[[HyuNi]]

Went bushwalking up in the Blue Mountains the other day. Should've used a smaller aperture value. T_T Will probably go back someday to take less noob landscapes.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3500/391157..._7ac391fa6a.jpg

WOW, I think that photo is just great! You could bump up the fill light a tad bit more to bring some light to the shaded parts, but with what you had to work with, it's almost impossible for you to take a bad shot!
Where are the blue mountains located? Geez... photos like these make me jealous... there's obviously no mountains in the chicagoland area... They don't call the midwest "The great plains" for nothing

Hey everyone! I'm looking into circular polarizers and neck straps for my DSLR.

Does anyone have any experience with Hoya circular polarizers? (edited! I've read a few pages back I'm considering the Hoya circular polarizer.)
And does anyone know where I can buy obviously branded neck straps for my camera? (I know this sounds super ridiculous, but I don't want to make it so obvious when I bring around my camera...)

Hoya CPL's are good. Make sure to buy the multicoated ones because there's a high chance of flare or ghosting with other brands.
As for straps, have you heard of the Optech strap? I got it a while ago and it's definately the BEST strap out there. It's very comfortable and well padded and it hold's it's grip very well (I sling it over one shoulder and it hasn't fallen off once).

[yuns]

Wow this pic has awesome potential! It looks very nice I would suggest using a polarizing filter if you can afford it (for more saturated sky and more defined clouds, costs about 150$). Also, the canyon seems underexposed, you could use f/9.0 or f/11 and use a slower shutter since it's a landscape anyway. Be careful to not expose too long directly IN the sun, as I heard bad stories about sensor burning :s Nevertheless, nice pic, i like

I've thought about getting one before but haven't really considered it that much. Definitely sounds like a good solution though. Eesh sensor burning. O_O *afraid*

WOW, I think that photo is just great! You could bump up the fill light a tad bit more to bring some light to the shaded parts, but with what you had to work with, it's almost impossible for you to take a bad shot!
Where are the blue mountains located? Geez... photos like these make me jealous... there's obviously no mountains in the chicagoland area... They don't call the midwest "The great plains" for nothing

Thanks for the light tip, been wondering what more can I do for it in post-processing. They're located in New South Wales, Australia. It's about two hours away from Sydney so it's quite accessible. ^^ Yeh I've been kicking myself for not taking better advantage of the views but oh well, I'll go again and give it a better try.

General question to everyone, does having a tripod make a big difference for landscape shots? I'm thinking the main advantage would be that it allows you to use smaller aperture values without anything shaking?

[LYRA]

Hoya CPL's are good. Make sure to buy the multicoated ones because there's a high chance of flare or ghosting with other brands.
As for straps, have you heard of the Optech strap? I got it a while ago and it's definately the BEST strap out there. It's very comfortable and well padded and it hold's it's grip very well (I sling it over one shoulder and it hasn't fallen off once).

I meant brandless straps! (You know what I meant )

Thanks for the recommendation, [HyuNi]. Do you recommend a particular Optech strap in particular?
I'm deciding between the Super Classic Strap-Bino and the E-Z Comfort Strap, and leaning towards the Super Classic. It looks comfy and I'm liking the black. Which one do you have?

[[HyuNi]]

Thanks for the light tip, been wondering what more can I do for it in post-processing. They're located in New South Wales, Australia. It's about two hours away from Sydney so it's quite accessible. ^^ Yeh I've been kicking myself for not taking better advantage of the views but oh well, I'll go again and give it a better try.

General question to everyone, does having a tripod make a big difference for landscape shots? I'm thinking the main advantage would be that it allows you to use smaller aperture values without anything shaking?

wow, that's lucky! It reminded me of the cliff that was in the movie "Up" haha
Take advantage of the beautiful landscape!
To be honest, if you're not shooting a lot of nighttime shots, there's nothing wrong with handholding because the shutter speed will be fast enough where camera shake won't be noticeable. A tripod is almost necessary when you don't have a lot of light to work with and you open your shutter for seconds at a time.
When I use my tripod and shoot landscapes, I put my settings to Av mode, f/9-11, ISO100, and depending on the available light, shutter speed is around 2 - 30 seconds long.

I meant brandless straps! (You know what I meant )

Thanks for the recommendation, [HyuNi]. Do you recommend a particular Optech strap in particular?
I'm deciding between the Super Classic Strap-Bino and the E-Z Comfort Strap, and leaning towards the Super Classic. It looks comfy and I'm liking the black. Which one do you have?

Optech Strap
This is the exact one I have.
It's really comfortable and it's short enough where I could sling it on my shoulder and shoot with it still wrapped around, pulling tightly to keep the camera more stable.
I have a 1DmarkII and it's a TANK. The buckles are extremely secure and I've had no problems with it.

