General Photography thread

[Jack Straw]

My attempt at Street Photography, French stylee.

 

[Taybha]

Went for a walk over the field this morning and the grass is carpeted with tiny spider webs , it would make for a fantastic snap , took a pic with my camera phone but did not do it justice .

 

[Taybha]

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

 

[Jack Straw]

Red Backed Shrike taken in Newhaven earlier this week.

I'm so envious of the quality of your bird photos. I'm having a go myself at birds with varying degrees of success. Please could I ask you these questions?
Do you use a tripod?
Do you set up a hide and wait, or do just walk about and hope for the best?
How far away from your subject do you tend to be?
Do you set "traps" to lure the birds to you, i.e. erect a dead branch and bait it with seed underneath, or leave dead insects on it or near by?
Basically, what's your secret?!
Yours in anticipation, JS.

 

[Jack Straw]

Sheffield Park yesterday. The queue of traffic to get in was horrendous. However, really worth it. This photo has been incredibly shrunk due to size limit on here, but if you want to see the original and sharper image, it's here https://www.flickr.com/photos/128321708@N03/30736139315/in/photostream/lightbox/

 

[Fungus]

Sheffield Park yesterday. The queue of traffic to get in was horrendous. However, really worth it. This photo has been incredibly shrunk due to size limit on here, but if you want to see the original and sharper image, it's here https://www.flickr.com/photos/128321708@N03/30736139315/in/photostream/lightbox/

Lovely work Jack. Have to agree, it looks much better on Flickr - the colours are much more natural, and the detail in the leaves is better defined. Lovely water - is that a long exposure?

 

[Jack Straw]

Lovely work Jack. Have to agree, it looks much better on Flickr - the colours are much more natural, and the detail in the leaves is better defined. Lovely water - is that a long exposure?

Thanks Oxy. Yes, 25 seconds, f22, 100 ISO, using a neutral density filter, tripod and cable release. It's great fun. If you click on the two arrows in the top right of a full page Flickr photo, it shrinks down and below this, if the photographer allows (I being one of them), shows all the camera settings. I find this very useful when I look at other Flickr photos.

 

[Fungus]

Thanks Oxy. Yes, 25 seconds, f22, 100 ISO, using a neutral density filter, tripod and cable release. It's great fun. If you click on the two arrows in the top right of a full page Flickr photo, it shrinks down and below this, if the photographer allows (I being one of them), shows all the camera settings. I find this very useful when I look at other Flickr photos.

Ah, right, thanks. I usually try not to ask technical questions about beautiful pictures, but I recently got a tripod for my birthday, so I'm looking at all subjects with a view to using it!

By the way, is anyone else here signed up with https://www.photocrowd.com?

 

[Jack Straw]

Ah, right, thanks. I usually try not to ask technical questions about beautiful pictures, but I recently got a tripod for my birthday, so I'm looking at all subjects with a view to using it!

By the way, is anyone else here signed up with https://www.photocrowd.com?

Thanks for the link. I guess you are? If so, is it as good as the home page suggests? I'm tempted but just need someone to recommend it. Are there any catches? Do you need to copy of passport?

 

[Fungus]

Thanks for the link. I guess you are? If so, is it as good as the home page suggests? I'm tempted but just need someone to recommend it. Are there any catches? Do you need to copy of passport?

Yes, I joined recently, and so far have only uploaded a few photos for some of the competitions. That way, your photos are rated and ranked by the public - I've just finished 522nd of 942 in the "Rivers & Streams" category!

It doesn't cost anything for minimal uploads, I've not found any catches, and I've not been flooded with spam - you can configure the email options. Go for it.

I've not had much feedback aside from the competitions, but it's nice to get the occasional "Love" for a photo! Plus, you can follow photographers with similar interests.

It's not as buzzing as I'd hoped, but that probably depends on uploading more quality photos - my original reason for joining was to push myself, so I need to get out and about.

 

[Jack Straw]

Yes, I joined recently, and so far have only uploaded a few photos for some of the competitions. That way, your photos are rated and ranked by the public - I've just finished 522nd of 942 in the "Rivers & Streams" category!

It doesn't cost anything for minimal uploads, I've not found any catches, and I've not been flooded with spam - you can configure the email options. Go for it.

I've not had much feedback aside from the competitions, but it's nice to get the occasional "Love" for a photo! Plus, you can follow photographers with similar interests.

It's not as buzzing as I'd hoped, but that probably depends on uploading more quality photos - my original reason for joining was to push myself, so I need to get out and about.

Thanks Oxy, I'm on the case. I'll post on here if anything happens.

 

[Jack Straw]

All up and running. Entered the "New Joiner" competition, although I think this happens by default. Put my Sheffield Park photo on, and got 2 loves and one comment in the first 15 minutes. Can't work out how to see the comment. Will enter other competitions, and as you say, will be stretched. I will be looking for X's for the next few days!

 

[Kneon Light]

I'm so envious of the quality of your bird photos. I'm having a go myself at birds with varying degrees of success. Please could I ask you these questions?
Do you use a tripod?
Do you set up a hide and wait, or do just walk about and hope for the best?
How far away from your subject do you tend to be?
Do you set "traps" to lure the birds to you, i.e. erect a dead branch and bait it with seed underneath, or leave dead insects on it or near by?
Basically, what's your secret?!
Yours in anticipation, JS.

