The Photography thread!

[90 50]

@boingyman I feel you.

In the beginning the paid work feels great, now it feels like a chore. I kinda stopped enjoying photography and videography because of that. Some weeks I had to pump edit 7 to 20 videos, film maybe 2 nights of gigs and I just worked on autopilot.

I absolutely hate weddings, most of the work I do is nightlife, sports or corporate, and it has to pay well or I stick to my other ventures.

Gear... I'm a hustler... constantly buying and selling. Started with a Sony Nex 3, then bought a Sony Nex 5, then a Panasonic GH2 (that's where shit got real), Sony A77, Panasonic G3, Panasonic G5, Panasonic G6, Panasonic GF7, Panasonic GX800, Panasonic GM1, Pentax Q, Panasonic G7, Panasonic GF2, Panasonic G80, Panasonic G9, Panasonic GX80, Canon C100, Canon M50, Fuji XT series...

Camera elitism is bullshit, but very present. Had a old guy with a Nikon D5 make fun of one of my friends as he shoots on a Canon 80d and "Canon was for amateurs". When I saw his photos, it was clear that he was the amateur and hadn't mastered his gear. I shot a lot of paid work on my Panasonic GF7 after I lost nearly everything in a separation with my ex and never had one client complain.

Currently shooting with a Canon 7d mark 1 (still a monster), Canon 5d mark 3, Panasonic GM1 and a Sony A6000. Still kinda want to buy the Sony a7s2 or the Blackmagic Pocket 4k.

The scene annoys me more than anything, I’m a life long photographer, I’ll post my “bio “ here in a minute.

The gear elitists Piss me off, they spend more time trying to figure out which gear is the best and no time on learning what makes a good photo.

To prove a point a few years back on one of the photography groups I was in I entered in one of the photo contests.

It was a nature themed contest and that’s primarily what I do so I was confident.

I dug my d80 and 70-300 af-D out of the closet and went out and shot.

I won the contest , in a group of people arguing which newest camera and lens was the best <45>

 

[moreorless87]

-Got turned off by a lot of various things in photography. Was really into landscape until I realized it wasn't for me and that I started to look like every other landscape photographer. It hit me when I was at the keyhole arch on Pfeiffer Beach. There was hundreds of photographers lined up to take the same shot. I knew then that this wasn't for me. I also got annoyed by the online behaviors of photography communities. Arguing about gear, circle jerking each other on photo sharing websites. Even I got sucked into that for a little bit at one point. It could be because I thrive more on raw feedback, whether negative or not. I want the truth. I'm also a photography snob and my worse critic. I think 80% of the work out there suck, 15% are either medicore or unoriginal and 5% that is good or even exceptional..

I'd agree with you here, landscape shooting communities online can at points he pretty bad. Most obviously as you say is that they tend to be bound up with people who are obsessed with gear above everything else, its the midlife crisis of photography genres. I mean theres obviously arguments for various kinds of equipment and landscape especially is often aiming for as great a resolution as possible but if its taking presidence over learning to take and edit pictures then its largely pointless. Personally I started off taking holiday pictures with an old Canon 8 MP compact during the 00's, got a 550D canon and a few lenses in 2011 then found myself unemployed and desided to give taking landscapes a go professionally and got a Nikon D800, since updated to a D850 last year.

The obsession with popular locations does end up being quite limiting, tied into the gear obcession I think its an attempt tp reduce photography to a craft, following some set path to recreating someone elses image. I do a fair bit of travel but tend to avoid trying to take the standard shot, most of my work is local(which is always the best bet for selling landscapes IMHO) in a quite picturesque area of countryside in the south west of England but nothing instantly eye catching. I tend to much preffer being in decent locations in interesting light/weather and see what presents itself rather than trying to force a certain shot. For images from viewpoints especially I find the sky is really what provides variety, even if you've been somewhere 1000 times before a certain cloud formation or light coming though it will potentially offer something new.

Also I tend to agree with you that online communities are often not very good places for decent advice, again landscape can be an especially bad offender. Typically the kind of people looking to hand out criticism are those who could probably do with listening to it and they tend to push everything towards conformity. I would say as well that the net generally is often not a great guide to what will actually sell as well, its always biased IMHO towards simple striking compositions that stand out on small sizes and are viewed for short lengths of time, what people actually put money down for and hang on the wall though is often something more complex and subtle.

If you want a gear list....

Nikon D800, D850, F2

Zooms: Nikon 16-35mm VR, Tamron 24-70mm VC, Nikon 70-300mm VR

Primes: Voightlander 20mm Pancake, Voightlander 40mm Pancake, Sigma 35mm F/1.4, Zeiss 50mm F/2 Makro, Nikon 105mm F/2 DC, Nikon 300mm F/2.8

 

[bubbleboyjones]

The scene annoys me more than anything, I’m a life long photographer, I’ll post my “bio “ here in a minute.

The gear elitists Piss me off, they spend more time trying to figure out which gear is the best and no time on learning what makes a good photo.

To prove a point a few years back on one of the photography groups I was in I entered in one of the photo contests.

It was a nature themed contest and that’s primarily what I do so I was confident.

