Finally a thread that I'll enjoy writing, I made a topic about photography and cameras. If you guys don't know already I'm an avid photographer, I've been doing it for about 5-6 years and I really enjoy it. My details on photography are as follows:

Camera Used: Nikon D100 (D200 Shared)
Lenses Used: Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D, Nikkor AF-S DX VR Zoom-18-200mm and a Tamron AF28-300mm XR Di
Favourite Medium: Glamor/Conceptual/Urban
First Camera: Disposable Cannon
Nikon vs. Cannon: Nikon
Digital vs. Film: Digital-Used, Film-Prefered
Portfolio: Not avalible (On Computer)
Tools: Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom
Film Used: none
Compact Flash: 4x Ultra 2 1GB SanDisk
Current Project: Creating my online portfolio
Best Advice: Great artists don't blame their tools

This is just a thread where you can post about your sort of photography, help, ideas, inspirations. Basically anything about photography or cameras.

Tip #1

- Take the camera lens off BEFORE taking a photo, not AFTER

I've now got a Samsung Digimax S500 5.1mp camera with a 2.5"inch viewing screen, 1 gig SD card and has movie recording+sound capability. Uses those annoying batteries where you have to take them out of the camera to recharge and makes the somewhat slim camera look more bulky with too much weight on one side. Bought it for $220, I wanted something relatively cheap because I don't take many photos

Previous one was a Sony Cybershot DSC-30 (I think), 1.3mp with basic movie recording /no sound. Cost $1000(!) because I bought it when digital cameras where still relatively unknown. Was twice the size and weight when compared to the camera I have now

I never got into the photography phase, I tried but wasn't very good at it and didn't have the right equipment (like a tripod for starters), plus these cameras are really not designed for zooming in due to the primitive optical zoom function

Here's some photos I've taken. Excuse my shoddy craftmanship but the first pic (taken at night, hence the reflections) came out a bit grainy, so I applied a dark stroke filter. Second one is at a severly reduced image size to keep it 56k friendly. And both of these photos were taken with my internal memory (25mb) whilst waiting for my SD card as I was in QLD at the time

I like the second one, it has a good sense of perspective in it. Just a tip though. On most cameras you get these days (unless they're professional grade), they usually have an anti-shake feature on them. So there's no need for a tripod.

Hey neo, which SLR cam would you recommend a photography newbie? Or any good digital cam that can do a decent job for half the price of an SLR... thanks.

I like the second pic backy.

It really depends on your budget when buying a camera. A lot of D-SLRs do have full automatic photography modes in them which are great for beginners. Most D-SLRs are quite expensive though, there are some good little cameras which are both reliable and take great pictures.

D-SLRs: Low Range
- Nikon D80: This is probably your beginner level D-SLR camera but it has the picture quality of it's higher priced brothers like the D200 or the D2X. This in my opinion is probably the best camera Nikon has released n the last 5 years. Just be prepeared to buy the lenses for it though.
- Canon EOS 350D: This is another beginner level D-SLR, a lot of hobbists use this camera for two reasons, one is it has all the trimmings and features of a professional grade camera, the second is that the picture quality is fantastic. Yet again don't forget to buy some lenses for this camera.
- Sony A100K: This is Sony's first D-SLR camera, it's probably a good start for Sony this camera does come with a lens (but whether it'll take other lenses I'm not too sure of) , In terms of Specifications this camera comes in line with the D80 and 350D models. This camera is looking at the moment to be a real winner. Though it is only avalibe in America.

Conventional:
- Canon IXUS 800 IS: As far as compacat digital camera go this is probably one of the best cameras out there, it's great value for money and has all the trimmings for a beginner. It looks and works great and generally is very reliable. Like most compact cameras they don't like dim light.
- Panasonic Lumix FX7: I picked this happy little camper up at Hong Kong airport on the way to Greece. If I were to recommend a camera, it'd be this thing. Great value and very reliable, after taking over 2000 photos in Greece some of the best ones produced was from this thing.
- Fujifilm F20 zoom: This is a new model camera, which is already shaping up to be a top of the line compact digital camera. It has all the trimmings for a beginner and they're generally a well built camera unit.
- Canon A700: Yet again another Canon, just as good as the last. Well built, great picture quality and a 6x zoom. I know that soudns strange but for most compact digital cameras thats a reasonably good zoom. he big let-down for it would be the lack of image stablisation.