Hi.
Really sorry - only just seen your post!
To be honest it depends entirely on the bird. The red back shrike above was just stupidly tame (it flew under my tripod!!).
I do use a tripod most of the time to keep things sharper but if conditions are ok (or I can't be bothered to carry a tripod around!) I go hand held.
I have recently set up a hide in my garden and am getting quite good results but have not posted any of these pics yet. Should get even better as the weather gets colder.
I don't generally set up shots with bait (apart from at my hide) but I have done a couple of times with quite good results.
In terms of distance it depends entirely on the bird but in general as close as possible!! The shrike above was 2 metres away and I had to keep backing off as my lens has a minimum focal distance of 3.5 metres! Anything where I have to crop more than 50% of pixels I don't bother with - this means I have to get pretty close.
In general you can't walk up to birds so I spend time studying their behaviour, working out where they like landing etc, then getting in position and waiting. I probably spend more time watching the behaviour than taking good photos but the more you understand the behaviour the more success you will have. It's worth researching good locations as well. Nature reserves are good for seeing stuff but not great for photos in general as stuff tends to keep its distance.
Of course sometimes you get lucky and something just flies close or lands next to you!

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask if you need anything else or if you are after a particular species.

 

[Fungus]

All up and running. Entered the "New Joiner" competition, although I think this happens by default. Put my Sheffield Park photo on, and got 2 loves and one comment in the first 15 minutes. Can't work out how to see the comment. Will enter other competitions, and as you say, will be stretched. I will be looking for X's for the next few days!

Comments? You've got comments already?! Bet you've got a follower too.

You can see notifications by clicking the "bell" icon in the top right, next to your avatar. It takes a bit of exploring, and can be a bit slow.

 

[Jack Straw]

Hi.
Really sorry - only just seen your post!
To be honest it depends entirely on the bird. The red back shrike above was just stupidly tame (it flew under my tripod!!).
I do use a tripod most of the time to keep things sharper but if conditions are ok (or I can't be bothered to carry a tripod around!) I go hand held.
I have recently set up a hide in my garden and am getting quite good results but have not posted any of these pics yet. Should get even better as the weather gets colder.
I don't generally set up shots with bait (apart from at my hide) but I have done a couple of times with quite good results.
In terms of distance it depends entirely on the bird but in general as close as possible!! The shrike above was 2 metres away and I had to keep backing off as my lens has a minimum focal distance of 3.5 metres! Anything where I have to crop more than 50% of pixels I don't bother with - this means I have to get pretty close.
In general you can't walk up to birds so I spend time studying their behaviour, working out where they like landing etc, then getting in position and waiting. I probably spend more time watching the behaviour than taking good photos but the more you understand the behaviour the more success you will have. It's worth researching good locations as well. Nature reserves are good for seeing stuff but not great for photos in general as stuff tends to keep its distance.
Of course sometimes you get lucky and something just flies close or lands next to you!

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask if you need anything else or if you are after a particular species.

Thanks very much for this Kneon. I'll have to get in to the studying side of things. I do visit nature reserves, and can confirm that birds do keep their distance!
Two questions I forgot to ask, you mention the cropping. Do you do any other editing, ie sharpening, colour enhancing etc.
Do you shoot jpeg or RAW?

 

[Kneon Light]

Thanks very much for this Kneon. I'll have to get in to the studying side of things. I do visit nature reserves, and can confirm that birds do keep their distance!
Two questions I forgot to ask, you mention the cropping. Do you do any other editing, ie sharpening, colour enhancing etc.
Do you shoot jpeg or RAW?

I do a bit of noise reduction and some very slight sharpening. I adjust levels slightly and sometimes add a TINY bit of colour enhancement.
I always shoot RAW so need to do some editing.
Which nature reserves have you tried? Some are better than others!

 

[Jack Straw]

I do a bit of noise reduction and some very slight sharpening. I adjust levels slightly and sometimes add a TINY bit of colour enhancement.
I always shoot RAW so need to do some editing.
Which nature reserves have you tried? Some are better than others!

Recently, I've been to Seven Sisters Country Park, Woods Mill, and an unofficial one being the little bit of sea and shore between Wetherspoons and the West Arm at Brighton Marina, which is great for Cormorants, Swans and different Gulls. Now I've retired, I've got loads of time to explore all sorts.

 

[Jack Straw]

Comments? You've got comments already?! Bet you've got a follower too.

You can see notifications by clicking the "bell" icon in the top right, next to your avatar. It takes a bit of exploring, and can be a bit slow.

Yes, I have a follower. Seems to have a similar profile picture to your NSC avatar! Still can't see how to see comments.

 

[Fungus]

Yes, I have a follower. Seems to have a similar profile picture to your NSC avatar! Still can't see how to see comments.

If you click on any photo, it should show it down the right, under your own details.

Worth weeding out some out the photographers it automatically sets you up to follow, and follow some with similar interests.

 

[Jack Straw]

If you click on any photo, it should show it down the right, under your own details.

Worth weeding out some out the photographers it automatically sets you up to follow, and follow some with similar interests.

Thanks Oxy, I can now see the comments. Beautiful!