[Kombisaurus]

ooo.. my "proper" lens arrived by courier about 20 minutes ago (70-200 f/4L USM). Yaay.

Wooohoo! Congrats Adrian! Don't forget to give us a mini review!

I just posted my initial thoughts as a follow up in the "which canon zoom?" thread. (http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/viewto...8416#18416)

Cheers
Adrian

[lemangoholic]

Ditto on Jules... am real jealous for not living in Perth... or move away from Perth!
Are you all doing anything from 14 -17 May? Will be in Perth for work, then rushing to Chile. So will be great to join in any photo expedition!

[lemangoholic]

Jules... let's organise a Melbourne photo expedition?!?!

[shuttertalk]

Heheh, soon... soon.

[byrt_001]

Hi lemangoholic

what are you doing in Chile? I have a few very good contacts over there, so let me know if you want to go to the North of Chile. Are you going to Brazil or Peru?

Regards

Christian

[StudioJ]

Better make it quick ST or else you will run out of good weather... oops... too late

Medium range forecast for Saturday;

Saturday : Shower or two. Min: 13 Max: 23

Could go either way, for skies it will be nice with the clouds but if it rains then uh oh!

Your neighbour has a nice bird Adrian, you should take more photos of it.

[lemangoholic]

what are you doing in Chile? I have a few very good contacts over there, so let me know if you want to go to the North of Chile. Are you going to Brazil or Peru?

Hey Christian,
Thanks for the offer... can I take a raincheck please?

I would love to go to North of Chile, and Brazil and Peru (Machu Pichu especially)... but this trip is for work in Santiago. Tis my 4th trips there... and I still have not ventured out to the vine regions. I might try to get a tour to Vina del Mar on the weekend... any tips?

Thanks heaps again!
Leng Yen (aka LY)

[byrt_001]

HI LY

what are you going to do over there? villa del mar is a very touristic town. not been there. Santiago is a very busy and lots of smog. waaayyyy too many cars for that town.

If you want to go to the North of chile is only a few hours on the bus, then I can put you in touch with a few people. you can mix with the locals much niiicer.

email and tell me what you want to do....i will email a few people today and see what i can do from here.

Regards

Christian

[loopy]

Guys I really hate to do this, but I'm not going to be able to make it this arvo Just found out I'm flying all of next week (wasn't supposed to be), and I got given a whole heap of maps to get done. We leave for Exmouth a week from today, and we're gone for 3 weeks. I think my first weekend back is the weekend of the Rally, which I should be going to, if anyone wants to meet up down there? Apart from that, I'm still keen to get to know you guys at some stage - hope everyone has a great meet, and make sure you post some of those photos!

Cheers,


Brad

[StudioJ]

Hey Brad, better luck next time mate! I'm sure I can at least come along and say hi when you are back on that weekend.

For anyone that gets lost or needs help tonight you can reach me on 0414 345 260 for the rest of the day as I'll be out at footy until I head to the Park.

[Kombisaurus]

When: April 9th 2005 - 5pm
Where: Kings Park, Lookout platform opposite Frasers Restaurant
Duration: 90 minutes + coffee

Just repeating the details for anyone who jumps on here to quickly double-check the time/meeting place before coming today.

Oh and Jamie, I can't make it to the club thingy afterwards
I've been roped into some other plans. Thanks for the offer though.
Will definately be at Kings Park though.

[adam]

I better do some study now, so that I can come out later

[adam]

My parents aren't home so I can't ask them if I can go out, and I can't ask them for money!
ah
hopefully them come home soon

[shuttertalk]

I want minute by minute coverage when you guys get back!

*jealous*

[Lak]

Argh. I couldn't make it today, came back home from painting a friends house, and I found my sister ran off with the car!! :x

[Kombisaurus]

Hey guys,

Sorry I ended up losing some of you near the end. I stayed and took a few more shots of the memorial thingy and the guys playing bocci, then I got roped into taking some photos for some girls (how could I refuse?).. and then I went looking for you down towards the narrows bridge and swan brewery end of the park, and couldn't find you in the dark!

Anyway, I took off just after 8pm figuring you would probably be thinking of packing up about then, and I pretty much had to get going anyway.

But I just wanted to say a big thanks to those who turned up. It was great to meet you all, and a shame I didn't get a chance to sit down over a coffee or say goodbye to those who stayed.
I reckon it is something we should do again, but with a different theme each time. Things like a good sporting event, some motorsport, a trip to the zoo, a street parade, or even a good protest all spring to mind as good themes.


