Hints - tips - equipment

[Chewyhairball]

Ive not seen many threads talking about equipment and techniques so may as well start one.

Do people on here have a favourite thing to photograph?
Is there something you would like to be able to do but not sure how?
Is thier a piece of equipment you couldnt live without now?

Thats just a few questions to get us started...:D

[Chewyhairball]

cool thread chewy!

thanks!

why are youtalking to yourself??..:roll:

I love to photograph dogs, especially action shots. I have not tried studio portraits yet for no other reason than i just prefer to see them in a more natural setting, thats just a personal preference.
I also love any kind of macro photography, the viens on a leaf or a drop of water can be so interesting.

Apart from my camera i dont really have a lot of equipment...i have a uv filter mainly to protect my lens from scrathches and a polarising filter.
If you want to instantly improve your landscape shots then get a polarising filter as they really bring out the colours, you can also see whats under the surface of water as they cut down glare and reflection.

Ive only had my camera for 6 months so im no expert so would be interesting to see what tips other people have. :D

[cazmanian_minx]

I'll join in!

I love taking wildlife photos - animals, birds, insects, whatever. I'm also developing a slightly unhealthy obsession with sheep portraits...

I'd love to get to grips with Photoshop a little bit more and really must get a copy of Elements again. At the moment I use Adobe Lightroom which suits my workflow and means I don't have to think about much more than crop, straighten, white balance, print (or, more often these days, upload!) I'm starting to get a bit more experimental with my sliders, but I really do need to sit down with the book I bought last year and learn it properly.

Two pieces of equipment I couldn't live without - a good pair of walking boots and Ordnance Survey LandRanger maps. Oh, and the satellite view on Google Maps which is incredibly handy for helping to decide whether a 12-mile walk into the hills to look at something is going to be worth it or not!

[stroma88]

hehe
hope im not interupting your coversation with youself... :Razz

my first half decent camera was a canon powershot which at the time was brill for me cause it could do everything! i started borrowing my boyfriends 350D canon so over the past year ive figured out how to work it all and now its pretty much mine! (he never used it anyway!)

being a poor student though (boo hoo) i havent managed to get hold of any other lenses. i would really like one similar to the standard one that came with the canon but better! i know how much difference a good lens will make.
recently bought an om20 with a couple of lenses from ebay. i got an old school flash gun with it which fits on my canon. this makes such a difference compared to the built in flash. i take photos of my boyfriends band when they play gigs and that flash has improved my photos sooooo much so im loving that!

i looove macro shots too and would love a macro lens to get super close to things.
i think my fave thing to photograph at the moment is squirrels! theres so many of them at the botanics and theyre so much fun!

i would really like to try some fashion/portrait etc shots some time. i modeled for a friend once who was getting help from john baikie and it was so much fun, be good to get on the otherside of the camera.

im also trying to work photoshop right now, can do the basics but would love to do all the crazy stuff. some of the photos on here are brilliant!


i think ive said enough now!

[Chewyhairball]

I'll join in!

I love taking wildlife photos - animals, birds, insects, whatever. I'm also developing a slightly unhealthy obsession with sheep portraits...

I'd love to get to grips with Photoshop a little bit more and really must get a copy of Elements again. At the moment I use Adobe Lightroom which suits my workflow and means I don't have to think about much more than crop, straighten, white balance, print (or, more often these days, upload!) I'm starting to get a bit more experimental with my sliders, but I really do need to sit down with the book I bought last year and learn it properly.

Two pieces of equipment I couldn't live without - a good pair of walking boots and Ordnance Survey LandRanger maps. Oh, and the satellite view on Google Maps which is incredibly handy for helping to decide whether a 12-mile walk into the hills to look at something is going to be worth it or not!

haha...i can relate to that..have you seen a sitting sheep? its the funniest thing ever. Now everyone reading this and thinking what am i on about, wait until you have seen your first sitting sheep. You will become obsessed about it and always be on the lookout for them..lol
forget train spotting...this is the next big thing.
I have not managed to get any pics of any yet as it seems a rare event but i had thought of making a website so people from all over the world could post pictures of sitting sheep..
Im starting to sound a little crazy now...but trust me, once you have seen your first one you will be on here telling everyone...

