Photography

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You ready? You look ready.



New old lens. Not sharp at the edges, and it’s stupid loud at focusing (sync audio is a must) because it’s older tech but damn if it ain’t faster than no camera at all. Perfect for shoving in my pocket. And boy was it cheap. Poor man’s dream.




You ready? You look ready.


Not bad for a $60 lens.
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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza



My Darth Star is in for a service
Typical me, late to the party.
I've been taking photos off and on since 1981 when I bought a Praktica STL1000 with 50mm F1.8 for £50.
There are not enough hours in the day to list all the camera equipment I have owned but I do currently have a Nikon D5100.
Like most beginners I took shots of everything had them printed and was disappointed.
I joined the local photographic club and spent the first seson just looking at others work and taking in what the guest speakers were saying.
I met a photographer from the Magnum agency, whos name escapes me (he took a lot of pics of Barry Sheene), he sat with me while they looked at members pics during a break and he advised me to set the camera to auto and concentrate on composition because it is a waste of time getting exposure right if the image is rubbish.
Once you have mastered composition then get the hang of exposure.
Read up on the rule of thirds and lead in lines and try not to put the main subject in the centre.
Any questions feel free to ask and if I can answer I will be happy to help.

My Pexels page, as you can see I use photos to create artisitc images as well as standard photos. The camera is a tool for creativity don't be afraid to experiment and have fun.

https://www.pexels.com/@stewart/



My Darth Star is in for a service
The rule of thirds is meant to be broken.
I know but it a good place for beginners to start.




For those of you who might be wondering what the hell we are talking about.



You ready? You look ready.
Yeah, it's definitely good advice. I always tell people to abide by it unless they are trying to say something different with their photo. If you have nothing you are trying to say with the photo then the rule of thirds really is a must.

All of my favorite photos break the rule of thirds, tho. But yeah, the way eyes scan for information the rules of third really does make better photos. I prefer to format my photos with stuff on the right side and background info on the left. I feel like by the time you get to what I want you to see we have already had a conversation.

I just really want some better glass. I have never owned a really expensive lens and that's where like 95% of the magic happens.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
I know but it a good place for beginners to start.




For those of you who might be wondering what the hell we are talking about.
that's the same tactical display I see each morning while driving to work.
__________________
"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel

"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear



The rule of thirds is meant to be broken.
I always thought so Nice duck photos. I had one thought, all photos uploaded to MoFo and attached to a post are very compressed and use quality. I bet if you uploaded those photos to an image hosting site then posted a link the IQ would look much better. Still very nicely done! The ducks are sharp!



You ready? You look ready.
I always thought so Nice duck photos. I had one thought, all photos uploaded to MoFo and attached to a post are very compressed and use quality. I bet if you uploaded those photos to an image hosting site then posted a link the IQ would look much better. Still very nicely done! The ducks are sharp!
Yeah, it's just far more convenient to upload smaller versions here so they can be displayed inline.

But I threw them up on Google Photos HERE so you can see the originals. The ducks could be sharper but that's the nature of the glass I was shooting through. Still. Damn good considering I was like 50-75ft away. I mean, you can see the water beading on them! Technology is crazy, yo!

It should also be noted that I prefer to underexpose a lot of my work. I feel like it does a better job capturing what the eye actually sees. While I appreciate photos that have that POP effect in their colors and lighting I also low-key do not like them because when I see the subject in real life it disappoints.



Yeah, it's just far more convenient to upload smaller versions here so they can be displayed inline.

But I threw them up on Google Photos HERE so you can see the originals. The ducks could be sharper but that's the nature of the glass I was shooting through. Still. Damn good considering I was like 50-75ft away. I mean, you can see the water beading on them! Technology is crazy, yo!

It should also be noted that I prefer to underexpose a lot of my work. I feel like it does a better job capturing what the eye actually sees. While I appreciate photos that have that POP effect in their colors and lighting I also low-key do not like them because when I see the subject in real life it disappoints.
The photos you uploaded on Google Photos are a smaller file size than MoFo, which is strange...so I'm guessing that site compressed them too, unless you uploaded smaller ones. Anyway your photos look great! And nicely sharp, very impressive. I like your natural colors, I get so tired of florescence green grass and neon blue skies.

I have lots of blurry photos if anyone wants to see them



Typical me, late to the party.
I've been taking photos off and on since 1981 when I bought a Praktica STL1000 with 50mm F1.8 for £50.
There are not enough hours in the day to list all the camera equipment I have owned but I do currently have a Nikon D5100.
Like most beginners I took shots of everything had them printed and was disappointed.
I joined the local photographic club and spent the first seson just looking at others work and taking in what the guest speakers were saying.
I met a photographer from the Magnum agency, whos name escapes me (he took a lot of pics of Barry Sheene), he sat with me while they looked at members pics during a break and he advised me to set the camera to auto and concentrate on composition because it is a waste of time getting exposure right if the image is rubbish.
Once you have mastered composition then get the hang of exposure.
Read up on the rule of thirds and lead in lines and try not to put the main subject in the centre.
Any questions feel free to ask and if I can answer I will be happy to help.

My Pexels page, as you can see I use photos to create artisitc images as well as standard photos. The camera is a tool for creativity don't be afraid to experiment and have fun.

https://www.pexels.com/@stewart/
Just seeing your post...I checked out your photos on that link...damn! you're good! Very nicely done and some awesome subject matter.



You ready? You look ready.
@Citizen Rules: Are you looking at them from a phone? I don’t think it gives the option to zoom in when on a mobile.

I can try sharing from OneDrive if needed.



@Citizen Rules: Are you looking at them from a phone? I don’t think it gives the option to zoom in when on a mobile.

I can try sharing from OneDrive if needed.
I viewed them from a PC. I checked the file size and MoFo was like 400kb and Google Photo was like 130kb (that's from memory and not exact)...anyway not a complaint or anything at all like that...I had just noticed long ago that when I uploaded a large file size photo to MoFo, it was greatly reduced in quality and didn't look as good which bummed me out. But come to think of it, uploading small photos would be the best for IQ as then they won't get compressed like a real large photo would.



@Citizen Rules: Interesting. I don't use Google Photos so I am not familiar with how they handle stuff. I mainly use OneDrive, so here's a link to the folder with those images.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AhxlAqRf3_HPwSvf4YCKbc_hyGfd
It seems to depend on how I download the photo (to check for file size). If I use the download link on the site then it's big: 4.1mb on One Drive and 1.3mb on Google Photo. But when I use Firefox's context menu to download it's a small file size like 170kb to 500kb I wonder why? It must be Firefox?



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
I viewed them from a PC. I checked the file size and MoFo was like 400kb and Google Photo was like 130kb (that's from memory and not exact)...anyway not a complaint or anything at all like that...I had just noticed long ago that when I uploaded a large file size photo to MoFo, it was greatly reduced in quality and didn't look as good which bummed me out. But come to think of it, uploading small photos would be the best for IQ as then they won't get compressed like a real large photo would.
Can confirm (sorta)! I've resized my image pixel width to be small enough to fit the post width and applied my own sharpening to compensate the reduced sizing. Even then, there is some server-side image compression applying. Makes sense, I mean to reduce file size of us randoms throwing up image after image, but it will blur/soften, ever so slightly.

Also, not a complaint! Just sharing observations as a graphic nerd.



My Darth Star is in for a service
As I was taking the photos of those ducks I developed back stories for all of them.

That’s when you know you’re unfit for society.
Did you give them names?

Was one of them Donald?

I bet you called one Daffy.