Perpetual Photography Thread

[zinckiwi]

Not sure what the status of the OOPS is, hence the question mark in the title until such time as this thread takes off, if ever.

Edit: Page 2 reached; question mark removed.

If there's any interest I'd be keen to see a thread in the style of the Ars Technica Perpetual Photography Thread -- whereby you can post anything you like, no themes or restrictions.

So, to kick things off, here's a sunset shot I grabbed last night walking around Mt Maunganui, one of New Zealand's party hotspots for New Year's:

[cheeba]

Awesome picture!

Looking at it for a bit, I'm not sure if I'd have liked it better with or without the tree. With all the beautiful rays coming down from the sun, I think the tree's almost too obstructive. But then again, that's an awesomely creepy tree, and without it the landscape in the background is a bit odd and boring (what are those in the background? trees without leaves? looks like a bunch of poles).

Beautiful picture. Would love to see that tree against a nice full moon!

Edit - Oh and I'll add some pics when I get a decent camera. Here's my last pic on 35mm last summer. Scanned the pic, hence the horrible quality:

[ChrisGrenard]

Today I rather like this picture I took over in Tokyo.



Maybe I just miss the color green right now.

Edit: I also always liked this one. No photoshop involved in this one, just me attempting (at the time) to emulate the general look of Shadow of the Colossus/Ico just by fiddling with my tiny, reprehensible to true photographers, no-setting camera.

[Kelric]

My two favorites from my Australia trip a few years back...

Just a plain old digital camera, nothing fancy. What I really wanted from the shipwreck was a shot of the entire thing, but we weren't the only group of people there at the time and there were a couple of people buzzing around the landward end of the thing. I kept waiting for them to leave, but the bastards wouldn't.

[zinckiwi]

With all the beautiful rays coming down from the sun, I think the tree's almost too obstructive. But then again, that's an awesomely creepy tree, and without it the landscape in the background is a bit odd and boring (what are those in the background? trees without leaves? looks like a bunch of poles).

Here's one from a neighbouring vantage point, sans tree in the middle (which I liked mostly because it cut through the clouds in a neat way):



Oh, and they're trees in the distance, just densely packed and quite uniform.

Sunset beach pic

That's some visibility to keep the sun and its reflection so defined that close to the horizon! Amazing gradient of colour along the sky as well. Was that your "last 35mm" as in the actual final 35mm shot that you've taken?

No photoshop involved in this one, just me attempting (at the time) to emulate the general look of Shadow of the Colossus/Ico

Not a bad attempt at all... if you did feel like photoshopping it, some sort of posterisation could probably get you the rest of the way to the Ico feel. And not that I'm anything but an enthusiastic amateur, but before my current D80 my go-to camera was a 1970-era, no-settings Minolta rangefinder. I like like the low-fi look. What did you use to shoot Tokyo? Something with a fish-eye obviously?

What I really wanted from the shipwreck was a shot of the entire thing, but we weren't the only group of people there at the time and there were a couple of people buzzing around the landward end of the thing.

I'm actually on a quest not to frame everything the exact way I want. Everything winds up too samey if you have the subject nicely set in the frame with minimal whitespace around it. This shot keeps us guessing about the rest of the ship, how far it extends beyond the frame, how far along it those waves reach, etc.

[Gryndyl]

Been playing a lot with Photoshop lately and this is an image I've been working on. Now, before you scroll down, take a good look at it. Now, before you started reading this, did anything leap out at you as being unusual about the photo? And, now that you know that it's shopped, how blatant are the artifacts?

Scroll dow for the 'O'

[JC Anejo]

A few taken on a lte season fighing trip of Provincetown MA.

Provincetown Monument


Trolling looking East as the Sun goes down

[wonderpug]

Great idea! I just got a nice external flash for my camera that I'm eager to fiddle around with. It's just incredible how much better a simple indoor portrait looks with a real flash.

For now I'll post some of my Japan trip photos that I already have imageshacked.