That's a fair chunk f information right there but it should be what your looking for, other than that it's really a choice of what you want and what the camera has to offer. I just relised this has taken me about 30 minutes to write! <_<

Thanks man. Another thing, any links you have about lighting techniques? :P Thanks. BTW, I'm into taking b&w portraits and scenery.

I'll have a look tonight on specific lighting techniques tutorials, but at the moment my computer (which has all the bookmarks) is having it's hard drive defragmented.
Some tips when shooting in black and white:
i/ Always shoot your photos in raw format, it makes the photos a lot easier to edit and manipulate when shot in raw. If you are shooting in raw though make sure to download the Adobe Lightroom beta, it's free and great.
ii/ Invest a bit of money in flash packs, get used to using a flashgun as they will help a lot in bringing out shadows and giving a picture more depth.
iii/ Go exploring, not many good photos are to be had just in your backyard. Going for a drive for a couple of hours out and about means that you'll get a much bigger scope on your photos
iv/ When you feel confident, use film. I'm not just saying this because I prefer it but film is a much better medium to use, it's really for once your good and confident that you can take good photos without much editing.

Neo - I would like to get an SLR, but apart from not having enough money, I don't really understand how to use different lenses/what lenses you need, etc. - can you try to explain it to me somehow? I know a bit about photography, but I just don't really know much about the different lenses and whether you need lots of different kinds for SLRs and such.

Also, my current camera is a 2Megapixel Canon Powershot A60 - I don't like it very much, because a lot of the pictures I take come out grainy, and also because the camera's cheap and small it has a very low dynamic range and a lot of bloom when I take pictures which are lit from behind.

Here's a couple of pics I've taken - these were taken a while ago


this one was slightly wonky, so I rotated it in photoshop to make the horizon, er, horizontal - it was only a minor thing, just thought I'd point it out, so it's also been very slightly cropped, I probably don't even need to mention this because it doesn't really matter anyway


this one was taken just out of the window during a sunset.


this was out the backyard... Yeh, unfortunately, I don't get to go to many photogenic places, hopefully after I get my P's I'll go some more places and take some more photos... Probably after the end of grade 12... Anyway...


oh, another photo.

Unfortunately, I haven't had much time for photography lately - I tried taking some photos recently but I haven't been anywhere with anything worth taking photos of.

I was thinking of saving for a Canon S3 IS - any comments on that camera? and any recommendations for a camera in the ~$500 range? I probably won't get one any time soon really, mostly because like I said - probably at least until I finish school I won't have much time for photography... And I'll be spending most of my money on Wii :P

I don't like photography much, mostly because I feel so suss walking around with a camera. I have a Nikon 5700 but it's busted at the moment. We have two other camera's both stupid Kodak ones.

Here are some photos I had to take for my design course. The third one actually got me first in the course.





This is a composition of some of my photography which also got me first in the course.

Lenses are simple trust me, SLRs have changable lenses because they're built for professional photographers and sometimes just having the one lens on a camera can be quite limiting.
Don't worry about going out and buying 4 or 5 lenses, also don't fall into the trap of buying the lenses from the same company as your camera, as they will make you pay through the nose.

I personally started out on my Tamron lens for about a year and a bit, its a great lens and hasn't failed me to date. The main reason I bought the other few is for specific purposes, like close-up photography.

Basically, different lenses serve different purposes and all of them are built for a specific reason. Take a telephoto lense, if you watch a footbal match and see the photographers with the big white lenses (yes those are lenses), they're built for superfast photography with a beefy zoom that'll still be able to produce a good photo in varing light. They'll set you back $15 000 though.

If your a beginner I'd recommend a Tamron or Tonkina lens, they've got the build quality of a Nikkor lens but at half the price. Personally a good standard zoom lens is all you need for now, just shop around and you'll save quite a bit.

Secondly, grainy picture quality comes down to only one thing, noise. Simply put a camera can be set to take photos in low light by adjusting the Iso meter higher. Most compact cameras do suffer a grainy effect at low light though, best option is to set the iso on the camera up a bit. If it still has the grainy effect in good light, take a look at it.
When taking a standard photo the Iso should be no more than 100-200 and in low light about 600-700.

Personally I've never really come across that camera, I've read a few good reviews on it but a part from that I've barely heard of it. After looking at for your sort fo work it seems like a good camera, but I think it's ready been superseeded, so it might be worthwhile looking at that.

