When walking around the biggest thing I'm generally looking for is some kind of interesting lighting. Maybe because I paint too, my inclination for "interesting lighting" is already in some way painterly.
For composition, I honestly just rely very heavily on the rule of thirds, and always try and have something that indicates depth. In the first photo, I wasn't able to really get anything in the FG, so one way I'll try and get some depth in that situation is with a gradient on the bottom, shifting the tint/color balance (and lower value and lower contrast, sometimes crank down the sharpness for like a fake depth of field). That way there is a subtle change in color/value/sharpness, which kind of adds depth.
As for editing, I usually mess with the basic sliders a ton. Getting the value relationships feeling right is probably a big part of the painterly look. I almost always tint towards magenta and color balance towards blue. Unless it's like a warm sunny day, I really prefer a cooler palette. I usually also put a pretty heavy vignette on it. And then I've started doing more split toning/color grading lately too. Often I just crank the saturation up way too high, move it around to whatever color looks the most natural, and then take the saturation down to a less crazy level. I find this gets a lot of subtle color in the image without it looking like you just cranked the saturation slider way up.
No idea if any of that is unique, but that's what I do! Hope it helps!
I have lurked this thread on and off for a while, thought I'd contribute a couple of fotos myself. Picked up a Canon M50 in summer 2020 and have shot a ton of fotos since then. Here are a few from a recent trip to the Dutch island of Texel.
Went out today to a park nearby and took my camera. Weather was great and autumn was in full bloom, so to speak :biggrin: . Managed to shoot a few animals, as well as a bit of colour.
A couple of weeks ago, I sat on my couch and had lunch - and a buzzard (I think you Americans also call this a hawk, at least according to wikipedia) decided to have his lunch as well on the building opposite my balcony. So naturally I snapped a few photos. He sat there for at least 10-15 minutes, but I could never figure out what he actually ate. Probably a mouse.
It feels like ages since I have taken photos, but having just moved to Colorado, feels like a good time to do so. All these are straight out of camera, no editing, using a Kodachrome 'recipe' for my Fuji:
NYC shots, along with sunsets I don't think I'll ever get tired of. Always a unique take even if they've been photographed a bajillion times.
Haven't poasted here forever, seeing some great stuffs. And welcome to CO @oldmanken !!! Here's some of my favorites from spring/summer/fall. I just went on a tiny trip so I'll post some new new here in the next few daisies. Love Shack by Lee Stonehouse, on Flickr
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited April 2022
It's springtime, and the dull browns and greys are giving way to color!
Flora:
Fauna:
And people:
I've gotten pretty lazy, so everything is just shy of straight out of the camera. Adjusted exposure and crop, and for a few played a little bit with the sliders. Downsampled by 4x so the forums don't get too bitchy. The 100-400mm lens was wholly unnecessary and expensive, but it's made the wildlife photography much more tenable. Though the eagle was far enough away I was wishing for that 800 PF Nikon just announced...
Orca on
+5
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Bonus shot from last Thanksgiving:
Image cropped, but otherwise SOOC.
What can I say, I like sunset silhouettes.
+4
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Birding season is on folks!
...waitaminute, that last one isn't a bird.
...but maybe it wants to be one? Composition doesn't work, but it was a strange sight seeing all those turtles lined up behind that cormorant.
+3
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited June 2022
How about some different birds?
Plus a couple bonus shots because I like them even though they're a bit repetitive:
Recently I was out trying to take photos of the milky way while visiting small-town alberta, had a weird sky glow getting in the way which made no sense given there wasn't a city to the north, and then realised what was actually going on:
I have one of those different birds as well, Orca.
Its the medical helicopter at the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, around sunset. Don't actually remember if it was landing or taking off at this point.
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Can anybody in the US recommend an insurer for photography equipment since I’ll be going overseas with a bunch of gear? The internet seems damn near useless for this kind of query these days. The few hits I saw had universally poor feedback or are for people running businesses.
All else fails I guess I could ring up State Farm and make sure their single item limit isn’t too low?
Could anyone recommend from experience a stamp (as in, rubber and ink pad, etc.) that works well on the plastic/glossy surfaces of printed photographs?
