PHOTO COMPETITION — COMMENTS THREAD

Bridgehouse

skullfunkerry said:

Bridgehouse said:

skullfunkerry said:

Bridgehouse said:

That was a tough one. No parks near me. Then I realised I lived on Park Lane - how ironic as there’s no park here.

Turns out the Park is the farm up the road. You pretty much don’t see a single soul up there when I take the dogs for a walk. And a rather dishevelled vegetable truck had appeared...

It was an Olympus XA2 shot on Kodak colorplus 200 and processes in Cinestill dev+blix. Digitised using a Nikon Z7 and processed in lightroom

I've found it hard this week too. Went out this afternoon and wandered around in Shoeburyness, as I had a couple of ideas. Ended up going through them with my wife and she helped me choose the one to submit. Now that I've done it though, I can see that it's a little under-exposed and the colours all look a bit lifeless...

Oh well, the whole point of this is to learn, isn't it?

Just had a look at your pic in Lightroom @skullfunkerry (if you don't mind!) - great picture..

I really like the atmosphere of the version you've posted. If anything, it's maybe 2/3 stop underexposed. There's some highlight and shadow detail to be had there as well, but to be honest I'm not sure it is actually better with it revealed - the only difference is the colours of the graffiti pop a bit more...

My go:

I don't mind at all! I prefer your edit, tbh.

I think I've got my camera set to underexpose by 1/3 of a stop... I think that's something to do with something my sister-in-law told me she'd learned on a photography course. Might have to revisit that. I still struggle with ISO, I never really know what to set that to, and I find that if I'm shooting in Aperture priority I tend to use minimum or maximum aperture, never anything in between. I tried taking a few photos today and then taking them again in Auto, to see what settings the camera had chosen. For the landscapes and things I tended to find that the camera chose a much lower ISO than me, and a slightly smaller aperture...

Here’s a workflow for you to try:

Start at base ISO (100?) 
In aperture priority mode, assess how much of your shot you want in focus - if you want to isolate the subject go wide open, if you want to get as much in focus as possible then stop down until the shutter speed is just slightly greater than the focal length. So, let’s say you are shooting at f11 and the focal length of your lens is 50mm - you want a shutter speed of 1/60 or more (to stop motion blur from the shakes!)
If the shutter speed is slower than your focal length, bump up the ISO until it is faster - this will help with the relationship between each setting

skullfunkerry

Bridgehouse said:

Here’s a workflow for you to try:

Start at base ISO (100?) 
In aperture priority mode, assess how much of your shot you want in focus - if you want to isolate the subject go wide open, if you want to get as much in focus as possible then stop down until the shutter speed is just slightly greater than the focal length. So, let’s say you are shooting at f11 and the focal length of your lens is 50mm - you want a shutter speed of 1/60 or more (to stop motion blur from the shakes!)
If the shutter speed is slower than your focal length, bump up the ISO until it is - this will help with the relationship between each setting

I'll give that a go, thank you

Bridgehouse

skullfunkerry said:

Bridgehouse said:

Here’s a workflow for you to try:

Start at base ISO (100?) 
In aperture priority mode, assess how much of your shot you want in focus - if you want to isolate the subject go wide open, if you want to get as much in focus as possible then stop down until the shutter speed is just slightly greater than the focal length. So, let’s say you are shooting at f11 and the focal length of your lens is 50mm - you want a shutter speed of 1/60 or more (to stop motion blur from the shakes!)
If the shutter speed is slower than your focal length, bump up the ISO until it is - this will help with the relationship between each setting

I'll give that a go, thank you

No worries at all - one of the joys of photography for me is experimenting!!

Fretwired

It's called the Halloween tree ... a nod to the Sleepy Hollow film.

Olympus E-M10 Mark III 1/1600 sec. f/9 25 mm, ISO 200. I used a b&w effect on the camera and a little post-processing to create a spooky pic.

Bridgehouse

Fretwired said:

It's called the Halloween tree ... a nod to the Sleepy Hollow film.

