First go in public with 70-300mm
Discussion
I think LongQ gives some good tips there. Just had a brief play to get the following.
A bit more time and tinkering with possibilities would probably give better results - depends what they might use the images for.
Crop:
Crop (might have looked interesting long exposure if people were moving around a bit):
Crop and sharpen:
Crop and a bit of sharpen. You could perhaps do something a bit more "arty" with this :
Crop and a bit of background messing. Needs more work on the latter and could possibly do with a bit more of the former:
Crop:
I guess the trouble with teachers is they always want to tell you what to do
PS Or just looking at this one, just a crop?
>> Edited by murph7355 on Sunday 30th January 12:02
>> Edited by murph7355 on Sunday 30th January 12:06
A bit more time and tinkering with possibilities would probably give better results - depends what they might use the images for.
Crop:
Crop (might have looked interesting long exposure if people were moving around a bit):
Crop and sharpen:
Crop and a bit of sharpen. You could perhaps do something a bit more "arty" with this :
Crop and a bit of background messing. Needs more work on the latter and could possibly do with a bit more of the former:
Crop:
I guess the trouble with teachers is they always want to tell you what to do
PS Or just looking at this one, just a crop?
>> Edited by murph7355 on Sunday 30th January 12:02
>> Edited by murph7355 on Sunday 30th January 12:06
LongQ said:They're worth bearing in mind, I was a little loathed to crop in case she wanted to order prints of them in which case with the online photo services with their need to crop to make the shot fit, it might loose some detail I'd like in the shot. And the glasses shot was indeed a test shot, I was a little bored so just pointed it at the glasses and fired one off.
Some very helpful tips....
murph7355 said:Thanks Murph, it's amazing what a bit of cropping can do to a photo, I particularly like the shot of the head and the girl now.
Helpful shots to prove LongQ's points
FunkyNige said:Sure....
Purely out of curiosity, could you post up one of the pics before you brightened it, etc, Graham? I'm just interested in how the pics came out before PS.
Never actually realised just how hard it is operating a camera at 300mm handheld
>> Edited by Graham.J on Sunday 30th January 13:35
Graham.J said:
Never actually realised just how hard it is operating a camera at 300mm handheld
Good point. Camera shake was never a problem until I stuck my 70-300 on the D70. The 'extra 50%' means you really have to pay attention to shutter speed. I also find it helps to support the lens under the front.
If you have shortcomings in technique, a DSLR will find them. But when you get it right, they reward you bigtime. Bit like a TVR really...
Graham,
I had not considered the problems of unintentional cropping by commercial printing - not something I have used - but you are right to be cautious of course. I have had one or two of my rare perfectly framed images (in negative) ruined, in my view, by losing a few mm from the edges.
Always a problem if going down the printed route. You could partly crop and then physically trim post print. Or you can do something similar when mounting the finished product but my guess is that this is not likely requirement (or cost to be carried) for this exercise!.
I'm glad you like the suggestions though. They are not necessarily the right way to go but at least they offer a quick and easy new way of seeing things.
Murph,
You did just about what I was thinking of!
On the first one I think I would have left just a little more on the left of the main subject. Use the wall end (or what ever it is) in some way as a vertical 'frame'. That would also make the positioning of the 2 main characters a little better from an 'artistic' point of view. Well, to my eyes anyway.
And the cake pic - I think I would have left it without cropping and just painted out some of the food on the black plates. The contrast of the plates makes a quite a useful frame for the whiteness of the cake and table covering.
If you look at the food on the plate in the bottom Left corner for example I would consider leaving the whatever it is that fits right into the corner (avoids a strong black corner section) but paint out the other food type - looks like small pieces of pork pie.
Dealing with the top plate is less obvious in terms of the possibilities offered but I think I would simply try to reduce the food displayed to a thin is line at the top of the shot - again leave a little to provide a softening 'frame' to the picture as a whole.
Of course I fully accept that I could be a
talking total bo**ox!
I had not considered the problems of unintentional cropping by commercial printing - not something I have used - but you are right to be cautious of course. I have had one or two of my rare perfectly framed images (in negative) ruined, in my view, by losing a few mm from the edges.
Always a problem if going down the printed route. You could partly crop and then physically trim post print. Or you can do something similar when mounting the finished product but my guess is that this is not likely requirement (or cost to be carried) for this exercise!.
I'm glad you like the suggestions though. They are not necessarily the right way to go but at least they offer a quick and easy new way of seeing things.
Murph,
You did just about what I was thinking of!
On the first one I think I would have left just a little more on the left of the main subject. Use the wall end (or what ever it is) in some way as a vertical 'frame'. That would also make the positioning of the 2 main characters a little better from an 'artistic' point of view. Well, to my eyes anyway.
And the cake pic - I think I would have left it without cropping and just painted out some of the food on the black plates. The contrast of the plates makes a quite a useful frame for the whiteness of the cake and table covering.
If you look at the food on the plate in the bottom Left corner for example I would consider leaving the whatever it is that fits right into the corner (avoids a strong black corner section) but paint out the other food type - looks like small pieces of pork pie.
Dealing with the top plate is less obvious in terms of the possibilities offered but I think I would simply try to reduce the food displayed to a thin is line at the top of the shot - again leave a little to provide a softening 'frame' to the picture as a whole.
Of course I fully accept that I could be a
talking total bo**ox! You're right - these were pretty quick cuts.
The cake one's tricky as you risk leaving too much black in there. Again, depending on what they want to use the pictures for it would be possible to be more creative with this one.
