

[Soundlurker]

Ugh I hate bangs for the most part, glad you're digging the shots though

 

[~BURNY~]

Can't argue about taste.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

If I wanted a better lens and say had around $400 for one, what would people recommend? TBH I'm more interested in photographing people than things or landscapes so I guess keep that in mind.

 

[Torsis]

What lens(es) do you have now?

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Get the standard $125 50mm f/1.8 and learn shooting prime, it'll take you a long way. I only have experience with the Canon version, but AFAIK they're pretty identical. Great for portraits and the image quality is way beyond the price tag.