Nikon DSLR "Picture Of The Day"

Woke up to a little snow this morning

taken with the 50mm 1.8 prime no flash
hand held so I know it is not to sharp


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/104/3...eee41631aa.jpg

Twism, I love the photo with the gulls. Nice job!

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Originally Posted by cincyimages

Twism, I love the photo with the gulls. Nice job!

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Ahh.. thanks a ton :)

Went out for a walk yesterday to try get my first B&W shot...

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...SC_13601ss.jpg

Converted to BW in photoshop

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Twism

Ahh.. thanks a ton :)

Went out for a walk yesterday to try get my first B&W shot...

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...SC_13601ss.jpg

Converted to BW in photoshop

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you lost a little in the foreground when going b/w. when you did the conversion, did you just do an "auto convert" or did you use the r/g/b levels ?

this is a really nice photo and if you convert it a little better in ps, i think it's a real keeper in b/w. love the trees.

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Originally Posted by Rooz

you lost a little in the foreground when going b/w. when you did the conversion, did you just do an "auto convert" or did you use the r/g/b levels ?

this is a really nice photo and if you convert it a little better in ps, i think it's a real keeper in b/w. love the trees.

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I wasnt aware that there was an "auto convert" :(.. to answer your question, I desaturated it and then played around with the contrast a bit. :o

Could I possibly PM or post the origanal so you could show me what you mean? or how you would do it? It would be a nice learning experience for me :)

And lastly, thanks for the kind words :o

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/178/3...1251a8e4c4.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Twism

I wasnt aware that there was an "auto convert" :(.. to answer your question, I desaturated it and then played around with the contrast a bit. :o

Could I possibly PM or post the origanal so you could show me what you mean? or how you would do it? It would be a nice learning experience for me :)

And lastly, thanks for the kind words :o

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Great shot Twism, go ahead and pm or post it I'd like to see what I could do with it.

Quote:

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Great shot Twism, go ahead and pm or post it I'd like to see what I could do with it.

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Thank you XaiLo :)

Just did an auto conversion from RAW and sized it down a bit from the original. just shout if you would prefer the original original...

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...10111/park.jpg

Thanks for the help... will be waiting to see your results.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Twism

I wasnt aware that there was an "auto convert" :(.. to answer your question, I desaturated it and then played around with the contrast a bit. :o

Could I possibly PM or post the origanal so you could show me what you mean? or how you would do it? It would be a nice learning experience for me :)

And lastly, thanks for the kind words :o

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Simply dialling down saturation usually leads to rather flat looking B&W conversions... one popular method in Photoshop is to use a Channel Mixer adjustment layer so you can dial in the amount of luminance taken from each of the RGB channels. The new version (CS3) has an autoconvert to B&W with sliders to allow you to do pretty much the same thing. I'd show you, but I'm at work right now with no photoshop.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Twism

I wasnt aware that there was an "auto convert" :(.. to answer your question, I desaturated it and then played around with the contrast a bit. :o

Could I possibly PM or post the origanal so you could show me what you mean? or how you would do it? It would be a nice learning experience for me :)

And lastly, thanks for the kind words :o

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it just takes some practice and TBH, it all comes down to your taste aswell.
photo #1 and #2 are using just the contrast/ brightness scales. one has the foreground too dark, (similar to your original), the other looks very "flat" if you try and brighten it up.

#3 is using levels and curves and r/g/b channels. #4 just adds a bit of warmth for a touch of sepia.

(many apologies for the multiple photos mr admin)

Ah man, nice job Rooz.. I see what you were talking about now. The last two look great.

Ok, just to clear one or two things up for me for a final time.. I assume that the first thing I do is desaturate the image? and then start playing around with curves, levels and the channel mixer? In any perticular order? or do I just play around with each untill it looks right to me?

Once again.. thanks to all, you've all been a great help :)

Just to keep in the swing of things:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...fDicklands.jpg

That was the evening before it snowed here in london... it was icy cold :)

I got one:

Nikon D80, Tamron 17-50 f2.8, single SB800 triggered using the D80 Commander mode fired through an umbrella to the camera's left. Window light providing the touch of fill in the shadows.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...lette198aw.jpg


OK, I lied...I got two. Same setup except this time we're at ISO800 (to pull in more of the ambient light in the stairwell) and the SB800/umbrella is to the camera's right...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...lette242aw.jpg

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Originally Posted by jamison55

I got one:

Nikon D80, Tamron 17-50 f2.8, single SB800 triggered using the D80 Commander mode fired through an umbrella to the camera's left. Window light providing the touch of fill in the shadows.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...lette198aw.jpg


OK, I lied...I got two. Same setup except this time we're at ISO800 (to pull in more of the ambient light in the stairwell) and the SB800/umbrella is to the camera's right...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...lette242aw.jpg

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Awsome shots.... maybe one day I will be able to take pics like that of people... guess I have to get the right equipment first :o

Anyways, I think they came out great!

I agree, very nice shots. The lighting seems very natural, you made excellent use of that SB-800 off camera. Also, I really like the warm background in the second picture.

ill keep the trend going
d50
18-55
fooled around with in adobe lightroom

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/9706/adsc0011tz6.jpg

jamison55, awesome shots. Very nice use of lighting.

Thanks guys. My favorite thing about that D80 is how easy it is to set up an off camera light!

A local buzzard taken this afternoon while out walking.

