Search results for query: *

Hi, The biggest factor, by far, to the color balance problem in photos is the lights. With typical fluorescent bulbs there is the ever present green cast, but is complicated even more with the so-called plant bulbs, or when using a combination of bulbs. LED gives similar problems. You must...

Yes, I agree with Paulo. Lightroom is fine and is less expensive than Photoshop. Also remember that it is not necessary to buy the latest edition as they are often bloated with features that you will never use and have many bugs. Cheers,

Hi mow, Yeah mate, this is exactly what I mean. Of course they are a little underexposed straight out of the camera but compare how much more saturated the colors are to begin with. The problem with these is that the fishes bodies are much darker than the background, so that will...

Hi mow, Don't get upset OK? I'm not bashing you but just offering advice to help your photography. I assume that's why you posted the shots, right? OK, look, here goes; There's really not much point in unedited photos. An editing program is just as important as the data extracted...

Hi, Well it's a wide open field, and yes, one could probably spend years on PS and still only scratch the surface. First things first; Shoot in raw and not jpeg. When you open a raw file in PS it will open the Camera Raw module where you can recover exposure and adjust color temperature...

Hi, If you are shooting in raw you should be able to recover data easily in your image program. All this flash gear orgy seems a bit OTT to me. Edvert might have a different opinion but I don't use any supplemental lighting, strictly tank lighting (although I don't know what kind of...

Hey Edvert, I checked into this and actually, after you pay the subscription you download and own the full copy. If you stop paying the monthly fee the only thing that happens is that you lose access to the cloud storage and you don't get any more updates. It's still...

Well, I mean, this is art right? So anything goes, I reckon. Actually, to be fair, even during the film era great photos were made in the developing room. Digital just makes doing the same tasks easier... Cheers,

Might get better mileage if you rushed out and bought a copy of Photoshop 2017....:spam: Cheers,

Hi Yes, profiles are primarily for video so the camera may not apply the setting for stills. If not then try pulling back all the sharpening, contrast and saturation settings and shoot in raw. I guess it depends on your camera system. I use a nikon DSLR and have no troubles with the 105 or the...

Yes, it's been done, but as Ian points out, the devil is in the details of the "some indication". The camera sensor has a specific response to real world but that response curve is known only to the sensor and camera manufacturers. Then there is another response curve that relates the sensor...

Hello, I'm sure one can have success using either method, but I find it easier to use existing tank lighting, occasionally supplemented by an off camera flash unit. The flash can be connected via extension cable or by remote trigger (which is more complicated for my gear). I'm assuming...

It does not matter what brand or model you get. The ability to get good aquarium shots depends on who the photographer is and what techniques are being used. Any DSLR will work. It might be a good idea to get a lens that has some macro capability as well, since the distances are smaller when...

Folks who are unable to take decent pictures with a Nikon 40D should think seriously about becoming a better photographer because a new camera really will make no difference. It might be a lot cheaper to troubleshoot the photographic technique because the D40 is an excellent camera. Cheers,

I can sell you some used Nikon gear. You really need to invest in some kind of image program though. Digital photography really requires it. Cheers,

Thread has been moved to the Photography section. Cheers,

Sounds like you've got more decent lenses than you know what to do with. What does it matter if your 70-300 lens is old? Some of my old lenses outperform new lenses, and they were built tougher as well. Weight savings would be the only advantage of it's newer lenses (and that's more because they...

Hi, If you want video then get the D600 which is actually a better camera than the overpriced D800. But you've also got to want video. I see no reason the change your camera just because other people are doing this or that. If your camera does what you want it to do then why spend more money...

Hi, These are both excellent cameras. The main difference is that the D3200 is newer and has more pixels (24MP versus 14MP). Few people actually need all those extra pixels. You'd do well with either of these. If you can afford it get the 3200 but if you would rather have an extra £100 in...

Hi mate, Really, I wouldn't bother getting anything else right now, because the more stuff you have the less time you spend learning how to take pictures. You wind up figuring how stuff works and that get's in the way. You can always get more gear. About the only accessory would be...