In an attempt to promote my website, I got the idea that I'd bring a portable photo printer to events, but sent directly from my camera, I can't actually insert any kind of watermark. The next best solution seems to be just to stamp a watermark in the corner with basic information, web address, etc., but it'd need to be a stamp that worked well on glossy paper. I suppose whatever I go with, I'd need it to be quick-drying.
Looking to get some holiday pictures of our cats for Christmas Cards. Taking them somewhere is out of the question, they are indoor cats and don't do well in new places. However it's way too early to put up holiday stuff, but you need to submit the photo's here soon since it takes time for the cards to print and then for us to ship.
Is it feasible to setup a backdrop or green screen? We might be able to get them to sit in a basket long enough in front of something to get some pictures. But I have no idea how any of that works. Does it require expensive software?
EDIT: or is there another photo option I'm missing? Zoom/MS Teams both have video camera background tech. Is there an easier way to take a picture and then slap a background in?
Trajan45 on
Origin ID\ Steam ID: Warder45
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Photoshop, Affinity Photo or basically any software that has masking ability along with a smart select will be able to do what you're looking for.
Beware of Adobe products; while you can pay monthly, the subscription is in something like 1 year increments if I'm remembering some of the complaints right. Read the agreement before signing on the dotted line (I personally avoid rental software).
0
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
Yeah, Affinity Photo is just about on par with photoshop in most respects and constantly improving. And yeah, a single $25 to $50 (depending on whether you catch it on sale), vs $120 a year for Photoshop.
She said, "You're pretty good with words, but words won't save your life."
And they didn't.
So he died.
Humble has 2 software bundles right now, one for photos and one for "painting"
I got the photo bundle, which is Photolemur, Aurora HDR, and Luminar AI. Luminar and Aurora may be able to most if what you need (I am not a proficient photo techsman).
The painting bundle comes with programs which might work, AfterShot Pro 3 among others.
$20 and $32 to get all of each bundle, respectively.
Hi photography folk, I guess I'm one of you now. A few months ago someone linked in D&D chat how MPB has pretty cheap photo equipment, and it gave me an itch to spend a couple hundred bucks and give it a try.
This past weekend I dropped about $300 on a Canon EOS 60D frame and then Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS and Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lenses.
I'm astrophotography-curious so I also bought a T adapter to let me both eyepiece and prime mount on my Meade reflector telescope off Amazon although I'm not expecting too much from that for now. Although I have been looking at Openbuilds store and pricing out how much it would take to build a computerized barn door tracker and it doesn't seem unreasonable or an insane project.
Mostly I'm looking for now to do some good landscape stuff, maybe some wildlife, some technical / automotive stuff and then kiddo / doggo in addition to dabbling in space stuff.
I do have the below photo I took with my camera phone a year or two ago that I'm told is pretty good since I think people like those things? Hopefully I have more and better ones to go with it before too long.
+6
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Welcome to the world of photography and I can't wait to see what your artistic eye sees
+1
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited July 26
I'm afraid of dumping everything so far, but I feel like I'm really learning in this Greenland photo workshop. A few of my favorite comps so far:
Posts
When walking around the biggest thing I'm generally looking for is some kind of interesting lighting. Maybe because I paint too, my inclination for "interesting lighting" is already in some way painterly.
For composition, I honestly just rely very heavily on the rule of thirds, and always try and have something that indicates depth. In the first photo, I wasn't able to really get anything in the FG, so one way I'll try and get some depth in that situation is with a gradient on the bottom, shifting the tint/color balance (and lower value and lower contrast, sometimes crank down the sharpness for like a fake depth of field). That way there is a subtle change in color/value/sharpness, which kind of adds depth.
As for editing, I usually mess with the basic sliders a ton. Getting the value relationships feeling right is probably a big part of the painterly look. I almost always tint towards magenta and color balance towards blue. Unless it's like a warm sunny day, I really prefer a cooler palette. I usually also put a pretty heavy vignette on it. And then I've started doing more split toning/color grading lately too. Often I just crank the saturation up way too high, move it around to whatever color looks the most natural, and then take the saturation down to a less crazy level. I find this gets a lot of subtle color in the image without it looking like you just cranked the saturation slider way up.
