The Photography thread!

[moreorless87]

You can tell when someone is just learning and they start applying rule of thirds to everything.....

I'd say its moreso how its used. a really obvious fashion with the horizon 2/3rds of the way up each image and a tree 1/3 or 2/3rds of the way across every image quickly becomes rather dull if there isn't anything else involved. I find its moreso over the years moving towards using it in a more subtle and complex fashion, including multiple less obvious elements that match those lines as well of course as mixing in other compositional styles. In that fashion you can often have images that don't look overly composed(although this suits some subjects IMHO) yet do actually depend a lot on compositional tools.

This shot quote obvious composed with the tree 1/3 of the way acrosss but hopefully not with the intension of that being the main visual interest to the image.

Nice set! How much was the Voigtlander?

The older pancake version used was £220 with a bit of shoping around, I picked up that to go with a 20mm Voightlander(around the same price) as a lightweight setup alternative to my larger zooms with one on the camera and the other in my pocket.

There are some tradeoffs for the small size such as light dropoff and purple fringing on very high contrast objects(such as shiney metal) wide open and limited macro ability but I don't find they effect my use of it much. In the centre/mid frame its very sharp wide open and honestly I preffer a bit of light dropoff for the kinds of shots I'm taking at F/2 normally looking to emphasize something.

Very well built indeed(just as well as Zeiss lenses which are also made by Cosina most of the time) which again helps with a small overall package you don't need to be as careful with and in having a lens in your pocket.

 

[TheLinguist]

I'd say its moreso how its used. a really obvious fashion with the horizon 2/3rds of the way up each image and a tree 1/3 or 2/3rds of the way across every image quickly becomes rather dull if there isn't anything else involved. I find its moreso over the years moving towards using it in a more subtle and complex fashion, including multiple less obvious elements that match those lines as well of course as mixing in other compositional styles. In that fashion you can often have images that don't look overly composed(although this suits some subjects IMHO) yet do actually depend a lot on compositional tools.

This shot quote obvious composed with the tree 1/3 of the way acrosss but hopefully not with the intension of that being the main visual interest to the image.

The older pancake version used was £220 with a bit of shoping around, I picked up that to go with a 20mm Voightlander(around the same price) as a lightweight setup alternative to my larger zooms with one on the camera and the other in my pocket.

There are some tradeoffs for the small size such as light dropoff and purple fringing on very high contrast objects(such as shiney metal) wide open and limited macro ability but I don't find they effect my use of it much. In the centre/mid frame its very sharp wide open and honestly I preffer a bit of light dropoff for the kinds of shots I'm taking at F/2 normally looking to emphasize something.

Very well built indeed(just as well as Zeiss lenses which are also made by Cosina most of the time) which again helps with a small overall package you don't need to be as careful with and in having a lens in your pocket.

Can always shoot to crop anyway, VL have so many interesting lenses

 

[moreorless87]

Can always shoot to crop anyway, VL have so many interesting lenses

Again there made by the same people as the manual Zeiss primes, Cosina leasing the names to use in both cases.

I would suggest if you are interested look to buy sooner rather than later with the discontinued releases as they seem to be increasing in price, especially the 20mm, That's actually a very good option if you don't shoot a ton of ultra wide images but want something small to take on trips, not amazing wide open but excellent at F/8 where your likely to use it most of the time.

I tried the new Nikon Z cameras last year and whilst they handled better than the Sony's(and would have made adapting lenses much easier for me) I still just found the grips/controls too small. For a smaller overall package I get on much better with a larger camera but smaller lenses as its the latter than can make things a bit more unwieldy IMHO.

 

[TheLinguist]

Again there made by the same people as the manual Zeiss primes, Cosina leasing the names to use in both cases.

I would suggest if you are interested look to buy sooner rather than later with the discontinued releases as they seem to be increasing in price, especially the 20mm, That's actually a very good option if you don't shoot a ton of ultra wide images but want something small to take on trips, not amazing wide open but excellent at F/8 where your likely to use it most of the time.

I tried the new Nikon Z cameras last year and whilst they handled better than the Sony's(and would have made adapting lenses much easier for me) I still just found the grips/controls too small. For a smaller overall package I get on much better with a larger camera but smaller lenses as its the latter than can make things a bit more unwieldy IMHO.

Nice advice, thanks.

I have also tried Nikon Z and Canon R for a few weeks, not impressed although the RF mount already has ridiculous lenses but unfortunately at ridiculous prices lol

I’m fine with my current 5D IV haha

 

[Danger Dave]

I took these last night

whoa sherdog has a strick policy against porn.