Good stuff. By the way, I forgot to mention that the hardware is only part of the story. There is also the issue of image processing. In the old days we needed chemicals to develop the film, enlargers and paper to print the image. Now the image is virtual. It only exists as ones and zeros, so to...

Check this ebay page http://www.ebay.co.uk/ctg/Canon-EFS-185 ... ers_Lenses for the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. Used at auction for your target price. This is an excellent lens, very light, auto-focuses fast and can focus on objects as close as 11 inches. This lens was originally sold as a kit...

OK, well, landscape photography is the complete opposite of macro photography. In landscapes you are taking picture of a wide field of view, whereas with macro, your field of view is extremely narrow. Therefore it's a difficult objective to satisfy both equally well. Every lens is a compromise...

Hello, Yes, any of the three models are excellent choices and you are not likely to see a difference in the photos tanken with any of them. The differences are in handling or in superficial features which have little to do with the quality of the photo. For example the 350D has a better...

Yeah mate, that's certainly more reasonable. Tiny sensor as well but at least the price isn't as outrageous. The L610 compact is due out in a few weeks if you can wait. Also look at the Canon equivalents, the G series, Powershot and IXUS. Ignore anything with GPS (who cares?). Cheers,

Hi mate, I guess it depends on what you want to do with your camera as well as what your price range is as Ian alluded to. Do you want ease of use? Maximum quality? Small size? Will you be taking just holiday pictures, or will you want to do other things more to do with art? You...

Oh mate, yeah, for sure very sexy, but why buy a camera for sex appeal? Remember the APS cameras? The new format that was supposed to be a game changer? It was a farce because it was a tiny sensor, and when it comes to camera sensors, for image quality, size matters. It would be OK if the...

Hmm..totally underwhelming. A 2.7 crop factor means that the sensor is 3 times smaller than that of a 35 mm camera. And why do you need interchangeable lenses on a tiny compact camera? That just means you're more likely to get dirt on the pint sized sensor every time you swap out a lens. And at...

Oh, great, if you've already got PS then you're ahead of the game mate. Post processing varies with each user and it depends on what their objectives are as well as what type of file they input to the program. Generally though, you'll always want to play with the Levels or Curves (which is more...

Lee, Image programs like Photoshop are as important to digital files as a darkroom, developer chemicals and paper is to analog film. If your shot is exceptional and everything goes just right you can have an image that's useable straight from the camera but it's always better to do what the...

Very cheeky, but if you don't ask you'll never know... Cheers,

Even though this is "just a kit" lens it does not follow that the lens is inferior. The reason this lens is inexpensive and has less appeal is: 1) It is mostly made of plastic instead of metal. 2) The maximum aperture is not all that wide, especially at the max focal length of 55mm, which means...

The price of the camera body has nothing to do with the price of the lens. The two are separate items that play together and that is the fundamental difference between SLRs and the compact camera you found so limiting. It is not clear to me exactly which lens your friend let you borrow with the...

That's what Nikon and Canon want you to think so that you'll go out and spend megabucks on a new camera that works exactly the same as all other cameras for the past 10 years. For shooting tanks you cannot use automatic settings and get good exposures in a tank consistently. You have to set the...

Well that's why I mentioned in a previous post that you need an imaging program. Taking good shots of a tank is not easy even for accomplished photographers. You need a combination of tricks to render the photo so that it looks close to what your eyes saw (or to what you imagined you saw). You...

Hi mate, The shot was made with Nikons 18-200mm VR, which is probably the most useful lens for their DX size cameras. It's expensive but if you don't need the wide angles, the 55-200mm is just as good. Even so, your kit lens will do pretty much as good a job. The purpose of...

Hi, Graininess in photos almost always indicate that the ISO setting is high. When shooting outdoors there is more light, so the ISO is set to a much lower value giving better resolution and "cleaner" images. Indoors, the lighting is usually very poor, and inside a tank it's even worse, so in...

