Show Us Your Photos!

[Easy Bakes 253]

@Mama Luigi love those pics of the Japanese  garden

[The Avatar 1,089]

@Mama Luigi love those pics of the Japanese  garden

 

Thank you. I can't remember if I was the one that took them. It could've been one of my family members, but I know I took some pictures while we were there.

[_marsh_ 1,118]

Mama Luigi: Lovely pictures and amazing job on that portrait. How long did you spend on it?

 

Larkstoungesinsaspice: I like the hazy and muggy orange picture. It's a shame you lost so many, did you have any more of that particular scene?

 

These are just a few recent pics ive taken around the area.

 

 

 

 

Fine Ill caption one, GAWD.

 

This is where my house is. I love this state.

[The Avatar 1,089]

Thanks, marsh. You have some stunning pictures yourself. There's some beautiful scenery in your area.

 

The portrait took me many hours in art class and some time at home as well. Making sure all the features were proportionate was the worst part.

[MilitantRadical 2,844]

Whoa, a lot of cool stuff posted since I was here last. Mama Luigi your portrait of Paul is very accurate, good job.

 

LarksTonguesInAspic, I really like your lighthouse picture. That night time blue is really appealing to the eye. Good composition also with the tower splitting the boats (may not have been intentional but it works).

 

_marsh_, nice shot of the road in the second picture. I think your composition could be a bit better, you have a bit too much sky.

 

Let me take you on a short trip to the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa.

 

- The Dark Tower of Mordor... I mean Peace Tower.

 

- Victoria, the Queen of Canada

 

- Who is this guy? Help me A Nonny Moose.

 

- Birdbrain.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Marsh and Militant, thanks. Photography is 99% opportunity, especially nowadays when technology handles all the hard work that others went to school for in the past. The orange hazy pic is one of only 2 surviving versions, the other was taken a little later when the sun was higher. 

 

The story was told about Ansel Adams and his famous pic of the moon over Yosemite. As he hurriedly set up, he was calculating the lumens given off by the moon, in his head, in order to set his camera properly. That was the mark of a true pro photographer, having to make mathematical calculations in his head to get the shot the way he wanted. I'll have to settle for my cheap digi and similarly cheap cameraphone. 

 

I took this one last year right after a heavy storm

 

 

this was taken from my balcony. Yes, that is rotation starting in the clouds. Scary scary.

 

 

another B/W, taken while fishing (like so many of my pics)

 

 

a crack in the ice on a local lake, it just seemed to stand out.

 

 

and this pic was stolen for use in a national newscast, I was not credited nor paid royalties. Taken in Chinatown in Chicago, it made us laugh and won a place in my portfolio

 

[MilitantRadical 2,844]

 Photography is 99% opportunity, especially nowadays when technology handles all the hard work that others went to school for in the past.

 

I strongly disagree with that.

 

When you say Photography is 99% opportunity you almost make it sound like it is all just luck and all about just being there, but that isn't true. A photographer has to create his own luck, he has to seek out that opportunity, and find the visions that express what he wants to share with the viewer. Sure, sometimes you get lucky and the stars align, but a lot of the time you have to go looking for it. Photography is 40% persistence, 40% patience, and 20% luck.

 

While I don't think you need to go to school to become a good photographer it is naive to believe that 'technology' handles all that hard work as you put it. There is still a craft. Anyone can just point a camera and take a picture of something, but for a photograph to be 'artistic' a lot of factors come into play. How you control the light, the angle, the shadows, the contrast, the composition, the focus, the depth, etc. There are so many things you have to consider when you want to take a great picture. You can't just rely on technology to fill in the gaps. Taking good pictures is still hard work. Certainly not as hard as before when you had to print your own stuff, but getting the 'perfect' shot can be very hard work.

 

Cool pics btw. I like the second one. I can't say I've ever seen a cloud like that.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

A photographer makes his opportunity when it comes to non-posed shots.  Remembering the basic rules of composition is now the way to go, since most of the technical stuff, except for very deliberate occasions, is now automagic.  Guess why I have a camera that has some manual settings?

[MilitantRadical 2,844]

Remembering the basic rules of composition is now the way to go, since most of the technical stuff, except for very deliberate occasions, is now automagic. Guess why I have a camera that has some manual settings?

 

You have a camera with manual settings cause you are a smart guy. Do you use the manual settings on your camera, or do you just have them?

 

Automagic, as you call it, is still just for amateurs. If you are using an SLR you still have to chose your lens, filters, aperture setting, exposure, white balance etc... There are still a lot of things technology can't replace (it can help, it can't replace). Sure, using a point and shoot camera can be very easy, and sometimes seems like all you have to do is point the camera at something interesting to get a good picture, but that will only make your pictures so good. I can't stress this enough: good photography is a craft, technology will not handle all the hard work. Using a film camera has taught me great respect for the process of taking pictures, automagic will not suffice if you are a serious photographer. Then again, not everyone has to be a serious photographer and not everyone needs to be an artist, but to take pictures that have impact you need more than technology and automagic.

 

Don't pretty much all cameras come with some manual settings still?

[_marsh_ 1,118]

Militant: yea, I actually took that picture out my sunroof driving And that kind of goes into this current conversation. I'm by no means  professional in any way. I have a point and shoot (with a good deal of manual settings ) and Im learning slowly. I've never taken any classes nor read much on it, though that doesn't mean I wont someday. For now it's just a nice little side hobby that I enjoy very much.

