Photography FAQ thread

[xEJ20x]

I was thinkin about a new section for people who arent that camera savvy.
Like tips, tricks, and techniques for decent quality photos.

[SexyDSM95]

Originally Posted by xEJ20x

I was thinkin about a new section for people who arent that camera savvy.
Like tips, tricks, and techniques for decent quality photos.

Posting it in the right forum may help...hehe

[xEJ20x]

Originally Posted by SexyDSM95

Posting it in the right forum may help...hehe

I figured that the gallery would be a correct place to dicuss photography.

[SexyDSM95]

But you are notioning the idea of another forum/topic area for photography...

[Francesco]

best bet is trial and error...invest in a tri pod also, cause with low MP cameras quality is a key...

don't always use the flash, cause digi's usually auto adjust to the light saturation. best of all, make sure their is a key focol point in a picture, but don't let it be symetric

[Francesco]

Originally Posted by SexyDSM95

But you are notioning the idea of another forum/topic area for photography...

this site isn't that big yet, and not everyone on here is a phot whore like myself...except not alot of ppl here know me besides George and LSHatch...I usually can't make the meets, and i post here in binges

[2point4DSM]

A good quality camera goes a long way in making an amatuer look decent. And then having the ability to photochop it helps a lot too.

I'm still sporting a Nikon Coolpix 5000 (very old school) with Nikon flash. But compared to the cameras people in my family have it produces one of the best looking pics.

One of these days I'll get a nice digital SLR. Because one of the worst things about the Coolpix 5000 is speed. Although after 5 years of playing with it I'm still very happy with it.

[TROLL]

i'm a firm believer that photos are made by a photographer, not a camera. dont get too caught up in your equipment, just focus on learning techniques and trial and error.
of course there are necessary tools that you NEED in order to properly shoot certain photos. for example, you really cant shoot sports indoors without a long lens that has a large aperture, and you cant take car photos at night without a tripod.
some photography resources i'd recommend are: www.fredmiranda.com , www.photo.net , www.sportsshooter.net , and for photoshop tips i really like www.russellbrown.com
if you want to turn this into one huge photography thread, thats cool with me. they have them on nasioc.com and clubwrx.net and they are really popular. just post your photos or ask any questions or share anything photographic here that you want. anything photographic applies... its just really important with this to keep it on the topic of photography (not snapshots of this or that).
bryan

[2point4DSM]

My father-in-law use to do photography for the army but that was probably 30+ years ago. Recently, he just got a nice Canon SLR but for the longest time he was playing with a cheap point and shoot. They display hundreds of pictures at their house and most of them were taken by me and my camera.

He just can't accept the idea of digital cameras because then that means he would actually have to get on the computer, lol. So when I can click off 300-400 shots and pick and choose 3-4 of the nicest and edit them I have a big advantage.

And if I can click off 100+ shots before people get tired of me hounding them, every once in a while, I do get lucky, lol. Sort of like the way I play pool and bowl, lol.

Of course, one of these days I do want to get a little bit more serious about it and take some classes. But I have done a bit of reading. Photography interests me a lot. My wife still insists we get phots done professionally, though, lol. She likes the back-drops and props more than anything....



I like this site:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/WB/WB.HTM
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/C5000/C5PICS.HTM

[2point4DSM]

Unfortunately, since I do have to click off so many pics I had to get a battery pack upgrade for the camera which allows me to use 6 "AA" batteries. Combined with a flash, the camera is just way too bulky for me to carry around anymore, especially when at any moment I have to chase down a 2 year old. Unfortunately, the camera is starting to sit on the shelf a little longer between uses and now we carry around a really crappy Nikon point and shoot cause it is much smaller.

Btw, I just found out that Nikon is owned by or a subsidiary of Mitsubishi, lol.

[xEJ20x]

Ok, since this is gettin off to a good start.
What equipment is everyone using?
I bought a 2.0 megapixel Canon PowerShot S200 off of Francesco.

But other than a tripod, what would you recomend for taking good twilight shots.

[01CamaroF1WRC]

I just started getting into photography recently. I am thinking about maybe taking a class in the future to learn more about it. I started out with a Canon S200 years ago. Last Dec. I moved up to a Canon S500 right before the SD series came out. I noticed a big difference between 2-5 MP. I bought a 2 GB Ultra CF card for the camera and Canon's WP-DC800 Waterproof case. The card holds a lot of pics and high quailty video. The Waterproof case is amazing. I took some great shots of my bro surfing in OCNJ with it this past summer.

I took some good shots with it on the TST Crab Run, but not as good as some of the guys with the Digital SLRs with the higher MP and longer zooms. I do like the fact this is very small and is easy to take with to concerts most of the time.

I'm excited because I just won a Canon Digital Camcorder in a contest at work. I never had one before and looking forward to start making movies. Any tips, accessories to get, software to use, etc. would be great.

[sisforsurfing]

Originally Posted by 01CamaroF1WRC

I took some great shots of my bro surfing in OCNJ with it this past summer.

I'd be really interested in taking a look at some of those. I've been interested in how those waterproof cases work, so maybe you can convince me it's a good call to put my $400 digital in.

I shoot fairly amateur, for my school paper and pleasure... nothing I'm incredibly proud of, but I shoot a LOT. That's pretty much the key (I hear), to just keep on shooting. Eventually you get something worth looking at, and learn a lot in the process.

I use a Canon W1 5MP digital along with an old Minolta SLR with a huge array of lens/filter combos. Hopefully some day I'll take something worth posting.

[01CamaroF1WRC]

The Canon waterproof cases are really engineered well. Good quality and they take good pics. The day I shot it was really sunny and windy. It made the waves look choppy and big.

When I get my camcorder in the mail I saw in an old Surfing mag that they make some kind of waterproof case for any model camcorder. Might look into it.

[thewake]

My only additional advice are these three little items:

1. Get a camera with manual controls and turn off all the automatic stuff, even focus. There is so much more creativity when you decide the aperature and shutter speed, the focal point, the focal distance etc. A cheap Canon Rebel film camera will do this. A compact camera (film or digital) will try to take all this away from you.

2. Take lots of photos, practice, experiment with different settings, keep a log about what works and what doesn't. Have multiple sizes of prints made, some stuff works at 3x4 or 4x6 but will be junk at 11x14. Try different types of film (if you have a film camera): B&W, Slides, Color Prints. In short try out new stuff.

3. Hang up your photos that you think are good.