Official Photo learning/sharing thread. Tips on live shoots, gear shoots and more.

[Harpozep]

Time to invite anyone who has some know how, and those who don't to participate in a photography thread. We all take pics of our gear, and we also play out and would like shots of our bands and such. Both types of photography need to be approached differently for the best results.

With the modern digital cameras we all have access to, life is full of quick and inexpensive experiments! In my day, we had to shoot, send the film off, and actually WAIT for the results . Learning curves were slow, and wrought with forgetfulness.

Now, we have some instant gratification with the LCDs and histograms available to us , so with a little care, many of us can get our skill sets refined and up to speed.



A little about me, I have recorded ( audio ) and shot bands in the past and have been shooting photos since I was 8, back in 1968.

Now days, I shoot digital, but have thousands of images from the previous decades to scan and place in my web galleries. At present I have around 100 web galleries with images, many low key family shots, and many shots I've been paid to do.
My grand father began shooting photos in the 1890s, them my dad, then myself. We have tintypes from my great grandfather as well from the 1850's and later. So we have a lot of images floating around our family albums.

Anyway, I shoot digital now, and like to control most of the aspects of the image, from inception to print.

I know some of the other members here have mentioned they do photography either as a profession or advanced amature , so there are some of us who know how to get images we want.

Many times we just snap away with the little cameras and the flash does its job, but the colors look flat, or the flash reflects poorly, etc. There are ways around this.

Heck, I was lazy the other day and shot a cluster of guitars on a leather chair. The guitars were all on top one another, but I hid microfiber cloths between each one so they would not hit. Then I got an aperture I thought would allow me to get most of the pile in focus, this meant I had to raise the ISO ( film speed in old world speak ), it also affected the shutter speed. I did the shot just goofing around, no tripod, canvas background, etc, since it was just for this forum.

I shot with three windows open and some lights on for added color warmth.
Nothing special, I could have really done something special but it's OK ,and without the use of flash= no hot spots.


Photoguy , another member has some better ones he shot in his studio. They are in the post you guitar photos thread.

I do panoramas, and infared shots at events, in for landscapes in genral. Lots of fun possibilities these days in photography.

Here's a photo montage I did for tommy Emmanuel:



A sixteen minute shot of Boston Light:



An infared pano of Cohassett Mass:



Ok, an infared pic of my R4 BB:


Etc:

Etc:

Etc:


Each style of picture was taken in a different way with a pretty decent camera, for sure, but even all of our small digicams have some of this ability within them, albeit , with constraints.

Anyway, I hope other's post and the thread can serve some greater good, other than me grandstanding and posting picture. I can do that all day long

[drewbertca]

I used to be into black and white photography back in high school...we had a dark room and I did some cool stuff...none of it music related or kept over the years I look forward to seeing what this thread brings...

[Harpozep]

Originally Posted by drewbertca

I used to be into black and white photography back in high school...we had a dark room and I did some cool stuff...none of it music related or kept over the years I look forward to seeing what this thread brings...

Me too, on both counts. Here's a black and white Tri-X ( remember that stuff? ) shot of our band on break. Some sorta herb thing going on. Well, it WAS the '70's.....



Yes, I still have most of those old negatives. Remember Dektol, and fixer, and the orange/red lights in the darkroom?

I remember working with a girl in the darkroom and mentioning that the lighthouse picture she was working on was very phallic
She was confused, and needed to be set straight on the word! Ah, the darkroom. So many mam, er memories

[coldsteal2]

Originally Posted by Harpozep

Me too, on both counts. Here's a black and white Tri-X ( remember that stuff? ) shot of our band on break. Some sorta herb thing going on. Well, it WAS the '70's.....



Yes, I still have most of those old negatives. Remember Dektol, and fixer, and the orange/red lights in the darkroom?

I remember working with a girl in the darkroom and mentioning that the lighthouse picture she was working on was very phallic
She was confused, and needed to be set straight on the word! Ah, the darkroom. So many mam, er memories

[coldsteal2]

Live on stage opening for T-Rex and Blue Oyrster Culf in nov 74



Playing at a the Southern Oregon Rock Festival in 77

[pinefd]

Harpozep, I love all your work, but especially some of your infrared photos. How is that done? Does it require special equipment (i.e., camera and/or lense), or is it a technique that some of us non-pros can manage?



Also, within the past couple of days, I learned about HDR photography, and started playing around with the Photomatix program. Any experience and/or tips with this you can share?

