clearly wank, but sometimes you have to work with what you've got ...
NOt sure how you feel about postwork, but if you cleaned up that "window" of branches so the buck's silhouette was outlined on pure white without any branches, it would go from an awesome image to an amazing image.
I go to a decent amount of live shows and I happened to like how this picture came out. It's usually hard to get a decent shot with poor lighting and trying to keep steady.
@paul what is the story behind the second image in your last post. Gorgeous lady.It seems like their some kind of story/narrative there.
I was walking around the market and noticed that woman constantly turning her head to see what was behind her, so I just waited for her to turn her head one more time while I composed the shot and snapped the pic just as she looked over. Shooting at waist level with the Rollei is a good way to remain candid on the street.
Statues. Probably my most favourite form of art.
Sometimes I can stand and stare at them for ages and some of them can truly wierd you out since they are so lifelike. Some of them even look like they might come alive at every second.
I bet I was a sculpter in a past life. Wish I could become one.
ah crap. I had hoped you would say iPhone 4 or some cool android phone I just have an old iPhone 3G. I never really bothered until now to use a phone to make pictures. But here in China I keep encountering cool stuff I want to take a photo of and then I don't have my camera with me, just the phone
Thanks Mezz. She was freezing but even when I was cold and I had my jacket, hat and gloves on, she still wanted to try few things more So nice to work with enthusiastic girls/models. It does not happen very often.
Great shot Paul. I still don't feel comfortable taking shots of strangers... how do you approach them. Do you talk to them before you take a photograph.. i went to a market place in my town and there are some really cool characters there, but I did not feel comfortable taking pictures. I would love to do that ... perhaps I should put on a smile and go for it and if someone is angry about it just apologize and move on
Great shot Paul. I still don't feel comfortable taking shots of strangers... how do you approach them. Do you talk to them before you take a photograph.. i went to a market place in my town and there are some really cool characters there, but I did not feel comfortable taking pictures. I would love to do that ... perhaps I should put on a smile and go for it and if someone is angry about it just apologize and move on
Most homeless people don't mind if you take their picture, all they really want is money. Also many of them come up to me and ask for money, after which I ask if I can take their picture. I rarely go up to someone and ask to take their portrait unless I really want their picture; it never hurts to ask. It also helps that I shoot with a Rolleiflex, many people are very curious about the camera; they also see someone shooting with it as a more serious photographer (so to speak), as opposed to someone shooting with a point-and-shoot, and thus are more open to it. A lot of times conversations are struck up with strangers about the camera, after which I ask to take their portrait. It can be uncomfortable asking total strangers for pictures, but when you realize most people will do anything for a buck, it's pretty easy.
I asked this man to take his picture after giving him some money, he did not mind. Shot again with a Rolleiflex, Kodak 400TX film, Sekonic 308s meter:
Thanks for your reply Paul..
This is another nice shot .. so yo develop your films by yourself? nice stuff
When i was talking about strangers i did not mean strictly homeless people... so .. not sure if giving money to people will work .. any way i am going to try something ... i wil just try to smile and see how it goes.. also perhaps if I am having a longer lens that might work better as they might not notice me...
I dont really have a lot of available models at the moment so i have no choice
Thanks guys. @disanski: Asking never hurts; I personally prefer to use a wider lens and walk right up to the subject to take a picture. Using a telephoto lens to photograph someone across a street is fine but has a certain voyeuristic quality about it that I'm not a fan of, I'd rather try to make the viewer part of the urban scene as opposed to someone viewing it from far away. Also I currently develop B&W film at home, but take color to the photolab.
@Entity: I shoot with a Rolleiflex Automat 6x6 - Model K4A which has a Zeiss Tessar 3.5 lens. It's around 60 years old but still works great and shoots good quality photos.
I think this is my favorite one from today (abandoned powerplant):
First time I do HDR, this one turned out best. I really don't get how people make these extreme fake-looking HDR's, it's so easy to keep it looking natural..
So Xoliul this is with your new camera?
You have access to this place ? I want to see more of it!
This next image I am not happy with, but posting it any way because it is all i got from this week
Hey Disanski, cool picture, what did you adjust the colors with? Really like the feel it has.
And yes it's with my new cam! Pretty happy with it, really trying to do things with it my consumer cam couldn't. I've taken the 50mm with me twice already when I went out, happy I did, makes shooting people fun (always shied away from that, even my 3D art tells lol).
Here's one from yesterday night:
BTW, while the 50mm 1.8 is clearly very fast, I still have to crank the ISO up to the max of 3200 and even then half of the pics end up blurry. Not much more I can do I guess ? Or should I try working with a flash ? Got a big-ass Nikon Speedlight SB-24 here, but kinda holding back on using it since I don't really know how to use it in such situations + a flash is a lot more "intrusive" than without.
Thanks for the link man It looks like you had a lot of fun there.
