PF Photography: Tips, Tricks, & Photo Sharing

[Cyrus]

Fantastic work!

 

[hypatia]

Hey, Nav! Here's a shot you won't see at home. I was working at my computer when I saw a big dark shape outside my window, I grabbed the body with the 100-400mm on it and took a few shots through the window. There were 4 turkeys and since the snow in front of the house is over four feet deep, they were nearly at eye level.

What a great and tastie shot! The birds look really healthy for this time of year.

 

[turbo]

larkspur and hypatia, thanks both. The birds were only about 4-5 feet away, and I should have grabbed my other 30D with the 28-135mm lens on it, but the 100-400 was closer at hand and I didn't want to miss the shot. When I see these birds in the road and I'm on my Harley, I think "DANGER" - got to miss them or risk serious injury or death. But when they're just out my front window in the sun, it's pretty neat. Their iridescent body feathers almost make up for their almost-naked vulture heads. No Toms today, just hens and young-uns.

 

[larkspur]

Fantastic work!

Thanks Cyrus!

 

[turbo]

Fantastic work!

Par for the course for larkspur. If she ever posted images like some of the stuff I come up with, I'd ask if she had a bad day. Usually top-notch stuff from this lady.

 

[larkspur]

Par for the course for larkspur. If she ever posted images like some of the stuff I come up with, I'd ask if she had a bad day. Usually top-notch stuff from this lady.

Thanks turbo.
What do you mean "the stuff I come up with"? You have some great photos in your collection. You have a real talent with the squirrel photography.

 

[Cyrus]

Thanks Cyrus!

The eyes look like an ocean of water with sandy white beaches of fur surrounding it.

 

[turbo]

Here is a female Hairy Woodpecker that knocked herself silly hitting a window. I ran out and held her until she came around, and then held her up to the fascia-board on our eaves where she liked to perch until she wanted to cling to that, then hung out with her until she felt well enough to move off to a nearby tree. I love these birds! PEEK! My wife snapped this pic with my old Olympus 3040 P&S.

 

[Math Jeans]

I envy you.

 

[~christina~]

I just wanted to show what my new camera has produced for me
now all I need is a longer lens ...

(taken at the local zoo..I love those snow leopards I'll post a few more of them if anyone's interested in seeing them)

 

[turbo]

VERY nice shots, Christina, and I'd love to see more. Might I suggest putting your sigs in less-obtrusive locations. I don't sig mine at all, because they're not great enough to steal, but if I did, I'd try to make the unobtrusive.

 

[turbo]

I envy you.

For helping an injured woodpecker? I'm sure you'd do the same, with your love for animals.

 

[hypatia]

Woah, those are some BIG Puddy Tats! Great photos!

 

[~christina~]

VERY nice shots, Christina, and I'd love to see more. Might I suggest putting your sigs in less-obtrusive locations. I don't sig mine at all, because they're not great enough to steal, but if I did, I'd try to make the unobtrusive.

Thanks turbo

About the watermark...my thoughts are that if they are in obstrusive locations then they're less prone to theft.
(people can and will crop and I've seen it happen to others and thus that defeats the purpose of the watermark)

Woah, those are some BIG Puddy Tats! Great photos!

yes they are, Thanks hypatia

 

[larkspur]

I just wanted to show what my new camera has produced for me
now all I need is a longer lens ...

(taken at the local zoo..I love those snow leopards I'll post a few more of them if anyone's interested in seeing them)

Nice shots Christina. My favorite is the leopard.

 

[larkspur]

Thanks turbo

About the watermark...my thoughts are that if they are in obstrusive locations then they're less prone to theft.
(people can and will crop and I've seen it happen to others and thus that defeats the purpose of the watermark)

I have had a photo stolen and entered into contests before. I made the mistake of uploading the full size to a forum and it was snatched.

 

[neutrino]

Thanks for the cold turkey, Turbo! Nice shot. And Christina, I love that shot of the tiger. I look forward for more photos of the snow leopards.

 

[neutrino]

Here's one from Sunday last.

I just increased the contrast a little bit and used unsharp mask. I didn't crop the picture, since I couldn't get the nice portrait dimensions with just the flower.