I could go through the bucketload of sub $500 cameras out there but I'd be here all night writing them :P , have a look at the Nikons, Canons, FujiFilms, Panasonics and Siny cameras and get a few models in mind, then do what I've done in the past and walk into a few camera shops and ask if they can discount it for you and get some prices.

Metallix, all I can say is that you deserved that first place in your class, those are some great photos there. Especially the bottom one! :D

I've never heard of "Siny" - did you mean Sony, or is there actually a brand called Siny? And thanks for teh info

I meant Sony, sorry about the typo I've been quite tired of late.

is a'ight - I thought you meant Sony

here's a pic I took something like a week or two ago but just looked at today, because I didn't think I'd taken any decent photos. I'm quite pleased with this one, though...

*kicks thread in backside*

A couple of nights ago I saw the sun setting through the clouds and decided to take a picture. Shame the camera I use is pretty hideous for dark places

One of the most amazing pictures I've seen, How lucky do you have to be to get this shot?

All three events are captured at the same time and place, including the sunset and the beach and visitors; and it's beautiful. The comet is McNaught's comet, visible now in the southern hemisphere. The location is Perth, just north of Hillary's Marina. And the reason for the fireworks is that it was taken on Australia Day.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4827/fi...ightningcw7.jpg

as with most amazing pictures, people will call photoshop, so here's proof:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070205.html

zounds that's awesome :D also the imageshack link is broken - good thing you posted the bottom one or I'd be whinging! I wonder if there's a higher res version of it available, I'd really like to crop it somehow and have it as my wallpaper... The aspect ratio pretty much is not right but I'd still like a higher res version.

I DID NOT TAKE THESE NOR AM I IN THEM.

I do Parkour and i found these shots very cool.

They are sweet, I like the thrid one best even though he looks like he's a dead man in about 3 seconds! :P

Yeah, that's a pretty insane back flip. If I can find some time tomorrow, I may snap up a few pics of the local scenery. But then again, I could play Twilight Princess.

Here's some of my truly amateurish photography. These are the low res versions on account that I didn't think anyone would like me to post a picture that is 6000 pixels wide. <_<


A cool worm thing I found in the garden.





I was playing around with panoramic shots (stitched together in photoshop) in this one of my gf's parents place (the house is about one room thick, so it's much smaller than it looks). Colour has been messed around with heaps too because it was basically dark when I took the photos.





Daisies... <_<





The trees here were all planted in memory of someone who died in WW2. There's miles of this stuff on the mainland. <_<

I have to say guys that's some top-notch photography. Does anyone have a D-SLR and if so does anyone know how to use the raw photo format on it.

Trust me it makes the quality of your photos so much better.

I'd love a D-SLR camera, too expensive for me right now though. I make do with my fuji 4MP camera and photoshop.

I'll post some pics up soon, I took some cool ones the other day with my new camera I got for my 21st. :)

Like the picture of your girlfriends house. :)

What does that even mean?

Uhh .. he likes this picture? :P

Oooooh. He was replying to me, not commenting on what Estapol said... It all suddenly makes sense.

That was me by the way. <_<

Lol, you boys and your lack of account managment. :P

It doesn't help that we work at the same place. Though I'm not sure why I just assumed it would be me logged in when I came here, given that was my first work post ever. <_<

Ah, I was wondering where the hell Beast came from and what the f**ck that post meant :P

Lemme guess they're from tassie? :P

Awwww SNAP!


Anyways, we had a mad thunderstorm this evening, so I whipped out the camera, cranked up the aperture, and hoped that lightning struck at the right time. :P (the one with no lightning I put in there cause I thought it just looked cool)

That's freaking awesome! I wish I could take lightning pics.

Wow, those photos are awesome. I'm still a newbie at mine, and I'm working on improving my shots.

What sort of camera are you using there Estapol?
SLR or just a bloody good pocket sized digi camera?

I would guess that it's probably a point and shoot of some kind by the quality of those photos... Also, since I've just found this thread again, I may as well mention that a while ago we got a Canon Powershot S3 IS, which is good :D

Little from column A, little from column B...



http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/digital/cameras/...ex.php?&flash=9

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/cameras/F...700/page-1.html

Thread revival!! Woo!

I was going to start a new thread about photography, but then I remembered that there used to be a photography thread!

Anyway, I was just reminding myself of how much I like photography, even though I haven't had many things to take pictures of lately...

Does anyone else on here use flickr? I've got some of my photos on there. Anyway, I pretty much just wanted to post something somewhere about photography, because it's such a great thing.