No idea if any of that is unique, but that's what I do! Hope it helps!
It's a cool style that works well for your subjects.
Here have some swans!
EDIT: I feel like there's too much.. contrast or something on this and I didn't even add any.. something feels off on it.
I saw animals!
I saw itty bitty waterfalls!
And most of all I saw fall!
Utah is pretty y'all!
Some pretty damn cool shots and moments captured, both large and small.
Shot this nearby one day when I was finishing off a roll of ektar 100.
And they didn't.
So he died.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmXggx7Q
And they didn't.
So he died.
Haven't poasted here forever, seeing some great stuffs. And welcome to CO @oldmanken !!! Here's some of my favorites from spring/summer/fall. I just went on a tiny trip so I'll post some new new here in the next few daisies.
My Portfolio Site
Flora:
Fauna:
And people:
I've gotten pretty lazy, so everything is just shy of straight out of the camera. Adjusted exposure and crop, and for a few played a little bit with the sliders. Downsampled by 4x so the forums don't get too bitchy. The 100-400mm lens was wholly unnecessary and expensive, but it's made the wildlife photography much more tenable. Though the eagle was far enough away I was wishing for that 800 PF Nikon just announced...
Image cropped, but otherwise SOOC.
What can I say, I like sunset silhouettes.
...waitaminute, that last one isn't a bird.
...but maybe it wants to be one? Composition doesn't work, but it was a strange sight seeing all those turtles lined up behind that cormorant.
Plus a couple bonus shots because I like them even though they're a bit repetitive:
Its the medical helicopter at the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, around sunset. Don't actually remember if it was landing or taking off at this point.
All else fails I guess I could ring up State Farm and make sure their single item limit isn’t too low?
Could anyone recommend from experience a stamp (as in, rubber and ink pad, etc.) that works well on the plastic/glossy surfaces of printed photographs?
In an attempt to promote my website, I got the idea that I'd bring a portable photo printer to events, but sent directly from my camera, I can't actually insert any kind of watermark. The next best solution seems to be just to stamp a watermark in the corner with basic information, web address, etc., but it'd need to be a stamp that worked well on glossy paper. I suppose whatever I go with, I'd need it to be quick-drying.
Is it feasible to setup a backdrop or green screen? We might be able to get them to sit in a basket long enough in front of something to get some pictures. But I have no idea how any of that works. Does it require expensive software?
EDIT: or is there another photo option I'm missing? Zoom/MS Teams both have video camera background tech. Is there an easier way to take a picture and then slap a background in?
Beware of Adobe products; while you can pay monthly, the subscription is in something like 1 year increments if I'm remembering some of the complaints right. Read the agreement before signing on the dotted line (I personally avoid rental software).
And they didn't.
So he died.
I got the photo bundle, which is Photolemur, Aurora HDR, and Luminar AI. Luminar and Aurora may be able to most if what you need (I am not a proficient photo techsman).
The painting bundle comes with programs which might work, AfterShot Pro 3 among others.
$20 and $32 to get all of each bundle, respectively.
https://www.humblebundle.com/software/photo-editing-cyber-bundle-with-luminar-ai-software
https://www.humblebundle.com/software/anything-but-ordinary-painter-bundle-encore-software
Embedded image shows how to disable that permission for now. It impacts everything going into Adobe Cloud regardless of source.
This past weekend I dropped about $300 on a Canon EOS 60D frame and then Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS and Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lenses.
I'm astrophotography-curious so I also bought a T adapter to let me both eyepiece and prime mount on my Meade reflector telescope off Amazon although I'm not expecting too much from that for now. Although I have been looking at Openbuilds store and pricing out how much it would take to build a computerized barn door tracker and it doesn't seem unreasonable or an insane project.
Mostly I'm looking for now to do some good landscape stuff, maybe some wildlife, some technical / automotive stuff and then kiddo / doggo in addition to dabbling in space stuff.
I do have the below photo I took with my camera phone a year or two ago that I'm told is pretty good since I think people like those things? Hopefully I have more and better ones to go with it before too long.