The obligatory Tokyo night light pic (Shinjuku):


The centuries old "sacred bridge" in Nikko that (if you pay to walk over it) leads to the shrines and temples:


Kyoto is a good place to try and spot a Geisha in the wild, but I was lucky enough to happen upon a yearly parade that they do in the city and saw dozens of them:


A bamboo thicket in Nara:


Some of the locals in the Osaka aquarium:


And an original thatched-roof (well, the thatch isn't original) house in the beautiful mountainous Hida district. They reconstructed a whole little historic village by bringing in surviving structures from the surrounding areas.


(Panasonic Lumix FZ20)

[Moliere]

A desert sunset:

[Schroeder]

A few from a trip to Grand Cayman last year.










I like this last shot in part because I got a small shark in the picture completely by accident. I didn't even notice it until my cousin saw the shot and asked me to enlarge that section...

[RunningMn9]

I'm not normally a photog, and most of the time, the pictures I take just irritate me with blurring and the like. In my entire life, I've taken four pictures that didn't irritate me. Here they are:

This is a picture of the Niagara River (Niagara Falls, NY) about 300 yards from the Bridal Falls on the American side (the river bends sharply to the left of that picture and the falls are about 300 yards that way):



Next up is actually a picture that my wife took up at Santa's Village in Jefferson, NH. This was actually taken in the middle of a crowded food court, about 5 feet away from her table. I have no idea how she got this picture taken with no evidence of the food court.



This pic is from a visit to the Lost River Gorge in North Woodstock, NH. We had made it to the bottom of the gorge and were beginning our ascent back to civilization. Seemed like a good time to take a picture.



The last one is a shot from the summit of Mt Washington up in NH. I believe that this is facing Canada, which is probably visible in the distance. I like this one because it reminds of the shots of the Scottish Highlands in Braveheart.



That's all I got. In the next 30+ years, I hope to take more than four pictures that I like.

[Jag]

These are amazing. Wouldn't mind seeing what kind of cameras you guys are using.

[wire]

Until I learn how to use my camera (Canon 30D) better I've just been taking closeup shots and playing around with them in Photoshop.

[ChrisGrenard]

Not a bad attempt at all... if you did feel like photoshopping it, some sort of posterisation could probably get you the rest of the way to the Ico feel. And not that I'm anything but an enthusiastic amateur, but before my current D80 my go-to camera was a 1970-era, no-settings Minolta rangefinder. I like like the low-fi look. What did you use to shoot Tokyo? Something with a fish-eye obviously?

I have thought about doing the whole film grain thing to add to the Ico feel. That area always kinda reminded me of one of the beaches in Shadow if you wander down to the south cliffs of the game.

The Tokyo picture was shot with the same itty bitty camera. I highly doubt any serious photographer would want it.

As for the fisheye shot, if you click on it you'll notice a bunch of errors. That's because it's actually about 70 or so individual photographs all stitched into one big one. I have a bunch of other photos I did the same thing with, as I found it to be a lot of fun to do the stitchings.

Edit: Gryndyl, as a person who photoshops stuff all the time, I hate to say but I noticed the blurry areas pretty quickly. Particularly around the kid's head. But I expect that most people would never notice it.

[Bad Demographic]

Wow, RM9, you went to the top of Mt. Washington and didn't get blown away?
I should show that pic your wife took to my parents-in-law. They are avid birders.

[hentzau]

I thought I liked a bunch of the pics I took at WDW. Then I took a look at your guys.

I have a lot more to learn about my camera.

[RunningMn9]

These are amazing. Wouldn't mind seeing what kind of cameras you guys are using.

I'm intrigued by the idea of the SLR cameras, and learning all about photography, but don't have the time or money to get involved. I have the previous version of this guy. Which is most likely garbage compared to what the others here are working with.

[geezer]

This might be kind of jarring with all the beautiful nature photography, but I just moved and I've been shooting some stuff around town:

[Kelric]

What I really wanted from the shipwreck was a shot of the entire thing, but we weren't the only group of people there at the time and there were a couple of people buzzing around the landward end of the thing.