[Chewyhairball]

hehe
hope im not interupting your coversation with youself... :Razz

my first half decent camera was a canon powershot which at the time was brill for me cause it could do everything! i started borrowing my boyfriends 350D canon so over the past year ive figured out how to work it all and now its pretty much mine! (he never used it anyway!)

being a poor student though (boo hoo) i havent managed to get hold of any other lenses. i would really like one similar to the standard one that came with the canon but better! i know how much difference a good lens will make.
recently bought an om20 with a couple of lenses from ebay. i got an old school flash gun with it which fits on my canon. this makes such a difference compared to the built in flash. i take photos of my boyfriends band when they play gigs and that flash has improved my photos sooooo much so im loving that!

i looove macro shots too and would love a macro lens to get super close to things.
i think my fave thing to photograph at the moment is squirrels! theres so many of them at the botanics and theyre so much fun!

i would really like to try some fashion/portrait etc shots some time. i modeled for a friend once who was getting help from john baikie and it was so much fun, be good to get on the otherside of the camera.

im also trying to work photoshop right now, can do the basics but would love to do all the crazy stuff. some of the photos on here are brilliant!


i think ive said enough now!

is that like a handheld flash you can hold in different positions?

[stroma88]

is that like a handheld flash you can hold in different positions?

nope its just one you stick on the top of the camera. its very old school got turny wheels instead of buttons for the settings, its a bit confusing but it works well. point it up and the light bounces off the ceiling which gives a softer light than a direct flash to the face!

i really want to see a sitting sheep!

[Chewyhairball]

ah cool! i just avoid using the flash at all costs and turn up the ISO... id rather have a bit of noise than a flat picture...i should maybe experiment with bouncing etc...am to lazy though..

just wait until you see one...lol:D...bum on the ground and two front legs holding itself up, just looking around...

[cazmanian_minx]

just wait until you see one...lol:D...bum on the ground and two front legs holding itself up, just looking around...

My pigs do that - I must try and get a picture of it some time!

[dafi]

All of my photos are taken with a small compact, at the moment I am using a Cannon A590.

It was taking pictures of birds when I started bird watching that has developed my interest in photography. To this end I have been taken down the didgiscoping route.

Digiscoping is basically taking pictures through a spotting scope. The spotting scope acts as an extra super zoom lens extension. Using this method you can indulge in telephoto images for a fraction of the cost of owning a DSLR and huge lens. There are some drawbacks involved but if you want to take pictures of your garden birds on your feeders you could be up and running with the most basic camera and scope for under a hundred quid, which cant be bad!!

Its not easy to align the camera and scope and it’s a skill that’s needs to be developed with practice. Once you start to get it sussed it can be a very satisfying photography technique. One of the most basic rules is the closer the better!!

I use the same camera for every thing. I find the narrow field of view a bit of a pain with compacts and to this end I have been using a free panorama program that I found on google. I like this because you can stitch together two, three or four photos to give a nice view of a landscape or some other feature.

I have photoshop but I hardly use it, I might use curves or the contrast control, the unsharp mask and reducing the size of the shot for the net but that’s about it with ps.

[annthracks]

Ive not seen many threads talking about equipment and techniques so may as well start one.

Do people on here have a favourite thing to photograph?
Is there something you would like to be able to do but not sure how?
Is thier a piece of equipment you couldnt live without now?

Thats just a few questions to get us started...:D

Personally I'm into wildlife, landscapes (includes sea and skyscapes) and macro.
Not really.
Piece of equipment I couldn't live without? my heart :-)

Look at the best gear you can afford and get the next up!
Don't spend your life on Auto!!
Take a camera wherever you go (unless not allowed:D)
Buy a good book on photographic techniques...
...AND READ IT!
If available, join a local club.

:)

[Chewyhairball]

i have to admit i take my camera everywhere now but i dont leave it in the car...id be gutted if i nipped into Tescos and came back out to find it gone...:(..so its a permanent fixture round my neck when shopping..:roll:

[North Light]

As something of an obsessive photographer I couldn't resist answering this!

Do people on here have a favourite thing to photograph? - Landscapes, particularly the coast.

Is there something you would like to be able to do but not sure how? - Take photographs of people, I hate being photographed and hence feel really uncomfortable about photographing other people.

Is thier a piece of equipment you couldnt live without now? - A camera.

Don't get hung-up on equipment - you can take great photographs with any camera, some specialist subjects such as sports photography, wildlife photography really need long and fast lenses, but it still doesn't mean you can't get good photographs with a compact camera, you might just have to be a bit more creative!

Learning and improving your photography - There are some excellent books and websites on photography, joining your local camera club is also an good suggestion.

But here are my main pointers - Go to as many photographic exhibitions as you can and the most important one. Take lots of photographs, learn by your mistakes, and remember you never stop learning!

[dragonfly]

missed this earlier

I am still on the learning curve but feel that I have progressed along it in the last 12 months, still loads to learn tho and taking a photography course to help with the bits I probably don't need to know but want to know

Do people on here have a favourite thing to photograph? with me its sun and sea for landscapes and of course dogs as they are what got me into photography in the first place

Is there something you would like to be able to do but not sure how? lots! still don't know how to read a histogram and meter a photograph properly, its trial and error with the settings until I get something not too bright or too dark

Is thier a piece of equipment you couldnt live without now? camera, wide angle lens and zoom lens