Forum: Photo Critique
06-22-2020, 06:47 AM
|
|
I was going to comment on the meters, but thought it might be nitpicky. Perhaps, instead of removing them, some colour-shifting to reduce saturation of the orange tones and bring them down to the same more neutral colour-palette as the rest of the image would limit them as a distraction?
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-19-2020, 02:29 AM
|
|
My go-to setup (when it's not just the 35mm Macro limited) adds in the 10-17 for wide stuff, and one of my 'vintage' lenses (either the helios 44m, the takumar 135 or the pentax 50 f1.2).
Or, if I decide to carry the Sigma 105 as my macro option, I tend to drop in the Sigma 30 f1.4 for a wider 'walkaround' lens. I like to have a bit more of a range of focal lengths if I am out for any length of time. I hate seeing a 'perfect' shot, and then thinking "If only I had *that* lens with me.
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-09-2020, 01:56 AM
|
|
I took this photo, or rather I took several dozen, playing with the exposure and f stop trying to separate the flower from the background. Ended up spending hours removing the background from the flower, only to decide it was then too boring, and putting back in some interest with the lens flare overlay.
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-05-2020, 02:02 AM
|
|
I am only recently starting to appreciate how different lenses render colours differently (and differently enough that it is not replicable in post processing, at least of jpeg). The Helios is quirky, but I am continually surprised by the colours that come out when I am using it.
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-04-2020, 03:56 AM
|
|
A little flying thing on a flower. Sat patiently for a while on it while I took a few portraits of him. A most obliging subject, with friendly lighting that allowed me to give him a more interesting (non-black) background, and allowed me to avoid using any flash.
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-04-2020, 03:49 AM
|
|
Another flower picture from lockdown. I was getting some similar flaring from behind the flowers with my vintage lenses, but nothing pretty with the macro, which felt necessary to get close enough for this flower. So, there is more than a little poetic license in the edit here. I'm still not 100% sure it's very tasteful, but I quite like it.
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-04-2020, 03:44 AM
|
|
A poppy after a brief rainshower. I've been photographing the same patch of wild flowers for the duration of 'lockdown', as it's on site where I live. It's been a nice exercise in creativity trying to find new images in the same lump of flowers.
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-02-2020, 02:38 AM
|
|
A monochrome render of an image from a garden I've been shooting heavily in lockdown. Spotted the curled nature of the flower bud, and had this image immediately in mind as a black and white before I even picked up the camera. I think it turned out okay.
|
Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
05-06-2020, 06:22 AM
|
|
I would like to nominate this photo
|
Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
05-01-2020, 07:01 AM
|
|
Indoor fun with a macro lens, some water and refracted backgrounds.
|
Forum: Winners' Showcase
03-03-2020, 09:30 AM
|
|
I would like to nominate this photo
|
Forum: Winners' Showcase
02-06-2020, 08:49 AM
|
|
I would like to nominate this photo
|
Forum: Photographic Technique
02-06-2020, 03:00 AM
|
|
At f40/f38, are you not seeing softening from diffraction, rather than merely focus being 'off'? When playing with my macro lenses, I have done various tests focusing on a piece of graph paper set at an angle, and taking multiple shots at different f-stops, to see the depth of field change, and then the image soften a little from diffraction at smaller apertures. This gives you some idea of how much depth of field you are playing with, and you will also be able to see at what point diffraction is making it all too soft.
|
Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-03-2020, 03:01 AM
|
|
|
Forum: Photo Critique
01-25-2020, 01:41 AM
|
|
Fair comment. I suppose I was just using it as a lazy shorthand for 'lower contrast'. I guess the age of instagram filters, and the 'film-look' being achieved by a combination of lower contrast, artificial vignetting, fake grain etc. has changed the common perception of how film *should* look.
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
01-24-2020, 02:06 AM
|
|
Really like this. The colours, particularly in the background, are really pleasing.
|
Forum: Photo Critique
01-24-2020, 02:04 AM
|
|
I kind of prefer the slightly washed-out, "vintage" look of the original image, personally. I wonder, however, if there might have been a composition with the rock a little lower in the frame, getting more of the vista, or framed by the two rocks? (Although, you might have been deliberately hiding something with them?)
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
01-22-2020, 06:42 AM
|
|
Really interesting lighting. I like it...
|
Forum: Photo Critique
01-20-2020, 03:20 AM
|
|
I would agree that possibly cloning out the building top right might remove distraction. I also really like the interest in the left hand of the frame, and wonder whether there might be a tighter crop that looked in more detail at that interesting portion?
|
Forum: Photo Critique
01-14-2020, 07:20 AM
|
|
I like the textures, and the moody look. I also like the tiny hair on the top of the crown; takes you into the picture somehow...
|
Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
01-14-2020, 05:16 AM
|
|
Just some soft natural light, and a delicious subject.
|
Forum: Photo Critique
01-14-2020, 04:49 AM
|
|
I know (with the benefit of annoying hindsight) that I would have been better not to crop out the edge of the keyring, but I am looking particularly for thoughts about about lighting. This was lit with a couple of diffused desk lamps, sitting on a sheet of clear perspex for a reflective surface. Thanks in advance for your help. Macro playing by Stewart Bell, on Flickr
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
01-14-2020, 02:17 AM
|
|
Is this natural light, or did you fill in with some? I can see some bluer tones and some warmer ones. Either way, really like this image.
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
01-14-2020, 01:37 AM
|
|
I think I was just lucky that the very end was clear. I found myself bumping into it with the lens hood anyway, getting that close. I *think* I was manually focusing for that shot (can't remember, and can't find it in the exif data) which meant my hand was right there to help. The thorns tended to all be in pairs with a 'flat' side anyway, so a single finger was enough to pin it into submission. I am not really the sort to "suffer for my art" so I'm not going to impale myself for the shot!
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
01-13-2020, 02:29 AM
|
|
Giving my new lens a workout this weekend. A bit windy, so I had to hold the end of the branch steady against the lens hood with my left hand, whilst taking the photo with the other.
..
|