I'm actually on a quest not to frame everything the exact way I want. Everything winds up too samey if you have the subject nicely set in the frame with minimal whitespace around it. This shot keeps us guessing about the rest of the ship, how far it extends beyond the frame, how far along it those waves reach, etc.

I wound up liking this picture more because of that, I think. But I still would like to have gotten a shot of the whole thing.

I mostly like the first picture because I got it right when the wave was breaking against the base of the rock. And that is a very narrow base. What you see is what is holding the entire thing up. I wonder how much longer it'll last. We actually stopped in that location to see whales. Saw some way in the distance a few times, but I was more interested in the rock formations than sprays of water and tail fins in the distance. I've seen a bunch of whales in the Atlantic in the past.

A few taken on a lte season fighing trip of Provincetown MA.

People actually call it Provincetown? Weirdos.

Edits- I can't type. And I keep thinking of more to say. And I can't type.

[zinckiwi]

RunningMn9, I know the location of your NH shots very well! My parents live at the base of Mt Washington and I've been through Lost River many times (including the Lemon Squeezer).

wire, you get the award for the first time in memory that a desaturated-except-for-one-object shot hasn't seemed heavy-handed and contrived -- very nice!

hentzau, I'm a big Disney fan, so please post a few!

[Enough]

Great idea zinckiwi! As I said on your flickr account I like both and would have a hard time picking an overall fave. I guess I would go with the first one including the tree if forced to pick.

cheeba, we can still tell that it's a great photograph even with the scan. Please share some of your other film work if you get the chance, clearly you have a solid eye for composition. Out of curiosity, what was the film used? Since you said the scan is awful I am wary to guess, but based on the saturation I might guess Velvia?

ChrisGrenard, I liked many of the shots you've shared from that trip here at OO-land. But the one over Tokyo really is neat, I agree.

RM9, I love that you know "the" four shots you like from the past 30 years of photography. If only mine were so easy to sort!

Seriously, great shots. I especially like the LOTR-esque Mt. Washington one.

Moliere, it is indeed a kicking desert sunset, the purple to blue range of the sky is my favorite part.

wonderpug, it's always a pleasure to see Tokyo night lights, thanks for sharing. I will go with the red bridge for the iconic shot, love how the red color pops out of the scene.

JC Anejo, great idea on the trolling. I think you should keep taking that photo every time you go out and I bet you can exceed this already compelling and visually pleasing capture. I think I might find it a bit more interesting with more than one fishing rig pictured and would also like to see a bit of the last light on the rigging. Great concept and don't get me wrong the posted one is still very cool.

Gryndyl, I can see why you chose to photochop this one. I think it's fine and dandy for web sharing. I wouldn't be able to give a more critical opinion without seeing a full-size version to evaluate how it would print, etc. Have you printed it? If it prints fine to the largest size you are ever going to want then who cares if it's perfect at full size? I too like Chris can detect some artifacts but they are not bad at all and besides OCD folks like us nobody is going to even notice them. I have with the subject isolated it's one of my favorite shots in the thread. Very compelling story-telling with lots of interest. We should all be so lucky to have our travel/documentary photos turn out that good.

Kelric, I think I told you before but that shipwreck shot is killer! It's actually all the moreso since you had the interesting framing vs. just putting the whole thing in the frame as mentioned by zinckiwi.

Geezer, I love your city shots and if they are jarring then we must need to be poked out of our pretty pictures haze.

Great eye for pattern and I agree with the black and white choice.

Schroeder, I really like the light coming off the water of the first one. It's a classic sun capture, well seen and photographed. I'm booking my flight now (don't I wish).

wire, you get the award for the first time in memory that a desaturated-except-for-one-object shot hasn't seemed heavy-handed and contrived -- very nice!

I was going to say that wagon might be might favorite photo yet posted to this thread. It has great design and agreed that it's not over done as so many of these can be. I've got some friends on flickr who are really into this genre and frankly this image is right there with the best of theirs that I've seen. Very nice work with the camera and a great way to learn it Wire. I also think the pink flower (2nd to last) is wonderful.

hentzau, post!

