Photography Chat and Questions Thread

[Geddes]

I have my camera on standard or a custom monochrome setting, but only so I can see what it will look like in mono the way I edit. They only apply when you are shooting jpeg as far as I'm aware and have no effect on the raw setting but I could be wrong.

I'll have a look at your image later when I'm back on my laptop but maybe it's over edited/ wasn't properly in focus? I know I've had a few issues with mine being soft when using the ND on the 24-105, I think I knock the focus ring a bit. It looks fine on my phone though.

Chanaged it back to Standard, what doe you mean as in Soft? I know my tripod wasn't proper stable as it was on slipper rocks and had my tripod legs at funny angles to keep my legs out of the salty water. How can i send the RAW image, i cant darg and drop it in as the file is too big if i add it as a image it needs a URL??

Send me your email, see if that will work

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Soft as in not sharp, not fully in focus.
I'll fire over my email via pm, you could try sending it over that although some have file size limits.

 

[Geddes]

Soft as in not sharp, not fully in focus.
I'll fire over my email via pm, you could try sending it over that although some have file size limits.

Email sent, hopfully it won't fail sending it. Maybe it's not sharp, and maybe when i focused the shot at the bottom focus point it was pressed when the water was coming in and focused in on that and not on a static object like a rock say??

I do know now that if you have you image stabilization on that will effect the shot, i'm sure i had that turned off like

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Got the email, I'll have a look at it in a bit.
I don't have IS on. Maybe try focusing on something that will stay there, like the rock or whatever foreground interest there is.

 

[Geddes]

i think it's a little out of focus a little, due to possible tripod moved, focus point wasn't on a stable object lol and.

Just maybe the camera moved as it wasn't tight enough on the ball head as the camera was on a downward or upright angle and the weight of the camera shifted it a little. Looking over some of my pics some are out of focus. Would a more sturdier heavier tripod would counter act this as well as giving it a good tight?

 

[Geddes]

this image was taken less than a week ago and that's proper sharp is it should be i looked at image taken at a different shutter speed and it was out of focus the camera must of moved. think this was at f5.6 with the ND filter on. this was edited the same way as the other pictures was taken recently

 

[C.J]

Following on from me uploading a few photos in the other thread (they were edited), I've tried a focus test. Can I get some general feedback on focus and sharpness?

I'm using a Canon 500D with Sigma 17-55 2.8 lens.

These are straight out of the camera, no cropping/editing at all. Focus point was the '130'.
50mm @ 2.8 (live view)

50mm @ 2.8 (view finder AF center)

Then some general photos (again no editing): All shot handheld.

 

[Geddes]

As for the couple of posts by C.J and Coby iirc, i'm nto the best person to reply as i'm still learning.

I've sent a email to the "Durham Photographic Society" and got a response back of them today. I'm going to pop in a couple of times just to see what's it like every Thursday it is. I did this few years ago this is when i knew absolutely nothing on the settings and photography it wasn't for me it was far out of my depth. But now learned a few things and i think i've learned a bit of doing this beginners course that i've been going too. The DPS offers exhibitions, talks by well known and pridstgious photographers for eg Thomas Heaton is doing a talk there a week tomorrow i been in contact with him recently about some advice. Really looking forward to see him and get an autograph lol. Walks and other stuff. So it's either this or the other class as it's limited on what they offer. So this DPS is a club and i think it will open more doors for me.

Oh and i've got no job at mo, sent off an application for a job in Gateshead and it's working in a photgraphy shop lol, so keep fingers crossed

 

[Geddes]

@C.J Have to say my 500D is going down hill on the quality of the pics past couple weeks, not sure if it's down to the camera with it's age or the sun or the picture style setting. The colours just doesn't seem to be where i need it to be.

To me all those pictures look ok to me, are all the pictures took at 2.8? they all look nice and sharp. Have a look at this video, i'm following him on facebook past few months, he's really good, i've seen 70% of all his videos

 

[Yanoo]

Following on from me uploading a few photos in the other thread (they were edited), I've tried a focus test. Can I get some general feedback on focus and sharpness?

I'm using a Canon 500D with Sigma 17-55 2.8 lens.

These are straight out of the camera, no cropping/editing at all. Focus point was the '130'.
50mm @ 2.8 (live view)

50mm @ 2.8 (view finder AF center)

Then some general photos (again no editing): All shot handheld.

Focus looks right but this Sigma looks a bit soft at wide aperture (as many other lens).

 

[C.J]

I got a Sigma 50mm 1.4 at the weekend, and already I'm seeing better photos over the 17-50 2.8 I was using.

At 1.4 it's too soft, but around 2.0 it seems good. 2.8 or higher is really sharp.

I'm currently comparing the 7D mki, 7D mkii, 70D and 6D. The 6D is entry level FF, but it's the best in terms of picture quality and colour depth, but lacks a lot of features the others have (AF points, crossfocus etc). But they are all better than the 500D I'm using, technically.

It's Playtime! by Chris J, on Flickr

Shot at f2.0, handheld.

