Be Excellent To Each Other

I laughed like a loon when I saw that pic on Twitter, Gill

Yeah, she's small for a cocker spaniel but she's much bigger than she was.

The bokeh on this lens is as strange as you like


flower by Learnin' Curve, on Flickr

Good exposure range there Decca, but centre frame? And a busy-background? *Sucks air over teeth* Mm, none too sure. Try at it again, don't try to get the entire thing in unless there's a very clear uncluttered background and it fills most of the frame (square crop works best when trying to fit all of it) otherwise go for a 3/4 portrait and really delve into the centre mass. So beautifully exposed, and the right DOF, it's just that even bokehed that background crowds it too much.

And yeah, that's some strange billowey bokeh. Run out and take more photos with it. More. MORE, you hear me?!

Gilly! Funny dog-snout pic, made me smile. Love the wrinkles on the nose! Bless!

Didn't fully achieve what I wanted to evoke with this, but I still like it:



The Mist

(Best viewed big, etc.)

*takes notes - 3/4 and the middle - gotya.

I'm going to have to do some serious gardening to get anything in my garden's bokeh uncluttered right now. Clearly a better solution is to go to someone else's garden


edit: pete I do declare that your mist picture would make a rather fine print

Lower angle might work. Pete always likes me on my knees.

Erm, the pictures I take when I'm on my knees.

Sucking him off

Adjusting your working distance and/or depth of field can knock a busy background right back.

Ooh, I really like that Pete. I've got a similar pic that I'll put up tonight.

Looks like an old horror movie still, very atmospheric, Pete.

I'm pondering doing a thread where we post our before and after edits and explain what we did via Lightroom or Photoshop to enhance the effect. I'm a great believer in trying to capture in camera exactly what you want but of late I've been unable to resist the sheer amazing tweaks you can make to a photo to really make it shine. However, I am aware that BETEO is rapidly filling chocka with photo talk and threads, probably much to Grim...'s lovable perplexmant. So, er... yeah. I'll add what I did here. (Buy a camera Grim...!)




Highway at Dawn

This here's another photo from America, taken a couple of hundred yards from the prior one. Originally the mist was overwhelmed by the bright light burning through, diffusing everything and rendering contrast to nothing. This didn't work as I'd hoped, so it was up to Lightroom to help recreate the atmosphere I felt on that lonely road in that curious light. First of all I post-processed in two overlaid gradient filters, one for the left hand scrub and trees, and another for the lower third of the road with a darken and contrast filter of -10 and -15. Then using a brush I darkened by -5 and heightened contrast by +10 on the distant barely discernable trees. I did an aged colour pass on the general pic to mute the colours, but upped the yellows to provide a lead in line for the yellow lines, anchoring the eye and drawing it in. Then I upped contrast with a brush on the telephone wires to make them stand out better and reinforce a lead in line. Finally I added just a tiny element of vignetting for further focus and old time mood.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nervouspet ... /lightbox/

Ah yes, mist photo!

Toniight, zee mist dines on skiiiers...

That is lush mate. I might have cropped the bit of trees sticking up at the bottom of the empty slope so it looked as if it emerged from nothing and ran away into nothing, but that's nitpicking preference and it works just as well with it as it is. Contrast is great, timing is perfect with the mist digging its claws over the treeline and the tone and slight sepia colour is lush. Three shots in and you have made me sickeningly jealous of your Canada trip. Nice one!

Oh that's awesome, Craster. Love how you've caught it rolling over the hillside.

Oh yeah...



Managed to have a play with my new lens tonight but the sun had already set. Not bad considering the light, just wanted to show something from it for now. Think I'll have fun with this lens (55-200vr) as the reach is just what I was after for getting critter shots without disturbing them.

OMFG just tried to find out more about the Windfarms distance out to sea to give a sense of distance and found this gem:

Oh, I LOVE that, Zardoz!

Thanks guys. Z - I think the light is perfect for that shot.

Tests shots taken with the 35mm 1.8 irony of irony, it was too bright to use anywhere near 1.8


sunny white flower by Learnin' Curve, on Flickr


sunny rose by Learnin' Curve, on Flickr

I'm linking to this one because it looks baaad in non-large http://www.flickr.com/photos/learnin_cu ... otostream/

I'd crop that top one square Decca, or would have gone more to the left so the rose is 'looking' across the frame.

Glad you've got your 35mm, shame about the sunshine Got any indoor plants to shoot so you can open the aperture right up?

