can you just swap out heads etc on any manfrotto? a have a pretty basic model with just the ball but it would be nice to add a quick release option without buying a new tripod
I'm not sure but you could figure it out pretty easily by seeing if the head that is on there screws off.
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
You can also just buy a quick release plate. I bought a Sima quick release (on Amazon) for like 12 bucks so I can have it on my hiking monopod.
I have an Induro/Benro tripod and head and I'm very happy with it. It is about 4lb overall so it's not ultra-light, but it's light enough to lug around on longer trips. That photoset that I posted 2 pages ago involved me lugging it around for about 6 hours. Of course, the point of a tripod is to use it, so I would often hold the tripod by one of its legs in my hand, rather than strap it to my back, so I could quickly access it if I needed/wanted to. I'd post links to Amazon but their site seems to be freaking out for me?
Gafoto: I forgot to say but I think that picture of the sunlight hitting the cliffs is possibly the best you've ever posted on here. Your landscapes often lack a sense of scale, and although that's also true here, the almost abstract nature of the light makes up for it.
@CC: yeah a tighter crop would be better. Thanks a bunch.
Jake: it is a very clean shot in composition and exposure, and I think that it might have benefited from keeping the "horizon line" of the floor-wall baseboard straight. I feel that the crooked baseboard and the angled floor boards create a bit tension in the composition, without being an active element of it. Adding more negative space to the top of the frame or cutting off the floor completely would give the picture a sense of free-falling, due to the position of subject's body. I think it is a very cool minimalist concept that could possibly be taken further.
A candid shot documenting rehearsals for a performance. The dancer is a friend of mine who has a residency at the dance school here. It's about being over-directed and over-stretched, hence the awkward posture. I was interested how it holds up without explanation; not great I guess.
A candid shot documenting rehearsals for a performance. The dancer is a friend of mine who has a residency at the dance school here. It's about being over-directed and over-stretched, hence the awkward posture. I was interested how it holds up without explanation; not great I guess.
The negative is made by coating a sheet of glass with Wet Collodion, exposed for about 50s, then contact printing that to a paper coated in Platinum/Palladium via UV light
So I have been in a photographic rut for a while now. I am constantly dissatisfied with the images I shoot, and am out of ideas how to spice things up and get to the next level. I think that maybe a break from photography would be beneficial, rather than the experience of constant soul crushing disappointment. I just have to figure out how to stop shooting stuff. :P
So how do you guys handle the creativity/skill-set wormholes that happen once in a while?
When I get in a creative rut I try to figure out what it is that's put me in the rut. And then change that. It doesn't always work, though, and I'll go on a brief hiatus. Sometimes that's good, too -- sometimes what got me in a rut is spending too much time on something.
[IMG]So I have been in a photographic rut for a while now. I am constantly dissatisfied with the images I shoot, and am out of ideas how to spice things up and get to the next level. I think that maybe a break from photography would be beneficial, rather than the experience of constant soul crushing disappointment. I just have to figure out how to stop shooting stuff. :P
So how do you guys handle the creativity/skill-set wormholes that happen once in a while?[/img]
I read an article a few years ago that said if your job requires a lot of critical thinking like engineering or software programming it sucks up a lot of your creative juices so its harder to be creative in your off time. If that article was somewhat accurate and you have a job like that I would suggest taking it easy on week days and try being creative after you've done some relaxing on the weekend.
I too would like to hear other people's recommendations on how they get more creative. I have certainly tried looking at people's photos on flickr to get ideas but I usually find stuff that looks cool and can't think of a way of doing something similar without copying them. Thus I don't end up doing anything because I don't want to try flat out copy people. Personally I feel like I'm pretty damn bad at coming up with ideas or themes for shoots. The best I do is take pretty location A, pretty model B, and (sometimes) pretty clothes C and throw those together and make them look good using my technical proficiency.
Currently I'm more stuck in a lazy rut since I kind of hate all the time I have to spend setting up shoots. I like taking and editing photos not coordinating people in an "industry" known for flakiness.
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
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SheriResident FlufferMy Living RoomRegistered Userregular
[IMG]So I have been in a photographic rut for a while now. I am constantly dissatisfied with the images I shoot, and am out of ideas how to spice things up and get to the next level. I think that maybe a break from photography would be beneficial, rather than the experience of constant soul crushing disappointment. I just have to figure out how to stop shooting stuff. :P
So how do you guys handle the creativity/skill-set wormholes that happen once in a while?[/img]
I read an article a few years ago that said if your job requires a lot of critical thinking like engineering or software programming it sucks up a lot of your creative juices so its harder to be creative in your off time. If that article was somewhat accurate and you have a job like that I would suggest taking it easy on week days and try being creative after you've done some relaxing on the weekend.