And yeah, the focus is a bit away from the centre of the flower. :(

 

[~christina~]

Nice shots Christina. My favorite is the leopard.

Thanks larkspur, that snow leopard is just one of the many at the local zoo. (they breed them) I've counted...6 of them and this one in the pic is a female snow leopard.

I have had a photo stolen and entered into contests before. I made the mistake of uploading the full size to a forum and it was snatched.

That's quite unfortunate and it's just another example of how people can be thieves.

Here's one from Sunday last.

I just increased the contrast a little bit and used unsharp mask. I didn't crop the picture, since I couldn't get the nice portrait dimensions with just the flower.

And yeah, the focus is a bit away from the centre of the flower. :(

I like the color and I didn't notice the focus was off until you said it. nice shot overall

 

[~christina~]

Leo

mother of the leopard below and same as the one yawning before

baby snow leopard

well you said you wanted to see what snow leopard shots I had so here they are

 

[_Mayday_]

Where were those shots taken? I would have thought in a zoo or enclosure as the snow leopard os very rare to come across in it's natural environment especially in the summer. They are by far my favourite animal. I've seen some video footage of them on the internet and they are suprisingly petite, with an extremely long tail.

Great shot!

 

[~christina~]

Where were those shots taken? I would have thought in a zoo or enclosure as the snow leopard os very rare to come across in it's natural environment especially in the summer. They are by far my favourite animal. I've seen some video footage of them on the internet and they are suprisingly petite, with an extremely long tail.

Great shot!

Thanks Mayday

Yes these are taken at the zoo. These shots weren't taken in the summer though, since the new camera was a Christmas present

 

[Evo]

Leo

mother of the leopard below and same as the one yawning before

baby snow leopard

well you said you wanted to see what snow leopard shots I had so here they are

OMG, I have to show these to my youngest daughter, they look just like the stuffed snow leopard I bought for her when she was 2. She slept with that snow tiger, named "Catty", until she was 16. He now resides on a shelf in a place of honor at my house. Maybe I'll post a picture of him.

 

[binzing]

Those of you who watermark, don't mean to burst your bubble, but watermarks can be removed in half a second using a very simple program. A better option would be to go into Paint or similar, and muss it up a bit.

 

[larkspur]

Those of you who watermark, don't mean to burst your bubble, but watermarks can be removed in half a second using a very simple program. A better option would be to go into Paint or similar, and muss it up a bit.

I agree that watermarks are easily removed. Another way to avoid theft is to use a smaller sized photo and save it as a lower quality jpg.

 

[GeorginaS]

I am totally, totally in love.

 

[_Mayday_]

Thanks Mayday

Yes these are taken at the zoo. These shots weren't taken in the summer though, since the new camera was a Christmas present

Well I am sure they are out all year in the zoo

In the wild they are virtually impossible to find in the summer. Suprisingly Snow Leopards don't actually like snow so in the winter they are down in the valleys making it slightly easier to locate. Alot of the photos you see on Google don't quite give you that 'in the wild' feeling but your photos could easily be mistaken for being in the wild. There was recently a documentary on them, if you want you can have a little peek at it, but the whole movie isn't up on the internet. I can't say I have found any great information on snow leopards on the internet, they have the basics but I was given a talk by one of the film crew who helped produce the video below and that really gave you an ide aon how rare and species these animals are.

This video gives you an idea of both the terrain and how beautiful these animals are. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbR3cUnCdJk&feature=related"

Here is a photo I took a bit earlier, I am having so much trouble with my focus, I keep getting it slightly wrong, the flowers themselves may not look spectacular but I wanted a simple shot of the flower and the rain drops.

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/1827/flower10in4.jpg

 

[turbo]

turbo-1 I like that shot more actually, the wood grain works so nicely. I'm having trouble with my focus, I can change it an make it work but only short range. The focus in your shot is great, but how did you manage it?

You have to keep an eye on the aperture of the lens for one thing. The more "open" the aperture, the shallower the depth of field for any given lens. If you have enough light to stop down the aperture and still have an acceptably short shutter speed (or use a tripod and a release) you can have much of your image in focus.