D70s 70-300ED @ 300, f5.6. 1/1000 ISO200. With 50% crop

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Originally Posted by AllanC

A local buzzard taken this afternoon while out walking.

D70s 70-300ED @ 300, f5.6. 1/1000 ISO200. With 50% crop

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Nice shot, Allan. It's a shame the range of the 70-300 is so limiting :)... In such situations I always wish I had a lens with a reach of 500 to 800 mm :eek: . Still, the placement of the bird in the frame is great (with most empty space in front of the bird).

One of my photos from November--March 2007 cover shot. :)

http://www.quietflyer.com/current_issue/current.html

A very quick B&W conversion with limiting software, picture project.:rolleyes:
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/160 sec - F/6.3
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 100

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/126/3...adf9b68399.jpg


night shot with the 50mm 1.8

d50
18-55
18foca f9

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/2098/dsc0144lp6.jpg

I figured that I would post some of my pics that Ive taken with my Nikon DSLR since I got it for christmas. There a little different though..

If you would like to see more of my pics check out:
http://www.lotus-design.deviantart.com

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...72e611a7cf.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...55573e44e1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...fac7a83933.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...167c9441d0.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...85e99d50ae.jpg

Really cool pics from a wide variety of places so I thought I would throw one in and see what you guys think. Screen grab to bmp and converted to jpg in Paint.
Comments for and against welcome:
Hand held
Camera: Nikon D200
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 150mm
Shutter: 1/320
Aperture: f9
Lens: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX

sometimes when a portrait goes "wrong", it goes right !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dark Lotus

I figured that I would post some of my pics that Ive taken with my Nikon DSLR since I got it for christmas. There a little different though..

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how did you get the words in the sign to be red with such great definition ?:confused: whenever i try to do it, it looks crap.

Everybody has gone B&W, thought I would try
since it is shades of grey here anyways.

Attachment 19555

f/14, 1/20ss, auto wb, iso 200

ooooohhh that is one neat b&w photo. To be honest I don't think you have it quite right but great shot for the b&w.

Not quite right? Could you offer suggestions to what you think needs fixing?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dark Lotus

I figured that I would post some of my pics that Ive taken with my Nikon DSLR since I got it for christmas. There a little different though..

If you would like to see more of my pics check out:
http://www.lotus-design.deviantart.com

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Dark Lotus, very nice shots you got there. I really like the colours in the shots. My favourite one is the second. I really love that red sky, and the streaks of the car lights make the picture very interesting. Your use of partial black and white is also great.

I assume you have used post processing on all these shots. What kind of techniques do you use to get the colours like that? Also, do you use a polarizer to get the skys to look like that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rawpaw18

Not quite right? Could you offer suggestions to what you think needs fixing?

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I agree it is a great black and white shot. The composition is very nice, with so much depth being created by the dock. The foreground is well exposed, and the black and white works great there. The only thing I like less, is the sky. It is a bit blown out. If this was not the case in the original I think the conversion could use a bit more empahsis on the red channel. Otherwise, I think I would have underexposed a little to get the sky right and then raise the brightness of the foreground using D-lighting.

Thanks for the input D.
It was light snow and fog. There was no chance to keep the sky from over exposing without giving up dof. There was no color to the sky to start with, it was pretty much white to start with. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Sorry cincy for two in one day, just trying to learn something.
So technically I screwed up right from the start?
Original:
Attachment 19556

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rawpaw18

Thanks for the input D.
It was light snow and fog. There was no chance to keep the sky from over exposing without giving up dof. There was no color to the sky to start with, it was pretty much white to start with. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

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In that case, I think you got the most out of the situation. There's no point in having a sky that is entirely light grey instead of a sky that is white. I was hoping there was somewhat of a texture in the sky, but given that there is none, I wouldn't have done it any other way.

EDIT: After playing around with the colour image, I do think that a darker sky does help in bringing making the trees in the background a bit clearer (though, on the other hand the haze also gives it some atmosphere). Here's an conversion I made after first making the sky darker. It was a rushed conversion, so the image quality is not too good.

http://prospero.cabspace.com/pictures/rawpaw.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rawpaw18

Sorry cincy for two in one day, just trying to learn something.
So technically I screwed up right from the start?
Original:
Attachment 19556

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i wouldn;t say you screwed up, they are very difficult circumstances to take photos of and almost always require post processing. one thing you might want to try is an aperture lock to try and avoid that sky blow out next time, but i doubt if even then its gonna work too well with so many light, bright shades of white and glare etc

smoke

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/3...eaf4175cc5.jpg

One of a few photos I took today.

D200
70-200

http://image.rcuniverse.com/forum/up...16/Vt56820.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Prospero

Dark Lotus, very nice shots you got there. I really like the colours in the shots. My favourite one is the second. I really love that red sky, and the streaks of the car lights make the picture very interesting. Your use of partial black and white is also great.

I assume you have used post processing on all these shots. What kind of techniques do you use to get the colours like that? Also, do you use a polarizer to get the skys to look like that?

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For post editing I usually just mess with the saturation, brightness/contrast, and exposure in Aperture, then I import it into PS and mess around with the image adjustments until I get what I want. Just go to Image - Adjustments and mess around with things in there. I dont think I used a polarizer on any of those shots.

....or is it just plain old aura?;)

Lens: 50mm F/1.8 D
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/400 sec - F/1.8