** A Picture I Took - 2009 **

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These two are funny.
 
Beautiful pictures guys!

A few diecast pictures I've taken in the past few months. The Mazda RX-8 pic was taken yesterday...

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Last but not least is Optimus Prime!

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Took these today, nothing super special, but not bad for "snapshots"

My niece and her first time with bubbles :)

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Canon Digital Rebel XTi, 50mm F/1.8. (1/3200, 50mm, F/1.8, ISO-100)

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Canon Digital Rebel XTi, 50mm F/1.8. (1/2000, 50mm, F/1.8, ISO-100)

Hmm looks like i over saturated the first one.
 
A couple favorites of the night:

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I hope this is better than the last set in terms of noise and stuff... whatcha think?
 
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A street light (obviously!)


My bird pics to rival Victor Chan's!


Some nice clouds from July 4th


Amateur night: Amateur fireworks photographed by an amateur photog.
 
Yeah those are great photographs. Awesome work Victor.

Any tips for the rest of us? I snapped a few quick bird pictures this weekend and they turned out like complete trash. :D
 
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First two were done while sitting around yesterday with my dad changing spark plugs
Second one was part of my walk around of downtown Chicago I did a few weeks ago.I haven't spent the time I need to process these images (they are all straight from the camera) but I felt like just slapping them up here.
 
Beautiful pictures guys!

A few diecast pictures I've taken in the past few months. The Mazda RX-8 pic was taken yesterday...

*snip*

Last but not least is Optimus Prime!

*snip*

I am going to need a blown up version of all those cars and Optimus for use as wallpaper, cause those are sick pics.
 
I need to edit a large size for the Mazda RX-8 wallpaper but here are a few:

Optimus Prime
http://fordgt.deviantart.com/art/We-Are-Here-We-Are-Waiting-126740992

Ford Shelby GT500
http://fordgt.deviantart.com/art/Ford-Shelby-GT500-Lightning-124744355

Dodge Challenger T/A
http://fordgt.deviantart.com/art/1970-Dodge-Challenger-TA-123191674

Nissan GT-R
http://fordgt.deviantart.com/art/Nissan-GT-R-Wallpaper-120938854

And I might as well post a few more pictures:D

HDR of a corn crib. I'm very new to HDR but I like the results so far.

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HDR of a clematis flower:

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Lawn Grass:

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Lily of the Valley:

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Yeah those are great photographs. Awesome work Victor.

Any tips for the rest of us? I snapped a few quick bird pictures this weekend and they turned out like complete trash. :D


Thanks. You have to understand the basic principle of freezing motion. You need the adequate shutter speed to stop motion, I say for birds about 300s to 400s the least and sufficient depth of field which is controlled by your aperture. If possible, shoot it at F8. If the shot is in focus, everything else around the bird should be in focus as well. I like to shoot under aperture priority mode, AV. I set the ISO high enough so that even at my smallest aperture, the larger the number, I can still shoot under 400s of shutter speed.

Once you have mastered the above, you have to work with the environment which is beyond your control. Never shoot with the sun facing you. It will create harsh shadow. Always have the sun behind your back. Try not to shoot during mid day. The sun is too harsh especially in Summer. During the Fall and Winter which is OK. Best time to shoot for the optimal sun light and bird activities is from sunrise to 9am. And from early evening to sunset. Birds are most active during those times. They need to feed themselves and to find food at those time. Usually, they are more braver and not really that afraid of people.

Finally, learn to get closer to the subject. The better you can frame the bird and fill it up in the viewfinder, the clear and more details your shot would be. This can be hard if you lack the focal length. If so, you need to get close by being stealthy. Using bushes to hid yourself while getting closer to the birds. Walk slow, very slow. No sudden movement. And find a spot with bird activities and just stay and crouch in that spot for some time. I say in between 15 minutes to 45 minutes. The birds would get use to you and, sometimes, they can get too close. Of course, have your camera settings ready and don't begin to fumble the setting when you need to get that shot.

