Flickr anyone?

[P_HAT]

Beside GP?

I mean, there is members from all around the globe. There must be more

My - http://www.flickr.com/photos/iabc_lazy/

[zap]

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

You won't find any shmup stuff unless you go really far back, or look for them in the sets. Still plenty of Japan and nerd photos.

[AKRATEN]

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

[GaijinPunch]

For those w/o the link

[moh]

For those w/o the link

I really like your stuff =]

[GaijinPunch]

Thanks, dude.

[P_HAT]

Only 3?

Wow, anyway thanks

And yes, i also like GP's photos.

I started this thread because of him

[beatsgo]

Here's mine.

[GaijinPunch]

I started this thread because of him

That's how I roll! Actually got out yesterday and took some matsuri pictures. The rain added some character but killed a few shots and probably wasn't the smartest idea to take my expensive gear out in.

[P_HAT]

The rain added some character but killed a few shots and probably wasn't the smartest idea to take my expensive gear out in.

Hehe, i'm sure Mark can survive it.

Also, rain is the main reason why i wanted Pentax K-5 with WR lenses.

But i faced some cash problems . So i went for used K20D. Still WR body, but standard lenses T_T

[GaijinPunch]

Well, the lens fogged up a few times but nothing too crazy. Taking it to burning man was way more risky, but I gaffer taped the fuck out of it. Got some great shots, but didn't shoot nearly as much as I wanted too. Was too busy partying.

[Limbrooke]

Ho ho HO! Prepare to be blown away, like so


Warning, not my image...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14512655@N02/

[GaijinPunch]

This is going to be in a series I call "Don't Shoot the Messenger".


Conservative (02) (BW) by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

[Skykid]

^ hahahaha

As discussed b4, fantastic pics. You have a talent.

I also have a hard-on for your camera, unfortunately my wallet isn't putting out.

[GaijinPunch]

Thanks dude. I just put heaps up. It pissed rain the other day which was supposed to be a huge Fall Matsuri day for the Yoyogi Hachiman area. All the surrounding shrines/neighborhoods get an omikoshi and have a Battle Royale of sorts in the shoutengai (street of shops). Definitely some yak-types (my life may have been in danger for the pic below), but it's all in good fun.


Hachimanguu Aki Matsuri (04) by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

But, the rain shat all over that and the turn out was pretty meager. I saw 3 different Omikoshi, but very few in tow. The rain let up in the evening though and about a stone's throw from my new flat I checked out the Awa Odori. Thinking it would be done for the night, I was pleasantly surprised.


Awa Odori 2012 (18) by gaijin_punch, on Flickr


Awa Odori 2012 (05) by gaijin_punch, on Flickr


Awa Odori 2012 (02) by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

[Friendly]

What kind of filter did you use to make the colors look so weird/unreal? (Great shots, btw)

[GaijinPunch]

No filter. Well, Unsharpen Mask to sharpen them up a bit but that's standard. I do a number of adjustment layers though. The main ingredients are desaturation (the most noticeable), curves, and gradient maps. These particular ones were shot so late at night and under flourescent lights. The colors simply don't pop w/o pretty heavy post processing.

[Friendly]

Those are awesome night shots, but the daytime fotos have unreal looking colors, too, like part of the spectrum is missing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_engla ... /lightbox/
Maybe it's really just lowered saturation.

[GaijinPunch]

Desaturation has a big part of it, however, cross processing is likely more to blame. Flip through a fashion magazine... fidgeting w/ the colors is everywhere.

It put up B&W processed versions as well, if you prefer. For these night shots, I actually prefer it for a lot of them. I submitted a B&W to Metropolis, where I'm sure it will likely be picked for Photo of the Day, but probably not Photo of the Week.

[Friendly]

Desaturation has a big part of it, however, cross processing is likely more to blame. Flip through a fashion magazine... fidgeting w/ the colors is everywhere.

Ah yes, that must be it. In many of your pictures, the blacks aren't black but have a blue-ish tint, and the whites are slightly yellow-ish. For instance this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_engla ... /lightbox/
Makes your pictures look artsy, I guess.

[P_HAT]

WTF
@
Awa Odori 2012 (05)

These particular ones were shot so late at night and under flourescent lights. The colors simply don't pop w/o pretty heavy post processing.

I wondering about iso setting.

[Skykid]

I wonder about iso setting.

I think the EOS 500D II has got a mad iso range (assuming that's the camera.) Although they're so bright, I do wonder about PS post processing, cos if that's in-camera it's amazing.

GP, can we have a before and after comparison to see your work?

