Fun Pictures with Sony . . . .

[dhsimmonds]

Some more springtime shots with the a900. First one is with the Zeiss 16-35 and the other two with the 100mm F2.8 macro.

 

[edwardkaraa]

2 shots from today with the 100 macro 1/60 f/16 slightly sharpened for the web



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[jonoslack]

A couple of monochromes:

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Cool portrait, Jono. Looks like something from a western movie. The title of the second one just has to be "Escape"

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Your jewelry shots are really good, Edward. I think I have something to learn there.

 

[edwardkaraa]

Thank you Jorgen Just normal product shots with high key lighting, nothing special but it's the jewelry that is fantastic.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Thank you Jorgen Just normal product shots with high key lighting, nothing special but it's the jewelry that is fantastic.

Nah... don't be modest. Good jewelry photography is only easy if you know what you're doing, and most people don't. Have you ever been to the jewelry fair? There's enough bad photography there for a lifetime and then some.

 

[edwardkaraa]

I see what you mean Jorgen

Believe it or not most jewelers are cheap people and they will not pay good photographers to do their photography. Most companies hire kids to do the photos in house with P&S cameras.

Luckily I don't rely on photography for my living, otherwise I would starve

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I see what you mean Jorgen

Believe it or not most jewelers are cheap people and they will not pay good photographers to do their photography. Most companies hire kids to do the photos in house with P&S cameras.

Luckily I don't rely on photography for my living, otherwise I would starve

I believe you... just two portions of Mama left :ROTFL:

 

[woodyspedden]

A couple of monochromes:

Jono

Wonderfully clever composition. The con trails from the jet form the stem of the flower whose head of course is the cloud. You have a marvelous eye

Best

Woody

 

[Diane B]

I was curious about the horse chestnut/buckeye thing and so looked it up--sure enough, they are basically the same.

Ah, now I do see its a bicycle seat, but who cares--its just a beautiful interesting object the way you chose to photograph it.

I liked all 4 of these (again--nice lens/FL it seems--good pot lid LOL)--but esp. these 2.

I really do like very much the new monos.

Diane

Thank you Diane - the respect is absolutely mutual.
The saddle is actually Emma's old bicycle, which is mouldering behind the office in the garden. The leaves are Horse Chestnut - but maybe that's the same thing?

as for the 'good food, must be great pots quote . . . that's wonderful, I've not heard it before!:ROTFL::ROTFL:

On the other hand, the Sony really is a fine pot!

Here are a couple more with the 135 Zeiss.

Socks - hung out to dry

Bread bins (with dog food)

 

[edwardkaraa]

I believe you... just two portions of Mama left :ROTFL:

:clap: Very good one :ROTFL:

 

[kuau]

Red Rock Crossing in Sedona AZ, 5 exposures I hope it doesn't look to HDR, still have some work to do on it. A900 CZ 16=35mm F10
Converted in DxO then merged in PhotoMatix. I know HDR poo poo. I looked at all 5exposures of this image and I can't get just one to look right.

 

[jonoslack]

Woody, Jorgen, Diane
Thanks for the kind words . . . Escape is definitely the title Jorgen, but like all those things, it's sad to pin something down when the joy of it is the ambiguity (don't you think?).

Kuau - your HDR is nicely done and it's a fine composition. . . but I still can't bring myself to like the look of it, however good it is.

I think there's always a problem with a 'generic' solution to this kind of thing. Seems to me that it works better if you blend the layers yourself rather than letting software do it for you . . . but that's just me.

Splendid Jewellery shots Edward

 

[edwardkaraa]

Red Rock Crossing in Sedona AZ, 5 exposures I hope it doesn't look to HDR, still have some work to do on it. A900 CZ 16=35mm F10
Converted in DxO then merged in PhotoMatix. I know HDR poo poo. I looked at all 5exposures of this image and I can't get just one to look right.

Of course there are different tastes as there are photographers, but as far as I'm concerned, having worked with chrome film for 2 decades, I love contrast, and I always avoid HDR-like stunts. I'm not sure if it would work with this particular shot, but I would try a completely different approach with Velvia like contrast and saturation. Who knows

 

[edwardkaraa]

Splendid Jewellery shots Edward

Thank you so much Jono.

Here are a few shots of a 1 carat diamond that I have just bought for a client.

100 macro as usual at 1:1 (and APS-C crop as the magnification was not sufficient). I tried some shots with extension tubes added but didn't like the sharpness.

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[kuau]

Of course there are different tastes as there are photographers, but as far as I'm concerned, having worked with chrome film for 2 decades, I love contrast, and I always avoid HDR-like stunts. I'm not sure if it would work with this particular shot, but I would try a completely different approach with Velvia like contrast and saturation. Who knows

Thanks Edward and Jono, I will go over my 5 exposures and see which one looks the best and see if in pp I can come up with something that looks half decent.
Red Rock Crossing is a very popular spot for phhotographers and the real "pros" shoot it 4x5 film of course. Not sure how to properly expose for this scene, it'' sunset so a decission has to be made what most important to me the mountains are. I will post a few more non-hdr

Steven

 

[jonoslack]

Thanks Edward and Jono, I will go over my 5 exposures and see which one looks the best and see if in pp I can come up with something that looks half decent.
Red Rock Crossing is a very popular spot for phhotographers and the real "pros" shoot it 4x5 film of course. Not sure how to properly expose for this scene, it'' sunset so a decission has to be made what most important to me the mountains are. I will post a few more non-hdr

Steven

HI Steven
I'm sorry if I sounded negative, I certainly didn't mean to be.

I've used the principles of HDR . . . but not the practice. The way I look at it is this:

If I've taken a picture where there's a fab sky, a bright mountain and a rather gloomy foreground, then I might want to do something with the foreground.

So - what I'd do is to either:
1. process the raw files twice with different exposures, one for the sky (probably underexposing it) and one for the foreground (overexposing it). If this wasn't going to work, then I'd
2. take a couple of exposures - one for the bright part, one for the dark (which is presumably what you've done).

Of course, 1 has the advantage of perfect registration, and I've usually found it good enough - especially as I don't usually have a tripod with me :ROTFL:

For the processing I would cut out the foreground from the overexposed version with a big feathering, then paste it into the underexposed shot, get the registration right and refine the edges using whatever tools turn you on (and changing the transparency).

The idea is that you aren't producing an 'HDR' image in the true sense of the word, but you are effectively doing a very accurate dodge and burn on the file. It means that you keep the zing and contrast in each area of the picture that Edward and I like so much.

Apologies if I'm trying to teach my grandmother to suck eggs . . . . (or even my grandchild!)

 

[jonoslack]

Here's an example
I'm at work, and it was the only one I could fish out at short notice:

You can see the point (I hope) that you have what . . if you think about it . . is a preposterous DR between the foreground and the cloudy evening sky, but I don't think it looks like an HDR production because the foreground and sky are themselves.


Hmm - sorry about the image . . . . it's a rock on an Island on the Scilly Isles, there are many tales of Giants around there, and we always used to imagine this as a huge granite giant, buried underground with only his . . . er . . . um . . . showing

 

[kuau]

Thanks Jono for your tip. I will give it a whirl. Yep for my image there are 3 areas, sky, forground, and moutains see If I can do a better job without the "HDR" look which I really don't like either. Ypur example you posted is quite nice