Photography thread

[condor]

Seeing Legobrandon's thread and realizing there are some photography enthusiasts here, I figured I would start a thread to discuss, critique, and give advice on anything in the photography field.

I've always liked taking pictures here and there, but a couple of years ago I made the jump to a DSLR (Canon XSi) and since then, I've been reading and getting as much information as I can better my photography skills.

Here are a couple of my favorite shots. Critiques are most welcome


Don't Wake the Beast by Condor80, on Flickr


Catch Me if You Can by Condor80, on Flickr


Sunset by Condor80, on Flickr


The Mothership has Landed

[peanut]

Nice shots!

[dr_spock]

Nice kitty. Have you considered getting in closer to take the pic or maybe cropping it closer?

[vynsane]

I don't think it needs to be cropped/zoomed at all, the composition really works very well, contrasting the different textures (rocks, wood, fur) and focal lengths (out of focus areas contrasting with the sharp focus areas) all in a very incredibly subtle color palette.

The sunset picture just makes me jealous because I want to go to there.

[vynsane]

Say what you will about the flickr redesign (not here, do that here, instead) but with the terabyte storage and 'latest 200' limit having been lifted, I've started to post a lot of non-LEGO photography to my photostream. Here are some of my latest shots:


Some Nature Photography...


Iris by vynsane, on Flickr


Tree fungus by vynsane, on Flickr


Fenced off sunset by vynsane, on Flickr


Long Dock Beacon by vynsane, on Flickr


Big sky over the Hudson River by vynsane, on Flickr


Cityscape...


GCT by vynsane, on Flickr


Chrysler Building by vynsane, on Flickr


gnidliuB etatS eirpmE by vynsane, on Flickr



Night Photography...


N.Y.N.H & H.R.R. by vynsane, on Flickr


Dentil by vynsane, on Flickr


Riding the rails by vynsane, on Flickr


Mixed Signals by vynsane, on Flickr


Dark Diner by vynsane, on Flickr

[vynsane]

My family and I went on a roadtrip recently, and I took over 4000 pictures. I've been posting the best of the best to my photostream, and here is the best of the best of the best:


Eagle Ironworks, Curtin Village, PA by vynsane, on Flickr


Curtin Village log home detail by vynsane, on Flickr


William G. Mather Steamship, Cleveland, OH by vynsane, on Flickr


Chicago skyscapers by vynsane, on Flickr


"The Bean" (Cloud Gate) by vynsane, on Flickr


Chicago sunshine by vynsane, on Flickr


Chicago from Lurie Garden, Millennium Park by vynsane, on Flickr


Chicago skyline near Water Tower Place by vynsane, on Flickr


When 103 stories just isn't enough... by vynsane, on Flickr


Rain above the city by vynsane, on Flickr


Storm clouds rolling out by vynsane, on Flickr


Blue Crane by vynsane, on Flickr

More to come... The Blue Crane pic was taken at the western-most point of our trip at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI. I'm adding them piecemeal by each stop along the way to the collection "Great Lakes Trip" (since we saw all five Great Lakes on the way.)

[vynsane]

More from a batch I just posted. These were taken in and around Fox Lake, WI:


BUICK - Valve in head! Fox Lake, WI by vynsane, on Flickr


PONTIAC - Fox Lake, WI by vynsane, on Flickr


Wisconsin Clouds by vynsane, on Flickr


Stormfront by vynsane, on Flickr

[vynsane]

More from the "Great Lakes Roadtrip". Next was a stop at a really, really weird salvage yard in Oshkosh, Wisconsin:


No one rides for free by vynsane, on Flickr


doubletake/tripletake by vynsane, on Flickr


it certainly is a thing. by vynsane, on Flickr


fairy by vynsane, on Flickr


jalopy by vynsane, on Flickr

Then on to Marquette, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula:


Lower Harbor Ore Dock, Marquette, MI by vynsane, on Flickr


Lake Superior rain by vynsane, on Flickr


gateway by vynsane, on Flickr

Just south of there, near Manistique, MI we hit Lake Michigan where it looked like the Bahamas in stark contrast to our toe-dip in Lake Superior:


The Bahamas? No... Lake Michigan! by vynsane, on Flickr

Then Mackinac Island, MI where there are no automobiles allowed:


Arch Rock, Mackinac Island, Michigan by vynsane, on Flickr


Main Street at night, Mackinac Island by vynsane, on Flickr


Grand Hotel carriage - aged by vynsane, on Flickr


Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island by vynsane, on Flickr


View from Fort Mackinac by vynsane, on Flickr


Mackinac Island Grand Hotel from the ferry by vynsane, on Flickr

Then on to Parry Sound, ON and a cruise on the Island Queen.