 

[moreorless87]

Nice advice, thanks.

I have also tried Nikon Z and Canon R for a few weeks, not impressed although the RF mount already has ridiculous lenses but unfortunately at ridiculous prices lol

I’m fine with my current 5D IV haha

Canon seems to be going for the eye catching releases but massive lenses at massive prices doesn't seem like its going to have a large scale appeal to me, better to try and get core lenses out faster.

Honestly as well I still preffer an optical viewfinder, an electronic one might give you a preview but it doesn't have the dynamic range, shooting landscape often I want to see into deep shadows that I'm going to lighten in post processing. Battery life is much better as well which is useful for travel, a single charge can last a week if your careful.

 

[TheLinguist]

Canon seems to be going for the eye catching releases but massive lenses at massive prices doesn't seem like its going to have a large scale appeal to me, better to try and get core lenses out faster.

Honestly as well I still preffer an optical viewfinder, an electronic one might give you a preview but it doesn't have the dynamic range, shooting landscape often I want to see into deep shadows that I'm going to lighten in post processing. Battery life is much better as well which is useful for travel, a single charge can last a week if your careful.

Canon strategy seems wrong to me.

Release wicked lenses, crazy price tag

Release ML camera, mediocre at best

Sony are so far ahead it’s insane.

Rumor is next year is a new body coming with high megapixels and 2021 the ML answer to the 1dx ii.

Like I said I’m happy where I am, my lens selection just needs a 100-400 ii and I’m all set.

 

[rj144]

Canon seems to be going for the eye catching releases but massive lenses at massive prices doesn't seem like its going to have a large scale appeal to me, better to try and get core lenses out faster.

Honestly as well I still preffer an optical viewfinder, an electronic one might give you a preview but it doesn't have the dynamic range, shooting landscape often I want to see into deep shadows that I'm going to lighten in post processing. Battery life is much better as well which is useful for travel, a single charge can last a week if your careful.

I've used Nikons my whole life: D70s, D200, D300s and then D750. Like them a lot and still have the D750.

But last summer, I got the a7iii with the intention of using it to shoot primarily quality 4k video. But, I absolutely love that camera for everything now including pictures. The battery life is actually really good. It's very close to the D750.

I use both still, but I use the a7iii more often now. (And the Merrill and IR converted Ricoh I got this summer.)

 

[moreorless87]

Canon strategy seems wrong to me.

Release wicked lenses, crazy price tag

Release ML camera, mediocre at best

Sony are so far ahead it’s insane.

Rumor is next year is a new body coming with high megapixels and 2021 the ML answer to the 1dx ii.

Like I said I’m happy where I am, my lens selection just needs a 100-400 ii and I’m all set.

Honestly Nikon's tactics seem to make more sense for actual photography, F/4 zoom lenses and F/1.8 primes that are small enough to actually match with the cameras. What you could say I spose is that its not the most eye catching and the mirrorless market tends more towards gearhead buyers(not to characterise everyone of course).

Again for me the large body/small lens setup works well, maybe because I'v got large hands(especially shooting with gloves on) but if you go beyond really small pocketable cameras I personally find if size becomes inconvenient its much more lens than bodies, sticking out in front of you and weighing forward plus harder to fit into bag or a car glove box.

Honestly even for me selling landscape prints I think were reaching the "enough" level of megapixels at 45, that gives a pretty much perfect 30x20 inch print and allows for significant cropping at sizes below that.

 

[MMA since 1993]

What site are you guys using for hosting?

I tried using imgur but for some reason it gives me an error every time i try to upload anything from my phone.

 

[TheLinguist]

What site are you guys using for hosting?

I tried using imgur but for some reason it gives me an error every time i try to upload anything from my phone.

I use imgbb.com

You could also try Flickr

 

[TheLinguist]

Honestly Nikon's tactics seem to make more sense for actual photography, F/4 zoom lenses and F/1.8 primes that are small enough to actually match with the cameras. What you could say I spose is that its not the most eye catching and the mirrorless market tends more towards gearhead buyers(not to characterise everyone of course).

Again for me the large body/small lens setup works well, maybe because I'v got large hands(especially shooting with gloves on) but if you go beyond really small pocketable cameras I personally find if size becomes inconvenient its much more lens than bodies, sticking out in front of you and weighing forward plus harder to fit into bag or a car glove box.

