Cameras & Photography

[ValerieB]

enjoying all these photos more than I can say! thank you, contributors! you've done really good, all of you! most of them are very professional-looking.

[Ron Thorne]

[ValerieB]

Coda is actually making me miss my home state!! fantastically gorgeous shots! of course, I knew it was Harvard before I saw the title!

[Ron Thorne]

[ValerieB]

photos knocking me out, Coda! happy to say that I walked those walkways in Plum Island, just last August!

[ValerieB]

the first picture is rather obscene, Coda, but I thoroughly applaud each and every one of your shots. and conveniently depict some of my favorite locations! thanks, muchly

[Ron Thorne]

Coda, I don't know what monitor you're using, but my Samsung 21" shows an abundance of color, contrast & detail on all of your shots ... always. You routinely punch up the saturation and contrast in post-processing, or at least it seems that way. The hibiscus did not suffer.

[bluenoter]

[Coda]

_________________________________________


I'm glad you are all enjoying these photos. The burger IS obscene, I have a close up but thought NSFW, best not to post it.

Color Spaces are a big part of digital photography. The internet has a specific color space that all images have to stay within. If the image has color that falls outside this 'sRGB' gamut, those pixels are clipped to the closest available color. The result is that smudge look you see on the flower. Unfortunately for all of us, this sRGB is the smallest of gamuts, and almost always less than what the camera is able to produce. The hardest part of digital photography (to me) is getting color correct.

To get color correct you need to display it in the same gamut as you're viewing the image. A good printer has a wider gamut than a good monitor. Most monitors are not 'wide gamut' monitors and stop displaying colors outside the sRGB space. The hibiscus is a good example of a picture that fits within a printers ability but is too much for the internet. It is so noticeable and material. PhotoPro RGB is much wider than sRGB, if you have a choice pick ProPhoto over Adobe over sRGB.

I render a lot of my pictures in 'unusual' color spaces. I add in a lot of split tones, I hope in a subtle way...a little warming here a bit of cooling there. I usually pull down the luminance in the sky, it darkens without saturating. I have a lot of gradient exposure adjustments too. Files are fixed for lens distortion and I straighten horizons and fix perspective. I do like adding clarity and vibrance but find that I use negative vibrance in a lot of images to tone down the extremes.

Most important is careful import and export sharpening. Export is most important of all as it should be specific to the final file size. Saving large and having services like Flickr downscale just turns nice pictures into crap.

The most important of all: Use good technique when taking the image. Tripod, manual, slow down...., compose the entire frame not just the subject. New cheap cameras of today make museum quality prints up to 17x22 inches, you're better off spending $$ on a quality monitor. It's that important.

I use a NEC PA241W with the SpectraSensor Pro calibration device.

[Ron Thorne]

Coda, I was speaking about your images in a very broad-brushed, simplistic manner. I realize that you care a great deal about your digital images and their many nuances, and certainly wasn't trying to challenge your knowledge or equipment.

Now, on another related subject, you should be pleased to learn that Justin has provided a new tool for us to utilize in sharing photos, graphics, etc. Larger image sizes should no longer be a problem with the addition of this new tool, . Of course, we'll still be subject to the limitations of the internet as you correctly pointed out.

[BFrank]

FYI - in case any of you are interested in vintage cameras, I'm spending my summer selling off a large antique camera collection that I inherited from my father. You can find my sales on ebay by doing an Advanced Search for seller, "bfrank3".

BTW, I'm not trying to push my sales, but just give you guys a heads up if you want to see some interesting collectables.

[Ron Thorne]

Thanks, Brooks. No problem with posting this here.

[Coda]

[Ron Thorne]

We're cool, Coda.

Now to post some larger-than-usual images.

[bluenoter]

[BFrank]

[jtx]

Uploading a shot from my spring break trip last spring to Japan. Very pleased with the rendering performance of the Sigma 30mm lens. The photo is a full 1170 pixels wide...

[jtx]

And one more from the previous summer in Chinatown, Kobe.

[Ron Thorne]

[ValerieB]

I want to see more pictures of Kai!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ron Thorne]

[ValerieB]

[bluenoter]

[BFrank]

Been spending some time liquidating most of my father's extensive camera collection through ebay. It's going to be my summer project.

Here is a sample of some that I'm keeping!

[Ron Thorne]

Man, that's a very nice collection, Brooks. I'm very envious.