I too would like to hear other people's recommendations on how they get more creative. I have certainly tried looking at people's photos on flickr to get ideas but I usually find stuff that looks cool and can't think of a way of doing something similar without copying them. Thus I don't end up doing anything because I don't want to try flat out copy people. Personally I feel like I'm pretty damn bad at coming up with ideas or themes for shoots. The best I do is take pretty location A, pretty model B, and (sometimes) pretty clothes C and throw those together and make them look good using my technical proficiency.
Currently I'm more stuck in a lazy rut since I kind of hate all the time I have to spend setting up shoots. I like taking and editing photos not coordinating people in an "industry" known for flakiness.
Grab a pretty friend, take your camera, favorite lens and a reflector, find a nice park and take some photos for an hour before sunset.
I too would like to hear other people's recommendations on how they get more creative. I have certainly tried looking at people's photos on flickr to get ideas but I usually find stuff that looks cool and can't think of a way of doing something similar without copying them. Thus I don't end up doing anything because I don't want to try flat out copy people. Personally I feel like I'm pretty damn bad at coming up with ideas or themes for shoots. The best I do is take pretty location A, pretty model B, and (sometimes) pretty clothes C and throw those together and make them look good using my technical proficiency.
Currently I'm more stuck in a lazy rut since I kind of hate all the time I have to spend setting up shoots. I like taking and editing photos not coordinating people in an "industry" known for flakiness.
Any time I get in a creative rut I try something I haven't done before. I do this for all of my creative stuff: writing, drawing, photography. If I've been doing a lot of travel photos and I'm bored with it, I'll pick up my tripod and take night time cityscape shots. I randomly pick up film just to get a change of perspective on digital. One time I forced myself to walk my boring suburban neighborhood just to challenge myself to get a good shot. For me, the best way to get new ideas is to see how I overcome new problems which sparks an idea elsewhere. I've seen you try different things besides model shots so I guess to some extent you're already doing this.
I also give myself projects to complete. Whether it's a mock photo book or a set of 20 gallery quality prints in a theme, having an objective and a timeline helps me focus on what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm sure you've had random project ideas. Some probably require coordinating people, but others probably don't. Pick one and see where it takes you.
I have creative ADD though, so your mileage may vary.
In town for a few days, finally! I've been living in Melita, MB without any internet connection for 10 day stints and I've nearly lost my mind to internet withdrawal.
When I get into a creative rut I tend to spin my wheels for a while and then take far too long of a break, coming back when an unavoidable gig crops up and gets me shooting again. I advise against this method and may try some of the others mentioned in this thread.
So I've been working as a research assistant with burrowing owls just a little NW of the official border of their range according to most birding books. It`s been absolutely wonderful if terribly frustrating and provided me with far more photographic opportunities than one man can ever make use of. A select few images can be found below. Critiques very appreciated, especially considering the lack of colour calibration on my new computer`s monitor (working on it) and my suspicion that I`m sharpening the hell out of some of my images.
This is one of our female owls. She's not yet had the chance to produce any eggs, but we're working at getting her a mate that won't run away from her. Poor girl. She's a peach in that she's calm enough to let me get within 10' or so before flying off.
Open only with Dramatic Gopher music playing:
I was so envious of these cows. It was a good 30 Celcius before humidex outside when I spotted them.
This was at the end of what I had thought was a mile road. It turned out to be more of a raised patch of field and, having dunked my brand new (rented) 2010 Dodge Caliber into several feet of water on a very similar road the day beforehand, I was very glad it was a barn and not a lake at the end of the path.
And a panorama of a storm that kind of turned out, sort of. How do I fix this image?
Went to the national zoo in DC yesterday, thought I'd share a couple shots. These are all taken with a Nikon D60 w/ 55-200mm lens. Nothing was done to them except converting the wheel & log picture to B&W. Just getting into photography; I like it.
I like the broken down farm house it has an excellent composition.
Agreed. Perfect use of wide-angle here. I love how you can see the individual blades of grass down at the bottom. It makes me feel like I'm walking through the grass.
So, what are your views on the Canon 550d for a newbie?
Will be shooting a bit of video (so the 1080p is very welcome) but other than that, just getting into photography.
