~Any Photographers???~

[LiLKIM]

I would say there is to much contrast in some of those, particularly in the dark areas of the car. The black car goes completely black-hole black, the added contrast has crushed the detail out of existence

hey
i thought it looked cool w that effect....
i guess im just a fan of the high contrast look?

 

[JAY86]

thats what I love about photography.... everyone has an opinion on it... and I think its great.... im the amateur newbie photographer in every sense, lol... wish I had time to play around with my camera more and the $$$ and time to take some photography courses.

Right now I just have a entry level Canon Xti with kit lens.... too bad the kit lens was not IS... I think that would have helped a lot... I did manage to squeeze in a nice tripod recently with the car mods WHICH is tremendous help.

I thik my next purchase will be a nice flash, then after that Im so confused, lol.... I dont know if I should get some nice lenses or upgrade the body... I have been told to buy glass over a new body.... I was told to just keep in mind the lens compatibility with the future body that I may be interested in.... I got a chance to use the new Canon 5D MarkII and I really liked it... and even with that Im not sure if I should buy locally or online.... its so much cheaper online but the warranties are worrisome from online purchased cameras.

You said you were in school LiLKIM... are you taking photography?

 

[Error404]

Right now I just have a entry level Canon Xti with kit lens....

You can do alot with that! Sure there's more expensive gear out there, with better specs, but for 90% of people out there interested in photography, the base model camera and kit lens is plenty of hardware! It's a quite capable camera

 

[JAY86]

You can do alot with that! Sure there's more expensive gear out there, with better specs, but for 90% of people out there interested in photography, the base model camera and kit lens is plenty of hardware! It's a quite capable camera

thats what ive been told.... it sure is a good learning camera so far. If I do have extra $$$ for this stuff I will probably spend on classes and/or new glass and flash.

 

[Error404]

thats what ive been told.... it sure is a good learning camera so far. If I do have extra $$$ for this stuff I will probably spend on classes and/or new glass and flash.

indeed, if you have extra money, nicer glass is a fun thing to have, since a good lens will go with you if/when you ever decide to change your camera in for a newer model. And nicer lenses usually hold their value, so if you ever decide to sell it, you don't loose a whole lot in the process.

 

[LiLKIM]

thats what I love about photography.... everyone has an opinion on it... and I think its great.... im the amateur newbie photographer in every sense, lol... wish I had time to play around with my camera more and the $$$ and time to take some photography courses.

Right now I just have a entry level Canon Xti with kit lens.... too bad the kit lens was not IS... I think that would have helped a lot... I did manage to squeeze in a nice tripod recently with the car mods WHICH is tremendous help.

I thik my next purchase will be a nice flash, then after that Im so confused, lol.... I dont know if I should get some nice lenses or upgrade the body... I have been told to buy glass over a new body.... I was told to just keep in mind the lens compatibility with the future body that I may be interested in.... I got a chance to use the new Canon 5D MarkII and I really liked it... and even with that Im not sure if I should buy locally or online.... its so much cheaper online but the warranties are worrisome from online purchased cameras.

You said you were in school LiLKIM... are you taking photography?

I did take a few photography classes, but then i realized you don't necessarily need a degree to do it. Mainly a good eye, and a good camera.
So now I'm almost a dental hygiene school graduate

 

[kdesigns]

I finally got caught...

...Laying down on the job!

I was shooting Ed McAndrew's Mustang at Mustang Week, and I thought he was shooting the car, too. but NOOOOO...

http://forums.sandhillsmustangs.com/showthread.php?p=25394&posted=1#post25394

 

[Error404]

then i realized you don't necessarily need a degree to do it. Mainly a good eye, and a good camera.

Yep! And a good eye is more important than a good camera

 

[Casey4s]

Yep! And a good eye is more important than a good camera

This is the answer right here. ^^^^^

I took some pretty cool photos some years ago with a home made pinhole camera in a shoe box. The eye and understanding exposure is far more important than the cost of the gear.

If everyone started with a totally manual camera without flash their photography would better in the long run.