The unfortunate thing is the lack of sharpness in some of them (long shutter speed, heavy lens). A tripod/monopod would have helped a load, but I guess it wasn't known up front that they'd be so prescriptive with the light
The cake one's tricky as you risk leaving too much black in there. Again, depending on what they want to use the pictures for it would be possible to be more creative with this one.
The unfortunate thing is the lack of sharpness in some of them (long shutter speed, heavy lens). A tripod/monopod would have helped a load, but I guess it wasn't known up front that they'd be so prescriptive with the light
murph7355 said:
I think LongQ gives some good tips there. Just had a brief play to get the following.
A bit more time and tinkering with possibilities would probably give better results - depends what they might use the images for.
Murph,
Thanks for the kind words.
Just had a chance to look at your crops a bit more and they do look about right.
As I mentioned previously for the shot of the Head teacher I think I would leave a little more to the left to try to get the 'frame' effect from the wall but also use the music stand to the left of the Head Teach to lead the eye towards her a little.
The general room shot works pretty well now as a 'report' of procedings. Could play with losing a little more at the top since the remaining black band is a little heavy. Also the vertical lines are not verticle and show a little spherical aberration. Nothing too bad though in context.
What I really like about the format you settled on is that the diagonal lines - from the keyboard in the foreground and from the main row of tables crossing the picture (the primary examples but there are others) intersect right in the middle of the picture using the current proportions. To the observer that adds a lot of weight to the overall image. Even with mundane subject matter a strong composition will improve the 'reportage'.
And I have to congratulate you on your work in removing that door from the background of the smiling young lady shot. I always want to project the changes by telepathy rather than edit the pixels for that sort of stuff!
Graham.J said:
Looking back I should've used a tripod but I don't think I'd have got as many of the images I did with having to lug it around.
I suppose it's just one of those things, you can't win
I think it has to be hand held if it is informal - which it has to be if you have no control over the lighting!
You could use the results as a teaching aid for the learning session you might deliver to the Head when presenting the finished product!
Graham.J said:
Good idea 
I did some 'studio' style photos earlier today (about to start a new thread so not to drag this off topic) and gave cropping a good go, really pleased with the results, thanks
Ha, a fellow person of the night or are you working?
Seem to be a lot of late night PH'ers, not all of whom live n the US.
I find enlarging and cropping (if the grain/pixellation will stand the enlargement) is vital for some (ok, most) of my track shots these days. Must get more practice. Certainly can't easily contol the subject matter! And to be fair I have recently been pushing the capability of a little shirt pocket camera well beyond what is reasonable.
In a similar vein, when computer based processing was moving into professional photography a few years ago I heard a story about a very successful pro who often did big weddings for large fees.
At one such the happy couple had paid to have a chimney sweep with his horse and cart and so on. Good luck apparently.
But in this case bad luck 'cos the sweep wanted to give value for money and would not get out to the shots when asked to. Well, I guess it was his horse and he loved it ...
Anyway, the happy couple (and sweep) were set against a large dark hedge as a background. And the photographer suddenly realised that his new computer based editing suite would allow him to invisibly remove the sweep from the image. So he did. Happy couple, happy parents, more framed shots sold at 20 or 30 quid a time.
I saw the original and the final result. Could not see where the sweep had been and I inspected very carefully. I think he also compressed the length of the hedge a little to rebalance the picture. Quite stunning.
Glad you are having fun cropping. It's so much easier to spend loads of time experimenting in the digital age. Pity we need sleep really.
I'm a person of the night, tend to go to bed about 2 or 3 and sleep til lunchtime
I think on track shots, cropping would be more essential, you not zoom in as much to make sure you get what you need in shot, then crop afterwards.
It is amazing what you can do with something like photoshop, most of it amazes me, I only really use it for basic stuff.
I think I might see what my health is like come April time when my local club hold a Sprint just down the road from me, may see if I can do some photography there
I think on track shots, cropping would be more essential, you not zoom in as much to make sure you get what you need in shot, then crop afterwards.
It is amazing what you can do with something like photoshop, most of it amazes me, I only really use it for basic stuff.
I think I might see what my health is like come April time when my local club hold a Sprint just down the road from me, may see if I can do some photography there
Hmmm, I like the cake and champagne flute shots - the people shots aren't great, but then you weren't allowed to use flash, so you were pretty much scuppered from the off!
I find its very nerve wracking shooting events. I've done a few now (all on film) and it's always a bit of a pain.
I shot this event in October, and was asked to do table shots (to sell) - they're dreadful!
www.hopeandhomes.org/montecarlo/
In your position I would have used a smaller lense, making the task of hand holding a bit easier, and insist on flash next time - if you're the official photographer for the event, you can't be expected to produce decent results if they restrict you in such a way.
I find its very nerve wracking shooting events. I've done a few now (all on film) and it's always a bit of a pain.
I shot this event in October, and was asked to do table shots (to sell) - they're dreadful!
www.hopeandhomes.org/montecarlo/
In your position I would have used a smaller lense, making the task of hand holding a bit easier, and insist on flash next time - if you're the official photographer for the event, you can't be expected to produce decent results if they restrict you in such a way.
Here's my attempts from a couple of weeks back at a charity concert featuring performers from the west end. Done in a village hall. Performers were absolutely incredible, as were the musicians.
No flash, mainly the 70-200L IS at f2.8, and either 3200 or 1600 ISO.
More here:
www.sleepy-fish.com/wecty2005.htm
LB
No flash, mainly the 70-200L IS at f2.8, and either 3200 or 1600 ISO.
More here:
www.sleepy-fish.com/wecty2005.htm
LB
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