Honestly even for me selling landscape prints I think were reaching the "enough" level of megapixels at 45, that gives a pretty much perfect 30x20 inch print and allows for significant cropping at sizes below that.

Can’t disagree, large bodies and a few lenses for travel don’t bother me and I have a wife and daughter, I think the a7r iii is a fantastic body and the gm lenses are nice. Very portable

 

[MMA since 1993]

I use imgbb.com

You could also try Flickr

Thanks man.

 

[TheLinguist]

Thanks man.

Anytime

 

[rj144]

I'd say its moreso how its used. a really obvious fashion with the horizon 2/3rds of the way up each image and a tree 1/3 or 2/3rds of the way across every image quickly becomes rather dull if there isn't anything else involved. I find its moreso over the years moving towards using it in a more subtle and complex fashion, including multiple less obvious elements that match those lines as well of course as mixing in other compositional styles. In that fashion you can often have images that don't look overly composed(although this suits some subjects IMHO) yet do actually depend a lot on compositional tools.

This shot quote obvious composed with the tree 1/3 of the way acrosss but hopefully not with the intension of that being the main visual interest to the image.

The older pancake version used was £220 with a bit of shoping around, I picked up that to go with a 20mm Voightlander(around the same price) as a lightweight setup alternative to my larger zooms with one on the camera and the other in my pocket.

There are some tradeoffs for the small size such as light dropoff and purple fringing on very high contrast objects(such as shiney metal) wide open and limited macro ability but I don't find they effect my use of it much. In the centre/mid frame its very sharp wide open and honestly I preffer a bit of light dropoff for the kinds of shots I'm taking at F/2 normally looking to emphasize something.

Very well built indeed(just as well as Zeiss lenses which are also made by Cosina most of the time) which again helps with a small overall package you don't need to be as careful with and in having a lens in your pocket.

Rule of thirds is put out there, I think, to get newbs to look for better ways of framing an image. In general, it does make a picture stand out better, however.

In the end, though, it's all about what you're trying to present. Sometimes, you want something to be a more static shot... like my swan pic I posted in this thread with my first digital camera. I don't want anything dramatic with that pic so centered worked best. Sometimes, the sky is dramatic, so you want 2/3 of your image to be the sky and the bottom third to be the landscape.

It just depends on the photo.

 

[moreorless87]

Rule of thirds is put out there, I think, to get newbs to look for better ways of framing an image. In general, it does make a picture stand out better, however.

In the end, though, it's all about what you're trying to present. Sometimes, you want something to be a more static shot... like my swan pic I posted in this thread with my first digital camera. I don't want anything dramatic with that pic so centered worked best. Sometimes, the sky is dramatic, so you want 2/3 of your image to be the sky and the bottom third to be the landscape.

It just depends on the photo.

Everyone has to start somewhere, photography(landscape photography especially) more than anything else is IMHO about developing taste and hopefully merging more compositional elements together.

Editing your work can definitely be a two edged sword as well, everyone tends to start out like Spinal Tap turning everything to 11 but it takes time to understand what actually makes an image effective. The idea for example that contrast reducing with distance will help give dimensionality to your picture is something that's often ignored early on, people make universal adjustments and end up with images that look flat. Often I end up doing the reverse looking to heighten that receding contrast, so turn it up in the forground but diminish it in the distance.

You can also work that into your composition, with B&W especially it can often help to emphasize the shapes that drive the composition at the expense of those which do not by increasing their contrast. That image of the cows for example that dark sections of the clouds have had their contrast pushed more than the rest of the sky, actually about half a dozen different localised edits altering contrast and brightness by different amounts.

 

[boingyman]

Do you think it's a good idea that we maybe share a little bit about ourselves in relation to photography? I think it may good to know peoples background. Heck even though I hate talking about gear it could be good to share what gear people use. If I have time later today I could start it off.

 

[fdswer]

It's different, but I think it's too dark. I can't tell what that is.

Maybe bump the exposure a stop or two?

Yeah I made the bottom one brighter already it's a old edit. Had been sitting in the same place for days and was bored the same shit so tried something new and I think it worked out pretty good.

 

[astrozician]

I've been getting back into astrophotography, bit by bit. In fact my avatar is a picture I took myself of the Orion Nebula. This is prime focus through my telescope (1000mm F/5) featuring the apparent sizes of the moon, Jupiter (bottom right), and Saturn (top right). I edited the picture to position the planets near the moon, but the image scale is true. In terms of seeing (stillness/clarity of the atmosphere) this was a terrible night.

 

[Drain Bamage]

Got my eye on this guy: