NEO•GEO.com Photographer Thread

I figured it would be nice to have a place for all the shutterbugs here on NG.com
to kinda circle their wagons and talk about photography and show some of their work,
talk equipment and whatever there is to talk about the hobby/biz.

I'm a big concert kinda guy so I've been trying to take pictures at whatever
shows I get out to. But I've been getting into film photography (which apparently is going
the way of the dinosaur) and have been having a ball.
I have an old konica that danadamkof here on the boards started me off on
(he got it for 5 bucks and sold to me for a fiver) that just broke on me and
I just fixed, but I've now been concentrating alot of time on a canon F-1
that my dad gave me. It's a nice set up, I have a 1:1.4, a telephoto lens (and another telephoto
I just picked up at a pawn shop that was broke, but am now fixing), and a wide angle lens.

I know there are really hot DSLR cameras out there, but I'm having alot of fun with the
F-1 and will be shooting with it, since I have a nice lens collection going.
well. it's alot of fun since the only thing i've used before digitally was point and shoot
cameras which suck for low light (concert) photography and
usually broke about one a year of them.
(good thing the F-1 is a tank)

but anyways, here's my fliker account of fun.
6ft35mm
alot of the photos are kinda not properlly exposed, but I'm working on
getting some batteries to stick in the F-1 to get the light meter working.

I've been meaning to get off my ass and capture more shit with my digital camera (no not my phone). Once I get it back from my friends in Austin and buy a nice set of chargeables for it (the ones I've been using are almost useless now) I'll probably start using it again.

I've been holding out hope that my camera (Powershot A430) gets the CHDK firmware ported to it, that thing adds a ton of functionality to those tiny Canon's.

But yeah, photography's always been something I've been into. My parents were wedding photographers when I was a little kid, I guess that's what started the shutterbug in me.

I'll see if I can find any decent cameraphone pictures I've taken, if they're worthy I'll post them here sometime.

BTW nice job with the flickr pro account. The free account is so limited I don't using it

I've previously thrown a few photos of scenery in other threads, but I'm into intentionally taking dry, somewhat clinical travel photos (as well as other random things) for Wikipedia. I wonder what I could do with better equipment, but I like the simplicity of a pocket point-and-click.

I've get to get around to Flickr (mostly because I'd probably have to pay for the account), but I do have a bunch uploaded to Wikmedia Commons and Wikipedia over here. They aren't necessarily my best work, just stuff they didn't have a photo of at the time I uploaded them.

crap bobak. I knew you took alot of pictures but I never seen your site there.
awesome.

and adam, i was talking to a friend of mine who did wedding photography
a long time ago. she said it was never racking, because you didn't know if it came out
right or not (we were talking about film)
nowadays with digital it's pretty instant gratification in terms of knowing
and then adjusting your settings in terms of light, exposure, and iso.
plus hey.
it's bad on the knees.

Last summer, inspired by Terry Richardson, I started using an old Polaroid instant camera and bought a Holga. Film's too expensive for the Polaroid and I'm too lazy to use the Holga.

I took a few shots with a disposable camera on a recent trip to North Carolina. Some turned out pretty awesome. I may post some.

I'm a complete idiot when it comes to cameras, I mean a TOTAL COMPLETE IDIOT.

Obviously you all have seen that I go to alot of martial arts events but what do I gotta do to reduce the fuckin blur when I take pictures of motion? And no my camera doesn't have an action picture setting.

I have a Sony DSC-W120 digital camera with 7.2 megapixels.

EDIT:
Here are some examples of my crap photography
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=166154&id=599800421&l=100a8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=212987&id=599800421&l=b432a

Those are basically the best pictures that I sorted out of a mess of blur.

Bad SNL reference.
Nothing worth noting.
Seriously.

SPINMASTER X said:

I'm a complete idiot when it comes to cameras, I mean a TOTAL COMPLETE IDIOT.

Obviously you all have seen that I go to alot of martial arts events but what do I gotta do to reduce the fuckin blur when I take pictures of motion? And no my camera doesn't have an action picture setting.

I have a Sony DSC-W120 digital camera with 7.2 megapixels.

EDIT:
Here are some examples of my crap photography
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=166154&id=599800421&l=100a8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=212987&id=599800421&l=b432a

Those are basically the best pictures that I sorted out of a mess of blur.

Click to expand...

I can't tell you without looking at the camera,
but some digital point and click cameras have a sports option.
basically where it, i figure, it would simulate a faster shutter speed, like on an mechanical camera.
but if you can mess with the shutter speed on the camera then you may get better shots.
the quicker the shutter speed though, the less amount of light being taken in.
so it's a give and take thing.
Can't say without looking at your camera though. digital is convenient, but limited in some respects.

I like photography as a side hobby.

Here's a gallery of my old photos. Most of these are from a few years ago. None of them were edited in Photoshop. As much as I hate abstract art, I tend to like abstract photos.

This is one of my old favorites.



I just got a new camera, so I'm hoping to get out there and find some new shots soon.

I started going to school for photography, but I got fed up with all the elitism and artsy crap. I got tired of looking at super contrasty macro shots of somebody's ear. They forget that photography is something anybody can do and get into.

