Tell me what you think of this pic

CRK

CRK

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Cary, NC
I know there are a few people here that are into the photography thing so tell me what you think. I saw this guy at my house and decided to grab the digital camera and take a few shots.

For those that want to know its a 5 Lined Skink and I used a Sony CyberShot F717



click the pick for a bigger image
 
That snake has feet!!! That means evolution is happening at your house (read as, there is hope for you :D ) Don't think I have ever seen one of those before which makes the picture that much more interesting.

If it were me, I would have gone with a smaller aperture and gotten more depth of field. About an F5 or F6 would do the trick, looks like you are in the neighborhood of F2. The pink flowers are very important to the picture for two main reasons. First, they show scale of the critter. Second, they add a focal point and a great pop of color. With them blurred the way they are, they turn into more of a distraction.

What is that green thing over the tail?
 
That was on full auto, I was about 8ft away with full zoom. The green thing is the recycle bin. The skink was in an area about 4x8 inches, sunning himself. The skink was about 9 inches long and as big around as thumb.
 
im not sure what popo said :) i think he's saying what im thinking only with photo geek jargon...

my version, back up some, and to catch better focus on the flowers and the plastic pail.
 
CRK said:
That was on full auto, I was about 8ft away with full zoom. The green thing is the recycle bin. The skink was in an area about 4x8 inches, sunning himself. The skink was about 9 inches long and as big around as thumb.
Click to expand...

I don't think I've ever shot in full auto mode with my "real" camera. I can't recall, but if your 717 has a program shift mode, you could adjust the aperture setting and it will automatically lengthen the shutter speed right up until the exposure will begin to change. Beyond that, you would need to go into aperture priority or full manual mode. At full zoom you run into some difficulties with this because the shutter speed becomes slower out of the gate than with a wider angle.

If you do this kind of shooting often, you might consider getting a telephoto attachment that screws into the ring of your 58mm lens.

Que Yager's subtitles here ;). He has a pretty good camera geek--->wheeler geek dictionary.
 
my cube neighbor is a photo buff and my interprtation of what popo said would be...

On a high end auto type camera, half press the button when centered on the flower and then again on the pail then aim at the little guy and shoot, the camera should do the rest...
 
Auto? Half press? Let the camera do the work? Man, I like my manual shutter speed, manual aperture, manual focus ............. and no, I will NOT come into the 21st century.
 
yager said:
my cube neighbor is a photo buff and my interprtation of what popo said would be...

On a high end auto type camera, half press the button when centered on the flower and then again on the pail then aim at the little guy and shoot, the camera should do the rest...
Click to expand...

1 for 2 Yag, sorry. I was suggesting getting away from the auto mode and selecting some of the things yourself. Radio is right, manual is the way to go. It's just too easy to fool auto sometimes.

Funny thought, those that are searching the benefits of auto versus manual trannies will get this thread. that will really screw with them. :driver:
 
...well Radio will tell me to stick with my "ancient" pentax slr, but I am looking at a digital SLR and noticed the new Canon XT is priced "decent" at the moment. 8 megapixel....Canon lenses, $850ish... or the Nikon D70, is "only" 6.x megs for $150 cheaper....

I am looking for something to take REALLY high level quality pix...I am also thinking about just getting back into film...but processing charges really rack up and I "like" / look at most of my stuff online anyway?

Nice pic btw...I am not nearly the expert the others are...but the subject is "interesting" which is critical...saw a guy at lunchtime taking pics of "dew/rain soaked" flowers, light was perfet, slight mist, looked like a good idea/shoot to me!

Sam
 
Sammy, Both Gary D and I are using the Cannon 10D. "only" 3mp. Allows you to swap lenses, which for me was the major draw. I use a 28-105 for most everything then I also have a 100-400 zoom and a 2x converter. 90% of my Alaska shots on my site were shot with the 100-400IS lens. Most of the time I have it set to store on the medium setting, so it puts out 2048x1360 or 1.6 mp. I then have to size them all down to put them on the web. I've taken several shots taken at 2048x1360 to Wolf camera and had them print them up to 8x10 and they look as good as any film I ever shot with my Cannon F1. So I don't really see a need for anything more than 3mp or so. Food for thought.
 
...well, I want it to be good enough to submit to a magazine for printing ...doesn't that require 5+ meg? I know Kilby does professional shoots for mags, but haven't heard if he is using film or digital?

Sam
 
Food for thought...

High res cameras are worthless if their metering system isn't spot-on precise and their lenses aren't tack, i mean TACK sharp. With the anti-aliasing filters digital SLR's use, there's some post capture production you need to do to get the best image sharpness. A crappy lens will really limit that ability. And under exposing a digital image w/ most of the pro level SLRs will increase noise (grain) significantly, and as a result, lower reproduction quality.

You've also got to have a computer that can handle a huge image. For example, My D1x's shoot at (not the highest on the market) 5.3 megapixels, and I can get a 12 megabyte file out of the highest rez. You can imagine how large some of the 8+ mp cameras' images would be at a high setting. And if you're manipulating that in Photoshop... that's a LOT of scratch disk.
 
SHINTON said:
...well, I want it to be good enough to submit to a magazine for printing ...doesn't that require 5+ meg? I know Kilby does professional shoots for mags, but haven't heard if he is using film or digital?

Sam
Click to expand...


All the pix in that last Four Wheeler piece were from my Nikon D1x. But I shoot some mag. stuff w/ film still. Affordable scan quality of film is so hit & miss, I'd be content to just shoot 100% digital since it's gotta go digital to be printed in a magazine anyway.
 
Very interesting discussion here. I will whole heartedly agree that the lens is what makes the picture. The MP are kind of a secondary concern depending on what you are wanting to do with the camera

I am happy with my setup being a Sony F828 with 8MP renderings and a Carl Zeiss lens. Makes very nice pictures for sure. There are multiple metering modes to ensure you get the right exposure plus a full on manual mode along with aperture priority and shutter priority settings. You can also shoot at lower resolutions depending on your needs.

Kilby, how did you get into magazine photography? That is something I have thought about from time to time for a little extra cash.
 
Here's a link to my pending website redesign... not complete yet, but it explains what started it all. http://visionphotos.com/new

Writing & shooting for magazines is a pretty tough biz to get into and stay with. Editors are fickle, and often overworked with a short attention span. Since most of them have photogs that they already know, it's hard to get their attention. So the new guy's work has to stand out in some way. I write and shoot, which gives me kind of a "total package" appeal. I spend a lot of time coming up with and submitting ideas for stories. You get a good enough idea going, and an editor is likely to take notice and want to use you to complete said story. I started with local type publications, got familiar with how the publication process works, and moved up from there. Since 1998 I've been employed in some type of publishing biz. I think it helps me being familiar with graphic design, page layout, photography, writing, and even running a press. Knowing all that is definitely not necessary for being a decent photographer though. My suggestion is to start with some of the local magazines and just send some stuff in and see what feedback you can get.

There are a bunch of outdoor and nature related mags in the southeast that accept freelance work, and some of them pay okay. Which brings me to the next point about the business side of photography that is consistently misunderstood by most amateurs, and consequently is making it very difficult to earn a living in the trade. But I guess that's another thread altogether.

Bottom line: I'm happy to help edit when you get to the submission point. I can provide some contact info if you want or answer any other questions...

Happy shootin'.
 
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