Frank

[coldsteal2]

It looks like there is frost on everything, a really neat effect!

[Photoguy]

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm a commercial photographer, who generally shoots only food. My work is done almost exclusively in the studio where I can control every element that goes into the photograph. I admire people who can find a picture in the real world, I've never had the ability/talent to recognize them. The way my photographic brain works, I need to start with a blank canvas and build my pictures in very small calculated steps until I've finished.

Here's a few examples...











The best general advice that I can offer is to see with your eyes and not with your brain...look to see what is really in the frame of the camera as you're taking the picture. Reflections, distracting backgrounds, poor lighting etc, that we all have a way of overlooking until the picture has been made. It's easy to look through a viewfinder and see what we want to see, but when the shutter button is pushed and the photograph made, it can be too late to correct some of the things that can detract from an otherwise good photograph. "Life is illusion, photography is reality" is another way to look at it!

[Harpozep]

Nice vintage photos folks. Keep'em coming! Long live the '70's, Ok the '80's and 60's too. I'd rather forget the 90's though.....
Scan and post cool stuff, and a lot of us still had hair too!

Thanks for the compliments folks. On the infared front, there are a couple of ways to do it. A filter over CERTAIN digital cameras ( I can get a list of qualifying ones ) or a complete dedicated modded camera. I did the latter because it works better for what I need,

The filter approach allows you to keep your normal camera AND shoot infared too, but with constraints, like slow shutter speed of sometimes up to two seconds. Your camera must have aperture and shutter speed controls to even think of using it for IR work.

The dedicated camera allows total flexibility, just like shooting regularly for the most part.



Infared is sooo much easier these days than in the film days. Back then the film had to be refrigerated until just prior to use and the learning curve was real steep since we never had any LCD feedback and the amount of IR light varies so much from place to place, moment to moment and angle to angle. Much easier now to shoot then see what developed and compensate for any shortcomings immediately.

HDR is almost a trend these days, but it is an area I've always sought to explore, even in my film days, The results often lack certain contrast snap that we are used to, but instead offer extended detail in shadows and light.

The "flatter" picture takes on surreal qualities since we are putting on 2D paper what our eyes do naturally, and we are not used to it. Photography at best is only an approximation of what we see, like any recording medium, it is fraught with compromise. HDR seeks to overcome some of the compromises and substitute a new reality.



HDR can be approximated and accomplished by several techniques, the most common of which is taking multiple exposures of a scene at three or more exposure levels. You would expose one shot for the dark areas, one for the mids, and one for the highlights. Each exposure is optimized for a light level cluster, so the idea is to join them and create one overall image with extended dynamic range, hence HDR, High Dynamic Range.

Lots of variables in this technique, not the least of which is subject movement between exposures.
Still the results can be rewarding. I even extend the DR in a pseudo HDR technique shooting a digital negative format called RAW . With a single RAW file I can produce several identical files each one trying to expose for the highs, mids, and darks just like having three separate exposures. RAW has a couple of F stops more latitude than a typical JPG, so this technique has some validity once you tweak the RAW files.
Photomatix is a great program. I sue it to do most my HDR work. I just got Photoshop CS3 too which has a program within for HDR.

Lots more to it of course, but it is interesting stuff. Two approaches to the results as well. One is to try and mimic the real world the other is to d[-create an new world. I do both with varying degrees of success.

Here's some:


Larger file here so you can actually see it:
Cohasset Harbor color panorama Feb 2007 Massachusetts Minot HDR tone mapped photo - Robert Miller photos at pbase.com

Cohasset Harbor color panorama Feb 2007 Massachusetts Minot HDR tone mapped

Minot light in the background
A cold day for taking 45 separate exposures, but I did. Then tone mapped them in Photomatix, stitched them in Panorama Factory and cloned in more in CS2. Then converted to LAB, played with color curves, erased layers, sharpened the luminosity channel, shrank it a LOT for viewing and here it is.
Canon 5D, 70-200 Canon 2.8 L IS. ISO100 three exposure increments, -2 0 +2 f 10 the whole time.

I'd do it different if I shot it again. Too much dead space in the lower left water area. Still, it kind of works.

LAB colorspace is real good for exaggerating colors like here. It was sunset too and the colors were quite striking, now even more so. Ok, MAYBE even a bit too much!



Larger one here for detail:
Cohasset Harbor infared panorama photo - Robert Miller photos at pbase.com

This one is infared psudo HDR ( One exposure tone mapped from a RAW file ) Typical Panorama stitched from five hand held shots. Kinda flat looking I need to give it some contrast enhancement. This will be t the expense of detail but will result in a better looking overall picture.