I'm hoping the weather is nice tomorrow because I discovered the park has some really tame birds who walk right up to the camera, I've spent the last two weeks feeling like ass so I'm planing a big trip up to edale when my new bag gets here and have a couple of locations scouted for when the weather is nice in the hope valley (where I'm from so I know a few sekret places the tourists still have yet to discover)

Nice windfarm Zardoz, I like the slightly poluted look of the sea - very Blade-Runner-by-the-Sea.

Decca, you will find to your frustration that it is actually damn hard to take a wholy satisfying photo of a rose. I've got scads loads resting on my hard drive, some I thought that would be really good but turned out a little meh. Your technique is coming on nice though, but yeah, square crops are the way to go with roses, trying to isolate the main flower from all those buds and stuff is tricky though. Glad your enjoying the 35mm though!

Awesome photos on this page. Wow. I especially like the windfarm one, obv!

Ta very much.

Sorry for the amount of shots (Pete ) but this is more of a lens test results post

I have to say this cheap mid range zoom has exceeded my expectations so far. If anyones even remotely interested in a 55-200 vr I'd thoroughly recommend it. Far more flexible than I imagined.

I bought it for this kind of thing:


Turns out it's bloody good at this:

(worth looking at original to see wing details this is a crop though, I can get much closer with my 90mm Tamron)

And lovely for this too:


Good in low light thanks to the extra stops with VR:

(Abstract of Sky Dish taken at dusk)

This is hugely cropped down but there's a decent amount of detail caught here for saying it's hand held:


Not too bad for a dog of a lens on a shit body.

First two pics unavailable, Z?

Keep watching.

They are beautiful, Zardoz

The 55-200VR has already been on my shopping list; when I was half-heartedly looking at D5000s on eBay I was preferring the "dual kit lens" ones (which have the 18-55 and the 55-200). Reckon I might get one in the future.

sorry, what does VR stand for?

Vibration Reduction. Reduces hand-shake on longer exposures or for long range telephoto shots.

Awww now, adorable as your small child is, this is a cracker of a shot.

A lot of pictures taken at the kite show yesterday. They may yet be shit. Standby...

That is indeed awesome grumpy bird.

Amazing photo, Zardoz, best you've shot yet perhaps - but cute? I don't know. He's like The Brain of the bird world. You just know if he spoke it would be with Orson Welles's voice.

Love the butterfly shot too. And the cable one is pretty good, though I would have gone for a higher contrast and darker shot for industrial grunge effect.

I'm sort of tempted to get one when I've got monies again, but I don't feel as excited at shooting wildlife as I do street scenes, portraits, and landscapes - so the 16-85mm is still the front runner for me.

Hmmm... disappointing.

Well yes, it's down to what you want to shoot really. It's great value for money though, I must say. I think I'm done for now, lens wise.

Thanks for the comments folks.

Nothing you can improve by cropping or anything?

Haven't posted anything in a while, so here's a shot of some lovely lilac blossoms from the tree in our garden (conclusive proof I don't live in an arctic wasteland. At least not for three months of the year, anyway.)



[EDIT] and the same pic, cropped and adjusted. Comments welcome.

Maybe. I'll pick out a few faves, but it'll be tricky

Slow Down

Mr Pete, did you see this thread. Apologies if you did, but I thought i would highlight it as it looks like the sort of thing you would appreciate, esp the second post links.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7308

Grim... did start a topic doing just that Pete.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7075&p=547124&hilit=photo#p547124

Amazing pics Zardoz! Can't pic a favourite, they're all so good. I like Pete's traffic sign too, excellent colours. Malc, I like the blue sky in the original, it looks a bit flat with the paler colour, although the blossoms are nice and bright.

Beautiful colour in that lilac tree photo, Malc. Are they really fragrant?

I like the crop on that second photo, Malc, but I prefer the colouring in the original. It's gone too pink, and the light areas are a bit blown.

Hey Malc, nicely done! I prefer the second edit, warmer colour, more dreamy brightness. Following the notions of fairytale Ghibli style colour and light and Japanese blossom fun is usually the best way to approach flower shots, unless they're withered. The lighter blue sits with the pink a bit better too. Good angle, good framing. Might have been an option of step back one step and see if that affords some blue and green around the top of the foreground body to further define it, but that may not have been possible shooting upwards as you probably were. Anyway, jolly good stuff! Lush colour, charming glow and generally gets the entire summer fragrance of flowers across. Nice.

Run Home


(Big version here - lightboxed, recommend: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nervouspet ... /lightbox/ )

The trees behind the sign in that 'Slow Down' picture are magical, Pete. When was that taken?

Very early November last year, in Bend Oregon - the height of the Autumn fall colours for them.

Thanks for the comments, folks - much appreciated!
@Zardoz - yeah, really fragrant. Shame they only bloom for a week or two, really.