Just swanning around..

Hi all,

a few things, so you may want to grab a cuppa..

Firstly, the theme last week seemed to revolve around closeups of a pencil tip, and this week it's looking like British waterbirds.. so I thought I'd go to my local lake yesterday.. Dinton Pastures; near Reading in Berkshire. I took a couple of hundred photos and this one seemd to be one of the better ones, although, for once I only had a dozen or so complete failures..




1/90th sec @ f9.5 ISO 400; Pentax SMC-A 100-300mm @ 155mm (232mm Equiv) saved as *.JPG




1/90th sec @ f9.5 ISO 400; Pentax SMC-A 100-300mm @ 155mm (232mm Equiv) saved as *.PNG

A few things as I mentioned. You'll notice that I've posted it as both a JPG and a PNG, as there was some discussion about which was better for web presentation. I prefer, and have always used PNG.. rightly or wrongly, and at 600x400 I think that the PNG version packs a little more punch, but it could be just me wanting it to be that way. If I knew I was catering to largely a dialup audience for a website though, then I 'd certainly consider JPGs due to the smaller file size, around an 1/8th in this case.

The next thing I thought about was themes, as mentioned above. Perhaps Matt or John, as the governers; could nominate a theme each week, taking into account the demographics of the board (I think finding a black cab in Manitoba could be difficult ) that whoever chooses to can go out and photograph, and present to the board for advice critique etc.

The experts, of which there are many here can give us snappers a few tips on how to improve the shot, processing (both wet and digital) and any other tips that could make us into better photographers..

It's what is done anyway, but this way would possibly organise it in a more formal manner..

Just a thought or three..

Cheers

Liam

Your image needed a bit of a lift, Liam.
It was a tad underexposed




Regarding gallery postings, the sister site www.ephotozine.com is more geared up for submissions and the like. If you haven't visited, it's well worth a look!

Matt

Hi Matt,

that's better..

The theme thing was really just an idea as this group tends to be a small and friendly gathering of like minded Pentax enthusiasts. Keeping it in-house, seemed to be a natural way to go.

I'll check out the link after Casualty..

Still never mind..

Cheers

Liam

Well, the theme thing is a reasonable idea
As you say, the image size would have to be kept fairly small - some of the threads currently take an age to load even on broadband
Matt

Matt was correct in that the image needed a bit of extra lift. I tend to prefer not to have to do much post-processing of images and I'd have been tempted to have used just a touch of flash particularily to light up the eye.

Hi niblue,

Hence the . I did try to lighten it up a bit, but it then looked too washed out. Matt kept the contrast level up and it works.. of course. I'm still playing with post processing.

I'll try that.. to be honest, it never occurred to me to use flash. A point in favour of the expert intervention for the theme idea..

Seriously though, that's exactly the sort of input that I feel certain would be provided by those in the know. I'm a long time photographer [sic] but not a particularly successful one. Of course some of you earn your living with this, so I wouldn't necessarily expect every trade secret to be proffered to us happy snappers.. that's why you've put in the years of graft. I do know though that with the same equipment provided in an identical setting, whereas I could (should) come away with a reasonable piccy that I'm happy(ish) with, the pro will produce an image that just jumps off the screen. There may be not that much difference in technique, but there is the bit that counts.

Matt,

regarding file size, if it was kept to say 600x400 *.jpg the images would be around the 50-80kb mark. That should keep the speed up, even for dialup.. in theory at least.

Cheers

Liam

LiamD I like your enthusiasm and willingness to share. You take some wonderfull shots, and like me, you take risks. That willingness face rejection is what seperates leaders from the pack. While I didn't graduate, I was still the guy that showed up at the prom with the prom queen. I wouldn't want to be the guy standing along the wall wishing...
my point?
Next time I'm sure your image will be better "post processing", and my advice would be this:
How many good, frame filling, close-up, tacksharp, images of waterfowl are there?
There needs to be something extra special about the light, or the animals behavior or situation, or moment, to raise the image to the next level.
case in point:
I saw an image a few weeks back that wowed me..
I've seen nice shark pics, and I've seen nice surffer pics, but I've never seen an image like the one of a surffer going into the barrel with the silohuett of a great white in the wave right behind him....

Yes but... there was a tad more detail in the swan's feathers in the "underexposed" version. All-white subjects like swans and snow are darned difficult to get get right. Nic pic Liam.

Hi Don,

Although I'm lapsing these days, I've been a member/moderator/manager/security expert/web design bod etc. on several tech forums over the years, as well as a few science boards. I'm one of those people that likes to let everyone else know what I know, helping them in the process.

That isn't as completely altruistic as it sounds, because I get to learn something new most times, by having to research the new problems.. and if nothing else, I get a few beers for sorting out friends' PCs in the process.

It's quite a refreshing change to come to a forum where, although I've loved all my previous memberships, I get to ask the questions rather than answer them. That said, if I know the answer I'll jump in anyway.. usually with a disclaimer about waiting for someone more knowledgable.

As far as facing rejection, I think that the only way to learn anything is to get your hands dirty, cock up, and find out why. There's only so much any book or website can teach you before you have to go out and take some pictures.

As I said in a previous post, I took 200 odd snaps yesterday.. enough for a gallery of maybe 20 on my site in the next day or so (I'll post a link as and when). I liked this one because of the blown out wings. I think(?) that this means he's top dog on the lake, and he stood out from the flat winged swans swimming nearby. I'll be over there again this weekend depending on the weather, and I'll see if I can improve on this chap if he's there.

Thanks for the help and nice comments everyone. Off for a beer now..

Cheers

Liam

Two of my favorite quotes both I got from my old maritials arts teacher:
a) Teaching is Learning.
B) (while holding a cocky student (me) in an arm bar/chokehold..) There's two things you can know for sure...I know everything that I ever taught you...and you''ll never know if I've taught you everything I know....