 

On a different subject (sort of) I think being a true "Photographer" simply means you take pictures as an attempt to produce art, and not just to record memories. Thats my line (and my own opinion)

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I have an Olympus D510, and to access the manual settings you have to really monkey with it, but it can be done.  It was my wife's and it is better than my old Contaflex which was all manual and used film.  The zoom lens is a great convenience for portraits, and can be helpful when snap-shooting.  If I have to, I turn to my old friend Manuel Labor to get things done when shooting indoors.  I am sort of an occasional photo-shooter these days.
 
Last summer I got to make my own picture of the most photographed spot in Canada.
 
The Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, N.S.  I was lucky to get it with only a couple of tourists wandering around.
 


This is an interesting place for the geology more than for tourism.  All that nice weathered granite that you don't often see on the surface where I live because it is mostly limestone or dolomite.  Not too far north of me however, you can hop a ferry to Manitoulin and enjoy the road cuts through the base granite of the
Canadian Shield.

[MilitantRadical 2,844]

Nice shot of that lighthouse. Can be hard to get it without tourists crawling all over it. I managed to snap one with not a soul around. I didn't know it was the most photographed place in Canada. I'll share a few of my Peggy's Cove pics with you when I have access to my PC. I actually have some pretty good shots of from a digital and an analog camera.

[MilitantRadical 2,844]

On a different subject (sort of) I think being a true "Photographer" simply means you take pictures as an attempt to produce art, and not just to record memories. Thats my line (and my own opinion)

 

Well put. I wouldn't consider myself a 'true photographer', but I have tried to take artistic pictures and maybe succeeded a few times.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

 

On a different subject (sort of) I think being a true "Photographer" simply means you take pictures as an attempt to produce art, and not just to record memories. Thats my line (and my own opinion)

 

You've struck on a complaint my wife has voiced many times; that I take pictures of everything except people. For me, people are just less interesting! I see by many of the pics in the thread, it's not uncommon. My father tried to record memories, and it made him an awful photographer. He had all the equipment and lenses, etc. He just didn't have the eye for aesthetic nuance. 

 

Militant, I didn't mean to quite imply that there was no need to learn the technical aspects of photography. I mean more that the very basics like shutter speed, and a handful of pre-set filters with full preview built into even cellphone cameras have made the casual user much better at the occasional art photo. I mean, obviously I couldn't pass for a pro with what I have, but I don't have to carry dad's big camera bag to be ready for the suddenly available and fleeting sunset or whatever.

[MilitantRadical 2,844]

Militia, I didn't mean to quite imply that there was no need to learn the technical aspects of photography. I mean more that the very basics like shutter speed, and a handful of pre-set filters with full preview built into even cellphone cameras have made the casual user much better at the occasional art photo.

 

Ah, now I see what you mean. Totally true. But in a way maybe that has also increased the criteria for what we now define as an art photo since technology has raised the bar.

 

Still, lugging around your father's heavy camera can reap many rewards.

 

I love taking pictures of people and find them to be fascinating. I just haven't been posting a lot of them. There will be a time for that.

 

Here are some pics from Peggy's cove taken with 'my father's heavy camera'.

 

- I just know A Nonny Moose is hiding behind the lighthouse over there.

 

- I already posted this one but since we are on the topic of Peggy's Cove.

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Quick guide for novice photographers is to remember the rule of thirds.  Divide the frame into thirds both ways and try to get the perspective point (where things seem to vanish) somewhere near the bottom of the centre third.  If it is of a specific person, try to get them coming in to the centre from the right, or just frame them up and shoot with the nose dead centre.  Avoid decapitating people, it hurts.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

I learned about the magical Fibonacci proportions in school, and try to remember to apply it once in a while lol. 

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Actually, I prefer the golden section (mean).

[_marsh_ 1,118]

Well everyone who has posted in this thread has shown artistic photos, and every line is vague.

 

militant: Love those pics of the cove, a lot.

[anytownUSA 32]

These are from one of my favorite spots in the world.

 

 

[The Avatar 1,089]

These are from one of my favorite spots in the world.

 

*snip*

 

 

Beautiful scenery. I love the green grass and trees - things we don't have much of here. Where did you take them?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Looks a lot like Jellystone.

[anytownUSA 32]

I took them in Berchtesgaden, Germany.  Its near Salzburg.  

BTW great pics everyone.  I loved looking through them.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

the little boathouse is a beautiful shot, I'd live there in a heartbeat (the area I mean lol, not the boathouse). Looks like an awesome place.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

This lake is in Gros Morne National Park.  You can't take a picture like this without someone in a red jacket, eh?

 

[_marsh_ 1,118]

anytownUSA: That picture of the mountain towering behind the foliage is just beautiful

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

gonna take a chance at inflaming the sensibilities of some in the forum to post this very popular pic I took in N Portlandia many years ago.

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Why, it is probably true.  Heavy vehicles approaching, perhaps.  Actually much more danger from the right, depending how you look at it.

[MilitantRadical 2,844]

 

Hah! Funny cause its true.

 

Continuing the thread of pics with 'funny' text.

 

Headline of a 1996 newspaper.

 

 

And something completely different.

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Is that you holding the sparkler in the middle of the TD Centre Plaza at Bay and Yonge?