Photography - Technique and Equipment considerations

[CJ]

CJ, since I doubt I will upgrade to dSLR (to have to learn to use properly), what would be your opinion on the Canon SX10IS--the one with the 'super zoom'...??

Oh, and can you come out this way and teach me how to use it to its full potential? I've read books now, and know a bunch in theory... but doing is quite different...!!!

On the basis of this review http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/S ... X10ISA.HTM I would say there will be very little you would want to do that the camera would not be capable of, it looks like a good camera from a good manufacturer. Almost definitely a very good buy.

Regards tutoring I would be delighted

[CJ]

Red eye ,well to be honest green eye cos it's mostly on dog pictures .There are lots of programs to remove red-eye from pics but they don't work on green-eye ,If I could use a negative image would they work? then I could take a negative of that image ,
and fill in the white pupils with black which is a much easier selection .?

or am I being insane and should practice more retouching ?

Select the area of the green eye and take the colour out and you may well be satisfied with the result.

[CJ]

I have a photographical question of a very thorny nature and it is this - how do I persuade the good Lady Huxley to let me spend an immodest amount of money on a digital SLR and convince her it was her own idea into the bargain.

And just what the blithering blue blazes IS an f-stop. And all these bloody ISO numbers - they make my whiskers ache.

Lenses have a focal length, say for example 100mm. This means that they behave like a simple lens and will bring an image into focus 100mm behind the lens. If the element at the front of the lens had a diameter of 50mm the focal length divided by the diameter would be 100/50 or 2 so that would be a lens with a maximum aperture of f2. So the f-stop is a ratio between the focal length of the lens and it's working diameter.

A camera has a shutter which can open and close for different lengths of time, the shutter speed. 1/1000 of a second is a fast shutter speed 1/60th a slow shutter speed.

Film has a sensitivity called it's ISO or ASA value, 800ASA would be sensitive requiring less light than say 100ASA to produce an image.

These 3 factors, f-stop, shutter speed and ISO are used to control exposure. Correct exposure is when black and white appear black and white (rather than shades of grey) in the final image.

NOTE. Tell your wife that the new camera has built in airbrushing and will therefore never take a bad picture of her.

[klr]

A couple of useful review/information sites:

http://www.dpreview.com/

More than just reviews. The Learn/Glossary link is well worth reading.

http://www.dcresource.com/

What is says on the tin.

There are other sites, but those are the ones I use the most.

[CJ]

Good links

[Feck]

FILTERS there seems to be a vast difference in price between brands and in the case of Hoya between "ranges"
I'm looking at getting a circular polarising filter but having difficulty deciding how much to pay,50£ seems an awful lot to fork out
for one if the differences between them are small ?

[CJ]

FILTERS there seems to be a vast difference in price between brands and in the case of Hoya between "ranges"
I'm looking at getting a circular polarising filter but having difficulty deciding how much to pay,50£ seems an awful lot to fork out
for one if the differences between them are small ?

Hoya make top class glass and charge for it!
Have a look here and try your luck. I have used 7dayshop for years and not had a duff item yet. http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default ... ARCH&comp=

[Feck]

Thought I would post this as it is British summer time ,oh and I like this picture .

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Thought I would post this as it is British summer time ,oh and I like this picture .

AAAhh.. Cute liddle baby swallows.

[Taryn]

I want some advice about cropping pics, I always have trouble deciding which is the best way to do it. This is a pic I've been trying out my cropping techniques on, which one do you prefer?
Any tips on removing stray objects would be welcome too.

Original pic

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I want some advice about cropping pics, I always have trouble deciding which is the best way to do it. This is a pic I've been trying out my cropping techniques on, which one do you prefer?
Any tips on removing stray objects would be welcome too.

Original pic

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

I like the second one best. It gets rid of the clutter in the background but preserves the whole flower and makes it the focus of the pic.
(Disclaimer: I know fuck-all about photography but I know what I like!)

[CJ]

The second shot has the key components of the whole flower and the fly with a little bit of headroom over the top of the flower to stop everything looking too cramped. It also has a moderate vertical symmetry from the flower's centre, through the fly and up to the opening bloom which work well together. Pic 2 is also my favourite.

Pic 4 is interesting as the fly is in the wrong place and/or facing the wrong way ( you must coach your subjects better ) Ideally the fly should be facing the centre of the flower creating a natural line of attention through the image, that's the way an artist would paint it. The fly is also on the edge of the image facing out which creates a natural line of attention outside the image which again would be avoided by an artist. So the fly needs to face the other way or maintain it's orientation but move to he bottom left of the frame. But these are aesthetic issues and not under the control of a photographer presented with a natural subject where one does not have control over the subject, but it does go some way to explaining why some natural images are more visually satisfying than others. As usual the images are technically excellent with good exposure and nice focus.

If one has an image with a number of key points of 'visual focus' these points should ideally work together. The flower centre and fly currently work in opposition with the fly drawing attention away from the flower centre our minds tend to be more comfortable where what they see conforms to what we expect to see, our attention is drawn the the centre of the flower and we expect the same of the fly.

[Cwazy Cat Lady]

I also like crop 2 best. I was curious if one of the crops would accentuate the distribution of subjects (like a rule of thirds), but none truly did... Number 2 comes closest to thay, though, and preserves the dimensions of a photo (the shape of the rectangle you tend to expect when looking at pictures) so I am guessing that might be partly why it is more pleasing to the eye...

I hadn't thought about CJ's comment on the fly, but he's right. That fly sends your eyes directly out of the photograph with the way he's pointing...

Fun to see those different versions, Taryn.

CJ, can you think of an entirely different crop that also 'works'? (for fun?)

[CJ]

CJ, can you think of an entirely different crop that also 'works'? (for fun?)

I had a think about that and I cant really do any better than those already there.

[CJ]

What a 10megapixel sensor will allow.

Full frame


Eye close up


Eye lashes 693 pixels across resized to 650 pixels wide


Sigma 180mm f3.5 Macro. 1/320 sec @ f3.5