Photography

[Graham]

I know there are several on here who enjoy photography and it seems the enthusiast community in general takes a lot of photos (at least at amusement parks). Basically, I want this to be a general photography thread where people can discuss cameras, techniques, etc, share their favorite photos they have taken, or ask for help on how to do something photography related.


To start, I just recently got back into photography after hardly touching my camera for a few years while in college. Since then I have upgraded my camera from my old Canon 20D to a new 7D. I'm absolutely loving the new camera and am having tons of fun playing around with new techniques and just generally falling back in love with photography.

I recently started playing around with High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography which has been a fairly interesting (and at times frustrating) experience. Basically, HDR photography is a method of combining multiple photos in a way that will accent all the details in the scene that might otherwise be obscured by the lighting conditions. Below I have two recent HDR photos I took. The first one is a combination of three images taken at the Great Falls National park last weekend. I also included one of the origional images to give an idea of the difference between HDR and standard photos. The second HDR photo was taken a few weeks ago in Niagara Falls.

[Katie]

We love photography! Being a studio photographer for years made me be so creative where in other areas I wasn't as much in touch with my creativity as I should be. We have a Canon Rebel xSi. We have taken tons of pictures over the last few years with this camera and it never disappoints us. While we haven't gotten too much into different types of photography, we just love shooting different things including our families and friends and of course amusement parks! Here are a few of our photos that we hope you enjoy!

[Chip]

Yes! A thread on photography! I love photography. I too have a Canon camera, the XSi. I've got three lenses with it: the kit lens, 18-55 3.5-5.6; 70-300 4-5.6; and 50 1.4. That last lens is my pride and joy. It's incredible.

I bought my SLR about two years ago and am still learning it. I've probably taken 20,000 photos with it. One thing I've taken to doing is a daily photo project. I did that in 2010, and it really helped me learn the ins and outs of the camera. Now that I live in a much more photogenic place, I plan on taking it with me everywhere.

[Graham]

Chip, I also have the 50mm f/1.4. I love that lens! It doesn't get as much use from me as it probably should but it is a very nice lens and takes some pretty amazing photos.

Katie, I really like the photo of the pregnant woman making the heart on her stomach.

[Katie]

She is a friend of mine who had wanted to get it done and had no idea I was a photographer. She fell in love with the photo! She has asked me to do her son's Christmas pictures as well when they are back in town. He will be two months old and very easy to pose!

[Austin]

If I can recover my photos off my drive I'll post my good ones.

Canon is the best camera company out there. But I dont particularly like carrying around a big SLR with me around at the parks so my SD780 IS suits me fine. At least the battery in it lasts alot longer than my first camera did (Power Shot A510). Had to change its batteries about 3 times at Holiday World.

[Katie]

Our powershot sucks at battery life. It's a friggin tragedy. We are in the market to do a point and shoot type camera that has a movie mode in it as well. While we have the Flip HD video camera, we like taking as little in a park as possible. Anyone have some good recommendations for a pocket sized point and shoot? I'd appreciate it.

[Austin]

My SD 780 Is has 720p movie capability and does pretty good job. Its actually as good or better than my Sony Camcorder/Camera.

I love the rechargeable battery especially after it proved its worth on my 2010 Disney adventure. I was able to make it through a full week at the parks with only one battery and charging nightly. Which then led me to take close to 2000 pictures haha. By comparison, in 2006 I only did about 400 on that power shot.

[Graham]

I've been looking for a new point and shoot to upgrade my old Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS (The batter last forever on mine). The camera is okay but doesn't take amazing photos and lacks HD video. I've been looking at either the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 or the Olympus SZ-30MR. They both do full 1080p video. I like that the Panasonic is water resistant and is smaller but I'm betting the image quality is better with the Olympus (I haven't gone to a store to test them out yet).

[Rick B]

I'm happy with my SD1300 IS for a point and shoot. It's about the size of a cell phone and I've had good results with the pictures. The battery lasts forever and it also takes video which I haven't done much with, yet. I didn't want to put a lot of money into mine as it goes with me on all rides (in cargo pocket or on my belt in the zipped case).

I love all the previous pictures posted, btw! Some day I'll get a real camera. I'm using one that is a few years old for my main camera but it works for website quality pictures.

[Daniel Barto]

I'm still learning all this stuff, so bare with me. Here are some of my favorite pictures that I have taken.


I usually don't like editing my photos, but I really like the way this one turned out.


Here it is unedited














The late Great American Scream Machine










Slightly Edited


Same as above




And here's my all time favorite picture I have ever taken/edited slightly

[Austin]

I'm curious, what is everybody's SD card capacity? Mines 16GB (old one was 1GB)

[Katie]

^I do like that last one Daniel. I have been messing around with pictures doing black and white with a touch of color in it. I have found it a little difficult because you really need a steady hand and photoshop. LOL

[Austin]

Photoshop is awesome. I really love the blue sky feature. Cloudy day doesn't even stop me from taking a picture. Just throw it on and it looks natural. Just depends on what you do with it though. Some stuff looks good, some doesnt.

