General Photography Questions Megathread v4 - Don't Listen to Any of These Freaks

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > General Photography Questions Megathread v4 - Don't Listen to Any of These Freaks

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luchadornado: Oct 7, 2004; A boombox is not a toy!

I got tired of browsing Flickr and not being able to easily see the tags, especially the focal length ones, so I whipped up a bookmarklet real quick that other people might find useful:

Just add a new bookmark in your browser, call it 'Flickr Bookmarklet' or whatever you want, and copy/paste the code below into the URL field. Edit the tagLine.style numbers to whatever looks best on your monitor.

code:

javascript:(function() {
var tagLine = document.createElement('div');
document.body.appendChild(tagLine);
tagLine.style.position = 'absolute';
tagLine.style.top = '69px';
tagLine.style.left = '20px';
tagLine.style.width = '330px';
tagLine.style['background-color'] = '#000';
tagLine.style['font-size'] = '12px';
tagLine.style.color = '#CCC';
tagLine.style.opacity = 0.5;
tagLine.style.zIndex = 10000;
setInterval(function() {
	var tags = document.querySelectorAll('li.tag');
	tagLine.innerHTML = '';
	Array.prototype.forEach.call(tags, function(tag) {
		var links = tag.querySelectorAll('a');
		if (links[1]) {
			var tagText = links[1].innerText;
			if (tagText.indexOf('mm') > 0) {
				tagText = '<strong>' + tagText + '</strong>';
			}
			tagLine.innerHTML = tagLine.innerHTML.length ? tagLine.innerHTML + ', ' + tagText : tagText;
		}
	});
}, 500);
})();

# ? Aug 12, 2015 03:56

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 23:18

huhu: Feb 24, 2006

Would anyone happen to know of a picture where there are three men bathing/swimming on the steps on the side of a river and each is in a different process of going into the water/in the water/getting out of the water? Between the three a triangle is formed. I found it once while searching and can't find it again. I thought I saw it on Eric Kim's blog but I can't find it again.

# ? Aug 16, 2015 21:36

Rot: Apr 18, 2005

huhu posted:

Would anyone happen to know of a picture where there are three men bathing/swimming on the steps on the side of a river and each is in a different process of going into the water/in the water/getting out of the water? Between the three a triangle is formed. I found it once while searching and can't find it again. I thought I saw it on Eric Kim's blog but I can't find it again.

This one?

Michael Freeman, "The Photographer's Mind", pg 86

Can't seem to find it via GIS

# ? Aug 17, 2015 04:03

huhu: Feb 24, 2006

Rot posted:

This one?

Michael Freeman, "The Photographer's Mind", pg 86

Can't seem to find it via GIS

Yeah that's it, thanks. It appears that they Photoshop'd the one guy out of the image I saw online which is a bit frustrating.

# ? Aug 17, 2015 04:17

Rot: Apr 18, 2005

huhu posted:

Yeah that's it, thanks. It appears that they Photoshop'd the one guy out of the image I saw online which is a bit frustrating.

In the caption under the three photos, Freeman explains that he took the guy out to see how the photo would look.

The altered version is the small one below the diagram.

# ? Aug 17, 2015 04:33

Radbot: Aug 12, 2009; Can't post for 3 years!

How does one overcome the fear of not shooting RAW and being able to "fix" everything in post and embrace the zen of using SOOC JPGs? (As you can tell, I recently acquired a Fuji)

# ? Aug 17, 2015 18:35

Star War Sex Parrot: Oct 2, 2003

Radbot posted:

How does one overcome the fear of not shooting RAW and being able to "fix" everything in post and embrace the zen of using SOOC JPGs? (As you can tell, I recently acquired a Fuji)

Shoot RAW+JPEG for a bit and maybe you'll find yourself just using the JPEGs enough to feel comfortable shooting that way all the time. I'm not endorsing one workflow over the other, I'm just saying that seems like a rational method to me.

# ? Aug 17, 2015 18:40

mes: Apr 28, 2006

Radbot posted:

How does one overcome the fear of not shooting RAW and being able to "fix" everything in post and embrace the zen of using SOOC JPGs? (As you can tell, I recently acquired a Fuji)

^^^ What he said. Shoot both and edit/export the RAW files to whatever you want, then compare what you exported to the JPGs straight out of camera and see how they compare. You might find that they mostly look the same so you can save yourself the same and just use the JPGs at that point or you might find that you prefer something else. Personally, I never shoot just JPG in camera since I don't find that I run into issues due to storage, but your needs could be different.

# ? Aug 18, 2015 03:49

red19fire: May 26, 2010

Radbot posted:

How does one overcome the fear of not shooting RAW and being able to "fix" everything in post and embrace the zen of using SOOC JPGs? (As you can tell, I recently acquired a Fuji)

I like to shoot jpegs for non-critical work, and raw for anything I think I might want to edit or treat more seriously later. Also you can shoot raws and edit them to jpegs in-camera later, too.