[Enough]

These are amazing. Wouldn't mind seeing what kind of cameras you guys are using.

I'm intrigued by the idea of the SLR cameras, and learning all about photography, but don't have the time or money to get involved. I have the previous version of this guy. Which is most likely garbage compared to what the others here are working with.

Don't buy one unless you think you would commit to hauling it around. Or maybe just buy the D40 with an all in one lens to keep the size/cost down. It's entirely possible to get good results from a point and shoot. A DSLR will not make you a better photographer, learning how to use a DSLR is where it helps you. The key is to learn where your given camera best performs and to use the heck out of it in that area. Learn it's idiosynchrocies and you're golden. Here's one of my favorites from my ancient 4 mp Nikon Coolpix 4500 that still seems to be popular even though it's from such a camera:

[WSK]

Great stuff here - I like the thread idea!

Here's my contribution - a shot from this fall that I liked. Camera is a Canon 20D.

[Daehawk]

If possible could you plz post what camera you were using and what settings? Id like to get some learning in..especially night time photos.

Ill contribute this one. Taken wit ha Canon Powershot A75. I do not recall the settings.

Some kind of little stink bug babies on my front porch. very cool little bugs.

[zinckiwi]

Cool and creepy... my shoulders itch like mad from a sunburn a few days ago, and that photo ain't helping! Were they munching on that leaf?

[wire]

wire, you get the award for the first time in memory that a desaturated-except-for-one-object shot hasn't seemed heavy-handed and contrived -- very nice!

I was going to say that wagon might be might favorite photo yet posted to this thread. It has great design and agreed that it's not over done as so many of these can be. I've got some friends on flickr who are really into this genre and frankly this image is right there with the best of theirs that I've seen. Very nice work with the camera and a great way to learn it Wire. I also think the pink flower (2nd to last) is wonderful.

Thanks for the comments

I don't get much traffic to my Flickr page and haven't felt confident enough to post pictures to any of the groups so getting some positive feedback is nice.

Thanks for starting this thread zinckiwi, I see Enough's photos as soon as he posts since I have him on my friends list in Flickr so being able to see others is nice.

[Enough]

Great idea! I just got a nice external flash for my camera that I'm eager to fiddle around with. It's just incredible how much better a simple indoor portrait looks with a real flash.

Awesomeness. Now just wait until you get the diy light mod bug. Soon every item in the grocery store or hardware store will look like a potential tool for your strobist kit. I have recently moved into the latter phase as one of my biggest goals for the new year is to improve my strobist and portrait photography work. I have literally spent hours combing the aisles of my local grocery, hardware, office, etc. stores looking for cheap solutions for things I want to try. I've found some great cheap snoots, gels and more for practically nothing. My favorite score is a set of four differently colored clear plastic bowls that make perfect gels for flash and they even diffuse a bit. And from a tip on strobist.com I found a neoprene drink holder for $5 and after cutting out the end I had a perfect portable snoot. That craft fun foam paper stuff at 79 cents a sheet is a great material to make all sorts of toys with, I bought a few sheets in both black and white. Watch the better bounce card video on YouTube to see one use for this wonderstuff.

My big project though has been to build a background stand and a pvc butterfly lighting contraption (links go to tutorials on making your own). Here's a photo of what the finished pvc contraption looks like (mine looks essentially the exact same):



And here are a few self-portraits testing the setup (you can see the classic butterfly lighting catch-lights in my eyes and one from a snooted strobe at camera right for the last two is also apparent):







C/C definitely welcome.

I basically shot straight out of camera jpgs with virtually no post-processing (I removed a couple of my skin blemishes, heh). The colored background is from shooting an off-camera flash through colored gels (i.e. the previously mentioned bowls from Target and some colored sheet dividers from OfficeMax) at a sheet hung from my diy background stand. A total of three flashes were used: Nikon SB-800, Nikon SB-28 and an ultra ancient Nikon SB-15.

[wire]

Here's another flower shot that has been "played" with in Photoshop



I haven't taken very many landscape shots but here are a few.