I dug my d80 and 70-300 af-D out of the closet and went out and shot.

I won the contest , in a group of people arguing which newest camera and lens was the best <45>

Makes me think of the following; "amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about money, masters worry about light, I just take pictures..."
- Vernon Trent

Note im an amateur but I try and remember this when geeking out on a DXO score.

 

[90 50]

Ok, here is a brief story of my photography beginning. To write the whole story would take considerable time.

So here it goes.

My Dad bought a new camera and got the Nikon FG, and we started collecting lenses.

We would take family trips to the park, and zoo’s etc and I was quickly becoming the “equipment gear mule”

After sometime i got my first, a used Nikon EM and a 50 1.8 e, so I could take some pictures too like dad.

We got into Bird in flight photography, primarily ducks. There was some contest in the early 80’s for frozen duck wing in landing or something pictures. I’d have to ask my dad exactly what the contest was a Again, but it was a big deal at the time.

This started driving all the faster lenses, faster films and faster shutter speeds in the camera wars, later came the AF race.

Anyway, that’s where I Started In like 1982, with a focus on Bird in flight.

Still to this day, bird in flight is still my favorite type of photography, I like the challenge.

Today’s equipment is making it much easier now however.

My newest camera is a d3300 but I only bought it for video, to go along side my go pro’s.

The camera i shoot with the most is my Nikon D3, ancient by today’s standards but I don’t normally print larger than 20x30, and for what I do it’s fine for that.

I like it for the speed, it’s a tank and you can throw it off a mountain and it will still work when you climb down to get it.

 

[moreorless87]

"amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about money, masters worry about light, I just take pictures..."
- Vernon Trent

"'When bankers get together for dinner they discuss art. When artists get together for dinner they discuss karate/money'" - Oscar wilde.

 

[TheLinguist]

Flickr is a pain in the ass to go to and load photos from it to a website. So much so I stopped using it and even forgot my log in and user name.

The photobucket debacle has killed my photography uploading.

Have you tried imgbb? Seems ok for me or maybe c+p from instagram?

 

[90 50]

Have you tried imgbb? Seems ok for me or maybe c+p from instagram?

I don’t know what imgbb is? And no instagram for me.

I’m not really a social media type.

Edit: imgbb terms of service say not to host there and link onther places.

So me uploading a photo there, and posting it here violates there term of service.

 

[90 50]

Test

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[Oogie Sharp]

I took this with my drone last week, though I had to lower the quality so I can upload it here, pictures with the drone are so much fun, I have the DJI Mavic Air btw
View attachment 643709

God damn that's paradise (except for the hurricanes). Would love to own one of those top floor condos, looking out at that view every day.

What's the logistics involved with flying these drones? Can you just fly them when you want or do you have to notify the FAA or whatever to reserve the airspace or notify them of your plans in case a helicopter/small plane happens to be flying in that area at the same time?

 

[Liquid Smoke]

Test

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Stupid thing gave me Audrey, Maximus and Taylor. No joke...

 

[Satanical Eve]

Took this photo two years ago from my window during a massive thunderstorm. This was taken with my Galaxy S7 Edge Smart Phone

 

[Estemachine]

God damn that's paradise (except for the hurricanes). Would love to own one of those top floor condos, looking out at that view every day.

What's the logistics involved with flying these drones? Can you just fly them when you want or do you have to notify the FAA or whatever to reserve the airspace or notify them of your plans in case a helicopter/small plane happens to be flying in that area at the same time?

You can fly it out whenever you want, you are not supposed to record within a 5 mile range from airports though, but you can over write it and fly
it anyways.

It's always a lot of fun to fly though, I feel I've only scratched the surface though.

 

[aerius]

These were from a few years ago when I had more time to wander around town with my camera.
I think they were from my Olympus Pen FT but I'd have to check the negatives to be sure.

 

[rj144]

Test

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Just copy the image:

 

[rj144]

You can it fly out whenever you want, you are not supposed to record within a 5 mile range from airports though, but you can over write it and fly
it anyways.

It's always a lot of fun to fly though, I feel I've only scratched the surface though.

You can't override it within a mile or so of an airport though.

 

[rj144]

I like playing around with these glass spheres too:

 

[rj144]

D850 with a 4 TB external drive for $2800:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...html/SID/ec18c94cd82b11e9abea8230a98a46550INT

 

[astrozician]

I’ve looked into some and the adapters for my Nikon dslr’s but never pulled the trigger.
My 400 2.8 with a 2x tele is what I used to do most of my moon shots with

That's some expensive glass! I'd love to see one of your moon pics, if you could, please.

I'd recommend getting a T-ring and T-adapter and you should be able to interface with any telescope, but you already have some very impressive glass.

 

[rj144]

I’ve looked into some and the adapters for my Nikon dslr’s but never pulled the trigger.

My 400 2.8 with a 2x tele is what I used to do most of my moon shots with

You have one of these?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1052083-REG/nikon_2217_af_s_nikkor_400mm_f_2_8e.html

$12k?

 

[Plutoburn]

A picturesque lighthouse in Nova Scotia I visited around two months ago. Taken with Sony RX100 IV