# ? Aug 18, 2015 04:30

alkanphel: Mar 24, 2004

Radbot posted:

How does one overcome the fear of not shooting RAW and being able to "fix" everything in post and embrace the zen of using SOOC JPGs? (As you can tell, I recently acquired a Fuji)

By setting up the Fuji so that the JPG editing matches how you would edit the RAWs. Some of my friends do that because they hate editing on their computer. They just want to shoot and share immediately.

# ? Aug 18, 2015 05:43

Radbot: Aug 12, 2009; Can't post for 3 years!

OK, JPG+RAW it is for now, at least. Good point on adjusting the JPG settings to more closely match what I'd ultimately edit my RAWs to look like.

On another note, I'm pretty excited to get my Colormunki Smile + DispcalGUI on. Finally, a color controlled workflow.

# ? Aug 18, 2015 23:20

8th-snype: Aug 28, 2005; My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012; Young Orc

My evereyday Fuji setup is currently RAW+F with the jpg set to a tweaked B&W. I started doing this after switching to CPO, I dug up a classic chrome ICC profile that I apply to the RAWs when I want a color version.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 02:43

Radbot: Aug 12, 2009; Can't post for 3 years!

8th-snype posted:

My evereyday Fuji setup is currently RAW+F with the jpg set to a tweaked B&W. I started doing this after switching to CPO, I dug up a classic chrome ICC profile that I apply to the RAWs when I want a color version.

Is that profile something you can share?

# ? Aug 19, 2015 16:52

Huxley: Oct 10, 2012; Grimey Drawer

I only started shooting RAW again when I worked out changing my camera model in exiftool to let me apply Classic Chrome in post.

Also, Classic Chrome is a VERY specialized simulation. After shooting with it for a few months, I end up using it about as frequently as I use Velvia. In a lot of ways it's sort of an anti-Velvia. If you know you're going to be shooting something very in-tune with its mood you can hit gold, but if you just leave your camera set to CC for an entire day you're going to wish you had a few shots back. I shoot a lot of kids and outdoors, and what CC does to blacks, blues, greens, and skintones sets a pretty awkward mood.

That said, there's no reason at all not to swap a bunch of RAW files over in exiftool and experiment for yourself.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 17:02

Radbot: Aug 12, 2009; Can't post for 3 years!

Huxley posted:

That said, there's no reason at all not to swap a bunch of RAW files over in exiftool and experiment for yourself.

Wh-wh-wha? I thought I was SOL with my X Pro-1 and CC, but if I just change the model to an XT-1, Silkypix will allow me to apply that profile?

# ? Aug 19, 2015 18:54

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

Hoping to get a bit of advice with regards to the possible taboo of image sharpness.

This is a post-Lightroom example of a picture I took at a street carnival recently. Generally happy with it, it's nothing out of the ordinary but generally pleasing to people who aren't critiquing on an artistic level at least.

26mm on a kit 18-55mm lens on a DX body, 1/400 with VR on and f7.1, ISO 200.

Regardless of the settings, and the 'well I probably should've turned VR off at that speed', I find a lot of my photos at 100% aren't 'tack sharp'. I was probably 5ft away from the girl in this pic, and my calculator says I should have 80cm of DOF at that focal length/aperture/distance.

Here's the 100% crop before edit (I tend to shoot underexposed in bright situations and watch my histograms so I'm not blowing things out)

I'd say it was in focus, but not super sharp. I follow the general rule of thumb and try to focus on the subjects eyes if possible, and I used back button focus on continuous for this and most shots.

I have a mixture of lenses from primes (35mm/50mm 1.8, 135mm 2.8 manual - so I don't think this is down to autofocus as I see similar results on that) and zooms, and I've tried to do some AF fine tuning to the best of my abilities on one or two of them. I find the result is pretty consistent regardless to what I'm shooting with, so I don't think it's an equipment issue unless it's my body.

I'd say I was a bit of a shaky shooter, so will try to prop myself when possible or use a tripod but obviously in shots like this that isn't possible. However, at 26mm, fairly closed aperture and 1/400s shutter I wouldn't have thought that was the 'issue'.

So, am I overthinking what a 100% crop should look like on a 24mp sensor even at low ISOs ? If so, I'll walk away, but if there's anything I'm missing or can improve on I'm all ears.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 19:28

HPL: Aug 28, 2002; Worst case scenario.

Are you going to be printing that photo on a billboard? If not, gently caress it. It's fine.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:02

Radbot: Aug 12, 2009; Can't post for 3 years!

Radbot posted:

Wh-wh-wha? I thought I was SOL with my X Pro-1 and CC, but if I just change the model to an XT-1, Silkypix will allow me to apply that profile?