Now... those who were there. Post your favourite photo of the day!
For me, although the photos of the city skyline were as spectacular as ever, this shot was my favourite:

[StudioJ]

And here I was thinking you'd run away to play games! We were down in the dark behind the monument along the fence line, but it sounds like you had more fun anyway!

It was great to meet everyone! I've just got back from Ms Motorsport and have a gig and a half of photos to pull off from there so no photos from me tonight. I think my favourite though will be the Decoy (Ferry) sitting in the middle of the river.

Theme sounds great, shame the Gay Pride parade has already been on that would be a challenge

[loopy]

Did someone say a motorsport theme? Did someone say rally?

Although not sure if everyone can get down there - it's in Nannup, down near Busselton...

[mez]

Sorry but I won't have any photos to post for a few days...I'll have to wait to get them developed (I'm waiting for new chemicals to arrive) and then we'll see what I ended up with... :/

Anyway it was just nice to put come names to faces (not that I'll remember them) and bet thoroughly jealous of the response you guys have from your cameras...you've definately given me something to think about...the question is...do I buy new lenses now...or do I go digital?????

[shuttertalk]

the question is...do I buy new lenses now...or do I go digital?????

The correct answer is... both.



Sounds like everyone had fun! I want more info! Tell me more!

[Kombisaurus]

Hey Mary,

Good to meet you too. Look forward to seeing your pics.

As far as "the response you guys got from your cameras", remember that it is so much easier to fine-tune and really nail the effect you were looking for in digital, so often its not so much the camera as what's been done to the image afterwards.

As an example, here is the untouched photo used for the image above as it came straight out of the camera:



The image clearly looks flatter and less dramatic coming out of the camera, and didn't really capture the feeling of the scene in the way I wanted. You can clearly see what I've done with it - which was simply to alter the white-balance, saturation and exposure. This was partly to correct what I thought was the camera not-quite getting the colours of the steps right, but also to emphasize those elements of the image I wanted (such as the texture of the steps, and soften the harsh concrete colour to look more like stone).

General Tip: I always try to post-process at least some of my images immediately after I return home. This way I can still remember what the light was like at the scene and more accurately adjust the white balance and exposure parameters of the images to suit while it is all fresh in my mind. I trust my memory more than I trust the auto settings, and now I work with RAW files I just leave the camera on Auto-WB all the time, as I know I will manually tweak it later anyway.

My point is, it wasn't the camera that made this photo my favourite of the day. It actually wasn't even "digital" per-se that did it (you could do similar things in the darkroom), but certainly digital makes this stuff a lot easier, cheaper and more accessible unless you happen to have access to your own darkroom.
But having said all that, I wouldn't have gotten this shot with my old point-and-shoot Olympus digital (or any digital non SLR probably). The only way I could get a DOF like that using my Oly was if I were in super-macro mode and very close to the steps instead of a few metres away from them (which would have changed the perspective completely), or by blurring it later in Photoshop (which wouldn't have looked as good, and been a lot more time consuming). But you *could* get that shot with a film SLR quite easily.

So the "should I buy lenses or go digital" question is a very personal one.
For me, the question becomes one of "do I want to improve the quality and extend the flexibility of the images I can already produce?" (ie buy a better lens), or "Do I want to perhaps take a small step backwards but switch to a system that is perfect for learning to take photos?" (switch to digital). I think the benefit of instant feedback just *cannot* be underestimated as a learning tool for a photography student, and seems to be overlooked or taken for granted or something by many. For me, this was the single most compelling reason to switch to digital (the 2nd biggest being the ability to easily photoshop images).

I actually gave up my film SLR (Canon EOS 300) and "swapped" it for an Olympus C750 point/shoot for this reason, knowing full-well that I was taking a step backwards in terms of overall image quality. I don't regret for one second that choice. If I hadn't have made it, I would've given up on photography in frustration, my film camera would be sitting in a cupboard gathering dust right now, and I would never have gotten the enjoyment out of photography that I do right now.

It took me 2 years of using (and loving) my Oly before I really felt like its abilities were starting to limit the photos I was taking (and DSLR's were cheap enough to be worth considering), and so I got the 350D just over a week ago.

But that's just me. Some people learn differently and obviously you aren't the type of person who would get frustrated and give up on film like I would. I'm sure there are loads of people who love film and have every reason to, and I would really like to do some stuff with view cameras and larger-format films.