It doesn't matter what camera you use or how you use it as long as the image you take means something. Could mean the smallest little thing, could just be something pretty to look at, or it could be some great comment on the human condition. Either can be great. That's how I fell anymore.

Lotsa good stuff in everybody's links! You can see some of my crap in the link in my sig. I really need to get out more.

http://www.bleagh.com

Zenimus said:

I like photography as a side hobby.

Here's a gallery of my old photos. Most of these are from a few years ago. None of them were edited in Photoshop. As much as I hate abstract art, I tend to like abstract photos.

This is one of my old favorites.

I just got a new camera, so I'm hoping to get out there and find some new shots soon.

Click to expand...

Nice work man!

But the picture with the treehoopers made my skin crawl, I got stung by a thorn shaped treehopper once and got terribly ill.

SPINMASTER X said:

I'm a complete idiot when it comes to cameras, I mean a TOTAL COMPLETE IDIOT.

Obviously you all have seen that I go to alot of martial arts events but what do I gotta do to reduce the fuckin blur when I take pictures of motion? And no my camera doesn't have an action picture setting.

I have a Sony DSC-W120 digital camera with 7.2 megapixels.

EDIT:
Here are some examples of my crap photography
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=166154&id=599800421&l=100a8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=212987&id=599800421&l=b432a

Those are basically the best pictures that I sorted out of a mess of blur.

Click to expand...

Find the ISO setting and change it to a higher number. Generally the higher the ISO the less motion blur, the trade off is more grainy photos.

BLEAGH said:

I started going to school for photography, but I got fed up with all the elitism and artsy crap. I got tired of looking at super contrasty macro shots of somebody's ear. They forget that photography is something anybody can do and get into.

Click to expand...

Exactly! Elitists take the fun out of everything. I thought about taking some photography classes, but the basic course required the use of a film camera, and the teacher trashed anyone who preferred digital.

I like that one of yours with the dog on the porch.

Retrogamer said:

Nice work man!

But the picture with the treehoopers made my skin crawl, I got stung by a thorn shaped treehopper once and got terribly ill.

Click to expand...

Yeah, those things are annoying! They wreck any attempt to have a nice garden. Although, the picture that always makes my skin crawl is this one. I don't know what kind of spider it is, but I hate them. They always appear around here during the late summer. They're kinda big, and they love to make webs across walkways where humans go.

Imagine taking out the garbage at night and walking face-first into a big web, with a psychotic spider suddenly crawling all over your face!

Zenimus said:

Yeah, those things are annoying! They wreck any attempt to have a nice garden. Although, the picture that always makes my skin crawl is this one. I don't know what kind of spider it is, but I hate them. They always appear around here during the late summer. They're kinda big, and they love to make webs across walkways where humans go.

Imagine taking out the garbage at night and walking face-first into a big web, with a psychotic spider suddenly crawling all over your face!

Click to expand...

When I was a kid a neighbor of mine had a orchid garden in her backyard, it was infested with GIANT Orb weaver spiders (also known as Banana Spiders) they would grow as big as an adult human hand and would even eat lizards. and they are the ugliest scariest spiders in my opinion, I ran into ones web once and freaked out!
this is what they look like;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnrabbit/

My Flickr stream, good bit of photos on there.

I have most of my work on my imageshack account. My dad's semi-pro, so I learned a couple of things from him. What I'd like to do is actually learn the classic 35mm way, but for now I just do a few shots here and there when the mood strikes.

Here's something I took a the Bellagio last year:


It's nothing special. I just liked how crisp the flowers came out.

Rare, did you ever get those photos from Austin, uploaded?

Finally, a thread for me. I've been taking classes for the last 2 years now: 3 semesters of B&W film, and 1 semester color digital.

I love film. I started with a Canon A-1 camera that is ancient but built like a tank. I have a 50mm F1.4 lens, and a 28-200mm F3.5. I also have a powerwinder for it so that I can take shots at ~3fps.

Currently I'm shooting in medium format using another ancient (but incredibly awesome) old camera-- a Rolleicord.

Medium format is a little different, being that it's a square frame. I won't say it makes composition harder, but it is a little different. Being that the camera is a twin lens reflex, you have to think backwards because the viewfinder is not corrected to our eyes, so everything is mirrored.

I'll have to scan in some of my negatives and upload them. I have nothing to share on my computer right now.

I'm a film and digital buff - Canon brand. I have the Rebel IIs and IIg film cameras and a 20D digital. It's nice that the lenses are all interchangeable between them.

You guys running the older Canons are lucky in that the lenses are CHEAP for them. Grab a few off of Craigslist. You want to find fixed lenses and prime lenses for the best picture quality.

Try to get fixed ones like 1:1.8 or 1:1.4 or prime zoom lenses that are fixed like 1:4 instead of 1:3 - 1:5.6. The lower the number, the better the lens. 1:1.4 is better than 1:1.8. It also costs more. It lets more light in which helps when taking high speed sports shots and low light shots.

I've taken close-up pics of flowers, insects, chips/circuit boards along with typical sporting events, scenery, and family shots. I've also experimented with lighting kits for close up pics of small items.

