A general photography chat thread ...

Following on from NachaLuva's questions about Lee ND filters, i went looking for a general photography thread and couldn't find one, so here one is.

ND (Neutral density) filters basically reduce the amount of light entering your lens, their primary objective is to facilitate long exposure photography.

ND filters aren't required for night photography, for example here is a shot of Sydney Harbour that i captured last year, it was a 15 second exposure at f11, ISO 100.



D800E_DSC6039 by rpo83, on Flickr

If i wanted to take a 15 second exposure during daylight i would need to reduce the amount of light getting into the camera. If i could meter the shot during the day and get a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second, putting a 10 stop ND filter infront of the lens would give me a new exposure value of 12 seconds..

Cheers

Steve

^ You have just started one ... :iconwink: :biggrin:.

At a rough guesstimate, I would say about 1/4 to 1/3 of the people who frequent this forum are either keen amateur photographers, or professional photographers.

I'm a bit in the first camp ... .

^^ So I changed the thread title to reflect that intent ... (pun intended ... :lol.

Great initiative, I might learn something !

Thanks Ratbag, i'm in the same photography category as you. Photography is the main reason i bought the Forester, i realised i don't need to do the extreme stuff, the Forester will get us to some great locations, the missus and i are just trying to find compromise on the standard of camping we are both happy with

Cheers

Steve

Gidday Steve

It's not just photography that we appear to have in common ... :iconwink:.

I also traded in my '93 Impreza (Roo1) on Roo2 to get me to more places, safer and better.

Ditto regarding the comfort level of camping. I'm sometimes forced to stay put for days at a time to rest/recuperate. No way do I want to do this at ground level in a 9x9' "crusader tent" any more. Therefore the camper trailer route. I can climb up into bed, but getting down is a bit of a trial (impossible at times ... ), and getting back up again from ground level ... Well, it might as well be climbing Mt Everest!

The camper trailer is slowly coming together. Towing something as light as this doesn't bother me in the slightest. I have towed things like a 2 tonne tandem axle horse float many thousands of miles; what's a 500 Kg semi off-road single axle trailer? I don't even notice it being there behind Roo2!

I'm comfy staying in a small tent, but i don't tend to stay in an area for more than a night or two, i was lucky enough to take time off work in 2011 and ride a motorbike around Australia, camping in some of the best locations in this country has to offer. I wrote a blog as i went as i'm useless at diary writing, the blog kept my family up to date on my travels and forced me to document my trip...... here is my blog https://rpo83.blogspot.com.au/

We have been considering all sorts of camping options, it looks like it will probably end up being a hard floor camper trailer, although it will restrict some travel routes, it will allow us to set up a good base camp and have some comfort. Many years ago i drove semi's interstate, so the trailer wont be an issue.... But it's good to hear that roo2 tows well, i'm yet to tow anything with the forester.

Oh to keep this thread on topic, her is a pic...

Camping on the edge of Bryce's Gorge...



DP1S SDIM1007 by rpo83, on Flickr

Cheers

Steve

rpo83 said:

I'm comfy staying in a small tent, but i don't tend to stay in an area for more than a night or two, i was lucky enough to take time off work in 2011 and ride a motorbike around Australia, camping in some of the best locations in this country has to offer. I wrote a blog as i went as i'm useless at diary writing, the blog kept my family up to date on my travels and forced me to document my trip...... here is my blog https://rpo83.blogspot.com.au/

We have been considering all sorts of camping options, it looks like it will probably end up being a hard floor camper trailer, although it will restrict some travel routes, it will allow us to set up a good base camp and have some comfort. Many years ago i drove semi's interstate, so the trailer wont be an issue.... But it's good to hear that roo2 tows well, i'm yet to tow anything with the forester.

Oh to keep this thread on topic, her is a pic...

Camping on the edge of Bryce's Gorge...



DP1S SDIM1007 by rpo83, on Flickr

Cheers

Steve

Click to expand...

Obviously you don't sleep walk. :rotfl::rotfl:

I envy people who have got out there and seen our countryside.

^ Same thought occurred to me too, Peter .. :lol:.

And yes, I am also envious. So much to see, so little time ...

Ratbag said:

And yes, I am also envious. So much to see, so little time ...

Click to expand...

That must be why photography was invented. So others can share their experiences!

Thanks guys,

and no i don't sleepwalk subyroo..:ebiggrin:

Here is a great webpage giving tips for Seascape photography, it covers filters and shutter speed as well as good composition advice, well worth a read, just imagine moving the driftwood away and parking your Forester in the foreground :biggrin:

https://digital-photography-school.com/seascape-photography-tips/

Cheers

Steve

Long exposures and cars are your friend. One I did back when I had the XR8

Here is a great article on Panorama's, it uses Photoshop as the stitcher but if you don't have Photoshop, there are some great free Panorama programs available.

https://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/having_fun_with_panoramas.shtml

The big benefit of shooting panoramas is that you can use a long focal length lens to zoom in on your subject, then the stitching of adjacent images restores your field of view to capture a wide scene.