I posted a while ago about a 450d, but now funds are permitting, and this seemed like a logical step up.
Should be good. Honestly there are people who can make great photos with older "inferior" cameras and people who take really crappy pictures with expensive top of the line cameras.
I would try and grab a canon 50/1.8 when you get the camera if you plan on shooting anything people related. Its a great cheap (~$90) lens and its metric fucktons better than the 18-55 that most cameras come with.
<insert fireworks pictures here>
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Thanks guys! The grass was ridiculously tall and barely required any crouching to get that perspective. I'm just glad I got that image taken before my sensor became covered in mud (or, at least, appears to be at f/16). Any thoughts on the storm pano? Something feels "off", but I can't pick out what it is.
Crashtard - #1 is quite nice, but you need to crop tighter. Use the flamingo legs as framing on 3 sides of the frame (keeping them near the edges) and crop the bottom wherever you need it to be to maintain aspect ratio.
#2 is underexposed and is awkward in the framing. The bottom of the frame cuts a bit too near the flowers and the bit of in-focus leaf showing in the bottom right corner is distracting. If this was cropped in post, pull back a bit and work on either including entire leaves in the bottom right or taking them out altogether in post.
#3 is a bit dull. Subject is boring and in bland light. Why was the OOF log left in the frame? Crop it, push your exposure a bit (as the ground squirrel is a bit dark) and you'll have a well composed and mildly interesting photo of a squirrel.
#4 isn't bad. Your highlights are clipped to hell - pull them back. The wheel itself shows good contrast and detail. I can't really identify what the stump is on the right, so I'd consider doing a square crop around just the wheel. You'd also be well served to clean up the edges of the frame. Either some processing or additional cropping to remove the dark bits encroaching on top edge of the frame would be good. Lastly, the shot doesn't appear straight. We don't have a well defined horizon, so all the viewer has to go on is the lines running on the fence(?) in the background. Make them vertical and the photo will stop slanting to the right. Hope this helped. Keep shooting!
Mr. Fahrenheit I love the tone on the first picture and I love the texture / folds of the cloth on the first two cloth pictures. I think this would work really nicely as a diptych.
Jake!: I think I would like it if you added more circles and made them more um...circular. You could try and do that by putting a light on a rope and then spinning that
DM: I think Jake is right. It looks a lot better with some more contrast/saturation.
...and now the obligatory fireworks photos:
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Ooh ooh, my turn. Nothing quite as good as all yours though. I was too close to get any of the surrounding landscape.
And in unrelated news, a couple I took for my first class assignment. The assignment was to take a subject and shoot it on two separate days. I'm still a little concerned my subject was too broad (Swan Point Cemetary in Providence) but I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
Mr Obersmith on
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PSN - Obersmith
Gafoto the canyon photos look pretty interesting but I think they could be composed quite a bit differently. To me, the gravel on the ground isn't quite as interesting as the sides of the canyon. So on the first two pictures i would pan the picture upwards more to get more of the walls or I would change to a landscape orientation. Also this would be the perfect opportunity for a really wide angle lens.
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
So, what are your views on the Canon 550d for a newbie?
Will be shooting a bit of video (so the 1080p is very welcome) but other than that, just getting into photography.
I posted a while ago about a 450d, but now funds are permitting, and this seemed like a logical step up.
Should be good. Honestly there are people who can make great photos with older "inferior" cameras and people who take really crappy pictures with expensive top of the line cameras.
I would try and grab a canon 50/1.8 when you get the camera if you plan on shooting anything people related. Its a great cheap (~$90) lens and its metric fucktons better than the 18-55 that most cameras come with.
<insert fireworks pictures here>
A photographer from fstoppers.com did an entire fashion photo shoot with an iphone 3gs and some hot lights to prove that you can have awesome photos with shitty equipment. (Admittedly he is using a professional model, MUA, and expensive as fuck modifiers with lots of modeling/hot lights)
Never read the comments. It will always make you more stupid.
Plus half of them don't seem to understand what a modeling light is and that there is no way to sync the camera to strobes.
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
You can have the shittiest camera and the world, but with a studio and model like that taking some good photos should be easy.
Edit: If you know how to control the lights, that is.
Well most if not all strobes just have an on-off switch for modeling lights which are usually 150 or 250watts. So "controlling" the lights still takes a lot of skill since you can just control the distance and the modifiers but can't control the power.
Honestly if you were really short on money and had lots of determination you could make every one of those modifiers with some stiff metal wire, white bed sheets, cardboard, and aluminum foil.
