Photos

[kneeshooter]

First of all, this is purely for my benefit - not for any others entertainment, but feel free to massage my ego if you like me, or the results. Professionals or other people who know what they are doing are asked not to laugh.



I liked this policeman. I was half-concerned that he might take offence at me setting up a tripod in the centre of Birmingham on a busy Saturday.


This I like - showing the movement of the people around the statue of the bull. The bull itself is magnificent, challenging, full of movement - yet here it is frozen amidst a sea of people.


Nothing special, but it amused me - I find the contrast amusing between the noisy street-sellers who are all trying to be heard over the crows and a single shot of one, out of context, but silent.


A long exposure, but handheld so a bit of jitter. I'm getting much more pretentious aware of light and movement now.

Comments

[thepurplegoth.livejournal.com]

I like those :) I need a decent camera...

[mister-ed.livejournal.com]

Nice.. I especially like the bull picture, although probably more for what it represents than the image itself.

Are these done with a proper camera, or are they digital?

/*wonders if you _can_ take long exposure piccies with digital camera*/

[kneeshooter]

I agree with you about the bull - the idea is better than the execution. Still - when I work out what I'm doing I might go back to it as a subject - or perhaps publish a copy that isn't max compression/worst quality jpeg :-)

These are my first attempts in many years to use a proper camera, first time ever with an SLR, having eschewed digital for a bit.

My digicam will do long exposures - but it's range isn't as good as the SLR, and when I last tried it wouldn't compensate for the exposure time by reducing the apeture (probably just a setting mind!) so the ones I took were heavily overexposed.

I considered taking the shots in parallel with the digital (I was carrying it) but decided in the end that would be too much fiddling.

[mister-ed.livejournal.com]

I sometimes tinker with the idea of trying my hand at photography... but I really don't know where to start.. and my finances bite deep :)

I guess my speciality is much more on the post-production side, anyway.. I'm terrible at original artwork. but give me an image/photo to work with and I can do wonders.

Still.. one of these days I'll no doubt dabble :)

[kneeshooter]

I'm a definite dabbler in the creative arts. For inspiration I went out with three aims:

1. Get some long exposure shots


2. Shoot a whole 24 exposure film


3. Pay vague attention to venta's composition competition - here

[mimeticgel.livejournal.com]

The main differences between a digital camera and film are:
1. Lens – SLRs let in a lot more light
2. Film – this has more resolution than a digital camera.

That said, you can get SLR type digital cameras. The problem is that Digital camera’s are soon superseded whereas Film cameras are fairly stable with improvements coming in the film.

[yapman.livejournal.com]

Canon do a nice SLR digital that's compatible with (indeed part of the range) their EOS series (of which I still own and occassionally use my 15 year old film one, proving your point).

[kneeshooter]

The camera I've got from my brother is an EOS. The EOS entry level digital is the next target of my savings account.

[mimeticgel.livejournal.com]

The photos are nice but I feel you are relying on “gimmick” rather than composition of shot.

The police man shot might have been better from a wider angle so we could see what he was looking at and also the person who’s face we see through the window.

The bull is the better picture as it is representing something. The speed & power of the bull trapped within the statue while those who are trapped within the shopping centre appear to be free.

The balloons appear to be too much of a mess.

The car lights also does not appear to have a context. Now a long exposure with say a train stood still while cars wiz past would be good, or for the more green streams of busses while the traffic stays still.

My suggestion for improvement would be to think of the story, the thousand words that your picture will tell.

[nortysarah.livejournal.com]

I think they're good as a first attempt. The bull works really well. You should try using a tripod as it would have made the balloons a lot less messy. The car one - it's nice to see how those come out, but because a lot of people have taken images like this, you should try to make yours different - a parked car or immobile person in the throng of movement. Try taking three of four shots of the same thing - the first couple you will almost certainly ditch for the latter as they become more interesting. If you want any advice - just ask!

[kneeshooter]

Thanks - although it sounds like a lame excuse I was pretty much just burning through a roll of film and seeing what came out.

Part of the problem with the balloons and another one I've not put up of a flower stall is that I was shooting at max-zoom across a busy road, in the centre of Birminhgam. That really was a circumstance where I needed to take half a dozen, rather than the one I did.

[ellefurtle.livejournal.com]

I know sod all about such things, but I like. My photos are always ghastly, so I feel free to be impressed!

[ant-girl.livejournal.com]

How did you get the policeman's jacket in colour but the rest of it black and white?

[kneeshooter]

Photoshop :-)

[ant-girl.livejournal.com]

Tha'ss cheating. :-p

[kneeshooter]

Since when?

[ant-girl.livejournal.com]

Ok, so it's not. But I thought you might have done it with a clever camera trick like the other clever camera tricks you were employing.

[kneeshooter]

Shooting in black and white is something I'd like to try, but it's more expensive and more difficult to get processed.

So, scanner and Photoshop it is.

[ant-girl.livejournal.com]

Yes it's a pain.

Andy used to develop his own. If he could be arsed.

As a result I still have a bunch of undeveloped black and white films from eons gone by.

[mimeticgel.livejournal.com]

B&W - DIY
Buy film in bulk & wind your own rolls.
Develop them yourself with a dark bag and developing tank.

It's a bit harder do your own prints as you need a dark room. I have managed with a bathroom in the past with success. And there should be some good enlargers available second hand.

Failing that join a club or try you local collages as they often have dark rooms.

Or scan the negatives and let Photoshop do the rest ;)

[yapman.livejournal.com]

Given his ease of access to schools, I'm sure he should be able to get occassional dark room access. My school can't have been the only one ...

[kneeshooter]

The policeman shot is actually a crop of the full-size scan. I cropped it like that to get some sense of symmetry - but of course the angle of the camera to the mirrored window means it doesn't work quite as neatly.

I see what you're saying about the Bull. It's a good point - and another time I'll try to vary the length of the exposure of such shots - now I have more of an idea of the results.