[GaijinPunch]

I think the EOS 500D II has got a mad iso range

The EOS 5dII does have a mad ISO range, but moreover, it has mad ISO processing power on it. I can "comfortably" take it to ISO 3200 if I have to, which I have done in many of those shots. I would never do such a thing on any "lower" model of Canon. Even the 7D. (However, I hear the newer models, even cheap ones like the T4i, are pretty tolerable at 3200, but definitely are at 1600.) I had no flash with me. There was a decent bit of light, but as "odori" means dance, the people were moving... sometimes quite fast. I stuck the camera on rapid fire and took about 5x as many as I saved, but this is to be expected. Apparently 5d Mark III has even better ISO processing, but right now the price tag is just too high. Adorama sold a couple hundred at $2750 (Retail is $3549) on Ebay last month. I was REALLY tempted but I spent too much money this summer going to the desert.

In many of your pictures, the blacks aren't black but have a blue-ish tint, and the whites are slightly yellow-ish

Yes, that's exactly right. There's a few ways to do it. If I just want to make the blacks a bit bluer, I put on my Tobias Funke costume and say, "I Blue Myself". Haha. Curves adjustment layer. Go to blue. Raise bottom point up to the left wall a bit. Then put a point about halfway between the midpoint and the bottom back in it's normal spot. Shadows will be blue, and the rest of the color range is largely unaffected. Split toning works as well, and can be done subtly, or all-encompassing.

In the end, it is up to personal preference, like with music. There is no right or wrong, but just as in music some things just come out awful, the same can be said for color.

GP, can we have a before and after comparison to see your work?

Sure. The main thing you will notice w/ night shots like this, is that untouched, they are somewhat dull and have a heavy yellow tint. This is from the mixture of no-light and flourescent light, me thinks. The flourest lights are also mixed with soft lights so it's hard to find the temperature the camera needs. So I use automatic white balance (since it's so easy to change in post). I just shoot in raw and dick with it later, since in such brutal conditions I'm fighting the camera to focus: something the 5d Mark II is fucking awful at.

There is also some substantial sharpening going on, but might be hard to tell at this resolution.


Awa Odori (02) (Before & After) by gaijin_punch, on Flickr


Awa Odori (09) (Before & After) by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

[Skykid]

^ Well I'm sold on the camera. One day I might be able to actually bag one. I like the adjustments you made, it has a ghostliness to it without compromising the image, but the original is equally beautiful and clear as a bell.

W/the rapid fire, I'm assuming most of the images come out blurry due to the movement, but you find one in the middle that stuck? Or has the 5DII got a fast enough shutter speed/iso processing to easily freeze things in motion?

Also: fighting the focus. I understand that's a bastard in manual when you have a moving target, but how difficult/easy is it to catch focus when in automatic - the bokeh is so good on these it looks like you set the shot up.

[GaijinPunch]

This was w/ a zoom lens, so the widest aperture is 2.8. This event was clearly a good candidate for a fast prime w/ aperture of 1.4. However, I don't have one right now but I'm working on getting a manual focus lens or two. See caveats below.

The subjects come out blurry (from motion blur) if the shutter speed is too low, regardless of how much or little you shake. Generally, the rule of thumb to avoid blur from the camera side, is you're supposed to shoot no slower than 1/X where X is your focal distance. Assuming I was shooting at 50mm (my zoom was 24-70), I should have gone no lower than 1/50, but most are 1/30 or 1/40. This is where rapid fire comes in, as you're likely to get one out of three or for without blur. Guess years of jacking off have given me good hand control. Now, on the flip side, you have to figure out how your subject is moving. Even a walking subject is going to require 1/60 or faster. Just depends on how fast they're walking. You can also "follow them" which will give you a seemingly stationary midpoint, but some blur (not bokeh) on the outside.

Hitting moving targets w/ manual focus is a fucking bitch when the aperture is too wide. And, too wide is very subjective and depends on tons of shit. This Depth of Field Calculator will give you an idea. The 5d2 is a full frame camera, as opposed to Canon's 1.6x crop sensor line. As such, those cameras are 60% more zoomed in. On the 5d2, I'll be shooting at a higher focal distance for the same shot as on say, a 7D or any of Canon's camera's "below" that. At F2.8, with the subject a mere 10 feet away, my acceptable depth of field is about 2 feet. Now add in the fact that they are moving at me diagonally, and those lenses aren't really made w/ manual focus in mind, and it gets to be tricky. If you go a full F-stop lower to aperture 2.0, then acceptable DOF becomes 1.45 feet. That's substantially tighter. Now as the subject comes closer to you, at 5 feet, your DOF is a mere .35 feet. That's hard to hit on a still target. This is why people bitch about autofocus that is accurate, but not fast enough. Sometimes the subject has moved out of in-focus zone between the time when the shutter button is pressed and the exposure actually starts. The answer to this is shoot at a higher aperture, but then you have exposure issues. Shooting in dark is challenging, and there are many ways to do it. Knowing the weaknesses of yourself and your camera are the first things. Plenty of photographers have the shakes out there, and simply can't shoot at low shutter speeds nor manually focus.