Hi Stu, You can also try TMPGEnc Mastering Works V5 if you're not after professional quality. Very easy to use. Even cheaper is Total Video Converter 3.71. I guess you could also buy Quicktime Pro, but everybody hates it cause it's really lame....or like Danny Boy says, buy an Mac...

Hi Matt, Yeah The Gimp originally developed as a Linux clone of Photoshop has been ported to Windows, is free, and does probably 95% of what Photoshop does. As mentioned before better gear allows you to get better expression, but it can't make you a better photographer. One of the...

Dave, Art is everything and everything is art. Check all thous photos on your flickr link. Guess what, every one of them is art, especially the B & W ones (LOVE that Liverpool shot by the way!) Cheers,

Errr...here's a snob's point of view: If the photographic technique is central to having an ability to reveal the beauty of the tank then it follows that one has to think as seriously about the hobby of photography as one does about the hobby of planted tanks. If you are a lousy photographer...

Hi, The final photograph suffers from perspective distortion, characterized by tall objects appearing to be falling back or falling in. This occurs when the the photographer fails to hold the front glass of the lens parallel to the plane of the tall object. This can be corrected in most...

Hi mate, A good effort. I love how the yellow stamens sort of float, suspended in space. This is a case though where the background competes with the subject for attention. The brightest part of the image is actually the upper left corner, and at looking at the image for the first...

Yep, no worries mate. the problem with macro is that it produces images that have so much detail that if you are at all sloppy then you wind up taking pictures of your mistakes. In a macro shot we are not at all concerned with getting detail in the background and we try to make the background...

Hi, That will only serve to distract the viewer. In macro, the idea is to blur the background as much as possible so that maximum attention is paid to the subject. The reason for this is that one has a hard enough time getting the subject properly focused in the first place. In order to...

Yeah, you absolutely, positively want to avoid using such long shutter speeds with moving subjects and especially when shooting hand held. The Exif data output by the camera is not valid with this lens because the lens does not have central processing unit (CPU) like your zoom does. There is no...

Hi Luis, Remember we just discussed this issue? There is no exposure metering with this lens on a D70. You have to meter manually. There is no other choice. "A"= full auto and "S"= shutter priority. These are useless with this camera/lens combination. That means flash modes also...

Tom I'm not getting this at all mate. It's not clear to me how you arrive at an exposure setting when you use your 5D to shoot a tank. I assume you spot meter the main area of interest, take a shot and then look at the results on your LCD. Camera meters try to make everything look like an 18%...

Huh? Why not? How does your digital camera meter? This is not true either. ISO 100 digital equals ISO 100 on Film. Digital ISO was invented specifically to mimic film ISO. I've never had any trouble using film to shoot tanks. The only trouble is that each film has it's own colour response so...

You're right George. Because you can see the results immediately you can just fool around with the exposure settings until you get something you like. It's just a pain not having instant metering if the subject has changing light or if it's something dynamic where you only get one chance at the...

Hi Luis, The 105mm f/2.5 is actually not a macro lens but instead just a regular 105mm prime lens, so the optical design is a lot different than the f2.8. I think I really screwed up though, because on a D70 I think that the AI-s lenses do not provide metering. I was reading D70 but...

Yeah, that is very cool mate. :thumbup: Cheers,

Well there you have it mate. The Patterson units are exactly the same. The thing about color is that you need to keep a very stable temperature warm bath so the tanks have a heater and thermostat. You let the water warm up and stabilize. For prints, paper is held off the inner wall of the...

With the Jobo type system you actually don't need a dark area except to make the exposure onto the paper from the enlarger. I've just waited till nightfall and cleared out enough space in a closet while having all the lights out. Close the closet door and viola, instant darkroom. The film can be...