 

[08StangGT_CS]

So whats a fairly good starting camera..(at a fair price may I add?)

 

[kdesigns]

So whats a fairly good starting camera..(at a fair price may I add?)

That's like asking "what's a good mod for my Mustang?" - Too many variables. Although, personally, I would think that if you're serious about wanting to get into good photos, you should start with one of the SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras by a major brand, either Nikon (my preferrence) or Canon. An SLR will typically give you better control and more interchangeability and future growth potential.

 

[Error404]

get a base level SLR, either a new one, or a used one a few years old, and an inexpensive kit lens. That'll give you a good taste of the waters.

 

[LiLKIM]

i started with a minolta X700, and i agree....if u start with film, you will learn a lot more in the long run I think. helps you understand photography better, the concept of how to use a camera and what it does.

 

[Error404]

i started with a minolta X700, and i agree....if u start with film, you will learn a lot more in the long run I think. helps you understand photography better, the concept of how to use a camera and what it does.

Indeed! Learning on Digital isn't that bad either, if you put your mind to it. With digital, you get a more instant feedback on what exactly the settings do. I'd say a mix of both is good Since the digital SLR cameras have the same functionality as the film cameras, aperture, shutterspeed, film speed, and lenses. Learning with digital can be quick, but it's often to easy to just rely on the LCD when shooting, and not really soak up the knowledge if you don't have my mind into it.

 

[JAY86]

so since this is a photography thread.... with the recent wave of popularity of hdr work on pictures... I tried my hand at it with my limited abilities as a photographer with my Xti and tripod.
one of them was done with a trial version of photomatix.. the other with CS3 and had a black and white filter applied to it.

here is the result.... something just isn't right with my shots.... but I gave it a try! I had my white balance at 5300, aperture at F9, ISO 100 and auto bracketed at -2, 0, +2, manual focus and had evaluative metering on... any input on how I can do this better.... the photoshop tone and mapping curve was difficult to play around with to get the image to look "right".

anyhow here is what I was able to come up with my limited time toady... i wish i had more time to learn all this stuff the right way!

 

[Error404]

tone and mapping curve was difficult to play around with to get the image to look "right".

tone mapping / HDR is the problem

compositionally however, I would say to much grass, and not enough sky/house/tree. the top of the house and tree are cut off, and there is alot of excess grass in the foreground. tilt the camera up a bit, and that would do nicely I think

 

[JAY86]

tone mapping / HDR is the problem

compositionally however, I would say to much grass, and not enough sky/house/tree. the top of the house and tree are cut off, and there is alot of excess grass in the foreground. tilt the camera up a bit, and that would do nicely I think

yes I agree there isn't enough sky and stuff... but I was just playing around trying to just do a hdr image kind of thing and not really caring about the shot itself.

the hdr part that I was trying to achieve sucked too, oh well... meh... ill give it another go sometime.... what got me interested in the hdr stuff is I like doing street photography especially at night time (think Las Vegas at night time sort of stuff) and I saw some really nice hdr work done with some cloudy/night time shots.... which is why I tried.


I shall try again sometime.

thanks for the input.

 

[LiLKIM]

I agree...

The sky would add a little more to the composition of the photo, vs the boring grass. There could be some cool looking clouds up there, who knows! tilt the camera up and let us see those clouds

tone mapping / HDR is the problem

compositionally however, I would say to much grass, and not enough sky/house/tree. the top of the house and tree are cut off, and there is alot of excess grass in the foreground. tilt the camera up a bit, and that would do nicely I think

 

[JAY86]

I agree...

The sky would add a little more to the composition of the photo, vs the boring grass. There could be some cool looking clouds up there, who knows! tilt the camera up and let us see those clouds

okay-okay... I will give it another try... although I played around with hdr and tone mapping again... its super hard to get it right via photoshop.... so im a little fed up with it right now, lol.

 

[tached_out]

Trying to get a D40 for a good price so I can start.

www.adorama.com/ is where I got my D60 and a 55-175 i believe VR Lense with a bag and filters. Great prices there I bought mine refurbished with a 4 year warranty.