The Official Photography Thread - Vol. 3

[sthebest]

If you could school me on levitation photography I'd appreciate it.

Basically, what I did was take two pics: a pic of the shoes laying flat on a white sheet and a pic of the background. So i used Magic Erase to erase most of the white background on the sneaker shot, cleaned up the shadows from the original pic by using a regular eraser tool. Then copy and pasted the sneaker pic onto the background pic. I used gaussian blur to make the background look out of focus. for the new layer with the sneakers, I added drop shadows and adjusted the distance and opacity enough so that it would look believable

Took this shot this morning

Also too this one yesterday

 

[fraij da 5 11]

I gotta do a test on my Sigma 30mm 1.4 i just got... Seems like its front focusing... AF markers were between the eyes in the pic below and it appears that the eyes are just a bit OOF... whiskers on the snout are in focus

This was at f/2

 

[2 RAWW]

Those of you who shoot on the beach, how do you protect your dslr from sand and water? I will be going to Hawaii in a few month and really want to use my camera on the beach but I've seen so many people discourage using it in a windy beach setting. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[jtothao]

great photo man, love the colours

thank you sir!

 

[sthebest]

one more shot from this morning's snowdall

 

[growingupny]

What software are most of you guys on? 

 

[Fong$tarr]

I am on Photochop6 but I feel like Lightroom has more easier editing skills to do things to look like filters. Photoshop has a bunch of action scripts you can download but I always like to just edit with my fresh eyes. Plus Instagram and other such apps killed making DLSR photos look that way. Almost cheapens it in a ways, so I try not to do anything close to what is seen on there.

 

[2 RAWW]

Those of you who shoot on the beach, how do you protect your dslr from sand and water? I will be going to Hawaii in a few month and really want to use my camera on the beach but I've seen so many people discourage using it in a windy beach setting. Any help would be appreciated.

Anyone have any advice?

 

[growingupny]

I am on Photochop6 but I feel like Lightroom has more easier editing skills to do things to look like filters. Photoshop has a bunch of action scripts you can download but I always like to just edit with my fresh eyes. Plus Instagram and other such apps killed making DLSR photos look that way. Almost cheapens it in a ways, so I try not to do anything close to what is seen on there.

Thanks.

I'm not really into adding, or editing to the extent of a feaux filter, but just more so changing and tweaking minor things like color and stuff. 

 

[yanky]

Basically, what I did was take two pics: a pic of the shoes laying flat on a white sheet and a pic of the background. So i used Magic Erase to erase most of the white background on the sneaker shot, cleaned up the shadows from the original pic by using a regular eraser tool. Then copy and pasted the sneaker pic onto the background pic. I used gaussian blur to make the background look out of focus. for the new layer with the sneakers, I added drop shadows and adjusted the distance and opacity enough so that it would look believable

Thanks for the breakdown. I'll give it a shot.

What software are most of you guys on? 

I use LR4 and mainly play around with the filters. I'm still getting used to photoshop and all the functions it has but LR4 is fairly simple to use.

 

[growingupny]

Thanks guys, i've still got so much more to learn and play around with both software and hardware wise. 

Still getting used to my T4i. 

 

[grizzlyboy]

Steezy will you tell me what you used to create your home studio?

 

[Fong$tarr]

Thanks guys, i've still got so much more to learn and play around with both software and hardware wise. 

Still getting used to my T4i. 

The trick of it all is to use software sparingly. I shouldn’t be a tool that makes bad photos look good but moreso good photos look better. That is pretty much why film photographers hate digital. Certain film photos can be treated in a way but overall the original shot has to be decent, if not good. With tools like photoshop, you can make crap photos look like something that could have never come out of a camera. It’s practically cheating when done that way, but I honestly don’t even care. The argument between digital and film is stupid. They are practically two different things altogether and not one is better than the other.

And with photoshop, I really only do a couple of things. Adjust the curve, color balance aka fix white balance, brightness/contrast and specific color adjustor to bring certain colors out. Also I’ll clone tool things if necessary. That is pretty much it.