Please excuse me but i forgot what camera did you end up getting? If you are down at 1.8 the lens are a touch soft i would go up to 2.2 - 2.8 just to make sure it is all perfect and then what shutter speed are you at? I would say it should be at least 1/60 ( in order to prevent any shaking from your hands) and you might have to drop the iso a bit as well because if you crank it up to it's highest limits it will add some noise to the image which might makes it look blurry to you. Also are you shooting in raw or jpg? If jpg the camera sometimes tries to add noise reduction and that might make it even worse .. but not too sure about that because i have not shot in jpg in .... forever
If you do all of this in order to get sharper image it might not be bright enough for you but you cant have it all
Regarding the image I posted above I edited it on a friend of mine computer and he has this plug in : http://www.niksoftware.com/colorefexpro/usa/entry.php
It works very nice but there is no way I am spending all of this money on such a software and you can achieve all of this just with PS if you know what you are looking for. It works like a filter and you can add the effect as if you were shooting on a film and you can also choose what film so what i got there is a simulation of a Kodak chrome professional with the layers turned down and a color balance adjustment layer on top. Nothing too special
Replies
NOt sure how you feel about postwork, but if you cleaned up that "window" of branches so the buck's silhouette was outlined on pure white without any branches, it would go from an awesome image to an amazing image.
Just like I cleaned my bike today. The snow and salt were eating away my precious.
Had to take a shot before I go and get dirty all over the place.
went to Egypt:
Went out to the east coast yesterday, there is a collection of old mining equipment near Cockenzie
I was walking around the market and noticed that woman constantly turning her head to see what was behind her, so I just waited for her to turn her head one more time while I composed the shot and snapped the pic just as she looked over. Shooting at waist level with the Rollei is a good way to remain candid on the street.
Street portait of a homeless man:
What is this?
edit: Ohh... http://www.flickr.com/photos/46514061@N00/436728919
Ah, really like the colors here, prefer this to the B&W!
Sometimes I can stand and stare at them for ages and some of them can truly wierd you out since they are so lifelike. Some of them even look like they might come alive at every second.
I bet I was a sculpter in a past life. Wish I could become one.
Gorgeous.
My first go with my new Manfrotto tripod
Another shot of my '01 taken by my good buddy.
I was just out around sunset when I the sky looked like this... I had to snap some shots, sorry about the quality, it's an ipod touch photo.
Was your model freezing?
Here are some shots from around the area I live right now.
Camera: Canon 550D
Lens: Canon EF 28mm f1.8 USM
Most homeless people don't mind if you take their picture, all they really want is money. Also many of them come up to me and ask for money, after which I ask if I can take their picture. I rarely go up to someone and ask to take their portrait unless I really want their picture; it never hurts to ask. It also helps that I shoot with a Rolleiflex, many people are very curious about the camera; they also see someone shooting with it as a more serious photographer (so to speak), as opposed to someone shooting with a point-and-shoot, and thus are more open to it. A lot of times conversations are struck up with strangers about the camera, after which I ask to take their portrait. It can be uncomfortable asking total strangers for pictures, but when you realize most people will do anything for a buck, it's pretty easy.
I asked this man to take his picture after giving him some money, he did not mind. Shot again with a Rolleiflex, Kodak 400TX film, Sekonic 308s meter:
This is another nice shot .. so yo develop your films by yourself?
When i was talking about strangers i did not mean strictly homeless people... so .. not sure if giving money to people will work ..
I dont really have a lot of available models at the moment so i have no choice
lol, I'm pretty sure that's the exact same coat I'm wearing. I love the shot. I need to start getting more people shots.
@disanski: Asking never hurts; I personally prefer to use a wider lens and walk right up to the subject to take a picture. Using a telephoto lens to photograph someone across a street is fine but has a certain voyeuristic quality about it that I'm not a fan of, I'd rather try to make the viewer part of the urban scene as opposed to someone viewing it from far away. Also I currently develop B&W film at home, but take color to the photolab.
@Entity: I shoot with a Rolleiflex Automat 6x6 - Model K4A which has a Zeiss Tessar 3.5 lens. It's around 60 years old but still works great and shoots good quality photos.
maleny, qld, australia
First time I do HDR, this one turned out best. I really don't get how people make these extreme fake-looking HDR's, it's so easy to keep it looking natural..
You have access to this place
This next image I am not happy with, but posting it any way because it is all i got from this week
And yes it's with my new cam! Pretty happy with it, really trying to do things with it my consumer cam couldn't. I've taken the 50mm with me twice already when I went out, happy I did, makes shooting people fun (always shied away from that, even my 3D art tells lol).
Here's one from yesterday night:
The rest of today's urbex trip is on my Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43951983@N00/sets/72157625866087465/
BTW, while the 50mm 1.8 is clearly very fast, I still have to crank the ISO up to the max of 3200 and even then half of the pics end up blurry. Not much more I can do I guess ? Or should I try working with a flash ? Got a big-ass Nikon Speedlight SB-24 here, but kinda holding back on using it since I don't really know how to use it in such situations + a flash is a lot more "intrusive" than without.
Please excuse me but i forgot what camera did you end up getting? If you are down at 1.8 the lens are a touch soft i would go up to 2.2 - 2.8 just to make sure it is all perfect
If you do all of this in order to get sharper image it might not be bright enough for you but you cant have it all
Regarding the image I posted above I edited it on a friend of mine computer and he has this plug in :
http://www.niksoftware.com/colorefexpro/usa/entry.php
It works very nice but there is no way I am spending all of this money on such a software and you can achieve all of this just with PS if you know what you are looking for. It works like a filter and you can add the effect as if you were shooting on a film and you can also choose what film so what i got there is a simulation of a Kodak chrome professional with the layers turned down and a color balance adjustment layer on top. Nothing too special