Killbear Point, Parry Sound, ON by vynsane, on Flickr

Unfortunately, the sky was so dismally featureless I decided to try my hand at anonymous portraiture:


Girl looking astern by vynsane, on Flickr


Man with glasses by vynsane, on Flickr


Elderly man with suspenders by vynsane, on Flickr

Then Toronto, ON - lunch in the CN Tower, a cruise on the Kajama and a stop in the Steam Whistle Brewery:


MORE THAN ENOUGH, CN Tower by vynsane, on Flickr


Kajama on Lake Ontario, Toronto, ON by vynsane, on Flickr


HMCS Kingston, CN Tower by vynsane, on Flickr


Steam Whistle Brewery water tower, CN Tower by vynsane, on Flickr


Girl with dreads, Steam Whistle Brewery by vynsane, on Flickr


CN Tower Edgewalkers by vynsane, on Flickr

In that last one, if you click through to the 'original size' of the pic, you can easily make out people in orange jumpsuits hanging from the outside edge of the CN Tower!

All the pics are accessible in a collection entitled Great Lakes Roadtrip as separate sets, or as one big set also entitled Great Lakes Roadtrip.

[condor]

Those are some awesome pics Vynsane! I recently got a new lens - the Sigma 18-250mm, which is supposed to have some macro features. I haven't had time to play around with it too much, but I'll see if I can get some pics up.

[vynsane]

Thanks, condor! Somehow I missed your comment and only just now saw it because I have some more pics to add. Sorry to sort of hijack your topic!

Let me know how you like the Sigma, I'm looking to collect some more lenses, particularly a good telephoto. A few years ago around Christmas week Amazon had the Nikkor 55-300 on sale for half off, but the price jumped back to normal by the time I had gathered enough money from presents

Some shots from the top of Mount Beacon, which is close enough to my house to walk to and then up. The greener shots are from my first ascent in August, and I just made it back up again a a week and a half ago.

There used to be a funicular (incline railway) up the mountain. The ruins of the upper wheelhouse still stand there, crumbling, along-side the concrete slab that is all that remains of the Mount Beacon Casino (not gaming, more like a social club).













Here's the city of Beacon, NY from the Casino grounds. I can see my house from here.



Another mile or so up the trail is the peak of South Mount Beacon. Atop there sits a newly refurbished fire tower, with some incredible views:



This one is featured in the Yahoo! Weather app, since it was submitted and approved by the Project Weather group on Flickr:


Here's a similar vista from the casino grounds, really showing off the difference in coloration the second time around:



Here's another one from the tower. If you click through to the flickr page, check out 'View All Sizes' - you can just barely see New York City, ~60 miles to the south, nearly dead-center on the horizon:



I got a good self-portrait in the tower as well:




On my way to the fire tower, I sort of ventured off the commonly beaten path and found the remains of multiple houses that were built on the side of the mountain. Most of them were pancakes, but this one was holding on:







I also found this outcropping about 20 feet or so above the actual trail and set up my tripod to get a good self-portrait with the background. The fire tower is off to the left of the frame:




The same week as our first ascent up Mount Beacon, my family went to Storm King Art Center, which is an outdoor space with large-scale sculptures. The first one is also a Yahoo! Weather pic:

[vynsane]

Going through my old computer files, I found some high-res scans of old pics I took in my college photography class. Naturally, these are all B&W film, self-processed. I did a little digital processing on one or two, but the others are as-printed.

"caged mannequin"


"play"


"visage"


"express"

[condor]

Thanks, condor! Somehow I missed your comment and only just now saw it because I have some more pics to add. Sorry to sort of hijack your topic!

Let me know how you like the Sigma, I'm looking to collect some more lenses, particularly a good telephoto. A few years ago around Christmas week Amazon had the Nikkor 55-300 on sale for half off, but the price jumped back to normal by the time I had gathered enough money from presents

Not at all! I started this thread so everyone could post their photos. I love all your panorama photos, are you using a polarized filter? think my favorite is the black and white photo of the abandoned house, it looks so spooky.

I haven't had a chance to play around too much with that lens unfortunately. I've just used it instead of carrying around my 55-100 and 18-50 lenses. It's great not to have to switch lenses when you need to get in close.

Here are a couple of old shots I have on flickr. I really should upload my collection there since they lifted the limit.

This is my favorite portrait of my son.



and one I took of a small car for a contest here

[vynsane]

Not at all! I started this thread so everyone could post their photos. I love all your panorama photos, are you using a polarized filter?

No, no filter, but I do a lot of post-processing in Adobe Lightroom.

think my favorite is the black and white photo of the abandoned house, it looks so spooky.

Thanks, yeah. The original was nothing too special, so I did quite a bit of work on that one in LR - changing it to B&W, bumping up the contrast, increasing the grainy quality, adding some vignette clipping...

Here are a couple of old shots I have on flickr. I really should upload my collection there since they lifted the limit.

Nice! Yeah, as soon as they lifted the limit I really started not only posting more pics, but taking more!

[dr_spock]

Most of my photo taking seems to be of Lego for some reason.



Occasionally I take my camera cycling with my 55-200mm zoom. I'd like to get a better tele-zoom but can't justify it.

[vynsane]

Wow, nice shots of that bird - any idea what species?

[dr_spock]

Wow, nice shots of that bird - any idea what species?

Thanks. I believe the bird was a Green Heron. You can find them in the eastern half of the US during the summer breeding months.

[Jeky]

Very beautiful pix. especially the scene of sunset.
i like it. no doubt, such scenes inspire me and it make me to go that places to see in real.
i am a tourist and visit countries
i saw many scenes like that but it is very awesome.
great job man.