 

[thadocta]

Those of you who shoot on the beach, how do you protect your dslr from sand and water? I will be going to Hawaii in a few month and really want to use my camera on the beach but I've seen so many people discourage using it in a windy beach setting. Any help would be appreciated.

Anyone have any advice?

what kinda camera do u have?

my sony a77 is weather proof and can handle some light rain and sand

what do yall think of this sony 35mm 1.8 lens?

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2412851,00.asp

i need a new lens and think this would be nice. i can get it for around 160

 

[2 RAWW]

^^ I have the Canon T4i. I don't think it is very weather proof.

 

[thadocta]

^^ I have the Canon T4i. I don't think it is very weather proof.

yeah i dont think its built to withstand water and sand

 

[sthebest]

Thanks.

I'm not really into adding, or editing to the extent of a feaux filter, but just more so changing and tweaking minor things like color and stuff. 

i too use Photoshop. but i only use it to mostly edit RAW attributes such as recovery, saturation, tint, and contrast. i also like to add a gradient overlay for extra contrast and high pass overlay on a low opacity for enhancing small details that usually would get lost. But im primarily a graphic designer so all of the editing tools in Photoshop come more naturally to me.

 

[growingupny]

The trick of it all is to use software sparingly. I shouldn’t be a tool that makes bad photos look good but moreso good photos look better. That is pretty much why film photographers hate digital. Certain film photos can be treated in a way but overall the original shot has to be decent, if not good. With tools like photoshop, you can make crap photos look like something that could have never come out of a camera. It’s practically cheating when done that way, but I honestly don’t even care. The argument between digital and film is stupid. They are practically two different things altogether and not one is better than the other.

And with photoshop, I really only do a couple of things. Adjust the curve, color balance aka fix white balance, brightness/contrast and specific color adjustor to bring certain colors out. Also I’ll clone tool things if necessary. That is pretty much it.

I'd agree. The original shot needs to be able to hold water (So to speak). I was referring to minor corrections like the ones you mentioned.

i too use Photoshop. but i only use it to mostly edit RAW attributes such as recovery, saturation, tint, and contrast. i also like to add a gradient overlay for extra contrast and high pass overlay on a low opacity for enhancing small details that usually would get lost. But im primarily a graphic designer so all of the editing tools in Photoshop come more naturally to me.

Self taught?

Also, do you guys use PS and LR to create watermarks? 

 

[HankHill]

I use PS. More of a graphics guy before getting into photography so photo manipulation is pretty intuitive.

Watermarking is pretty easy as well. I have an action that places the watermark on top and shrinks the image. I just run the action as a batch process on a folder if I have a lot of images or I'm not worried about changing the watermarks opacity.

 

[growingupny]

I use PS. More of a graphics guy before getting into photography so photo manipulation is pretty intuitive.

Watermarking is pretty easy as well. I have an action that places the watermark on top and shrinks the image. I just run the action as a batch process on a folder if I have a lot of images or I'm not worried about changing the watermarks opacity.

Sounds like a time saver. Did you create the watermark in PS and then apply that file to your folders? 

 

[HankHill]

Yeah.

 

[ksteezy]

Steezy will you tell me what you used to create your home studio?

Simple setup bro, I use a pair of preassure autopoles, crossbar, 3 9ft seamless rolls and a pulley system that goes with the autopoles set up in order to be able to roll out each roll without ever having to remove them.

 

[bjamez20]

^^ I have the Canon T4i. I don't think it is very weather proof.

bring it in a camera bag and keep it in the bag unless you're shooting with it. use a filter on your lens. make sure no sand gets in your bag.

 

[lilhen18]

bring it in a camera bag and keep it in the bag unless you're shooting with it. use a filter on your lens. make sure no sand gets in your bag.

All true. It's just a matter of being careful with your equipment. If you take your time and simply take care, you'll have a good experience and probably get some great shots. Good luck.

 

[ultrapalekid]

For the theme of the week