*OFFICIAL* Snapshot of the Day (one image per post please) #1

[TL]

BMW B&W by GQjai, on Flickr

[E90Mario]

Summit of South Mountain in Phoenix..

[BillLee]

been doing portraits lately, still don't like it.

[AllydNYC]

Originally Posted by MARIO K

Summit of South Mountain in Phoenix..

Why doesn't this happen when I'm there! Great shot!

Edit:
Fantastic shot!

[E90Mario]

Originally Posted by AllydNYC

Why doesn't this happen when I'm there! Great shot!

Edit:
Fantastic shot!

Well if it makes you feel better that was the first time I had seen something like that on south mountain too

Thanks man!

[remmib]

Originally Posted by TL

BMW B&W by GQjai, on Flickr

Great pic, but the distorted pole on the right draws too much attention to itself.

[UdubBadger]

nice shots TL, Mario and BILLLLLY BOYYYYYY (little hot on the face though)

[TL]

Originally Posted by remmib

Great pic, but the distorted pole on the right draws too much attention to itself.

thanks, i tired that with DxO but it didn't worked too well, I'm going to have to crop it out and then try to remove the person in background too.

Originally Posted by UdubBadger

nice shots TL, Mario and BILLLLLY BOYYYYYY (little hot on the face though)

thanks

[TL]

re-edited

[E90Mario]

Originally Posted by UdubBadger

nice shots TL, Mario and BILLLLLY BOYYYYYY (little hot on the face though)

Thank you!

[rodi]

Originally Posted by BillLee

been doing portraits lately, still don't like it.

Hey Bill, you might not like it because it's a little flat looking. And that's because of your placement of the artificial light and the power of it. Try experimenting with lower power amounts and different placement.

[BillLee]

Originally Posted by rodi

Hey Bill, you might not like it because it's a little flat looking. And that's because of your placement of the artificial light and the power of it. Try experimenting with lower power amounts and different placement.

thanks, wouldn't moving the light over cause harsh shadows?

[UdubBadger]

harsh, not necessarily. you want some shadowing for dynamic lighting unless youre just using it for fill. either way i think pulling back is the way to go. 8-12 ft for 50ws is usually where I go

[oneintheory]

that's a decent amount of distance...i usually set lights no MORE than 8ft from my subjects. i like it soooooft though.

[M_Six]

I love life in corn country. Got a bunch of yard waste you don't want? Just dump it in a big pile and light it on fire and go home. Don't worry about the 30MPH wind.

[The1]

Originally Posted by TL

Happy Holidays


Santa Speedo Run 2011 by GQjai, on Flickr

more of these??? Guess i could check your flickr...

[UdubBadger]

I wanted to say something about this topic...

Originally Posted by rodi

if a photograph relies on sharpness to be a difference, then it wasn't going anywhere anyway.

Originally Posted by oneintheory

you're right, and i suppose a photographer should rely on a single 'different' technique rather than actual substantive skill to make his shots stand out from the rest, too.

my take/point on all of this is:

Unless you have a PURPOSE for the effect, everything in the photo should be in focus. If you have just a person, you might only need f2.8 to get them in focus. However if you're shooting several things near/far in distance to the camera, you need to expand that DOF to get it all in focus. It's a lot harder and takes WAY more photographic knowledge/skill to produce a quality photo of everything in focus in the scene than it is to just use a shallow DOF and call it "artistic" just because.

Nothing wrong with Bokeh/Shallow DOF shots if there is a purpose to it, and many times there is. But shooting wide open cuz it makes your exposure in a controlled light setting such as a studio is just a cop out for not knowing your craft well enough IMO.

[Seminole]

This outdoor rotunda of a client I was working at in Pittsburgh. I took it with my iPhone 4s.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Seminole

This outdoor rotunda of a client I was working at in Pittsburgh. I took it with my iPhone 4s.

Reminds me of my iPhone 4s shot of the Grand Canyon:


iPhone Shot by dcstep, on Flickr

I use the Camera+ app and processed it in the phone with added "Clarify" and the "Red", pulled way, way down. There's a texture to the image that says iPhone, but it's still quite presentable.

Dave

[The1]

I find Iphone pictures look flat and oversharpened digitally.

not my cup of tea, but both great pictures considering the device.

I'm wondering if what i see is editing done on a jpeg making things appear that as opposed to RAW?

[UdubBadger]

probably similar to shadow/highlight function on photoshop

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by The1

I find Iphone pictures look flat and oversharpened digitally.

not my cup of tea, but both great pictures considering the device.

I'm wondering if what i see is editing done on a jpeg making things appear that as opposed to RAW?

I haven't tried to process the camera's jpeg in DxO Optics Pro, like I do with all my "real" shots. I suppose it'd be interesting to see how that works. My original jpeg was lost when I processed it in the phone and then saved it. I'll have to do a future test. As I recall, the GC looked very flat before I processed it. It might have had higher potential if it were adjusted in a robust software, like DxO, PS or LR.

In my Grand Canyon picture, the blue snow really bugs me. That's something that I would have quickly fixed in DxO, but didn't know what to do in my phone.

The Camera+ adjusters are pretty heavy handed at their default setting, but sliders allow you to really tone them down.

My objective when I took that shot was to send something to my daughters in almost real time. It really worked in that case. I'll need to experiment with taking "serious" images with it, like this one that I took about the same time with the 5D MkII, on the tripod with the remote release, etc.:

Sunrise with fog in the Grand Canyon by dcstep, on Flickr

Dave