A few of my favorite photos

DrunkenZombiee · August 04, 2011, 07:58:13 PM

I would really like to share with you all a few of my photos which I have to hand of animals.

I don't alter my photos in any way (and I wont until they monitor is calibrated and i learn how to use Photoshop properly) at the moment simply crop when needed =). I also am an amateur so I have the cheap end of the kit available so these photos will not be super quality.

My Swan picture. Probably the most loved of my photos by my family as many people would like Canvases of this photo once I have my calibration tool and have tuned the photo to bring out the colours.

The infamous picture of a Swan taken from about a foot away. This guy was trying to eat me he was an evil bugga. I love this photo in particular because of the narrow DOF and lens distortion somehow seems to bring out the character in the animal.

Again this is technically a bad shot due to the DOF but it somehow makes the frog seem to have a persona about him while other photos at f/11 just didn't make him seem to come to life. I also love the fact that he seems to think he is completely camouflaged against the pot. I have an awesome crop of this photo with just the frog enlarged as my background at home.

I have millions of pictures of Bees and flowers but this one seems to jump out at me for some reason. Its a bad photo due to it being taken at 300mm so lots of chromatic aberration when viewed close up but somehow I don't care =).

This is also a "bad picture" technically but I love it anyway for some reason even though it has a lot of faults.

I have about a thousand nice photos of flowers, nature and landscapes which I can also post up under their respective headings if people are interested.

Feedback would be great.

DZ

sulky_uk · August 04, 2011, 08:14:38 PM

cool and the gang mate, all good

BrotherTobious · August 04, 2011, 08:40:39 PM

meh I am not in any of them

nice work mate

TheDvEight · August 04, 2011, 09:55:40 PM

Really nice collection DZ There are many simple tutorials on photoshop for beginners thats how i got myself fimilar with the programme (i googled what i was after most of the time example "how to put borders on a picture in photoshop") But really nice collection with 0 edit which is sometimes a good thing

DrunkenZombiee · August 04, 2011, 10:28:04 PM

I tend not to take "Traditional" photos and only stuff that interests me. This normally means interesting angles and DOF to get character. I tend to walk around with the lens at its sharpest take a photo, then be a bit more experimental and choose what result is the best afterwards. Normally I pick the experimental ones over the traditional because most of the time they are cooler. Prolly makes me a bad photographer but I don't care!

I can do the basics fine in Photoshop Dick... Frames, vignettes etc are no problem. I am talking more about more advanced things such correcting parts of the photo colour using brushes etc. I think its more about getting my eye in to add drama to photos with gradients and brushes rather than knowing what buttons to push. I wont touch any of it will I have bought a calibration tool anyway.

I will post a few more animal pics up when I find them in my NAS and probably add some landscapes and flower shots. The portrait shots I have taken will have to remain offline for obvious reasons.

Thanks for the comments guys.

DZ

smilodon · August 16, 2011, 09:08:03 AM

Quote from: BrotherTobious;330313meh I am not in any of them nice work mate

What do you mean? That's you in pic three isn't it?

Here's another form of photography that I can't do, macro wildlife, so I'm especially impressed. Great stuff. I love wildlife photography but can't seem to get to grips with shooting tiny stuff like insects etc. You're shots actually make me want to go out and have another crack at it, so :worship:

On the subject of editing I think for most photographers Photoshop is a six pound club hammer trying to crack a nut. It's a massive program and I probably use 5% of what it can do. However Adobe Lightroom is a whole other beast. Right now it's on offer and while it's still not cheap it's IMHO the finest piece of photographic software you can get and perfect for 95% of what a photographer needs to do to an image. There's a free trial as well. There's always Photoshop Elements as well, which is worth a look.

DrunkenZombiee · August 17, 2011, 02:02:49 AM

Are these actually classed as macro then Smilo? I don't have a macro lens as these are done by getting up close with the 17-50mm and 70-300mm.

Extensuon tubes are on my xmas list. ND filters and a polariser too.

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smilodon · August 17, 2011, 09:59:12 AM

I'm not sure on the exact definition of macro. But the insect shot definitely looks macro. Maybe anything with a 1:1 ratio or bigger is a macro?

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Luminance · August 17, 2011, 01:19:24 PM

Quote from: DrunkenZombiee;330321Normally I pick the experimental ones over the traditional because most of the time they are cooler. Prolly makes me a bad photographer but I don't care!

Thats actually what makes you a better photographer...
Any idiot can pick up a camera and photograph anything they like point blank. (I did it for 2 years) Its the more creative/experimental photo's that define a photographer (his style so to speak).

I like your winter swan photo alot. It's exactly what such a photo needed to make it interesting.

The frog is also a gem, with the same coloured background. I haven't had the privilage to make such a shot yet, not that I don't have nice frog foto's, but they are more biology book photo's then a real photograph, like yours.

DrunkenZombiee · August 17, 2011, 04:50:42 PM

Quote from: smilodon;331124I'm not sure on the exact definition of macro. But the insect shot definitely looks macro. Maybe anything with a 1:1 ratio or bigger is a macro?

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I think its the cropped APS-C sensor in my 550D that gives me the extra zoom factor with the same minimum focusing distance? It does seem to magnify slightly but I am not sure really how a 35mm camera image should look as the last full frame camera I had had film in it :blink:. I will have a read tonight to see if that is the case.

Quote from: Luminance;331140Thats actually what makes you a better photographer...
Any idiot can pick up a camera and photograph anything they like point blank. (I did it for 2 years) Its the more creative/experimental photo's that define a photographer (his style so to speak).

I like your winter swan photo alot. It's exactly what such a photo needed to make it interesting.

The frog is also a gem, with the same coloured background. I haven't had the privilage to make such a shot yet, not that I don't have nice frog foto's, but they are more biology book photo's then a real photograph, like yours.

Cheers mate =). I have been lucky to stumble upon wildlife recently when I have had the camera to hand.

Insects are awesome to take photos of this time of year as you can just pre-focus on the flower and wait, or handhold your camera and set it to focus on a central AF point and snap focus on a bee while its on a flower and hope that you get a get shot relying on the auto focus to get your a sharp picture. I don't use tripods when taking snaps really, only If i want to be in the photo myself or for group shots.

Thanks for the feedback.

DZ