~~On that note, has anyone successfully used ICC profiles meant for C1 in DxO?~~

Nevermind, forgot that DxO hates Fuji.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:28

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

HPL posted:

Are you going to be printing that photo on a billboard? If not, gently caress it. It's fine.

True, although I have done 8x10s that I've not been 100% about but that could just be the company I use. The only caution I have is if I need to do a significant crop on an image I guess.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 20:41

snappo: Jun 18, 2006

EL BROMANCE posted:

However, at 26mm, fairly closed aperture and 1/400s shutter I wouldn't have thought that was the 'issue'.

Notice that it's not an issue at all when looking at the wider shot. The farther you zoom into a scene, whether by optics or cropping, the more you'll see blur from camera shake. The one-over-focal-length shutter speed rule goes out the window when you crop or enlarge.

I imagine you're running into one or more of the following factors:

1. Your shutter speed is too slow to eliminate blur at the pixel-peeping level
2. You're seeing the limits of sharpness that your lens can resolve
3. Your camera is front or back focusing with all of your lenses

Test for #3 by getting down on your elbows and shooting a speck of lint on the carpet five feet in front of you, wide open. You'll be able to see the focal plane very easily, and whether it's in front of or behind the lint you focused on.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 21:03

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

Yeah I might do some more focus tests over a weekend and go through the entire set of lenses in AF and MF. I used a target and a ruler before and set my 35mm prime to -10 from memory, but I haven't given it a proper field test since.

At least there's no major problem, and the images are coming out sharp enough for most purposes. I don't own any particularly great glassware, I guess that 135mm 2.8 AI is probably the best made thing amongst it all.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 21:10

8th-snype: Aug 28, 2005; My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012; Young Orc

Radbot posted:

Is that profile something you can share?

B&W-Y with -1 NR, +1 highlight, +1 shadow, +1 sharp.

35mm F/1.4 on the the Xpro

# ? Aug 19, 2015 22:11

red19fire: May 26, 2010

I've seen high level photographers do that, too. Either Raw+jpeg or straight raw, with the jpeg set to b+w. Helps them to focus on composition and connection by removing color from the equation. The raw file holds the color information if they need it later in the process.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 22:24

Morkfang: Dec 9, 2009; I'm awesome.

EL BROMANCE posted:

Yeah I might do some more focus tests over a weekend and go through the entire set of lenses in AF and MF. I used a target and a ruler before and set my 35mm prime to -10 from memory, but I haven't given it a proper field test since.

At least there's no major problem, and the images are coming out sharp enough for most purposes. I don't own any particularly great glassware, I guess that 135mm 2.8 AI is probably the best made thing amongst it all.

If you shoot in RAW you might as well try opening the RAW file in Capture One first instead of Lightroom to see if it makes any difference for you. I just switched over to C1 for good because the images are objectively sharper and clearer when opened in C1.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 22:50

Huxley: Oct 10, 2012; Grimey Drawer

Radbot posted:

Wh-wh-wha? I thought I was SOL with my X Pro-1 and CC, but if I just change the model to an XT-1, Silkypix will allow me to apply that profile?

I don't know about Silkypix but Photoshop and Lightroom recognize the change and let you apply Classic Chrome that way. The process is a little tricky, but I finally got it down.

In windows you need the exiftool app on your desktop as well as a folder full of files you want to convert. This is the actual exiftool, not the version that built a UI, which I've never bothered to figure out. Then in command prompt go:

code:

C:\users\yourusername\desktop exiftool -model="X100T" foldername

It will change the EXIF metadata on just that line, then just import into Lightroom like normal. If you mess it up, LR just won't be able to read the RAWs (for instance, X10T) isn't a camera it recognizes, because you mistyped the camera name.

You could also set up a directory somewhere on whatever spot you're going to keep them rather than going through the step of doing the model swap on your desktop, but that's the the way I've found it easiest for me to work through them. The only important part is that the exiftool app and the destination folder are in the same directory.

# ? Aug 19, 2015 22:58

8th-snype: Aug 28, 2005; My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012; Young Orc

red19fire posted:

I've seen high level photographers do that, too. Either Raw+jpeg or straight raw, with the jpeg set to b+w. Helps them to focus on composition and connection by removing color from the equation. The raw file holds the color information if they need it later in the process.

CPO can do Fuji's in camera color to an acceptable level but so far noone touches the in camera B&W (not even VSCO imho).

# ? Aug 19, 2015 23:24

365 Nog Hogger: Jan 19, 2008; by Shine

If you ain't doin it all yourself in PS I don't even know what you're on about.

# ? Aug 20, 2015 00:24

8th-snype: Aug 28, 2005; My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012; Young Orc

365 Nog Hogger posted:

If you ain't doin it all yourself in PS I don't even know what you're on about.