Focus on the eyes as much as possible. Makes sure you capture the highlight in the eyes...the sparkles look in the eyes. That's very important to express the character of the subject. For composition, makes sure you have already visualize how you want the bird to be framed. Usually, get the shot when the bird is wide open perching on a branch without much in the way. You want your shot to convey the NATURAL environment where you capture the shot. Get down low and on the same level as the bird. Don't shoot the bird from above. Don't shoot it pointing up unless you are capture a bird in flight shot.

Of course, shooting in a dens vegetation or under an overcast sky, or under both situations, can create another huge challenge. That's when you need to use fill flash for bird photography.
 
I really enjoy those bird pics, victor. How do you get so much area of the screen focused like that? Multiple focus spots?

Thanks. Glad you like them. Nahhh....single focus. Just stop down, usually at F8, and makes sure the rest of the scene is on the same focus plane as the bird.
 
Thanks. You have to understand the basic principle of freezing motion. You need the adequate shutter speed to stop motion, I say for birds about 300s to 400s the least and sufficient depth of field which is controlled by your aperture. If possible, shoot it at F8. If the shot is in focus, everything else around the bird should be in focus as well. I like to shoot under aperture priority mode, AV. I set the ISO high enough so that even at my smallest aperture, the larger the number, I can still shoot under 400s of shutter speed.

Once you have mastered the above, you have to work with the environment which is beyond your control. Never shoot with the sun facing you. It will create harsh shadow. Always have the sun behind your back. Try not to shoot during mid day. The sun is too harsh especially in Summer. During the Fall and Winter which is OK. Best time to shoot for the optimal sun light and bird activities is from sunrise to 9am. And from early evening to sunset. Birds are most active during those times. They need to feed themselves and to find food at those time. Usually, they are more braver and not really that afraid of people.

Finally, learn to get closer to the subject. The better you can frame the bird and fill it up in the viewfinder, the clear and more details your shot would be. This can be hard if you lack the focal length. If so, you need to get close by being stealthy. Using bushes to hid yourself while getting closer to the birds. Walk slow, very slow. No sudden movement. And find a spot with bird activities and just stay and crouch in that spot for some time. I say in between 15 minutes to 45 minutes. The birds would get use to you and, sometimes, they can get too close. Of course, have your camera settings ready and don't begin to fumble the setting when you need to get that shot.

Focus on the eyes as much as possible. Makes sure you capture the highlight in the eyes...the sparkles look in the eyes. That's very important to express the character of the subject. For composition, makes sure you have already visualize how you want the bird to be framed. Usually, get the shot when the bird is wide open perching on a branch without much in the way. You want your shot to convey the NATURAL environment where you capture the shot. Get down low and on the same level as the bird. Don't shoot the bird from above. Don't shoot it pointing up unless you are capture a bird in flight shot.

Of course, shooting in a dens vegetation or under an overcast sky, or under both situations, can create another huge challenge. That's when you need to use fill flash for bird photography.

Don't forget to talk about how they'd need a telephoto lens, as well :p
 
Don't forget to talk about how they'd need a telephoto lens, as well :p

I believe 400mm is the starting point. For Canon, you have 300L F4 IS + 1.4x converter. 100-400L, 400L F5.6. You got money, I mean a lot of money, the 500L F4 IS, 600L F4 IS, and 800L F4 IS. Sigma produces some decent super telephoto lenses at an affordable price. Their 500mm zoom lens OS series. They can be had for under $1000. You don't need long lens if you have a backyard and setup couple of bird feeders which are squirrel proof. That can create another problem. You have to constantly fill up the feeders because the resident birds would rely on the feeders for food source. Otherwise, in the wide open in the parks and nature preservse, long lens is a must. Remember to use insect repellent.
 
I believe 400mm is the starting point. For Canon, you have 300L F4 IS + 1.4x converter. 100-400L, 400L F5.6. You got money, I mean a lot of money, the 500L F4 IS, 600L F4 IS, and 800L F4 IS. Sigma produces some decent super telephoto lenses at an affordable price. Their 500mm zoom lens OS series. They can be had for under $1000. You don't need long lens if you have a backyard and setup couple of bird feeders which are squirrel proof. That can create another problem. You have to constantly fill up the feeders because the resident birds would rely on the feeders for food source. Otherwise, in the wide open in the parks and nature preservse, long lens is a must. Remember to use insect repellent.