Having said that, I know the weakness of my camera: autofocus. I did a few manual shots (specifically when the subject is on the outside of the center focus point -- the only one worth a shit on my camera) but not many. I know it's slow, so I shoot as many shots as I can. It takes about 4 frames per second, so a lot of those subjects had 4 to 8 pictures each, and I generally saved only one per subject. A few subjects were not worth saving. Them's the breaks!

[Skykid]

Christ, it's a science. I'd be lying if I said I understood half of the above, but it's interesting to see just how much learning is involved when you're using a high end camera. £1.5k for the kit and another £50 on the guidebooks, lol.

I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum with my entry level DMC-GF2. It has a fair few options and quite a lot of manual control (which I wasn't expecting) and serves my needs well enough (it's better than a regular compact, put it that way). Unfortunately it's got obvious limitations, especially where ISO is concerned. Honestly, the best thing about it is its 1080p HD recording in stereo - I think that's quite a remarkable feature for such a small device. Here's a demo that shows quality and the autofocus at varying distances (colour edited in after effects): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KciXoEpN ... re=related

Oh, and hitting the touchscreen to pull focus on an object in the frame. Neat gimmick.

[GaijinPunch]

Yeah, I went off on a Cave Strategy Guide style tangent there. Sorry. Just gotta remember that the main thing you want is the right exposure. To get that, you have the following things to dick with. ALL of them affect how much light is let in, but have other properties too.

1: Shutter Speed: Too slow, and there is blur. Sometimes it's good (like with running water). Often it's bad, like too slow when you're photographing a moving car or athlete.
2: Aperture (how wide the aperture blades are at time of exposure. Lower number = wider hole = more light). The main effect is the higher the aperture (lower number) = shallower depth of field. The result is a blurry background (referred to as bokeh, from Japanese).
3: ISO. This is the easiest to understand. Just think of it as a boost. The higher the number, the more light is given. The downside is it creates noise at about ISO 400 on just about any camera, but the better the camera, the better noise processing.

High end cameras have different metering modes as well, but generally auto works well.

[Skykid]

I'm good with the terminology for the most part, it's mainly the application. Then again, I don't really have a good enough camera to learn the application.

So 'bokeh' is from Japanese eh? Interesting, you learn something new every day.

[GaijinPunch]

I'm good with the terminology for the most part, it's mainly the application. Then again, I don't really have a good enough camera to learn the application.

So 'bokeh' is from Japanese eh? Interesting, you learn something new every day.

Yeah, romanized it would technically be "boke" (from the verb ぼける, ボケ is also a derogatory term for a bone head or something, Jisa Boke means to be stupid from time difference... aka jet lag) but most whites wouldn't pick up on that and just pronounce it like bloke, but w/o the l.

Try to find something in the used market. I had a Canon 30D for ages, and the only problem I had with it is that the screen is so low res it can be hard to tell if you're in focus or not if you're checking that way. I'd be shocked if you couldn't find one for less than 200 pounds. Just blindly guessing the value there.

[Skykid]

I'm good with the terminology for the most part, it's mainly the application. Then again, I don't really have a good enough camera to learn the application.

So 'bokeh' is from Japanese eh? Interesting, you learn something new every day.

Yeah, romanized it would technically be "boke" (from the verb ぼける, ボケ is also a derogatory term for a bone head or something, Jisa Boke means to be stupid from time difference... aka jet lag) but most whites wouldn't pick up on that and just pronounce it like bloke, but w/o the l.

Try to find something in the used market. I had a Canon 30D for ages, and the only problem I had with it is that the screen is so low res it can be hard to tell if you're in focus or not if you're checking that way. I'd be shocked if you couldn't find one for less than 200 pounds. Just blindly guessing the value there.

I'm wary of used cameras for some reason. Perhaps I shouldn't be?

If you recommend the 30D I'll definitely keep it in mind (especially at that price). Got a lens recommendation to go with it? I'm looking for an all rounder, something good for a beginner to learn the ropes with. Also, do you have a flickr stream for your 30D shots (might have seen them before, but I didn't note the camera.)