I did a good Photoshop project for Senior year with a picture I took at the Kentucky State Fair. Turned out pretty good for a Photoshop noob haha.


As you can see there was a bit of work to do.


Overall I thought it came out pretty good. Didn't get that wall exactly right but at least there isn't a hot dog/snack vendor there anymore.

Heres a few from my Belle of Louisville trip. I did about 50 pictures but only 10 of them were pretty good. Mostly of the Louisville skyline.


Pretty good picture. Yum center really is a nice addition to the waterfront.







I just wish the river wasn't so brown haha.

[Katie]

We only use a 4gb card in our Rebel. We have taken over 500 pictures with it and it still had room in it. Our Flip camera for video only holds two hours worth of video at a shot. All we do is plug it into the USB port, put the video into the computer and start over. It also charges in the USB port.

[Austin]

You could probably benefit from a 16GB card. I always take pictures with the highest settings since you can always re-size them to the dimensions you need later on. So I'm taking pictures with 4000x3000. An empty card give me room for about 5000 pictures. Drop the setting down to lower and it just shows up saying 9999 haha.

[sclisso]

I don't have many spectacular pictures, and I take most of my pictures with my iphone now, so the quality isn't the greatest, but these 4 from my KD trip I absolutely love. There's others I like, but these were easy to get to. I'll upload more later,lol.

[Graham]

Daniel Barto, I really like some of your photos. The one of the cans on the shelf and the one of the ferris wheel (the B&W with color) are really nice. What camera do you use? Also, what coaster is the one going through the loop with the single car and 3 rows of passengers (the 11th photo).

I primarily use two 16GB compact flash cards in my 7D and an 8GB SD card in my point and shoot.

[Chip]

Bump! Here are some photos I took recently. I still have the same gear.


Seaholm power plant by raptoralex, on Flickr


Seaholm power plant sign by raptoralex, on Flickr


360 condos by raptoralex, on Flickr


Skyscrapers and stacks by raptoralex, on Flickr


W Hotel by raptoralex, on Flickr


Bridge by raptoralex, on Flickr

[Graham]

I really like the photos of the power plant!

[Rick B]

Yes, those power plant photos are great! I'm not sure I'd buy a condo overlooking the power plant, though...

[Graham]

Also, if anyone is interested you can download a free beta of Adobe Lightroom 4. The free version will expire as soon as they release the full version (probably about $300). Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 | photo management software beta - Adobe Labs

I downloaded it a few days ago and have really enjoyed playing with the new features.

[CP Maverick]

I'd love to post my pics but they were all taken with a Nikon Coolpix from 2002 on a 128mb (biggest available) card. Max resolution 1600x1200

So I'll spare everyone the agony.

[Chip]

Here are more photos I took recently.


Moonrise by raptoralex, on Flickr


Moon over Austin HDR by raptoralex, on Flickr
This one is three exposures, including the first one I showed above, merged to create an HDR shot. I thought it turned out pretty good.


Firetrucks in sepia by raptoralex, on Flickr
These are some old firetrucks outside the volunteer fire department in my hometown, which I visited a little more than a year ago. I edited the sepia color, vignette and grain.

[Rick B]

Thanks for sharing those. The top one is my favorite.

[Racer]

Daniel Barto, I really like some of your photos. The one of the cans on the shelf and the one of the ferris wheel (the B&W with color) are really nice. What camera do you use? Also, what coaster is the one going through the loop with the single car and 3 rows of passengers (the 11th photo).

It looks like Dare Devil Dive at SFOG

[Daniel Barto]

It looks like Dare Devil Dive at SFOG

That's it. My apologies for missing the question in earlier posts; for some reason I didn't read it.
To answer the camera one I now use a really nice Nikon (I believe), but for all the older photos I used an older Cannon Powershot (power**** as I like to call it). I'm pretty low tech with my camera stuff.

[Chris H]

Millennium Force at Coaster Mania 2011 between 5:30-6am! I loved taking this pic!



The 2 Diamondback pictures had to be submitted, because it's my baby! They are from closing day 2011. The first one is from morning ERT (it wasn't open too cold!) and the 2nd one is from mid-afternoon under the protective netting. I thought it looked cool!

[Daniel Barto]

I've been messing around with something called "Tilt Shift" photography. For those of you that don't know what that is, tilt shift is where you you edit a photo to make it look like it's a miniature
Here are some I've done on photos I've taken:














Comments?

[Katie]

I've decided to add a few more that we have taken over the last few months that are worthy of posting. Oh, Daniel by the way, those are really neat looking!