Nice info dude... You and PS-Rage should write some basic tutorials for us here :D

You're in NYC, correct? Where do you go to shoot most of these birds? I recall you said previously something about Jamaica bay, but me being from brooklyn I can honestly say that i'm amazed we have such a wide variety of birds out here!
 
Nice info dude... You and PS-Rage should write some basic tutorials for us here :D

You're in NYC, correct? Where do you go to shoot most of these birds? I recall you said previously something about Jamaica bay, but me being from brooklyn I can honestly say that i'm amazed we have such a wide variety of birds out here!


You have to head out to the outer Brooklyn for some interest subjects. Here is a link that tells you the local NYC hot spots.

http://www.brooklynbirdclub.org/jamaica.htm

I generally like Prospect Park but weekends are bad for bird photography. Too many people. The Jamaica Bay Wild Life Refuge has 2 Osprey nests. You get a lot of shore birds there. You have to get on the beach area to get the shots. Beware of the park rangers. They don't like people walking off the trail. While bird watchers are contended looking at birds on the side line, we bird photographers tend to get into the action. To be with the nature. :)

Also, the far northern part of Central Park seems to be a good location for bird photography, although I haven't gone there.
 
Nice info dude... You and PS-Rage should write some basic tutorials for us here :D

You're in NYC, correct? Where do you go to shoot most of these birds? I recall you said previously something about Jamaica bay, but me being from brooklyn I can honestly say that i'm amazed we have such a wide variety of birds out here!

Actually, I'm leaving for vacation next week - 21 days in the woods. One of the things I plan to do during the days is write an article on photomacography for the photo club I am a member of. I'll post it here as well
 
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Finally got in the mood to do some post processing to a few of my pix (I believe sometimes you got to be in the mood to set the mood). Sorry about all the self portraits I don't have any other subject (well my girlfriend wont let me post her pictures publicly and I don't post my cousins/niece and nephew cause I don't like posting pictures of kids)other then my ugly mug but I find the shots to be good. Anyway the raccoons were a bastard to shoot cause it was almost night and Rebel Xt just doesn't look good above ISO 400. I had only a 50mm 1.8f lens with me so I at least had a lens that could keep me going at this late hour but I couldn't zoom so I only got like 3 good shots of these animals who nest in the ceiling of the abandoned house next door to my dad. Also I believe there were no decals on the emblem so that is why the ornament seems to dark.
 
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a little something i've been screwing around with these past few days:

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also, a "work in progress" pano shot. or more precisely, 84 shots stitched together for a total of +650megapixels. unfortunately, PTGui, doesn't like to work with files this size and currently the pano is "only" 120megapixel in size, however the final size is still up in the air, because as you can see, the sky still needs some work:

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colors and exposure will be done after i'm done fixing it up... i hope :eek:
 
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Nice really really wide pano.. I think i saw that pic in the front page a few weeks ago.. Good stuff.. and saw girl in undies..
 
I've had this set uploading since midnight...probably won't be done until the end of today.

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Johnny, nice looking photos... which actions did you use?
Totally Rad?

flickr?

Also, how does smugmug work when people buy photos? How much do you get? Charge? Any help would be awesome as we're wondering if we should just package the deal and we give them the digital negs or charge them per photo.

Here's our website http://www.starrphotographs.com We're going to be adding a client proofing section soon. Also, do you use a local printer or somewhere else?
 
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Snowknight26:
That panorama looks like its going to be NICE dude. Keep working at it. I really like it!

stop!theradio:
Really dig your stuff man, nice as usual!

psychoace:
You need to REALLY work on your compositions. Dont just shoot everything and anything, sit back and look at things for awhile and visualize your shots. Honestly, to me it looks like you're forcing all of your photographs.
One last thing I noticed, you cut off your subjects in a lot of photos(not the self portraits, im sure thats implied ;-)) but for example the whole shot of the car. Keep at it though.
 
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