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Posts
I'm not sure but you could figure it out pretty easily by seeing if the head that is on there screws off.
I have an Induro/Benro tripod and head and I'm very happy with it. It is about 4lb overall so it's not ultra-light, but it's light enough to lug around on longer trips. That photoset that I posted 2 pages ago involved me lugging it around for about 6 hours. Of course, the point of a tripod is to use it, so I would often hold the tripod by one of its legs in my hand, rather than strap it to my back, so I could quickly access it if I needed/wanted to. I'd post links to Amazon but their site seems to be freaking out for me?
Jake: it is a very clean shot in composition and exposure, and I think that it might have benefited from keeping the "horizon line" of the floor-wall baseboard straight. I feel that the crooked baseboard and the angled floor boards create a bit tension in the composition, without being an active element of it. Adding more negative space to the top of the frame or cutting off the floor completely would give the picture a sense of free-falling, due to the position of subject's body. I think it is a very cool minimalist concept that could possibly be taken further.
Here is a shot of the moon:
What were you trying to convey with this photo?
Maybe try rotating this photo 180 degrees?
Cheers guys!
Bullshit; I like it.
Sheri Baldwin Photography | Facebook | Twitter | Etsy Shop | BUY ME STUFF (updated for 2014!)
Eggy is right, its Nightmare from Soul Calibur but its not a mini per say, its actually a 12-14 inches tall.
Heres a wiki on Wet Collodion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collodion_process
and one on Platinum/Palladium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platinum_print
The negative is made by coating a sheet of glass with Wet Collodion, exposed for about 50s, then contact printing that to a paper coated in Platinum/Palladium via UV light
So I have been in a photographic rut for a while now. I am constantly dissatisfied with the images I shoot, and am out of ideas how to spice things up and get to the next level. I think that maybe a break from photography would be beneficial, rather than the experience of constant soul crushing disappointment. I just have to figure out how to stop shooting stuff. :P
So how do you guys handle the creativity/skill-set wormholes that happen once in a while?
I read an article a few years ago that said if your job requires a lot of critical thinking like engineering or software programming it sucks up a lot of your creative juices so its harder to be creative in your off time. If that article was somewhat accurate and you have a job like that I would suggest taking it easy on week days and try being creative after you've done some relaxing on the weekend.
I too would like to hear other people's recommendations on how they get more creative. I have certainly tried looking at people's photos on flickr to get ideas but I usually find stuff that looks cool and can't think of a way of doing something similar without copying them. Thus I don't end up doing anything because I don't want to try flat out copy people. Personally I feel like I'm pretty damn bad at coming up with ideas or themes for shoots. The best I do is take pretty location A, pretty model B, and (sometimes) pretty clothes C and throw those together and make them look good using my technical proficiency.
Currently I'm more stuck in a lazy rut since I kind of hate all the time I have to spend setting up shoots. I like taking and editing photos not coordinating people in an "industry" known for flakiness.
Grab a pretty friend, take your camera, favorite lens and a reflector, find a nice park and take some photos for an hour before sunset.
Sheri Baldwin Photography | Facebook | Twitter | Etsy Shop | BUY ME STUFF (updated for 2014!)
Any time I get in a creative rut I try something I haven't done before. I do this for all of my creative stuff: writing, drawing, photography. If I've been doing a lot of travel photos and I'm bored with it, I'll pick up my tripod and take night time cityscape shots. I randomly pick up film just to get a change of perspective on digital. One time I forced myself to walk my boring suburban neighborhood just to challenge myself to get a good shot. For me, the best way to get new ideas is to see how I overcome new problems which sparks an idea elsewhere. I've seen you try different things besides model shots so I guess to some extent you're already doing this.
I also give myself projects to complete. Whether it's a mock photo book or a set of 20 gallery quality prints in a theme, having an objective and a timeline helps me focus on what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm sure you've had random project ideas. Some probably require coordinating people, but others probably don't. Pick one and see where it takes you.
I have creative ADD though, so your mileage may vary.
When I get into a creative rut I tend to spin my wheels for a while and then take far too long of a break, coming back when an unavoidable gig crops up and gets me shooting again. I advise against this method and may try some of the others mentioned in this thread.
So I've been working as a research assistant with burrowing owls just a little NW of the official border of their range according to most birding books. It`s been absolutely wonderful if terribly frustrating and provided me with far more photographic opportunities than one man can ever make use of. A select few images can be found below. Critiques very appreciated, especially considering the lack of colour calibration on my new computer`s monitor (working on it) and my suspicion that I`m sharpening the hell out of some of my images.
