anyone use extension tubes? Do you like em? are they the cheap ones or the good kind with electrical contacts for AF and junk.

4/25/2008 5:51:22 PM

I went to the zoo today

god I want an IS lens badly now

but I got some good stuff, especially behind glass - you can't tell they are behind glass!

I'll upload some later

4/25/2008 9:46:27 PM

Meerkat- this was indoors. I played around with flash. This pic it was off. I did a lot of stuff in photoshop



Cougar- this was behind glass! I did nothing but resize in photoshop!!



Elephant- I did some work to get the background softened. I will probably work on this image some more and try to get it printed- I love it




What I learned today- shoot in RAW and get a monopod for next time, if not an IS lens too. Be patient. Kids will move, animals will change to better positions as well. Walk the entire zoo more than once. ALL OF THE ABOVE PICTURES WERE NOT CROPPED EITHER!! I was glad I don't need to looking at a lot of these pics. My skills have certainly improved lately. I can justify some equipment upgrades to a certain extent now. I will probably spend the next step learning how to play around with RAW conversion before buying equipment.

[Edited on April 25, 2008 at 10:36 PM. Reason : raw]

4/25/2008 10:32:53 PM

If you get a monopod, I recommend getting a quick detach and/or tilt-swivel head for it as well if you're going to be on the move and want to collapse the monopod often.

4/26/2008 11:22:22 AM

I'd really like to watch someone doing the editing they do in photoshop... Some before/after things I've seen are incredible but I have no idea how to make things happen like that in photshop

I mean, I can chop people out and shit like that, just no idea how to make a picture look better..

4/26/2008 1:15:06 PM

Hahah, I remember all the times we got to drinking and looking at a photoshoot from that day, and my bf would get some crazy photoshop idea. We'd sit down at my computer and get to work on it, and he's just watch me make it a reality.

One of those ideas was to combine a shot of a deer crossing the road with a shot of a deer crossing sign. He wanted to remove the deer out of the sign and put the sign in the foreground, with the deer visible through the cutout.

Eventually we decided it was too corny so we left the deer in the sign, and just put the real deer in the background off to the side, with the sign out of focus. I eventually got another shot of a deer in full stride and thought that looked cooler.

4/26/2008 1:33:36 PM

I ran across both of these yesterday.

4/26/2008 8:38:01 PM

OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH ITTTTTT'SSSSS A SSSNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKEEEE!!!

4/27/2008 5:57:12 PM

oooh, so im not the only one around photographing snakes. granted my job involves snakes, so it's a lil different for me. (just in case you were curious and didnt know, first is a garter snake, second is a racer).

barking treefrog


corn snake (dont like the angle, but it came out clearly)


another eastern diamondback



last year's young, cottonmouth


scarlet kingsnake


canebrake rattlesnake


thats probably more than enough for now.

4/27/2008 6:45:24 PM

^thanks for the clarification... I knew the first was a garter but was unsure if the second was a black rat snake or racer. Very nice shots by the way.

4/27/2008 7:07:40 PM

^thanks, but im still pretty much a big photo n00b, only been shooting Digital SLR for a few months. taking a lot of photo tips from Crotalus.

one pretty easy way to almost always tell the difference between racers and black rat snakes is when you approach the snake...if it takes off so fast you think it could outrun you, it's a racer. if it tries to get away at a bit of a slower pace, it's most likely a black rat.

4/27/2008 9:18:36 PM

4/27/2008 9:34:43 PM

no more snake pictures!! eeks!

ordered my nikon d40 last week, should be ariving sometime this week, so look forward to some truly craptastic pictures from me (and hopefully they will get better!)

4/28/2008 2:17:36 PM

dude if that last picture were clearly old people it would be an awesome stock photo for ANY retirement savings plan business

5/1/2008 9:50:49 PM

Went to Umstead today

Didn't see much of anything. No mammals at all.

Got some toads though

5/2/2008 5:22:35 PM

5/4/2008 6:28:42 PM

^That's some beautiful landscape, and it's oh so green. Did you do anything to enhance the colors?

5/4/2008 7:11:23 PM

It is... can't wait until fall to try this again. I used the gradient tool to make the sky bluer (need a polarizer), messed with shadow/highlight and levels to enhance the colors.

5/4/2008 7:52:32 PM

bored around the house

so I walked outside and tried the following:





I would love to do trick when I go to the track next with cars that are just sitting stationary.

5/5/2008 2:02:14 PM

Picasa doesn't export any sharpening done to an image.

I have GIMP, but that's a really steep learning curve.

I'd like something on my PC that's comparable to picasa, but actually works completely.

Suggestions? I can get a deal on adobe software, but would rather not shell out for lightroom, so I might get the beta download, but I had it on my mac, and oh my god, it was cumbersome.

Suggestions?

I've got a lot of photos I'd like to process

5/5/2008 3:35:43 PM

5/6/2008 4:31:04 PM

i really like the colors

5/6/2008 4:32:13 PM

I really wish I had a better lens for that shot. I am debating between a 70-300 US IS and a 70-200 4l US but no image stabilization, but its an L lens and the 4.0 is throughout the entire zoom.......same price for both. I have a 300 now (el cheapo) so I am used to 300mm but 200mm with an L quality lens and some cropping will probably be just fine, and maybe even better

5/6/2008 7:31:16 PM

Actually I figure this technique would be better suited for still cars. I mean all you do is zoom IN while you take the exposure. My car is obviously not moving. I love this technique and it can ONLY be done with SLRs..........



It also looks cool if you are looking up at a bunch of trees.