Hugin, is a great free program...https://hugin.sourceforge.net/

Here is a shot of Wilpena Pound that i shot as a Panorama, it was a 6 shot horizontal pano, i held my camera in portrait position...



Razorback @ Wilpena Pound by rpo83, on Flickr

Cheers

Steve

rpo83 said:

here is my blog https://rpo83.blogspot.com.au/

Click to expand...

Some great photos there Steve. Glad to see a fellow rider.

I recently did an outback trip in the Forester, was constantly thinking about doing the trip again on the bike. Someday..

Keep the photos coming!

For those who are interested in buying a ND filter, found a cheap one on eBay (item number:151307221687). Have not had a chance to test it properly (only two test shots) but for this price, you can't go wrong.

And I second digital-photography-school, a great resource to learn and improve your photography.

Oh a photography thread. Yay.
I too like taking photos. I have a whole bunch of gear. So if anyone wants questions answered regarding:
- Magic Latern
- Canon 6d
- canon 8-15mm L fisheye
- canon 70-300L
- canon 24-105, 50 f1.4/1.8, 100 f2,
- sigma 8-16mm

then i'm your man

In regards to ebay filters, i once bought one that wouldn't thread-on properly, and another that had the glass cracked, and when they finally sent me a good one it had a lot of internal reflection issues; I once also bought a cheap polariser, and it cracked easily and didn't polarise as much as a canon one. So .. really, you do get what you pay for.

^ Gidday Oscar

I only use Hoya HMC/Pro UV filters, and Marumi DHG Circular PL(D) polarising filters.

The Hoya score best, or as good as, the best and cheaper, in testing. The CP tests on Lenstip (?) reckon that the 'higher grade' Marumi is better, but their test shots show otherwise, to my eye. Hoya do not score all that well for CP filters, even though right at the top for clear/UV/haze filters.

Some people won't use filters at all, but I have never damaged the front element of any lens while cleaning the filter ... :iconwink: :lol: :rotfl:.

I do prefer a different brand of system camera, particularly for their lenses.

Many of the photos I post here are taken with my 5 MPx Blackberry phone camera. For documentary purposes, it's hard to beat a reasonably respectable phone cam, IMHO.

I have a large format Epson printer, and I use this to print fairly large (17x22") from my digital system cameras.

Gday Ratbag.
Yeah, if you stick to reputable brands you'll be fine. I was buying a < $10 filter off ebay :/

I use filters and hoods where I can. The fisheye, clearly gets neither.
Whoa blackberry! And I thought I was a rebel with a windowsphone nokia and a saab (and also a subaru xv). I do use my phone for 360deg photos.

I have tried printing some photos i editted on the computer. Sadly, my calibrated laptop screen produces great looking photos that my $90 printer can't print. ..

Colour spaces and all that stuff still does my head in so i'm not printing anything for a while until i get time to figure it out.

^ G'day again Oscar.

I know just a little about colour spaces and bit depth ... :rotfl: ... just a tad.

I always shoot RAW plus JPEG (full size/resolution, Adobe RGB colour space). Use the RAW files for everything serious. These I process in Adobe Camera Raw using ProPhotoRGB colour space and 16 bit colour depth.

Generally speaking, mapping a 12 or 14 bit RAW into a 16 bit colour space doesn't cause any significant loss of data IME. Mapping either into an 8 bit colour space causes massive, irrecoverable data loss, as does using smaller colour spaces for post-processing (e.g. sRGB, and to a lesser degree, aRGB).

Very important to use OEM inks in a reasonable decent printer such as the Canon MG6250 or similar. Only use papers that have profiles for the printer you are using. I have a favourite - Ilford Smooth Pearl. Love the texture, weight and colour correctness. Canson Gloss is another good one IMO.

Anyway, Blatner and Fraser wrote a 950+ page book that is largely about colour and colour spaces, so plenty of scope to learn. If you have a thing for pain, read it from cover to cover - I have; twice ... And lots of other stuff as well.

I also have an UWA lens that cannot take filters. It's a real cracker :biggrin:.

I do take pics in raw+small jpeg. The small jpeg is for webuploads and to review the raw photos quicker and delete the duds.

Ah the MG6250. I have the MX726. I do use OEM inks, but other than the standard Canon photo paper in the photo tray, I haven't tried fancier paper. Once this pile runs out i'll do some paper research.

Thanks Ratbag.