But this isn't a film vs digital debate... I'm simply saying that for me, switching to digital enabled me to enjoy photography a LOT more and accelerated my learning immensely. But I'm also now realising the joy of using some nice lenses, so I can appreciate that option too if you aren't sold on digital.

Cheers
Adrian

[adam]

It was very nice meeting you all yesterday
Sorry, I don't speak much around people for the first time, maybe next time..

Unfortunately they didn't light the trees up

Here's a picture Jamie suggested and it turned out to be one of my only 'okay' pictures for the night



Should I even call it 'my' picture? since it wasn't my idea.. hehe

[byrt_001]

Hi everyone

Sorry I left a bit early my dauther was a bit tired of playing the all afternon at the park. It was very nice to meet everyone. Hope to do this againg.

I will post some of girl pixs later in the week or two. yes shot with nikon and 80-200 f2.8

Mary, personaly and what the parket is goingand how cheap and easy is to work with digital files,I would go for a digital. But it depends what you want to shot? I think you mention that you wanted to do lanscapes, well I think you should stick with film and fujicrome velvia.

Regards

Christian

[Kombisaurus]

Hey Adam,

Don't be so hard on yourself. I didn't get a good close look at many of your other images, but certainly that image is much better than "only ok". It's a shame about the coloured lights not being turned on, but even without the pretty lights, you captured the scene beautifully.

I seem to remember you flicking through some photos very quickly on your camera trying to find something (an IR photo I think), and I saw momentary glimpses of a few things there that I thought would probably look really good on closer inspection.
In particular I think there might have been one of something small and red against a grey background. A few minutes later I noticed a single rose petal sitting on the concrete wall beside where you were shooting, and realised that would have probably been the shot. If so, did it turn out well? It looked quite dramatic with just a single petal there.

In a sense, perhaps I ripped you off with my shot above because mine also features rose petals like yours? but naaa.. I'm still taking credit for my shot! I didn't connect the two shots in my head until later, and wasn't trying to rip your shot off at the time - I just saw the petals on the steps and thought "oo.. I'll get that!" and snapped it without thinking. I'm sure other people there got shots of the petals too, as they were scattered all over the place and had gorgeous colours.

So of course you should take credit for a shot Jamie suggested. It was you who set up the exposure, the framing, the focus, and put all the elements together. It's fine to acknowledge that Jamie suggested it, but that doesn't mean it isn't your shot.
Otherwise we might say that as it was Jamie's idea to go to kings park in the first place, therefore all the scenes and shots were his idea Lets not give him too much of a headswell hehe

I had quite a few disappointing shots from the evening too which was a shame. I still got plenty I was happy with, but some had sharpness issues which I was suprised about, even when I borrowed Jamie's good tripod, was using a remote to trigger the shutter and looking through my "L" lens. I should have been using mirror lock-up I guess, but I suspect the issues were simply focus and DOF issues - basically user error and perhaps expectations too high. I find I get a lower "hit rate" with this camera compared to my Olympus, but the photos that do come out well look MUCH better. I put this higher hit rate with the Olympus down to simply me being so much more familiar with the Olympus and how it behaves in various conditions - I know when NOT to take a shot with it, and when I should opt for a safer shot because I know it won't take the shot I want. I'm just shooting anything that moves (or stays still) with the Canon, still trying to find what it is good and bad at.
Nevermind - its all good practice. Kings Park will still be there next week, and I doubt the view will change much in that time (maybe the road works will though).

Oh, and seeing as it looks like nobody is going to post one... for the benefit of any non-perthies who are reading this thread and don't know where kings park is, below is a "classic" kings park photo looking over the city. You can walk around and get many wonderful views down the river and so on as well, not to mention photos of the people and events that go on up there all the time (there were several weddings going on while we were there).
It makes for spectacular photos over the city, but it's also difficult to get original-looking photos (especially when there is barely a cloud in the sky).

[StudioJ]

Hey Adam a lot of girls think that shy is cute and it wasn't my shot, you were doing it with the two exposures before it was dark

Love that shot Adrian, just enough light for it.

I did a panoramic but it doesn't do it justice on here plus it was about 10 minutes too late in the night for it, oh and as you mentioned, not a very exciting sky. I noticed when I was leaving how much the city had grown the low pressure really brings it in close.

Sorry for making the thread really wide! I'm going to insert a couple of pictures on the right hand side to fill up the empty space and print it out in its 60 inch wide glory as a memento of the day.