Cohasset Harbor night shot

Lighthouse Keeper's Residence on the hill.
RAW file entered into Photomatix and tone mapped after pseudo HDR.

[Harpozep]

Originally Posted by Photoguy

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm a commercial photographer, who generally shoots only food. My work is done almost exclusively in the studio where I can control every element that goes into the photograph. I admire people who can find a picture in the real world, I've never had the ability/talent to recognize them. The way my photographic brain works, I need to start with a blank canvas and build my pictures in very small calculated steps until I've finished.

Here's a few examples...











The best general advice that I can offer is to see with your eyes and not with your brain...look to see what is really in the frame of the camera as you're taking the picture. Reflections, distracting backgrounds, poor lighting etc, that we all have a way of overlooking until the picture has been made. It's easy to look through a viewfinder and see what we want to see, but when the shutter button is pushed and the photograph made, it can be too late to correct some of the things that can detract from an otherwise good photograph. "Life is illusion, photography is reality" is another way to look at it!

Thanks for the input. I like the last quote. I try and rescue pics all the time, but more importantly, I try and take the best shot available withing the constraints of the time/place.

It's all fun work for me, hopefully you enjoy your work. Your results are marvelous. Sometimes the joy gets diminished once a passion becomes an occupation.It has happened to me in my occupation, bookseller, collectible broker. After over twenty years of daily trading with the public, I'm burnt and chasing my roots, hence back to photography.

After seeing your post, I'm going for lunch Yummy stuff there! You work with fake foods a lot though too, not to spoil the illusion, but I'm betting that's the case sometimes?

[siroliver]

I really love using film/darkroom, it really makes you appreciate what goes into a photograph instead of today's "point-and-shoot" approach. the only real drawback for me is the chemicals- with all the time I log in the darkroom, I still haven't gotten used to the beefstew-vinegar(that's the only way I know how to describe it) stench that follows a good dektol/stopbath/fixer encounter.

I really love the infrared pics- I stumbled across your shots awhile back before I came to mlp, they really got me intrested in giving infrared a try
here are two digital shots done up contact sheet style in microsoft paint(poor quality, but oh well)

[Harpozep]

Originally Posted by siroliver

I really love using film/darkroom, it really makes you appreciate what goes into a photograph instead of today's "point-and-shoot" approach. the only real drawback for me is the chemicals- with all the time I log in the darkroom, I still haven't gotten used to the beefstew-vinegar(that's the only way I know how to describe it) stench that follows a good dektol/stopbath/fixer encounter.

I really love the infrared pics- I stumbled across your shots awhile back before I came to mlp, they really got me intrested in giving infrared a try
here are two digital shots done up contact sheet style in microsoft paint(poor quality, but oh well)

Have to agree infared is so much more usable to the average person when approached digitally. It is a unique way to see the world, since infared by nature, is not in the visible light spectrum. It makes focusing more of a chore too, so you have to use a fairly wide aperture to assist in getting a greater depth of field.

I still have gear bags that smell like fixer and stop bath after all these years

Nice start on the infareds. Skies will darken and foliage lighten too.

I took an infared snap of a friend with lupus, a disease that leaves her with large red splotches on her face. The infared sensor never saw her blotching and she got the smoothest looking photo of her she had ever seen..
It really brought out her tats too.




Below is a sunny Sunday in May:


Foliage in the fall? Still white

[integra evan]

Yeah, gotta love the darkroom chemicals. I took a photography course at college the semester before last and we worked in the darkroom a lot. I shoot all digital and right now I shoot for fun. I will be shooting weddings in the near future, however. I pretty much take photos of whatever. I do want to shoot more automotive and landscape, too. One of my favorite shots that I took with film would have to be this one I took in NY over the summer:



And then I always like to photoshop some shots, some with selective saturation like this one of my LP's headstock:



And although people may look at me weird, I like taking photos of the food at parties and events:





I do take many random photos as well:

[MIDNIGHT]

wow awesome shots harpo!

[Drave]

[Harpozep]

integra evan Nice shots there! You have some fun it can be seen. Flowing water shots are always a blast..
And more food shots, NO, Now I'm hungry again!

Drave, Tell us more..... Nice art

[integra evan]

Originally Posted by Harpozep

integra evan Nice shots there! You have some fun it can be seen. Flowing water shots are always a blast..
And more food shots, NO, Now I'm hungry again!

