Digital Photography

[Stereo]

Well, I thought this would fit here since my new camera takes 21fps at lowest settings, great for videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHmoxLpQl4E

[xHaZxMaTx]

Damn, 21 FPS. That's damn impressive. I can only get a measly 3.5 FPS out of my camera.

Anyhwho, been taking some pretty epic pics here in Pittsburgh, but I can't seem to get a very good connection, so I'll have to link them when I get home, or I can try to upload some stuff when I get back to the hotel, tonight.

[xHaZxMaTx]

So I haven't uploaded any of these anywhere but PhotoBucket, yet, because I fail at names, and I don't really want to upload to DA with titles like IMG_####, or whatever. I like the pics, just can't name them. D:





And my coup de grâce;

[Stereo]

Damn.. Those are all really good. The "Clean Slate" one looks like it had some editing, or am I wrong? I'm digging the long exposures. How long were they and where did you shoot them? I'm assuming you didn't just go out into the corner of 53rd and 8th, pointed your camera up on a tripod and aimed at the building. If you did, it turned out really well. How was the escalator one shot?
<lazyassinterruption>
Well I visited a park recently (first ACTUAL day that felt like summer this year) and took some pictures, no spectacular outcomes but I am loving the colors I get with the new CMOS sensor.


</lazyassinterruption>

By the way, The Lanczos resampling is also used in Irfanview, which is what I use all the time to resize my pictures. I highly recommend it. ^^

[xHaZxMaTx]

Damn.. Those are all really good. The "Clean Slate" one looks like it had some editing, or am I wrong?

Well, they've all been tweaked to some degree (except for the long exposure of the bridges). Though usually nothing more than Brightness/Contrast and Shadow/Highlight (which can do some pretty cool stuff to clouds and concrete).

I'm digging the long exposures. How long were they and where did you shoot them?

Thanks. All but the escalator (whish is a 15" exposure) were 30" exposures. The bridge pic is actually a stitch of 12 30" exposures (at 55mm), so I guess you could consider it a 6' exposure. IMG_5840 was shot from my hotel room, IMG_6098 was shot fro the roof terrace of the Pittsburgh Convention Center and the bridge pic was shot from a balcony in the Convention Center overlooking the Allegheny River.

I'm assuming you didn't just go out into the corner of 53rd and 8th, pointed your camera up on a tripod and aimed at the building.

Bigelow Sq. and Ross St., actually.

How was the escalator one shot?

I went down the escalator once to set up the tripod, went back up, then got on the down escalator, again, with my tripod already set up and took the shot.

By the way, The Lanczos resampling is also used in Irfanview, which is what I use all the time to resize my pictures. I highly recommend it. ^^

I tried that, as well, actually, but I think I'm just gonna stick with Bicubic Sharper - seems to be working just fine.

Of your pictures, I really like Dunes - I seem to have an affinity for patterns/textures and lines. XD

Is Skate Anything edited at all? It looks like everything but the sky has been desaturated.

By the way, here is the full pic of Bridges, as an 8/12 quality .JPG so I could upload it to PhotoBucket (5MB).

[Stereo]

Yeah, I edit my photos in Lightroom, and in Skate Anything I raised the blacks by a lot and lowered the saturation a bit. Nothing is desaturated though. The photo was intended to be a silhouette but I was in a rush so I didn't have time to fool with settings.

[xHaZxMaTx]

So I was bored, last night, and was eying my kit 18-55mm lens that I haven't touched since I got my 17-55mm lens to replace it, and figured I'd take it apart to see how it worked. Pretty damn complicated. Long story short, though, there was a mechanism that rotated a focusing element, moving in and out as you zoom in and out. I wanted to see what would happen if I left that particular element stationary as I zoomed (which required removing a tiny piece of plastic and the entire auto-focusing/image-stabilization motor). Turns out I effectively turned my kit lens into a macro lens.

[xHaZxMaTx]

Album

[Zero260]

Looks like you caught a couple. Nice. That shot above is awesome. And the ground in those photos is sort of Mars-ish. And are those satellite dishes or what?

I was gonna try getting some shots as well but I stayed busy all Wednesday night. That was one of the best meteor showers I've seen, though. Wish I spent more time watching it.

[xHaZxMaTx]

Yeah, it was pretty nice at its peak - I think I saw 3 in the span of about 5 seconds. Those are actually windmills, though, not satellite dishes. I was up in the Tehachapi Pass, which is just full of them.



Just a little bit of Photoshop editing after PP.

[Andre_online]

Very nice, Haz!

One thing though: shouldn't you have censored your plate number? Haha! Not that I'm saying you must, 'cuz that's one heck of a creative plate you have; RAREMX5. Haha!

[xHaZxMaTx]

Why would I censor it? It's not like it's my Social Security number.

[xHaZxMaTx]

Been watching too many of those 'beutification' via Photoshop videos on YouTube.

[Stereo]

...well, now (after the PS) it doesn't look like she is actually smiling. It looks like her face is kinda... stuck that way. Also, he face looked more natural in the original and the PS looks like the nose was extended/extruded. I dunno, it could be just me but it seems like it.

[xHaZxMaTx]

Yeah, I didn't think it looked any better, myself - I just thought I'd practice some Photoshopping and share the results.

[TheStig]

you made a female Jacko

[xHaZxMaTx]

Who? o:

[TheStig]

king of pop.....

[Zero260]

It's that time of year again! Time to dump my favorite photos from Formula D. The guy I knew with the 50D was out of town, so I was stuck with my camera. Anyway, here's some of my favorite shots from last weekend:


Some shots from the paddock. Matt Powers' car is so awesomely unique, I couldn't stop taking pictures. Notice JR's handbrake gesture as he's explaining his braking issues to one of the mechanics. And if you look closely to the last shot, you can see Tanner Foust making a pouty-face to me. He must be sad that he drives a Scion with a NASCAR motor.



Ok, I'm going a little overboard. It's probably easier to just flip through the album. I'll probably upload the rest of the not-so-great shots to Photobucket later.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think! And if there are any requests for a particular car/driver, I probably took a shot of it, so let me know.

[boganbusman]

Ueo WHERE???

[Zero260]

UEOOOOOO!!!

Ueo and JTP had the sickest entries. They initiate a good 2-3 car lengths earlier than anyone else. Gushi still managed to win that battle after an OMT.

[boganbusman]

Sweet, nice pictures. I'm not a fan of FormulaD but I love seeing Ueo show how it's done. Like this:

[Andre_online]

That's some nice pictures!! Even though Formula D is staged in Singapore annually, the drivers are pretty amateur-ish. Hence, 'Pro-AM' series. I'd totally give anything to watch Foust, Forsberg, Takatori, Gittin Jr. and co. drifting in person.

Over here it's almost impossible to take good pictures of them drifting. In most cases, 90% of the time they just spin out, until the Elite 8 round kicks off. It's almost a challenge for photographers to make the shot look good, even from the best angle.

Not to veer off-topic any further, but who won that leg?

[Zero260]

Off-topic, off-shmopic. It's not like this thread is terribly active anyway.

It was actually a very unlikely turnout... Stephen Verdier (Crawford STI) took 1st place, Ken Gushi got 2nd place , and Ryuji Miki got 3rd. I believe it was Verdier's first podium finish. It was exciting to watch him knock out guys like JR and Forsburg. He was sort of a jerk, though... He almost ran me over in the paddock. Miki has my back, though:

[Andre_online]

Wow! 1-2-3 Japanese finish. Surprising, but unsurprising at the same time. Takatori got knocked out before the Elite 8?