 

[Geddes]

For a little while i've been doing Full Stops on the aperture not sure how doing full stops makes a difference to just doing half stops or 1/3 stops but i been told doing it is better. full stops like, f2.8,4.0,5.6,8,11,16,22.

Your picture @C.J does look sharper like and your right very low and very high can cause little issues but getting. Getting the right Depth of Field for your shot and making sure your front to back focus is sharp is what i've been struggling on for a while, i am getting there. Someone on here said cant remember who the best aperture setting for landscape is f5.6-f11 i could be totally wrong on this

I'm in the same boat as you C.J the 6D is lacking focus points only 11 iirc and only 1 is a cross type there's no thumb stick which is a good idea. the 7D mk2 has way way more points but it's not FF, the fast fps doesn't appeal to me, the GPS and WiFi the 6D has is very uselful but they say it zaps up the battery unless you turn it off and turn it on when you need it. The 5D mk3 is the one to go for but it's way more money

 

[Geddes]

when i was down Durham practising on sunset pics the other night, after when it got darker i couldn't get a AF lock no way i could get a MF lock. Is the only way to get a good auto focus lock is when it's a bit lighter and change it to MF or is there another way of getting a AF lock in the dark? Could i try and using a torch to get a lock?

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Unless you are shooting sports, there is no need for more than the 11 focus points imo. The 7 is predominantly a sports photographers first choice camera over the 5mk2 and the 6, simply due to the focus points and the extra reach you get from the crop factor. The 5mk3 is obvious
a good choice but costs then come into it. a
The 6 is fine for focus for pretty much everything else though.

You will not focus in the dark, so either go on live view and use manual focus on some object, torch etc, or link you say, focus when it's a bit lighter.

 

[Geddes]

just seen on amazon that you need a 64bit pc to run Lightroom is this right? mine is only a 32bit windows 7 . Any advice?? Will i need to upgrade my pc to run this?

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

You should be able to get an older version of lightroom (not that different really, just slight tweaks) . Search for LR4, you should find it easy enough and you can find the serial number in youtube. It's one of the easiest programs to find and install as it doesn't dial in for the serial numbers like the other Adobe products.

If you are adamant that you will buy the yes, I think you will need to update your computer first but I do advise against buying the programme outright as the new one will be out soon enough. Look at adobe creative cloud and look at the monthly options.

 

[Geddes]

i was just literally going to order it and good job i read stuff about it. I'll leave it for a while and go from there. My pc does need upgrading and my sister wants a new poc i could give this one to her and get a new one. Money money money. It's my birthday tomorrow might treat myself lol, it is a very expensive hobby photography lol

thanks Aaron

 

[Geddes]

I've ordered a Spyder 5 Express and when it comes i'm going to re edit my favourite shots and save them to a separate folder. I'm going to try a website called Squarespace they do a free 2 week trial . Took some shot last night of Penshaw Monument at sun set and edited them and the JPEG looks horrible compared to the Photoshop picture. So looking forward and to see if they will make a difference in the photos and hoping they will.

 

[Geddes]

I've installed the Spyder and it worked. Finally the pictures come out as they suppose to now. I'm happy now. The before and after test picture you get was a difference but when general browsing you can see a big difference from before and after

 

[Geddes]

Come on people, get posting on this thread. It is an hour long video but it's defo worth watching, very help full on different aspects on photography

 

[Herr Flick]

When I use my camera, the pictures are circa 7-9mb. I need them to be upto 5mb to upload them.
What's the easiest/best way to do this??

 

[Geddes]

The only way I know off, is to go into the editing software and upload the picture and re save as a smaller file. 12 is the highest and 1 is the lowest. It tells you the file size when you save it. I'd like yo know properly. Because the photography club needs a certain size for eg 1400x1050 pixels for competitions and exhibitions. I have no idea how to do this, not sure if this can be done in Photoshop?

 

[Herr Flick]

I don't have photoshop so hoping it can just be done on a Macbook.

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

@Hans. Having a quick look, this seems ok for Mac
http://www.ironstarmedia.co.uk/resources/osx-image-resizer/

I only know the photoshop way but there should be a few online places if it's just one or two images. The one I linked says it can do batches so might be better.



@Geddes The easiest way to do what you want, in my opinion, is to create a new page in photoshop to the desired size etc and save it as a template for your camera club. Save it as a PSD somewhere too (I have a camera club folder with all of my resized images etc)
Open that blank image and copy your image into that and resize to suit. You might lose some of the original image depending how you have cropped in the first edit. Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[Geddes]

@Hans. Having a quick look, this seems ok for Mac
http://www.ironstarmedia.co.uk/resources/osx-image-resizer/

I only know the photoshop way but there should be a few online places if it's just one or two images. The one I linked says it can do batches so might be better.



@Geddes The easiest way to do what you want, in my opinion, is to create a new page in photoshop to the desired size etc and save it as a template for your camera club. Save it as a PSD somewhere too (I have a camera club folder with all of my resized images etc)
Open that blank image and copy your image into that and resize to suit. You might lose some of the original image depending how you have cropped in the first edit. Hopefully that makes sense.