This is one of our female owls. She's not yet had the chance to produce any eggs, but we're working at getting her a mate that won't run away from her. Poor girl. She's a peach in that she's calm enough to let me get within 10' or so before flying off.
Open only with Dramatic Gopher music playing:
I was so envious of these cows. It was a good 30 Celcius before humidex outside when I spotted them.
This was at the end of what I had thought was a mile road. It turned out to be more of a raised patch of field and, having dunked my brand new (rented) 2010 Dodge Caliber into several feet of water on a very similar road the day beforehand, I was very glad it was a barn and not a lake at the end of the path.
And a panorama of a storm that kind of turned out, sort of. How do I fix this image?
Will be shooting a bit of video (so the 1080p is very welcome) but other than that, just getting into photography.
I posted a while ago about a 450d, but now funds are permitting, and this seemed like a logical step up.
Edit: I also used a lens hood.
Agreed. Perfect use of wide-angle here. I love how you can see the individual blades of grass down at the bottom. It makes me feel like I'm walking through the grass.
Should be good. Honestly there are people who can make great photos with older "inferior" cameras and people who take really crappy pictures with expensive top of the line cameras.
I would try and grab a canon 50/1.8 when you get the camera if you plan on shooting anything people related. Its a great cheap (~$90) lens and its metric fucktons better than the 18-55 that most cameras come with.
<insert fireworks pictures here>
Crashtard - #1 is quite nice, but you need to crop tighter. Use the flamingo legs as framing on 3 sides of the frame (keeping them near the edges) and crop the bottom wherever you need it to be to maintain aspect ratio.
#2 is underexposed and is awkward in the framing. The bottom of the frame cuts a bit too near the flowers and the bit of in-focus leaf showing in the bottom right corner is distracting. If this was cropped in post, pull back a bit and work on either including entire leaves in the bottom right or taking them out altogether in post.
#3 is a bit dull. Subject is boring and in bland light. Why was the OOF log left in the frame? Crop it, push your exposure a bit (as the ground squirrel is a bit dark) and you'll have a well composed and mildly interesting photo of a squirrel.
#4 isn't bad. Your highlights are clipped to hell - pull them back. The wheel itself shows good contrast and detail. I can't really identify what the stump is on the right, so I'd consider doing a square crop around just the wheel. You'd also be well served to clean up the edges of the frame. Either some processing or additional cropping to remove the dark bits encroaching on top edge of the frame would be good. Lastly, the shot doesn't appear straight. We don't have a well defined horizon, so all the viewer has to go on is the lines running on the fence(?) in the background. Make them vertical and the photo will stop slanting to the right. Hope this helped. Keep shooting!
Mr. F: I like the execution technically a lot, but I don't think they're massively interesting. I think the first cloth shot is the best
DM: looks quite flat at the moment. Maybe bump the local contrast?
Jake!: I think I would like it if you added more circles and made them more um...circular. You could try and do that by putting a light on a rope and then spinning that
DM: I think Jake is right. It looks a lot better with some more contrast/saturation.
...and now the obligatory fireworks photos:
Ryan M Long Photography
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Nice!
In contrast to that the next day I visited Little Wild Horse, a slot canyon:
And in unrelated news, a couple I took for my first class assignment. The assignment was to take a subject and shoot it on two separate days. I'm still a little concerned my subject was too broad (Swan Point Cemetary in Providence) but I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
Live - MrObersmith
PSN - Obersmith
A photographer from fstoppers.com did an entire fashion photo shoot with an iphone 3gs and some hot lights to prove that you can have awesome photos with shitty equipment. (Admittedly he is using a professional model, MUA, and expensive as fuck modifiers with lots of modeling/hot lights)
Photos and Video here:
http://gizmodo.com/5580276/professional-fashion-shootwith-an-iphone-3gs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOoGjtSy7xY&feature=player_embedded
Edit: I think this should go in the OP.
Never read the comments. It will always make you more stupid.
Plus half of them don't seem to understand what a modeling light is and that there is no way to sync the camera to strobes.
Edit: If you know how to control the lights, that is.
Well most if not all strobes just have an on-off switch for modeling lights which are usually 150 or 250watts. So "controlling" the lights still takes a lot of skill since you can just control the distance and the modifiers but can't control the power.
Honestly if you were really short on money and had lots of determination you could make every one of those modifiers with some stiff metal wire, white bed sheets, cardboard, and aluminum foil.