[dot1q]

I got it a while ago and it's definately the BEST strap out there. It's very comfortable and well padded and it hold's it's grip very well (I sling it over one shoulder and it hasn't fallen off once).

Well "once" is all it takes.. hehe

[[HyuNi]]

har har har~
heh

anyways, I used to be against neck straps because your neck gets all sweaty and you have a limited range of motion with it on your neck. And if you put it on your shoulder, it always ends up slipping down. So I used handstraps and loved them until I got the 1DmkII. It's just to heavy to be strapped to your hand all the time.
The optech strap is different. It's a perfect length to having it slung on your shoulder and the extra soft rubbery grips keep the strap practically glued to my shoulder.

Taken at midnight at my school. I've never seen it so misty before.


A substitute sun for the day when we went apple picking

[Baatar]

^ wow nice sunflower. It looks almost fake, like a surreal way. I can't explain why though. probably cause its so clean and no harsh light/reflections. did you use a polarizer on that?

yuns: thats a beautiful landscape right there, but actually instead of a polarizer, what you need is a graduated neutral density (GND) filter. Theyre clear on the bottom and a fading neutral density filter on top. Basically what it does is allow you to expose the darker bottom properly while keeping the bright sky from being washed out. You get great colors and definition in the sky with these. Using a polarizer in your picture would make little to no difference because the sun is directly in the camera. Polarizers have maximum effect 90 degrees away from the sun.

[yuns]

^ wow nice sunflower. It looks almost fake, like a surreal way. I can't explain why though. probably cause its so clean and no harsh light/reflections. did you use a polarizer on that?

yuns: thats a beautiful landscape right there, but actually instead of a polarizer, what you need is a graduated neutral density (GND) filter. Theyre clear on the bottom and a fading neutral density filter on top. Basically what it does is allow you to expose the darker bottom properly while keeping the bright sky from being washed out. You get great colors and definition in the sky with these. Using a polarizer in your picture would make little to no difference because the sun is directly in the camera. Polarizers have maximum effect 90 degrees away from the sun.

Oh that sounds like a good solution. How much are they around? Don't know too much about filters...

[HyuNi], nice shots! The sun flower looks really sharp.

[ChromeHearts]

http://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-190XDB-Sec...570&sr=8-17

i need tripod opinions please

and/or recommendations

thank you!

[Baatar]

Oh that sounds like a good solution. How much are they around? Don't know too much about filters...

It depends on what brand you get. I don't have any GND filters so I can't tell you a price or a good brand, it seems like theres lots of variability from brand to brand. But I've read alot about the Cokin P-series GND filters. They seem to get the job done and for a reasonable price, I think. I'm pretty sure these filter systems can be had for under $100 USD. A unique thing about these is that they are square filters. Look to get one thats 0.6 (2-stop difference) and soft grad. It is much more versatile than a hard one and a 2-stop difference is usually sufficient. 0.3 are basically useless on their own, and 0.9 is a much more dramatic look, it can't be used for every scene.

[LYRA]

Optech Strap
This is the exact one I have.
It's really comfortable and it's short enough where I could sling it on my shoulder and shoot with it still wrapped around, pulling tightly to keep the camera more stable.
I have a 1DmarkII and it's a TANK. The buckles are extremely secure and I've had no problems with it.

Would it be weird if I got a strap like this for my Nikon D40? The D40 is relatively much lighter than your camera.



I'm debating whether I should buy a new camera or not. When I played around with the Nikon D90 at Best Buy, I was so amazed how fast the shutter was compared to my D40! So I've been tempted to upgrade these past two months. I've been looking into the D200 and D300. Omg, someone help me figure this out D:

But aside from this upgrade debate, I'm definitely going to get the Nikon 35mm F1.8 and either a HOYA or GND filter next week.

[[HyuNi]]

^ wow nice sunflower. It looks almost fake, like a surreal way. I can't explain why though. probably cause its so clean and no harsh light/reflections. did you use a polarizer on that?

Nope, no CPL. I cheated by boosting the colors in LR. heh
It was a coudy day with the sun poking through. Definately not one of the best day to be out shooting.

Would it be weird if I got a strap like this for my Nikon D40? The D40 is relatively much lighter than your camera.

I'm debating whether I should buy a new camera or not. When I played around with the Nikon D90 at Best Buy, I was so amazed how fast the shutter was compared to my D40! So I've been tempted to upgrade these past two months. I've been looking into the D200 and D300. Omg, someone help me figure this out D:

I wouldn't worry about the weight of your camera. The strap will still be sufficient. Since you have the D40, have you thought about getting a handstrap instead? When I had me Canon 40D, I used a handstrap intead of the OpTech strap because it felt more comfortable.

