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The C&H Photography Thread
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The Great Chinholio wrote: »Half hanging into the lake with 70-300mm at full zoom.
Keeping still is not easy :pac:
Which 70-300 though?
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Bright__Eyes wrote: »If only you'd posted that last week, I could have weaselled a birthday present out of it! How do you find the lens?
For the price especially I cant fault it.
I'll see if I can find a good example of its detail
Here we go:
18mm
And from a similar distance to the circled point (300mm but has been cropped)
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.JamJamJamJam wrote: »So! Question!
What makes a good photo good?
Photography, like every other art form, is pretty subjective I think, but having said that there are some basic elements that make up a 'good' photo. The two main ones would probably be composition and lighting.
(I'm still very much learning about all this, and slowly improving, so anyone with more knowledge than me feel free to step in).
At its most basic, composition is the way you choose to frame your photo before you take it. This photo for exampe http://basedigitalphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/0155041561.jpeg (robbed from google) has great composition, becuase the symmetry draws you into the photo and makes it really interesting. When you're starting off with photography, it helps to identify just one main element in the image you want to capture and then try and frame your photo to best portray that element.
Compared to this photo http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2733/4149795857_c48fb30170_o.jpg (robbed from google too) which is an example of bad composition because there is no real focal point, the objects in the photo are badly positioned, and it's just a bit dull to look at.
There's loads of stuff online about composition so check it out.
The other main basic element of good photography is lighting. Lighting is hugely important to a photographer, we are obsessed with lighting. It sets the mood of a photograph and helps to convey messages and emotions in a photograph, really lighting can make or break a photo. Again, there's reams and reams of stuff online on the importance of lighting, and I'm too lazy to type it all out here so go look
Before you take a photo, I think it helps to firstly think 1. Why am I taking this photo? and 2. What am I hoping to achieve by taking this photo? Basically, what are you trying to capture in your photograph? Is there a special moment or strong emotion that you want to capture and show the viewer? Is it just something you think looks cool and you want to share with others? Whatever your answer is, you can then arrange the composition and lighting of your photograph to reflect this.
I know it probably sounds a bit elementary, but I've found that really taking the time time to slow down and think about the photo you're about to take has improved my photography immensly. (I know it's not always possible to think before you shoot, but if you can, do!)
Or more importantly, what makes a good camera good?
Good cameras, as in the expensive ones, churn out better photos becuase they let a user manually control the camera settings. Instead of being tied to whatever settings your camera thinks are best, with a DSLR, i.e. a big, fancy-pants expensive camera, (warning: confusing photography jargon up ahead), you are free to set your own ISO, shutter speed, aperture size, level of exposure, etc., etc. (Most of this concerns how much light you let into your camera sensor when taking a photo. Again, google is your friend here. These terms are all terribly confusing at first but if you pursue photography they will become second nature you). BASICALLY, this gives you more freedom over your images and lets you create cool effects and more 'professiona looking' photographs.
The most attractive thing about DSLRs is that you can interchange camera lenses depending on the type of photographs that you want to take. A good lens automatically makes your job easier and makes prettier photos.
However, I don't think you necessarily need an expensive camera to get good looking photos. I know people with expensive cameras who still take mediocre photos, and I've seen amazing photo's being taken with a phone camera and a free photography app like Instagram. Yeah, expensive cameras do help somewhat, but I think that you really need to be committed to learning how to use the manual settings for them to be worth getting.
To wrap up this essay (I really didn't mean to make it this long.
Feel free to PM me if it's confusing or you have any more questions), photography may seem simple, but quite a lot of thought and effort (and usually in my case, sheer luck) goes into capturing good images. It takes a lot of practice, and trial and error, but I think it's defintely worth it. The most important thing is to get out there and practice. If you're stuck for inspiration, try googleing some photograpers or photography blogs, find a style that you like, and shamelessly imitate them until you find your own style!
I hope this was somewhat helpful and not too ramble-y!
Oh and check out the Photography forum - lots of good advice there from people with far more knowledge and experience than me.0 -
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Thanks so much guys! That sounds like awesome advice
I've always thought photography would be enjoyable so I'll try and use my summer holidays to see if I can get going. Up until now I thought what I'd need was "one of those big black cameras with the big round lenses", which I now know is called a 'DSLR' :P
I'll have a look around online at all the terminology and techniques and stuff, and maybe I could save up to get a camera that isn't just my phone!
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JamJamJamJam wrote: »Thanks so much guys! That sounds like awesome advice I've always thought photography would be enjoyable so I'll try and use my summer holidays to see if I can get going. Up until now I thought what I'd need was "one of those big black cameras with the big round lenses", which I now know is called a 'DSLR' :P
I'll have a look around online at all the terminology and techniques and stuff, and maybe I could save up to get a camera that isn't just my phone!
Thanks again
If you don't want to go the whole hope and get a DSLR or bridge camera, you could get a good digital camera to get you started. I have a canon powershot sx230 which I absolutely adore. I probably use it more than my SLR later, it's much handier for carrying around and it still has completely manual settings so I still have total control over my pictures.
Here's a few I took while I was over in London
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Thanks Pigwidgeon Those pictures look great! Those men are covered in nature!! :eek: Kinda goes to show that you don't necessarily need an enormous camera to take good photos! That camera seems to have a loooad of advantages! The more I look into this, the harder it seems to know where to go next... But anyway, that's what the internet is for :P
I don't mean to be clogging up the thread! Thanks again guys
I'll try to get it a bit back on topic with another random picture from this famous phone of mine... This is from the time I accidentally hit a golf ball through a plastic bucket, which made a hole much neater than I'd have expected :P
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The Great Chinholio wrote: »1 thing to remember is simply actually go out taking pictures!
You can sit there for ages looking at books, forums, magazines, youtube but they all mean bugger all if youre not actually out there (A mistake I used to make).
Its the best way since you actually start understanding how weather, time, enviroments all have different effects.
This might also seem like an odd one but everyone should shoot at least a couple of rolls with a film SLR. A limited amount of shots make you think a lot harder over what youre doing. Plus you can pick up the bodies for dirt cheap and they make nice backups :pac:
That's a good point :P You probably have to be a bit active about it, instead of spending all your time like.. preparing! Kind of like studying. God, I can spend hours and hours writing study plans and organising notes, without actually learning anything :P And yeah that makes a lot of sense. I'll look into getting an SLR too. Google says the lenses will fit on a digital camera if it's made by the same company, so that's another plus! There are so many different cameras out there, and I know that after 5 minutes of looking at one website! If I get one, the decision will be veeery hard :P Cheers, Chin
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Get yourself a bridge camera or a beginner DSLR (Nikon D3100) and just play with it, read through the manual, check out youtube and a whole load of online resources. Just have fun!
I agree with this, or the 3200/5100
Then again, you can also get a second hand D90/D300 depending on how much ya wanna spend, and an old 50mm.
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D90 is too much camera for a beginner, I'm still finding new things on it and I've had it a few months now!The Great Chinholio wrote: »Same. Only discovered the flash contoller about 2 hours ago :pac:
I know it's a lot of camera all bundled in, but depending on his budget, it might be a more suitable option
Still agree with the D3100 of course :cool:
Just throwing out more ideas.0 -
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