Any constructive feedback would be appreciated either here or on my Flickr (see signature). I've enrolled into a digital photography class starting next month so I'm sure I'll have more photo's to post.

[wonderpug]

Heh, we'll see how quickly I get that crazy. For now I'll probably be kept busy enough just sticking to the hot shoe and experimenting with bouncing.

...though a bounce card might be fun to try. And I guess that's how it starts, isn't it? :)

(Sunpak Super 383, btw)

[cheeba]

cheeba, we can still tell that it's a great photograph even with the scan. Please share some of your other film work if you get the chance, clearly you have a solid eye for composition. Out of curiosity, what was the film used? Since you said the scan is awful I am wary to guess, but based on the saturation I might guess Velvia?

Thanks, and god I have no idea what the film was. It was taken with my favorite camera ever, the Pentax A3000, which lasted me from like age 14 to my 30's. The last part it spent mostly in my mom's home and she had some kind of film in there. When I came up to visit for the 4th of July I took the remaining pics and she got it developed. Shortly after one of my brothers came to visit and did something to the camera and broke it and they had sent it to the trash without my knowledge. I'm still bummed.

Looking to go DSLR with the tax return this spring though. Hoping to get into some astrophotography with a telescope as well.

[uwatec]

I'm impressed by all the photo's posted already. I'm just getting into photography so any comments about ways to improve are appreciated.

Here are some photo's from my trip to Iceland. These were all taken with a Canon PowerShot A75.

Small part of Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Europe.


The road to Landmannalaugar in the Southern Highlands.


Ice on the beach near Jokulsaron (Glacier Lagoon).


The geyser Strokkur beginning to erupt.

[zinckiwi]

frosty goodness

Great shots. Proof that the camera matters less than the photographer. A tiny bit of post-production on those first two to take away that hazy blue cast in the distance would make them even better.

[ChrisGrenard]

Some quick'n'dirty photoshopping, for example only, gives us:

[Kelric]

Chris, if you're really bored (since I never see you playing TF2 anymore), go take a shot at my two pics.

I like the contrast of the ice with the very dark (and still wet looking) sand. The geyser shot is great, great timing.

[Daehawk]

Cool and creepy... my shoulders itch like mad from a sunburn a few days ago, and that photo ain't helping! Were they munching on that leaf?

I dont think so. Mostly they were scurrying around pretty fast. they did it as a group like a school of fish. they'd all turn together and stuff then they wouldstand stil la couple seconds then scurry about some more. Im thinking they were alien nano machines forming up to gain enough power to send a signal to the dark side of the moon.

[geezer]

Geezer, I love your city shots and if they are jarring then we must need to be poked out of our pretty pictures haze.

Great eye for pattern and I agree with the black and white choice.

Appreciate the kind words That was supposed to be my shot for the "urban" thread but it was taken right as I was moving and I had no way to get it online while I got everything set up.

Re: the B&W, the thing is, that picture is *almost" it's natural color. I took a splash of brown out of the lower right but without that it would have been much the same as you see

[Interloper]

Great thread idea. I hope it keeps going!

Enough - I really like the vivid colors in your desert shot. Fantastic!

uwatec - love the geyser shot. Perfect timing.


Here's a few of my fav's from years past:

High Uintas Mtn Range:


Lone Peak at sunset:


Macro of mantis:


Edit: Maybe this host will work better...

[zinckiwi]

Perfect exposure on that Lone Peak shot, Interloper.

[Jag]

99% of my pictures are of kids these days. I realized after viewing this thread that I don't take pictures of anything else anymore. I'll have to remedy that.

Here are some with my crappy 4mp Canon Elph. My kid threw out my first one, so I didn't want to spend any more money on a better camera. This one just fits in my pocket, but I don't love the pictures it takes. I'm also terrible at shopping photos, I don't think I have the 'eye' for it. Hell, I can barely match my clothes let alone micromanage the colors on a picture:

My backyard:


Air Show over the beach:

[Crabbs]

Wow amazing shots everyone.

Here's on from my brother's wedding in Central Park. I got a little distracted...