I don't open PS for miniature format digital images :colbert:

# ? Aug 20, 2015 04:00

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

Caryna posted:

If you shoot in RAW you might as well try opening the RAW file in Capture One first instead of Lightroom to see if it makes any difference for you. I just switched over to C1 for good because the images are objectively sharper and clearer when opened in C1.

That's true, I've heard others say they get slightly different results... I might have to give it a whirl. Although I'm so ingrained in Lightroom (and pay for CC) that I kinda hope it doesn't help!

# ? Aug 20, 2015 11:19

Radbot: Aug 12, 2009; Can't post for 3 years!

8th-snype posted:

B&W-Y with -1 NR, +1 highlight, +1 shadow, +1 sharp.

35mm F/1.4 on the the Xpro

Thanks!

# ? Aug 20, 2015 20:24

huhu: Feb 24, 2006

Any good blogs/flickr groups/whatever that show photographs pre/post editing? I'm not looking for heavy handed Photoshop work, just basic touch ups like sharpness, contrast, white balance, etc.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 03:05

8th-snype: Aug 28, 2005; My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012; Young Orc

Radbot posted:

Thanks!

I like my stuff moody so I will generally also dial in -1/3 to -1 stop of exp comp. YMMV

# ? Aug 21, 2015 07:03

Primo Itch: Nov 4, 2006; I confessed a horrible secret for this account!

Anybody has any tips or links for product photography? I have a friend who's setting up an online store for her jewelry and I'm helping with the pictures. It's mostly necklaces and rings made with weird fabrics, if that helps. I have acess to two flashes, fixed lights and a white umbrella, but can improvise very well...

# ? Aug 21, 2015 23:11

VelociBacon: Dec 8, 2009

Primo Itch posted:

Anybody has any tips or links for product photography? I have a friend who's setting up an online store for her jewelry and I'm helping with the pictures. It's mostly necklaces and rings made with weird fabrics, if that helps. I have acess to two flashes, fixed lights and a white umbrella, but can improvise very well...

Make a softbox and you should be golden.

e: something like this

VelociBacon fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Aug 21, 2015

# ? Aug 21, 2015 23:12

Morkfang: Dec 9, 2009; I'm awesome.

Primo Itch posted:

Anybody has any tips or links for product photography? I have a friend who's setting up an online store for her jewelry and I'm helping with the pictures. It's mostly necklaces and rings made with weird fabrics, if that helps. I have acess to two flashes, fixed lights and a white umbrella, but can improvise very well...

You could make a simple lightbox using a cardboard box and tracing paper: http://studio.leavesnbloom.com/p/making-cardboard-lightbox-for.html

# ? Aug 22, 2015 10:02

Radbot: Aug 12, 2009; Can't post for 3 years!

So I went and calibrated my two monitors with dispcalGUI and a Colormunki Smile, however, there's definitely a pretty noticeable whitepoint difference between the two monitors. Besides the slight frustration of not having the monitors match, the more important thing is that I don't know which monitor is truer to where it actually should be. Anyone experienced this before?

Edit: to add that my monitors are (nearly) identical - same Dell model number, different revision number.

Radbot fucked around with this message at 13:52 on Aug 22, 2015

# ? Aug 22, 2015 13:40

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

HPL posted:

Are you going to be printing that photo on a billboard? If not, gently caress it. It's fine.

And of course after thinking "Yeah! That'll never be true" I take a photo that I have to do a 100% crop of just to make it big enough to see (although only for "the moons bright tonight, I wonder how it'll come out" reasons). I'm actually pretty happy with the outcome given that it was handheld, I'm indoors and it's not the kind of thing I've taken before.

e: wrong version

EL BROMANCE fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Aug 23, 2015

# ? Aug 23, 2015 22:53

Mukulu: Jul 14, 2006; Stop. Drop. Shut 'em down open up shop.

What would be some good resources to check out about composition?

# ? Aug 26, 2015 07:50

Bloody Hedgehog: Dec 12, 2003; 💥💥🤯💥💥
Gotta nuke something

So what's the image host of choice these days? I don't need anything too crazy like a portfolio site, but something more than Imgur offers, i.e. sorting, albums, decent storage, etc etc. Flickr, paid Photobucket, something else?

# ? Aug 26, 2015 10:06

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 23:18

alkanphel: Mar 24, 2004

Bloody Hedgehog posted:

So what's the image host of choice these days? I don't need anything too crazy like a portfolio site, but something more than Imgur offers, i.e. sorting, albums, decent storage, etc etc. Flickr, paid Photobucket, something else?

Sounds like you want Flickr.

# ? Aug 26, 2015 11:09

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > General Photography Questions Megathread v4 - Don't Listen to Any of These Freaks

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