The max shutter speed on the D40 should be just as fast as the D90, if I'm not mistaken. I think you may have felt differently because either: the D90 you tested was in AV mode and had a lot of available light that made the shutter speed max out, or you assumed the noise of the shutter slap was 'faster' than your D40. Or maybe you're talking about the continous shooting... haha I dunno.
But when I moved from the 40D to the 1DmarkII, I found that I prefered the shutter clap of the 1D better. the 40D sounded like a 'ting-tink' sound and the 1D sounds like a 'kur-chunk' solid feeling sound I probably sound crazy!

[Baatar]

Would it be weird if I got a strap like this for my Nikon D40? The D40 is relatively much lighter than your camera.



I'm debating whether I should buy a new camera or not. When I played around with the Nikon D90 at Best Buy, I was so amazed how fast the shutter was compared to my D40! So I've been tempted to upgrade these past two months. I've been looking into the D200 and D300. Omg, someone help me figure this out D:

But aside from this upgrade debate, I'm definitely going to get the Nikon 35mm F1.8 and either a HOYA or GND filter next week.

Its not weird to get a strap like that, I mean if you want one then get one. You can always use the strap on your next camera if/when you upgrade. Saves you the money of buying a 2nd one later (if you choose to buy a different strap now).
I don't really understand what you mean by the shutter being faster compared to the D40. At any given shutter speed, they should be the same. It may be possible the shutter lag (time from when you push the button to when everything closes up and shutter releases) is shorter, but I doubt its significant enough to be felt.

[LYRA]

But when I moved from the 40D to the 1DmarkII, I found that I prefered the shutter clap of the 1D better. the 40D sounded like a 'ting-tink' sound and the 1D sounds like a 'kur-chunk' solid feeling sound I probably sound crazy!

Not crazy at all. Actually, it's true for me too. And you're right about the latter part: the shutter clap is different and I liked the D90's shutter clap better. What I experience (I know, a state of mind but I'm convinced) with my D40 is better in the D90.

I don't really understand what you mean by the shutter being faster compared to the D40. At any given shutter speed, they should be the same. It may be possible the shutter lag (time from when you push the button to when everything closes up and shutter releases) is shorter, but I doubt its significant enough to be felt.

Yeah, you're right. It wasn't the shutter

[sddynamix]

http://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-190XDB-Sec...570&sr=8-17

i need tripod opinions please

and/or recommendations

thank you!

Have you been on the manfrotto website? They have a pretty cool tripod configurator that'll help you select the right set of legs + head for the weight of the setup that you have. I have the 055XPROB legs and the 322RC2 head (which is absolutely awesome for shooting at diff. angles very quickly).

[awdark]

I'm used to seeing tripods with a handle, is there an advantage to having a ball head like the one headshot was asking about?

[[HyuNi]]

I actually have the manfrotto 055PROB, which is the older version of the 055XPROB with the 486RC2 ballhead.
I'm satisfied with the setup, but if I could do it again, I would rather get the 488RC2 ballhead. The 488 has a seperate level to move the ballhead by the x and y axis independently whereas the 486 goes all over the place. Not very ideal for panning shots

Does anybody do weekly photo assignments? I just joined a very small one with a few friends of mine and I think it's really beneficial! I definitely wouldn't have thought of or taken shots without having the assignments.

This week's assignment is "recession" and the only rule is to show signs of how the current economic climate is.
The is my dad, who I think secretly likes being a model



Any suggestions? I didn't adjust the WB, the colors, or levels. Anybody know how to make it look a bit more 'dramatic' looking? heh

*edit* I added a vignette and it brings more focus to the theme. Anything else? heh

[ruthaye]

Hey everyone =] I'm still a newbie to photography, but I had a question about a photo technique.

I have played around with aperture and understand how depth of field works... but how do you take a photo where the subject is clear and the background is not only blurry, but mosaic-like blurry. Is it a lens filter or a completely different lens that helps create the mosaic blur?

[sddynamix]

I'm used to seeing tripods with a handle, is there an advantage to having a ball head like the one headshot was asking about?

Tripod heads with handles are known as 3-way pan/tilt heads. They can be adjusted on each axis independently. Pretty useful for videography, or in situations where lots of fine-tuning on each independent axis is important (like panoramic shots).

Ball heads are smaller and lighter, and much faster to adjust than a tilt head (since you can adjust it in any direction with one motion, there isn't a giant protruding handle, etc.) so you can compose your images more efficiently.

And in my case, the 322RC2 is super fast/easy to adjust because all I need to do is squeeze the handle to release, rotate the camera into whatever position I want it, and lock by releasing the handle. No need to loosen screws and tighten!

[yuns]

Hey everyone =] I'm still a newbie to photography, but I had a question about a photo technique.

I have played around with aperture and understand how depth of field works... but how do you take a photo where the subject is clear and the background is not only blurry, but mosaic-like blurry. Is it a lens filter or a completely different lens that helps create the mosaic blur?

By mosaic blur, do you mean bokeh? Like this?