One of my next purchases will be a ring flash for macro photography.

I only have a 3 pics up right now. Two are pics of a UniBIOS error and one is a pic I didn't take, but is of me and the band Bare Naked Ladies. I'll dig some pics out and post them over the next week or so.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21742213@N08/

Maury V. said:

Rare, did you ever get those photos from Austin, uploaded?

Click to expand...

i have yours with jason franks,
but there was a problem with the film.

maybe with the winding mechanism?
I'm going to ask a friend I know what may have been the problem.
all the other pictures i took have the same problem apparently.

If anyone has suggestions on what the problem would be I'm open to hear them.

channelmaniac said:

Try to get fixed ones like 1:1.8 or 1:1.4 or prime zoom lenses that are fixed like 1:4 instead of 1:3 - 1:5.6. The lower the number, the better the lens. 1:1.4 is better than 1:1.8. It also costs more. It lets more light in which helps when taking high speed sports shots and low light shots.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21742213@N08/

Click to expand...

Yeah, I love my 50mm F1.4, it's perfect for night shots. Last year I was taking slide film for fun and I was doing night shots with just the 50mm. Slide film is awesome, it's easy and gives instant results once developed, plus it gives me the feeling of nostalgia because my grandpa used to take slide film when on vacations and during family get-togethers, and would do family slide shows back when I was young.

I forgot to mention that I bought a Canon 40D back in November along with this awesome lens: http://www.tamron.com/lenses/prod/28300_di.asp

Probably the best walkaround lens you could have. Unfortunately I haven't had much time to play with it and the 40D though, since I've been working with film for the last year.

My next purchase will probably be a 35mm F1.4. I need a good prime lens for low light with my digital too.

EDIT: I see now that you were talking about getting a fixed aperture zoom lens. To which I concur. Only problem is that those are still not as cheap as I'd like them to be.

ki_atsushi said:

EDIT: I see now that you were talking about getting a fixed aperture zoom lens. To which I concur. Only problem is that those are still not as cheap as I'd like them to be.

Click to expand...

i was shooting with a nikon n65 and it had some nice zoom lenses
that the guy sold it to me with, but the damn thing would always revert
to a lower apeature and I would be stuck on something like 5.4 when I was trying
to take low light shots. and it wouldn't even let me switch to higher, the guy
that sold it to me told me that i should just trust the camera.
lollercoaster.
the things sitting in my living room because it won't even function without batteries.
some analog camera. i think i should sell it off to invest in new equipment.

rarehero said:

i was shooting with a nikon n65 and it had some nice zoom lenses
that the guy sold it to me with, but the damn thing would always revert
to a lower apeature and I would be stuck on something like 5.4 when I was trying
to take low light shots. and it wouldn't even let me switch to higher, the guy
that sold it to me told me that i should just trust the camera.
lollercoaster.
the things sitting in my living room because it won't even function without batteries.
some analog camera. i think i should sell it off to invest in new equipment.

Click to expand...

Dude, you have an F-1, you're set. The camera will last forever. Sell that Nikon and buy some more canon FD lenses.

The only thing I worry about my old Canon is that over time the light meter might become inaccurate (I think it's starting to already in my A-1, some of my shots are a little underexposed). But then you can always invest in a handheld light meter.

ki_atsushi said:

Dude, you have an F-1, you're set. The camera will last forever. Sell that Nikon and buy some more canon FD lenses.

The only thing I worry about my old Canon is that over time the light meter might become inaccurate (I think it's starting to already in my A-1, some of my shots are a little underexposed). But then you can always invest in a handheld light meter.

Click to expand...

I got the n65 awhile ago from a friend, it's not a bad deal in itself.
But the F-1 I just got from my dad.
i told my dad about taking pictures costing me a small fortune with the nikon and the konica
i have and he asked if i wanted the old family camera. the f-1. he only shot about 5 rolls total
with it.

I was like.
hell yea.

update:
I talked with a friend of mine about the problem with the vertical light stripes and he said it
may be the gasket on the back of the camera that the film is rolling in.
he said there may be some light inadvertantly coming through.
he also told me to find a semi dark place to load the film initally.
I'm still learning things all the time, so if you guys have tips and advice throw them my way.

rarehero said:

I got the n65 awhile ago from a friend, it's not a bad deal in itself.
But the F-1 I just got from my dad.
i told my dad about taking pictures costing me a small fortune with the nikon and the konica
i have and he asked if i wanted the old family camera. the f-1. he only shot about 5 rolls total
with it.

I was like.
hell yea.

update:
I talked with a friend of mine about the problem with the vertical light stripes and he said it
may be the gasket on the back of the camera that the film is rolling in.
he said there may be some light inadvertantly coming through.
he also told me to find a semi dark place to load the film initally.
I'm still learning things all the time, so if you guys have tips and advice throw them my way.

Click to expand...

Are the negatives creased? Did the sprocket holes in the negs get torn or something?

If you don't see anything wrong with the negs physically, I'd say that you are just suffering from poor development. Where did you have your film developed?

I would think a light leak would ruin the entire film.