Not sure what you mean about creating a new page in photoshop and templates, sorry. I know i can see a "Create" button on the very top right next to "Share" is that's where i need to be in there?

 

[Geddes]

i was out last night doing more practicing on sunsets at a decent location but struggled a bit. I didn't really know where to put the focus point, focus 1/3 into the ground and have the ground not so shadowed or focus in the sky and have the ground all dark. Been looking on YouTube and "expose for the highlights" has been mentioned. The ones where i did focus in the sky quit a few of them were burnt out a bit and there was a bit too much shadow to bring back in photoshop. And when the sun was about to go down but not gone i couldn't get any focus at all on the AF points on the ground or in the sky. Took about 50 shots from last night. Some ok ones but nothing really special. Could i not get any focus due to the APSC sensor / Lens?

What if you been shooting at one spot as the sun was going down and you could get some focus on the AF and you wanted to change location for your tripod and then you couldn't get any AF due to low light, what then?

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Use manual focus. Auto focus will not work in the dark.

As for photoshop: File>New> (when the info screen comes up, change your pixel area to 1050x1400)
Open image. Save blank image and name it Template. Whenever you need to use this, open Template and then open your preferred image as a layer. You can resize your image to suit. Save as new name.
Should be exactly the same in elements too.
Makes sense?

 

[Geddes]

done the template and re sized it to what i need Aaron, but that's as far as i've gotten. Struggling on the template bit now. I'm not very good sorry.

Someone needs to be here showing me lol

 

[Geddes]

Is there suppose to be a meteor shower tonight in the UK?

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Is there suppose to be a meteor shower tonight in the UK?

The Perseids has just started but it's not due to peak until mid August. You might get a few though if you are lucky. At its peak, you should see 50+ per hour.
I managed to get a few the other night while I was shooting a timelapse so if you have clear, dark skies it's always worth trying. Best way though is to have your camera on continuous shooting, 10-15 second exposure, high iso (3200-5000 depending on the handling capabilities), as low as you can go with your lens (f2.8 ideally but f4 is fine, you might just need a longer exposure time), infinity focus (keep lens on manual focus)

 

[Dredz06]

I've finally got myself an SLR, went for a 1200d in the end is i got it quite cheap, bought myself a 50mm 1.8 lens and have only had it 2 days but i'm loving it, got myself a copy of CS6 too but haven't a clue what to do on it haha, what do you think my next lens should be on a budget? 70 - 300mm?

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Depends how much of a budget you have.
The canon 55-250 is a cracking lens for the money. Can be had around 100 ish used, a bit more new I think.
Or wide? A sigma 10-20 is a good wide lens

 

[Geddes]

The Perseids has just started but it's not due to peak until mid August. You might get a few though if you are lucky. At its peak, you should see 50+ per hour.
I managed to get a few the other night while I was shooting a timelapse so if you have clear, dark skies it's always worth trying. Best way though is to have your camera on continuous shooting, 10-15 second exposure, high iso (3200-5000 depending on the handling capabilities), as low as you can go with your lens (f2.8 ideally but f4 is fine, you might just need a longer exposure time), infinity focus (keep lens on manual focus)

Awesome Aaron, i think i'll leave it till i'm in bonny Scotland next month with my Dad for a week round tour. Really really not sure to get a square filter kit assortment of filters for when i'm up there. So i've got an assortment for the right occasion??

Never used that setting before Aaron, just this minute had a play with the settings and the cable release and got it sussed. Will i expect a variety of different types of pics, some darker than others, i've seen some pics where they like daylight even thought it was shot in pitch dark, is this due to the moon light and lenth of the exposure?

 

[Geddes]

I've finally got myself an SLR, went for a 1200d in the end is i got it quite cheap, bought myself a 50mm 1.8 lens and have only had it 2 days but i'm loving it, got myself a copy of CS6 too but haven't a clue what to do on it haha, what do you think my next lens should be on a budget? 70 - 300mm?

very nice Dredz and seen some of your dogs pics on flickr with your new camera and lens

 

[Dredz06]

very nice Dredz and seen some of your dogs pics on flickr with your new camera and lens

They're only with my bridge them Geddes, I've not got around to posting any of him with the 1200d yet, Yeah @Aaron... i was looking at a 55-250mm aswell as the 70-300mm im too much of a noob to know what the difference is

 

[Geddes]

I'm setting up a Squarespace website today and i'm wondering do i need to upload the pictures high resolution or medium to low resolution? And also i presume i need to remove the watermark yeah?

 

[Geddes]

if your into landscape photography these videos are defo worth a watch. 2 of them are behind the scenes.



there's one more to follow soon. I REALLY NEED TO GO TO ICELAND

 

[JJ!]

I'm back on the photography bug!!

Out with the old and in with the new!!

 

[Geddes]

Here is episode 3,


also, i see nothing has popped up for a photography meet. either we get the ball rolling or it's just pissing in the wind

 

[C.J]

Those vids look interesting @Geddes , where's the actual tutorials? I'm assuming paid for (I didn't watch until the end of each vid).