5/6/2008 9:52:12 PM

^^Another option you might look into is Canon's new EF-S 55-250 IS lens. It's not USM, but it's pretty damn good for the price. Lots more affordable than the other two.

5/7/2008 12:07:40 AM

thanks, that has a lot more in terms of focal lengths. What about Tamron or another company?

5/7/2008 8:32:11 AM

I spend a lot of time out in the woods now looking for critters and I really do feel IS is almost necessary for me. That bird shot was in an area with tons of light so it didn't matter. But I swear I took 10 shots of a frog in the shade and no matter what every shot was just a little blurry or out of focus.

Plus I love to go to VIR and take pictures all the time and have gotten used to the 300mm range in my favorite spots to take shots!

I really believe I will get the 70-300 IS USM that is around $550-$600 as my lens and sell my 75-300 cheapy lens once I get it...............

I can use the IS lens for a while and sell it on ebay for about $450 if I take care of it, just based on listings, if I want to upgrade again as well. It has to be better than the one I have though!

[Edited on May 7, 2008 at 10:41 AM. Reason : clarification ]

5/7/2008 10:40:14 AM

Just bought a D40x yesterday, my first foray into real photography. Here's some of the ones I liked, don't mind the n00bishness of them all.

Constructive criticism more than welcome!!








Random picture I snapped to test my ISO/aperture settings, wasn't looking for a subject but I like the way the colors came out:



I called this the "Concrete Beach:"





The following two are credited to Sam Daughtry, someone that knew more about what they were doing with my camera:




I feel like this is one of those "moments" that makes photography what it is. Not that it couldn't have been captured better by someone who knows what they're doing, but at least someone got it:









I guess it's pretty evident where I went right after I bought the camera...I took a bunch more into the evening and night at various other locations, but I'm still battling holding the camera still through long exposures, so I'm not going to bludgeon your eyes with the blurry ones

anyway, I'm stoked!


edit: epic failure. sorry if the pics don't load right away, I'm using google's Picasa thing and I don't think it likes hotlinking...

[Edited on May 8, 2008 at 5:36 PM. Reason : picasa]

5/8/2008 5:27:01 PM

" Canon's new EF-S 55-250 IS lens"

I've been thinking about this lens, the price is right but it seems like it will probably be too slow for the type of photography I like to do. More likely I'm going to pick up the EF 70-200mm f/4L lens for my Rebel XT. I've only heard good things about this lens.

5/8/2008 9:00:11 PM

Thats on my probably list too, like I said an L lens is niiiiiiiiice. Still trying to decide which to buy, need to get it before the end of JUNE so I have a while

5/8/2008 9:18:13 PM

I looked at the 55-250 but i'm just not sold on it. Will be picking up the 70-200 f/4L soon, have to get used to it before the big trip... and should provide for better resale if I decide to go to the IS or the f/2.8 later

5/9/2008 9:01:18 AM

Quote :

"and should provide for better resale if I decide to go to the IS or the f/2.8 later"

thats one thing that I love about this hobby, you can basically recover 80% of the cost of a good lens if you take care of it

5/9/2008 9:07:37 AM

why did you take a picture of zachary brewster and not get a closeup of that beard? why did you even buy a nice camera if you're not going to document greatness?

5/9/2008 9:40:40 AM

^That is exactly what I was thinking!!

Zach is such a great part of NCSU. I strongly recommend any class offered by him. He is an all around great guy.

5/9/2008 3:23:12 PM

Zack's up here at the bar right now, I'll see if I can get an epic beard shot if I have a minute

5/9/2008 5:52:41 PM

I'd almost sell my setup for $500 if someone would pay cash. I have no time for hobbies.

5/9/2008 6:27:10 PM

^whatcha got?

5/9/2008 9:04:00 PM

Canon Digital Rebel XT body, Sigma DG 28-70mm f/2.8-4, 2GB card, Manfrotto digi monopod (676B), Small red Tamrac 514 bag (made in USA), a dysfunctional (elevator lever broke, so I removed it and elevation can be set manually) tripod with detachable window mount, battery, charger, cabled shutter button, card reader (if you really needed one).

Looks like the body has under 1000 shutter operations.

5/10/2008 10:33:44 AM

5/10/2008 1:48:45 PM

^settings for that pic? time of day, lighting, etc?

5/10/2008 2:24:25 PM

Canon 30D with Tamron 17-50 f/2.8
ISO 100, f/3.5, 25 sec
monochrome with red filter

Early morning around 8:00 AM, cloudy. Single window for natural light to the left, quick flashlight burst from the right.

5/10/2008 2:54:10 PM

more pics at work

cottonmouth


friend just gave me his old telephoto, so i had to put it to good use.

young gators

5/11/2008 1:29:57 AM

Where were those taken?!

5/11/2008 1:39:06 AM

cant reveal the exact location, but far southern south carolina

5/11/2008 1:53:35 AM

5/11/2008 11:12:58 AM

some old paint on the outer wall of some old building in downtown

5/11/2008 3:54:41 PM

I can't put my finger on what I really like about this one:












quick shot as the doors were closing:






experimenting with flash redirection:

5/11/2008 7:07:28 PM

i really like this picture




im thinking about getting this picture framed for the bride and groom since i still owe them a wedding present

5/12/2008 9:50:44 AM

Took some pictures out at Lake Johnson this morning...all untouched pictures, no processing at all. I love this camera








probably my favorite of this set, love the way the light plays off the tree bark:

5/12/2008 12:15:57 PM

eh... pulled the camera out to get reacquainted with it while cooking dinner tonight...

5/14/2008 9:48:09 PM