Just get a used Jobo processor, buy your own chemicals and do it for the yourself. It's so easy. Cheap too - and same day. Cheers,

Oh, OK. I get it. Sorry, I didn't read the text. I just look at the pretty pictures.... :wave: Cheers,

Oooh, I really love these Mark! Such creamy colours and excellent saturation. I thought it was snowing in England though. Did you use heating cables or something??? Cheers,

Nice one Paul. I love the frosty tree shot (don't like living/driving under those conditions though... Cheers,

By the way, check out this high quality third party (lower cost) alternative to ludicrously priced Nikon/Canon 100mm macros => Tokina AF 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro D macro Cheers,

Well if you live in London you're spoiled for choice. If you're a Canon buff for example, check out London Camera Exchange The key point in this sample (even though this particular sample is located at a different store than London) is that it has a 1:1 magnification ratio. This is the as good...

Well, the 100mm will have more versatility and you'll find these are among the sharpest lenses in a manufacturer's portfolio of lenses. Remember though that, if cost is an issue, you're not compelled to buy brand new. There are thousands of excellent used gear out there and the optics of old...

Hi, I might have misinterpreted your question, but a 50mm lens is half the focal length, and therefore has twice as wide an angle of view as a 100mm lens. So if you take a picture of a subject with both lenses then there will be twice as much information in the photo taken with the 50mm...

Good idea, makes sense. :angel: Did a good job on aperture/distance selection as well. Small enough to ensure sharpness on subject while isolating it from the background. My only niggle with this last one is that the drops aren't centred within the "crown" and the aft splash drops are outside...

Thanks. I didn't realize you could flash sync at 1/8000. Cool. Yeah, the focusing was going to be my next question. Seems to be spot on. Well done mate! :clap: Cheers,

Good stuff mate. Nice and clean with sweet focusing. Aperture/f-stop data? Cheers,

Nice shots mate. I'll bet you had a blast! Of the three monochrome shots, the most balanced technically is the first, which shows good overall detail and excellent exposure of land sea and sky. The other two though are handicapped by overexposure of sky and loss of detail in underexposed...

Re: What would be a great DSLR for fish/aquarium photography Hey sanj, Among the short list of SLR cameras you mentioned, it won't really matter which you buy. You won't be able to tell the difference in your photos, even if you bought all of them and took a picture of the same...

Ooh, absolutely love the gold flower shot against the black and green mate! Was this an intentional tribute to Jamaican flag colors or just a coincidence? :lol: Cheers,

Re: Help with Possible Faulty Nikkor 18-105mm VR Lens :/ Hi Paul, Can you clarify the statement "I see absolutely no difference, still just as shaky."? What exactly did you do in order to compare one mode to the other? Cheers,

Awesome stuff. Really tasteful use of infrared on some of those shots. Thanks for the link mate. Cheers,

Tell me, Tell me mate! Is it using super small apertures? Cheers,

Wow, spectacular mate. :clap: That's what I'm talking about. This is art and the artist takes the picture, not the gear. The gear has to enable the artist and then it has to get out of the way. Cheers,

Only on their newer £2000 and up lenses. Not on the macro lens in question. Quote from Thom Hogans review of the latest version of the £600 105mm f/2.8G ED IF AF-S VR Cheers,

Well how did people take macro shots before VR and AF were invented? The photographer takes the picture, not the camera. AF often gets in the way. The focus markers get in the way. Why would you need VR on a tripod mount? VR lenses instruct to turn the feature off when tripod mounted. I use old...

Luis, I thought you said your budget was around £200? There is not much difference optically between a new £900 105 VR and the much lower price used 105 units. Again, if your main objective is macro photography then a feature such as auto focus is much less important. You turn off AF when...

Not as much as you might imagine. You knew your gear. You understood the photographic principles. You understood the characteristics of the film, what it was capable of and what it's weaknesses were. There were always disappointments but you simply took better pictures because you only had so...

Live view it really what's overrated.... When you learn to see your world through a viewfinder you'll find that you'll take better photos. Cheers,

Yes, OEM lenses are always atrociously expensive, but the lens you mentioned is for proffessionals, whose income depend on their gear. Amateurs seldom have need for a 400mm f/2.8G ED VR IF. Furthermore, the price of this lens is only partially due to it's optical quality. This pro lens is made...