Olympus E-M10 Mark III 1/1600 sec. f/9 25 mm, ISO 200. I used a b&w effect on the camera and a little post-processing to create a spooky pic.

I see you are making good use of that new camera already @Fretwired  

stickyfiddle

I don’t often name my images but this seemed quite clear - “No fishing”.

Spotted in a park in Fukuoka last week. Lucky enough to be on holiday while the challenge window was open, I had a couple of other shots i had in mind but when this presented itself it was too good to miss.

Fuji X-T3, 35mm/f1.4 lens. ISO160, f1.4, 1/8000



Full thread for the rest of my Japan set to follow once I’ve finished sorting & processing...

stickyfiddle

@skullfunkerry the underexpose by 1/3 of a stop advice is probably intended to encourage “exposing for highlights”. That basically just means setting your exposure so that none of your highlights are blown out, as once you get to post processing, you can usually recover more from dark shadows than you can from overblown bright bits. 

I’m not sure what camera you’re using, but this is part of why I love my Fujis so much, as they let you have a real-time histogram right there in the viewfinder, and I can use that to dial in the right amount of exposure compensation to get everything as bright as possible while ensuring I’m never overexposing to the point of losing any detail at the bright end.

poopot

Bridgehouse said:

Can we ban @poopot from entering for being a smartarse?

Not sure about “smart”...

skullfunkerry

stickyfiddle said:

@skullfunkerry the underexpose by 1/3 of a stop advice is probably intended to encourage “exposing for highlights”. That basically just means setting your exposure so that none of your highlights are blown out, as once you get to post processing, you can usually recover more from dark shadows than you can from overblown bright bits. 

I’m not sure what camera you’re using, but this is part of why I love my Fujis so much, as they let you have a real-time histogram right there in the viewfinder, and I can use that to dial in the right amount of exposure compensation to get everything as bright as possible while ensuring I’m never overexposing to the point of losing any detail at the bright end.

It's a Fujifilm X-T20. I haven't got to grips with the histogram yet...

stickyfiddle

skullfunkerry said:

stickyfiddle said:

@skullfunkerry the underexpose by 1/3 of a stop advice is probably intended to encourage “exposing for highlights”. That basically just means setting your exposure so that none of your highlights are blown out, as once you get to post processing, you can usually recover more from dark shadows than you can from overblown bright bits. 

I’m not sure what camera you’re using, but this is part of why I love my Fujis so much, as they let you have a real-time histogram right there in the viewfinder, and I can use that to dial in the right amount of exposure compensation to get everything as bright as possible while ensuring I’m never overexposing to the point of losing any detail at the bright end.

It's a Fujifilm X-T20. I haven't got to grips with the histogram yet...

Fab. Happy to give more detailed help if useful! Once you're more used to it, you'll find Fujis tend to have a fairly incredible ability to recover shadows (i.e. stuff that looks too dark straight from the camera). 

TBH, I wouldn't worry too much about it immediately. Composition and getting your other settings right for the creative bit (that is the correct aperture and shutter speed for the bokeh & motion blur you want to achieve) is more important when you're learning. Then once you have those mastered you can worry about fine detail like precise exposure. But the camera's in-built tools will help you plenty when you get there

poopot

Couple of things:

use the camera with manual exposure you’ll have more control.

take a light reading from something grey - a pavement is ideal, or something green (grass is good for this)... expose for that and you can’t go wrong.

composition wise - go and buy “pictures on a page” by Harold Evans?... every photographer/editor should read that!...

stickyfiddle

poopot said:

Couple of things:

use the camera with manual exposure you’ll have more control.

take a light reading from something grey - a pavement is ideal, or something green (grass is good for this)... expose for that and you can’t go wrong.

composition wise - go and buy “pictures on a page” by Harold Evans?... every photographer/editor should read that!...

