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Photo of the Day - February 2010
- Thread starter pdxflint
- Start date
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Okay everyone, here is my next attempt at a food shot. I hope it is okay to keep posting these here. They are a photo of the day, but I do not want to clutter up this thread with my learning experience. If I should start a new thread, let me know.
I combined what I learned from the replies here, as well as what I have read online so far. Here is what I did. I used the wide angle lens, camera on a tripod, at nearly table level. Natural light from a window, and although the window faces North, so it was in the buildings shadow, there was still quite a bit of light coming in do to it being totally clear outside. Gotta love that Texas sun! I was holding a piece of white paper just to the left to get some bounce to fill in the shadows on the fries. No flash.
What did I learn from this? Natural light is cool! The tripod helps me eliminate variables. I also figured out what aperture settings do, although not as much seen in this picture, I took about 20 others with different settings on the camera, just to see what they would do.
I know this picture still is not great, but I hope to at least show some improvement from my other one.
Thanks again to everyone for their comments on my earlier pictures, and I look forward to C&C on this one. I am really enjoying this venture, and am really glad I took the plunge and posted something here.
Oh yea, something happened when I tried to post this before, I hope this does not end up as a duplicate post, I always wondered why I would see "Duplicate Post" messages, I guess now I know.
Chef Jay
I combined what I learned from the replies here, as well as what I have read online so far. Here is what I did. I used the wide angle lens, camera on a tripod, at nearly table level. Natural light from a window, and although the window faces North, so it was in the buildings shadow, there was still quite a bit of light coming in do to it being totally clear outside. Gotta love that Texas sun! I was holding a piece of white paper just to the left to get some bounce to fill in the shadows on the fries. No flash.
What did I learn from this? Natural light is cool! The tripod helps me eliminate variables. I also figured out what aperture settings do, although not as much seen in this picture, I took about 20 others with different settings on the camera, just to see what they would do.
I know this picture still is not great, but I hope to at least show some improvement from my other one.
Thanks again to everyone for their comments on my earlier pictures, and I look forward to C&C on this one. I am really enjoying this venture, and am really glad I took the plunge and posted something here.
Oh yea, something happened when I tried to post this before, I hope this does not end up as a duplicate post, I always wondered why I would see "Duplicate Post" messages, I guess now I know.
Chef Jay
Attachments
I dropped this 20 dollar bill while walking through Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas, NV.
A man in his late 50s, ran up and tapped me on the shoulder telling me it fell out of my pocket.
Glad to see we still have some integrity in this world, especially with the economy.
Napus Interruptus
Just a fun moment... getting down on his level and bugging him with a wide-angle lens... and catching his waking stretch and implied question, "--so, are you going to sod off, or are we going for a ride?"
Model: D300
ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/100 sec
Aperture: 8.0
Focal Length: 15mm
Just a fun moment... getting down on his level and bugging him with a wide-angle lens... and catching his waking stretch and implied question, "--so, are you going to sod off, or are we going for a ride?"
Model: D300
ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/100 sec
Aperture: 8.0
Focal Length: 15mm
I dropped this 20 dollar bill while walking through Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas, NV.
A man in his late 50’s, ran up and tapped me on the shoulder telling me it fell out of my pocket.
Glad to see we still have some integrity in this world, especially with the economy.
Wow, thats crazy! I have lived in Las Vegas for almost 25 years now, and people here arent that nice. Lot of shady folk here, but anyway you're right, it is good to see, especially at this time in the world.
I still have to edit my pic for today, but off to work i go... will post this evening.
Lucky you. I'm in my late fifties too. If I'd found your note, I'd have headed straight for the nearest bar, to celebrate my good fortune...
Went back to where I was yesterday - Ullswater - to have another go: morning light rather than afternoon light.
Okay everyone, here is my next attempt at a food shot. I hope it is okay to keep posting these here. They are a photo of the day, but I do not want to clutter up this thread with my learning experience. If I should start a new thread, let me know.