Hi Luis, You might also consider a used copy of the Nikkor 105mm Micro f/2.8 AI-s. There ought to be plenty of these on fleabay. This is a manual focus lens but if you're using it for macro then this doesn't matter. If you want to use it for general shooting then you'll want the post...

Love that bolt shot mate. Lovely detail in that B&W forest scene as well, good choice! Cheers,

Yeah, there are much better ways of reducing glare/reflections. Unless you have extra lighting via flash or studio units, the exposure penalty is a major drawback which has a higher probability of resulting in blurring or noise due to higher ISO. Of course if you have the extra lighting then...

Nice one mate. Looks seamless. Can't tell where the transition edge of the ND is. Sweet. ND's are worth their weight in gold. :thumbup: Cheers,

Ooh, love the drama in this shot. That's a winner! Cheers,

Hi mate, The lost detail in the stem has less to do with RAW v jpg and more to do with composition within the context of available lighting. This was a choice I made in the original exposure. If I wanted to pull data from that part of the shadow I could use the "Shadow/Highlight"...

Yeah mate, I do have the RAW plugins for Photoshop and so I compared the results of a RAW processed images to the same images shot in jpg. Obviously it could have been a result of my ineptitude with the RAW handler, but I couldn't really see that much of a difference mate. So while there may be...

1. Because RAW files are 50 gazillion megabytes which require investment in storage media and slows processing time, while jpgs are much easier to handle and store. 2. Because the camera makers algorithms for are more accurate than any third party program. 3. Because RAW files are proprietary...

Hi, Another option is to set a dedicated Custom White Balance using a white or grey card. Check your cameras user guide in the white balance section (chapter 5?) to see if this capability is available for this model. A technique for Nikons is described in the following thread but the...

:lol: :lol: Oh yeah? I'm gonna have to find me some shrimp in the supermarket and really show you how it's done mate. Cheers,

Delicious colors and brilliant clarity mate. Nice one. Love the detail in the eyes in the last one! Cheers,

Neil, what's wrong with buying another D40? A used D90 would be the way to go for the extra features like DoF preview and ADR which I believe the D40 lacks... Cheers,

Nice ones all, but especially love the pheasant shot mate! Cheers,

Hey John, Just my opinion mate but that poo/algae stained tree stump doesn't really add anything to the scene and is actually detrimental because the white stain draws the observers attention away from the rest of the subject. I'd crop it all out, right down to the bird's toes...

Nice one mate. I love the scrumptious reds. Great detail without blowing them out. Cheers,

Hi, No idea about plant ID, but love the variety of colors and textures. Well done, thanks for sharing! Cheers,

Ooh, love this one Graeme. Nicely titled as well mate. :thumbup: Did you add sepia toning or is this Au Natural? Cheers,

Sorry Sam, didn't mean to babble. Do you remember getting back the negatives from the lab when you sent your 35mm film in for processing? They came back in a little packet with strips of maybe 4 or 5 frames right? Well each image, or frame, sits in a rectangular area 35mm long by 24mm wide. Now...

35mm Macro is typically defined as image size on a 35mm film which is between 1/10th life size to life size. If the lens you are interested in has a magnification of 1:10 or better then it is really a macro lens. Photo.net review of this lens indicates the magnification ratio of 1:3.5 so this...

This is not always the best idea. Lenses typically have their best optical performance at or around f8. Their worst optical performance is usually at their widest aperture, such as f3.5. Of course if the image is blurry due to slow shutter speeds, then the optical performance at f8 isn't of...

Sweet one Mark. Loving your blacks, oddly enough. Cheers,

Hi John, Good to hear from you as well mate! Yes, I'm more or less settled but I'll probably be moving house across town (I'm just a vagabond), so I'm taking as many of these pics as I can while I'm still in this house. :clap: Hope things are well with you. Haven't seen any of your...