At an extreme, using a pinhole aperture ( I still have one kicking around for my long-gone Olympus 35mm system) keeps almost everything in reasonable focus, though every edge is a bit soft with a warm glow. A tripod and a cable release are a must with such a tiny aperture, but it made for some interesting shots, especially with trees on a breezy day, or maybe a calm day in the woods with an active little brook as the subject.

 

[_Mayday_]

I think that is what my still life photography a needs. I am restricted without a stand so I might consider actually buying one. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[turbo]

Here is a punched-up version of the nervous squirrels. I nudged the brightness and contrast up just a bit and applied a little sharpening. I also cloned out the wood screw visible in the original.

 

[~christina~]

I am totally, totally in love.

I'm glad you like it. The angle of the shot is what I like abut this pic the best.

Well I am sure they are out all year in the zoo

In the wild they are virtually impossible to find in the summer. Suprisingly Snow Leopards don't actually like snow so in the winter they are down in the valleys making it slightly easier to locate. Alot of the photos you see on Google don't quite give you that 'in the wild' feeling but your photos could easily be mistaken for being in the wild. There was recently a documentary on them, if you want you can have a little peek at it, but the whole movie isn't up on the internet. I can't say I have found any great information on snow leopards on the internet, they have the basics but I was given a talk by one of the film crew who helped produce the video below and that really gave you an ide aon how rare and species these animals are.

This video gives you an idea of both the terrain and how beautiful these animals are. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbR3cUnCdJk&feature=related"

Here is a photo I took a bit earlier, I am having so much trouble with my focus, I keep getting it slightly wrong, the flowers themselves may not look spectacular but I wanted a simple shot of the flower and the rain drops.

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/1827/flower10in4.jpg

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Yes they are outdoors year round but I never really focused on them until now.

I've seen a video on nature on wild snow leopards but I don't remember this part so it must be a different video. I like this one since it's close up compared with the other one.
They are facinating creatures but the problem of finding them in the wild is those rocky slopes and also getting close enough to take a picture of it full frame. People who take pics of animals in the wild most of the time have a really long lens (I've seen 800mm lens') and I think that's the only way you would get a close up picture of a wild snow leopard.

That's a really nice pic you took. I like the colors of the flowers. Unfortunately I don't have a macro lens =(.The opinion of where the focus "should be" is arbitrary and all depends on the person. The flower is the forget me not flower if I'm not incorrect.

I think that is what my still life photography a needs. I am restricted without a stand so I might consider actually buying one. Thanks for the feedback.

I'm curious as to know what camera are you using. I do fine without a stand but then again maybe my camera is light enough (Nikon D40X) for me to use without having camera shake. I hear that a lot of SLR's are quite big. (I can carry mine on my neck all day without getting neck strain)

 

[_Mayday_]

~Christina~

Thank you for all the feedback. I am using a FujiFilmFinePix S5600 exactly how I got it. The focus on the blue flowers (No idea what they are called) seems to be a little behind the actual flowers themselves, but I only noticed that when I made th eimage bigger.

 

[~christina~]

~Christina~

Thank you for all the feedback. I am using a FujiFilmFinePix S5600 exactly how I got it. The focus on the blue flowers (No idea what they are called) seems to be a little behind the actual flowers themselves, but I only noticed that when I made th eimage bigger.

Your quite welcome.
Aha...so that's the cam your using. I used to use a Fujifinepix S5700 before I got my other cam. I was satisfied using it but after I invested and got a SLR I was amazed by the quality difference.

 

[~christina~]

Here is a punched-up version of the nervous squirrels. I nudged the brightness and contrast up just a bit and applied a little sharpening. I also cloned out the wood screw visible in the original.

I like it much better lightened up.

 

[turbo]

I like it much better lightened up.

Thanks, ~christina~, I like it better too. I've got a Canon 30D and a 100-400mm L-series zoom, and I tend to use it like a point-and-shoot camera at times. I really should pay attention to post-processing a bit more. As I revisited this thread, I noticed that the image didn't seem as punchy on my present monitor as it had before, so tweaked it a bit. I'm never sure if something looks good to me on this monitor will come across well with others using different video cards and monitors, especially some high-quality CRTs. A couple of years back, I was involved in the production of high-quality auction catalogs, and everybody in post-production, graphics, etc was using CRTs instead of LCDs.