Brew's Picture a Day Thread...

[SMB2]

Like the statue, but I have to say I'm pretty weak when it comes to "architectural" photography. She seems to have a big foot!
Might be fun to try and get as little as possible of the background trees (clone the rest out) and convert to a B&W.

[brewmaster15]

My photo submission for Yesterday, April 21 2015 Yesterday was an insanely busy day for me, but I did manage to snap a few images while running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Captured image yesterday (see EXIF data).


Rainy , drab day. Spotted this lone box car by the tracks at a railway crossing. Got the impression it was waiting for someone.

IMGP6929a1
al

[SMB2]

Like this a lot.
Again, colorless flat day with lots of detail... B&W conversion. But that's just me.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Stan! I will play around with bw on them.

Al

[rickztahone]

Al, not sure if you are asking for any C&C here, but with that last pic, there are two things I probably would have done different. First B&W (you seem to take good candidates for B&W ), and second, I would have shot from a lower angle, and I would have veered to either the left or right side, whichever makes the actual train track a more dynamic leading line to that nice pathway. The train serves as a great foreground interest though, so I would have kept that in the shot, just not sure how much, or how little.

Again, not sure if you are asking for C&C here. LMK

[brewmaster15]

HI Ricardo, comments are very welcome....its always good to hear other perspectives and what someone else might have done in my shoes... What one person sees in image isnt necessarily the same as what someone else sees..its like a poem...knowing what the author meant is not always apparent. So its good to talk about the image.In this case I chose the scene based on the box car as the subject...not so much the main track..though its important in the image.They are more of an accessory. I also framed it so the word "stop" was deliberately in it. I liked the way box car was set off to the side isolated yet waiting.
I get your thoughts on leading lines. mine were a tad different..theres two sets of tracks there And the space between them was important too.

thanks for your feedback And suggestions.

Al

[brewmaster15]

Okay then, Today's picture of the day (4-22_15) is more of a demonstration. Theres an inexpensive tool you can use with macro photography that works well with some objects... Its a Bellows ... (photo with smart phone)

bellows

I had a friend that used to take some amazing shot of insects using one.. Today turned into a stormy day before I had a chance to take it outside, but I thought I would use it anyway, since that what I had planned. I hired a lovely "model" for a photo shoot with the bellows and set it up on a tripod... The camera is a pentax k20D, The bellows has a pentax super takumar 105 mm M42 lens. Lighting was ambient room lighting and and a small hand held LED flashlight to get rid of shadows as much as possible. I was able to get with in a few feet of the subject.

My official submission...

IMGP6963a1

Runner ups...

IMGP6961a1

IMGP6960a1

The lens without the bellows at about 8 feet... (nickel is for scale)

IMGP6975a1

Whats nice about a bellows besides being able to use various lens depending in your subject is you can really fine tune the focusing as it works on a slide rail.

al

[rickztahone]

Nice rail. How fine is the tuning on that thing? I actually prefer your runner up (2nd shot) . Additionally, please CLEAN THAT SENSOR lol. How stopped down were you?

p.s. I am going to stat adding photos to the gear thread. Would love it if you added the bellows to it. I do not own one.

[brewmaster15]

Nice rail. How fine is the tuning on that thing? I actually prefer your runner up (2nd shot) . Additionally, please CLEAN THAT SENSOR lol. How stopped down were you?

p.s. I am going to stat adding photos to the gear thread. Would love it if you added the bellows to it. I do not own one.

Hey now... I have an idea.. You need to start your own "one a day picture" thread so I can have some fun at YOUR Expense..Lol.


The rail has very fine tuning on it Ricardo, its very smooth. Hopefully I will be able to put it to some use in the next few weeks..

al

[SMB2]

I had a great bellows but the way the base was set up it would not take the newer digital camera bodies; they were to big.
I always found the focusing very frustrating, also the loss of light made working out exposures sometimes difficult. It became more of a studio, controlled subject thing, like your ?Speed Racer? girl, and not so useful with outdoor stuff.

[brewmaster15]

Lol...close Stan...not speed racer but a character "marin" From St.Seiya anime...my kids collect them.

The bellows is definely more tricky to use and focus...not something you will go chasing after butterflies with or use a windy day. Good for studio and more stationary objects like mushrooms and resting insects. It is fun to play with and does make you think about what you are doing....todays looking to be better weather if I have a chance I will take it out for todays image.

I can see what you mean on it not fitting your dslr..its pretty close on my k20d...

[brewmaster15]

This weather is killing me ...better than snow but the sky clouded over and it got really windy.. Definetly not the weather to be doing macro work with a bellows. Add to that CT is still pretty chilly.Things are just waking up here... Still I gave it my shot at lunch today.


Again these are with bellows (Asahi Pentax Bellows ) , but I opted to use a different lens.. using and old M42 135mm Promaster 1:2.8 lens this time. We are not talking top of the line, more like bottom of the barrel. I bought this lens for $12 on ebay a few years ago.

My official submission is a a fiddle head...young fern frond opening up...

IMGP7058a1


A few others I took as well that I really like.

Misc. plant growing in some moss.

IMGP7038a1


These are cone flower shoots

IMGP7020a1

IMGP7018a1

[SMB2]

I like the first two the most.
#1 might benefit from a little tighter crop to get rid of as much of the green stem in the background and then darken what's left in the background to make the fern pop.

#2 can't say why I like it! Just seems warm and inviting. I would have worked that a lot just because it looks cool (not cold). Maybe have the dominant leaves more diagonal. Not really a critique, just thinking out loud. It is why digital has changed photography so much. I probably would have taken 20-30 shots of that moss after seeing the detail on the LCD.

The last two have potential to me because of the brown background with the red leaves. It's harder with bellows because for me at least it seems to limit composition some. You have to find really small stuff.

Maybe all the so called Gurus should do a pic a day and explain their settings and thought process!

[brewmaster15]

You have to find really small stuff.

and thats the truth! Especially hard out here right now! I walked right by these scenes several times without even noticing them

#2 can't say why I like it! Just seems warm and inviting. I would have worked that a lot just because it looks cool (not cold). Maybe have the dominant leaves more diagonal. Not really a critique, just thinking out loud. It is why digital has changed photography so much. I probably would have taken 20-30 shots of that moss after seeing the detail on the LCD.

Its funny, I almost didn't take that shot as the moss was boring...but the plants growing in it changed my mind. That was a tough shot though... the sun was coming in and out of the clouds so the light was everywhere. Everytime I had it set just right for good depth of field, the light would change. this was made harder by the lens, M42s need an exposure compensation on my K20D by .5 or more EV. All in all frustrating!... but I like the challenge.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.


al

[dagray]

Al,
Try something on your shot for tomorrow. Whether using a K20d or a K3 when shooting in manual mode watch the light meter in the camera, and set your exposure for two bars under exposed, shoot in RAW like you do and see if that doesn't bring out more of the colors.

I found the old trick with film of overexposing some to get all of the color and detail to saturate on the film works against you with a digital sensor. With digital a slight to moderate under exposure gets the colors to saturate without creating hot spots, and you will have all of the data/detail there to work with and you can bring the brightness back in post processing (usually with a slider bar for brightness), or you can bring detail back in the shadows.

Your shots today are very nice, but I think that fern shot has a brighter spot in the background that is catching my eye taking it from your subject.