The perpetual photography thread

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atindo, I like that photograph of the wolf spider! (Bear with me if I misidentified it... I'm not all that solid on my arachnids.)

Cornflake, I still have two Polaroid backs for mine. It's funny, I had no problem selling all my 35mm bodies when I switched to digital. But I just can't stomach selling off my large format gear. Even tough it's getting hard to find film for the Polaroid backs, I can't seem to let go of them, either.

I think it's important to put as much care and attention into a digital image as a film image. It's not just the interminable culling session at the end of the day. Really good images are made. You can occasionally get one by chance, but then it's a chance image. Looking at a body of work, it'll stand out as one of the few gems. Better to make the gems on purpose.

I don't know what my hit rate is at the moment. I've been off in a photographic niche for a number of years, and I'm learning my way around the viewfinder again.

adorable and adorable!

It's a Wolf Spider.

Yes indeed, I'd be doing exactly the same thing too.
I still have my Pentax ME Super plus lenses and can't let it go. It's too nice to let go!
Last time I checked the body plus the 50mm default lens provided with it was going for about £25 on eBay. Noooo...

Absolutely, and if you don't then it's guaranteeing an extra-long culling session!

Yeah, and I've been getting lazy.
The ones I'd posted earlier with the black backdrops took a fair amount of setting up and careful exposure and that was interesting, as is the post-processing. The fun really only starts with the camera for me.
Most of the others just have something very attractive or interesting about the subject (to me, anyway!) but they're still basically happy-snaps which is a little disappointing: I prefer photographs to have some kind of unique quality about them so they really say something.
My photography has also tailed off a lot over the past couple of years but I'm beginning to get back into it again too.

Probably 1 out of 10 photos I take are really good. 7 of 10 are usually good/average. I then usually have 2 of 10 that are crap.

What setup does everyone use here? I have 2 cameras, one for dirty conditions that I don't want to take my DSLR camera, and then my canon for everything else:

- FujiFilm FinePix S5200 with fixed lens
- Cannon Rebel XS
-- 90MM Tamron macro
-- 50MM 1.8 Canon
-- 18-55MM Stabilized Canon
-- 55-250MM Stabilized Canon

I also have a fisheye adapter that screws on like a filter and makes for some interesting shots

Currently using the following:

Nikon D3 with Nikon D70 as backup and a Nikon CP 4500 as backup backup.
Nikon 40-80mm f2.8 zoom, Nikon 80-200mm VR f2.8 zoom, Nikon 20-300mm f3.6 zoom (and slow), Nikon 60mm f2.8 macro lens (all full frame).
Nikon 12-24mm f2.8 zoom, Nikon 20-70mm f3.6 zoom (both DX format).
Nikon Speedlight Commander SU 800, Nikon SB 800 flash, LED ringlight (not Nikon, surprisingly!).
GPS hot-shoe mount unit (not Nikon), RF remote trigger (not Nikon).
Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 carbon fibre tripod with Manfrotto 808RC4 tripod head.
LaCie 526 25" monitor + hood & colorimeter.

Apparently I approve of Nikon kit.

Last edited by Cornflake on 20 May 2011, 4:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Another quick one: a petrol station just outside Quarteira:

Is this supposed to be your garage?

Yes Tequila, that's one of our garages.

A couple of fun ones, goofing around with IR on two different waterfalls:





It's hard for me to put a finger on my keeper rate. Depending on what I'm doing, I'll use different criteria when editing. If I'm taking pictures for my own use (e.g. snapshots at a school function) I'll edit one way. If I'm trying to make illustrations for a tutorial, I'll edit another way. And if I'm planning to send images to an editor or art director, I have to believe in my work 100% or I won't send it. In that last case I tend to be utterly brutal when editing and only keep a handful.

Another reason is that I like to play. I may photograph a landscape any number of ways, knowing I only intend to keep and work on one of them. The rest will get chucked. But it's fun to play while the light's good and deal with it later. Sometimes this means nothing from a set works out at all. More often it means a small subset are good enough to warrant another session where I have a better idea of what I want.

As for gear, I bought into Canon when I started with film. I sold the bodies when switching to digital, but kept all the glass. So I'm still using Canon gear.

Well, it does have a big garage door at one end

Is it a garage door? Just thought it was some sort of wall.

A shot I took today of our new Bearded Dragon.

[img][800:727]http://hphotos-snc6.fbcdn.net/242904_1443671774299_1308241535_31624106_3726075_o.jpg[/img]

This was the spot back in June 2008 during the flood where I was made impromptu commander of our sandbag outfit. I was there for four days bagging sand to save those houses you see. We made a big effort and it was thanked by the citizens.

I wouldn't call this the best shot in the world, but the cat wasn't being very cooperative. lol

Some more photos from Portugal.

Taken in the Vilamoura area:



Boats at the marina at Vilamoura, the largest in Europe:





The marina front with shops and restaurants:



A fibreglass cow sporting a Portuguese football flag and a surfboard:



More boats in the marina:



…to be continued...