I combined what I learned from the replies here, as well as what I have read online so far. Here is what I did. I used the wide angle lens, camera on a tripod, at nearly table level. Natural light from a window, and although the window faces North, so it was in the buildings shadow, there was still quite a bit of light coming in do to it being totally clear outside. Gotta love that Texas sun! I was holding a piece of white paper just to the left to get some bounce to fill in the shadows on the fries. No flash.
What did I learn from this? Natural light is cool! The tripod helps me eliminate variables. I also figured out what aperture settings do, although not as much seen in this picture, I took about 20 others with different settings on the camera, just to see what they would do.
I know this picture still is not great, but I hope to at least show some improvement from my other one.
Thanks again to everyone for their comments on my earlier pictures, and I look forward to C&C on this one. I am really enjoying this venture, and am really glad I took the plunge and posted something here.
Oh yea, something happened when I tried to post this before, I hope this does not end up as a duplicate post, I always wondered why I would see "Duplicate Post" messages, I guess now I know.
Chef Jay
The lighting is too uneven here. One side of the sandwich is completely blown out, and the other is lost in shadows. I can tell there are fries on the plate, but I couldn't tell you much at all about the contents of the sandwich. You need to diffuse the light from the window and add a flash or brighter light source at the left. Little details like the pieces falling out of the sandwich make a big difference too; here it looks haphazard. If something is going to be falling out, it needs to be perfect for the composition, and it should be something that emphasizes the food, e.g. a sandwich that is so full of yummy meat that the meat is bursting out of it. Here we just have what looks like some sloppy lettuce oozing out.
Also, the chair in the background and the bit of window blinds showing at the right amount to major distractions that make my eye wander away from the food.
Just a fun moment... getting down on his level and bugging him with a wide-angle lens... and catching his waking stretch and implied question, "--so, are you going to sod off, or are we going for a ride?"
Model: D300
ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/100 sec
Aperture: 8.0
Focal Length: 15mm
I love the lines of the carpet leading up to the dog. I probably don't need to tell you what you could do with the background to make it compete less, but adding some vignetting comes to mind. The stretched-out legs are adorable too. Of course, I'm a sucker for animal and baby photos.
Went back to where I was yesterday - Ullswater - to have another go: morning light rather than afternoon light.
My "ahhhhhhh" moment for the morning. Thank you, Doylem.
Camera: Pentax K200D
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1500)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 10 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -3/2 EV
yeaah seriously. especially with all the tourist and what not. they'll swoop it up and either play it or by another drink or something. just thankful to have got it back.
and hopefully good karma gets returned to that guy!
Great shot... I love the lens distortion. Is your lens a true 10mm or do you have to apply a crop factor so that it's really working as a 16mm?
^^^ Not for me... Great location, great conditions, beautiful light. But what I see is 'lens distortion'... and that gets in the way of my enjoyment of the image...
Camera: Pentax K200D
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1500)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 10 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -3/2 EV
I'm going to have to agree with Doylem on this one. I love the lighting, subject, shadows and composition on this one, but the fisheye is really distracting. Did you take another without the fisheye effect? I'd love to see it.
I actually think it works quite well. It's like the trees are "hugging" the cabin.
Zeiss Glass
While helping my friend out with his 16mm film project he snapped this picture of me with his Nikon D60 and this 85mm F 1.4 Zeiss Lens his friend has. Or should I say his friend leaves lying around the dorm along with his 35mm f2, 50 F 1.4 and 28 f2 LOL.
The original shot was a bit too punchy for my taste so I did a slight curve adjustment in photoshop. I've noticed Zeiss glass is really contrasty compared to Canon L series glass. Nikon lenses have similar contrast attributes but seem a bit warmer than Zeiss and not always as sharp.
While helping my friend out with his 16mm film project he snapped this picture of me with his Nikon D60 and this 85mm F 1.4 Zeiss Lens his friend has. Or should I say his friend leaves lying around the dorm along with his 35mm f2, 50 F 1.4 and 28 f2 LOL.
The original shot was a bit too punchy for my taste so I did a slight curve adjustment in photoshop. I've noticed Zeiss glass is really contrasty compared to Canon L series glass. Nikon lenses have similar contrast attributes but seem a bit warmer than Zeiss and not always as sharp.