Learning "full manual" is generally good advice for photography overall, but I'd actually say one of the key benefits of Fujis is you don't need to do actually use it if you don't want to. I typically have aperture set to manual all the time, ISO almost always set to auto, and shutter speed either manual or auto depending on whether I specifically want to control it. I then use the exposure comp dial to tell the camera to give me more or less light overall via whichever mechanisms I've set to auto. 

YMMV and obviously it's still very important to understand what is happening to get to the exposure you want, but don't feel bad if you find you're happy on aperture priority. Lots of folks on photography forums get rather unecessarily judgemental about it (among other things!)

dazzajl

Small minded, narrow sighted, uncreative, judgemental and nasty gear collectors are what drove me away from Photography forums. 

If you see shots in your mind that you’re unable to translate through your camera, then learning more about how your camera works and why is definitely the next step for you. If you’re happy keeping the camera on Idiots Auto and pointing it at stuff you like, then more power to you. 

I’m a working snapper and how my images are made is about the only thing in life I get precious about. I still stick a camera on full auto all the time if I’m grab shooting and don’t have a finished image in mind. 

Also, some of the people who’s photos I love the most have no idea what the camera is doing, they simply have a fantastic eye for balance and composition. These are the great photographers to me. 

skullfunkerry

These last few posts from @Bridgehouse, @Jimbro66, ; @poopot, @stickyfiddle and @dazzajl have been friendlier and more helpful than pretty much anything I read on the photography forums I tried! Thanks chaps

boogieman

skullfunkerry said:

These last few posts from @Bridgehouse, @Jimbro66, ; @poopot, @stickyfiddle and @dazzajl have been friendlier and more helpful than pretty much anything I read on the photography forums I tried! Thanks chaps

The problem I’ve found with photo forums is everyone’s an expert (in their own mind). There’s also an awful lot of gear snobbery.
 

I don’t have a problem with people putting the camera into full auto mode and just snapping away either. A great shot is a great shot, it doesn’t really matter how it was taken. Get used to handling the camera, learn how to compose shots, try shooting things from lots of angles, break the rules, just see what works for you. I think the best advice I was given by a pro photographer was “don’t walk away from a subject until you’ve exhausted all the possibilities”. 

Bridgehouse

Nowt wrong with full auto - some of my all time favourite cameras are auto only. Olympus Trip 35 for instance.

I totally agree with the view that technically understanding how every facet of a camera works inside out and having an opinion about its usage in photography doesn’t make a good photographer, nor does is guarantee any decent pictures at all..

skullfunkerry

Here's another question: looking through the photos thread it looks like most people shoot in 4:3... what are everyone's thoughts on 16:9? (Or am I overthinking this?)

stickyfiddle

skullfunkerry said:

Here's another question: looking through the photos thread it looks like most people shoot in 4:3... what are everyone's thoughts on 16:9? (Or am I overthinking this?)

Absolutely fine imo! Lots of people either don’t crop or at least don’t think about aspect ratio when cropping and stick with the default. I use 16:9 a lot, even 2:1 on occasion. I’m a fan of 4x5 and square when appropriate too. 

Bridgehouse

skullfunkerry said:

Here's another question: looking through the photos thread it looks like most people shoot in 4:3... what are everyone's thoughts on 16:9? (Or am I overthinking this?)

Crop for what you think suits the image. Don’t listen to anyone’s bs about it - do what you want - it’s art and you are in control. 

FWIW I like square sometimes and I like 16:9 for panoramas and landscapes

Jimbro66

skullfunkerry said:

Here's another question: looking through the photos thread it looks like most people shoot in 4:3... what are everyone's thoughts on 16:9? (Or am I overthinking this?)

4:3 is the Olympus and Panasonic standard. Most other cameras use the older 3:2 format.

If you shoot in 16:9 format you are effectively cutting off large slices of your camera’s sensor and reducing resolution. If you want panoramic shots it is better to take a few pictures and stitch them together using editing software or some cameras have the built-In facility to do that. To get good panoramas though you will need a tripod.