Thanks! Yeah I enjoyed taking the photos at the falls.
Looking at the food makes me hungry too. That food sure was good, lol.

[coldsteal2]

A different photo, i took of John Lennons Car when
i was at the Expo in Vancover BC


Psychedelic artwork i did of Paul McCartney when i was in Highschool

[Harpozep]

My cousin borrowed my Infared camera and said he visited the Western US. I dunno though.........I think he may have traveled over seas......
Here's a shot he took:



OK, I helped a little

[BCRGreg]

I dick around with photography a bit....

[Harpozep]

NIce shots ! A Macro lens is your friend

[coldsteal2]

I took these during the last Lunar Eclipse





and snowy night




Rainbow in North eastern Oregon

[bartonkj]

I just posted these pics in an introduction thread and in the official guitar pic thread but wanted to post them here in this thread also. I have a Pentax K10D I got recently and I just was fooling around to get some OK pics of my guitar. The lighting wasn't the greatest so i took multiple RAW exposures to experiment with HDR (which I had never done before). I didn't want to create the usual spectacularly wild color HDR photo - instead, I wanted to use the HDR capability to capture something more along the lines of the increased contrast we can see with our eyes - i.e., something more realistic. I think this turned out fairly well for someone new at doing this....

These pics really bring out the darkness of the ebony fingerboard while keeping the brightness of the abolone inlays. Also, the contrast in the quilt shows up pretty well. The first picture may be a tiny bit lighter than I would like but I have not bothered go back and redo it.

[Harpozep]

Good job on the detail there. The Ebony does stand out as black in some pics and a bit dry and dusty in another. These cameras sure capture a lot of detail, eh?
I have a friend with that same Pentax. He likes it a lot, but is looking into the new K20 as well.

HDR is an interesting compromise that we can play with theses days. So much detail is lost in a typical contrasty picture, that it is nice to see into the shadows more with HDR. But it often comes at a price of an overall less contrasty soft look. Knowing where to re emphasize contrast and where to let the HDR open up the shadows seems to be the real trick.
Again, nice pics.

I've been lazy lately, I should have been using HDR or psudo HDr on some shots lately, but I went into snapshot mode instead. Gotta get back on my game.

[Scooter2112]

I've been lazy lately, I should have been using HDR or psudo HDr on some shots lately, but I went into snapshot mode instead. Gotta get back on my game.

Zep...if you're shooting in RAW, you can still HDR from a single snapshot in Photoshop. Open the image in CS3, create layer from background image, adjust EV +, then - for an additional layer, and once you've done the curves/levels/contrast,etc. tweaking for each layer, you can mess with each layer's opacity setting to combine them manually. Or....Copy image 2 or 3 times, tweak EV (exposure), then combine each separate image in either Photoshop, Photomatix, etc. Flatten final image and Smart Sharpen. Can be done with any single image, and no chance of alignment issues.

IMO, the best HDR's are the ones that you can't tell that it's been done.

[integra evan]

I still have yet to try HDR shots. I really need to try some.

[bartonkj]

Thanks for the comments. I've been wanting to do some real ephemeral HDR shots but haven't taken the time to get a subject worthy of doing so - then of course there is the post-processing time it will take. Time, if only I had the time to REALLY learn the guitar, to REALLY learn photography, to REALLY improve my finances, to REALLY pursue hobbies, etc.... Where is the processing technique to edit time?

[ThrashPirate]

My wife bought me a Nikon D80 for xmas. I'm still learning about photography and how to use this camera.

My house yesterday:

[Harpozep]

Originally Posted by ThrashPirate

My wife bought me a Nikon D80 for xmas. I'm still learning about photography and how to use this camera.

My house yesterday:

That's quite a camera. Good choice.

Your pictures will be fun things you fiddle with in no time. House shot looks fine. You got good detail under the trees in the shadows. The sky gets blown out a bit when you go for lighter shadows, but it can all be tamed a bit in post processing if desired.
Nice corner lot house to BTW!

I learned a lot from this site:

Digital Camera Reviews and News: Digital Photography Review: Forums, Glossary, FAQ

Here's the forum for you and the Nikon D80:

Nikon D80/D70/D60/D50/D40 Forum: Digital Photography Review

Good luck and have fun!

[Scooter2112]

photoSIG » Main

This is a great site to view other peoples work, and if you poke around enough, you'll learn quite a bit. You'll also find lots of links in the forums to good tutorial sites.