Random Thoughts... [Photographic Edition]

Ruth.Adele said:
no no, you seem to misunderstand me. i have a lightbox already. what i'm looking for is a FLASH box. meaning the flash is INSIDE the box and i sit the jewellery ON TOP OF the box.
i don't really know if this exists... but in theory (or in my own head) it makes sense to me that this + the studio lights that i already use, would give me a pure white background, because it is flashing behind the object, therefore giving me no shadows , and a perfectly white background, without interfering with the exposure of the piece of jewellery.
make sense? :blink:
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You could try using a light table. I don't know where you would find a reasonably priced one, I googled it and came up with a few little light tables costing over $200-$300 and beyond (can you say ripoff?) but mostly guides on DIY light tables.
 
Austere said:
I tend to agree.

2mmyavm.jpg


I don't know those people in the background and I never will. Why do they have to be in my photo?!

And that stupid fence thingy that they put up in front of the tastiest cars ruins everything.
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eh?... Quick attempt but I'm not good enough to remove the fence.
2mmyavm.jpg
 
Especially as the posts really don't spoil the image. :p

Just finished editing some pictures of a guy.

Hello.. I'm Tommy Cash.

3711808074_f4b300d255_o.jpg


Really nice guy, was an enjoyable concert. Especially Cocaine Blues.
 
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*shakes fist* Damn you Nomix! Don't interfere on my quest to rid the world of posts!

Also, am I doin it right?

https://pic.armedcats.net/r/ra/ramseus/2009/07/11/teh_no_wai.jpg
 
Now get rid of the kid's legs in the green car to the left. :p

Great job. Couldn't do that to save my life... it'd end up something like a blur, and I'd still have the posts in there.
 
^Wow great job Ramseus! Makin' me look like a chump:D.
 
Chaos said:
Now get rid of the kid's legs in the green car to the left. :p
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Drat! I also didn't bother trying to get rid of the reflection of the guy on the miura and ignored the "admire but don't touch" sign on the floor.

If anyone's curious; I masked the front of the car and painted green and black then smudged it. Painted the tire area black(ish). Masked the shape of the wheel (made a circle, transformed it until I got the shape right), painted the occluded part. Again, masked and painted the sign in front, just left the selection didn't make a layer mask because there was too much masking to do, and then added some tiny jibberish text. Also masked and painted the people out. Floor was done with the clone stamp, mostly using a hard 19 px brush, with a little bit of soft 45 px brushing, thank Bob it's just noisy carpet or else it would've been a massive pain in the gloyvenmayvie. Basically: Make new layer, polygonal lasso, create mask from selection, alt click color, paint, smudge if necessary.
 
^We get squirrels all the time around my mom's house, because she has a bird feeder up. On a related note, it's a bitch trying to photograph the birds around the feeder, especially with a 55mm lens. :?
 
Ruth.Adele said:
no no, you seem to misunderstand me. i have a lightbox already. what i'm looking for is a FLASH box. meaning the flash is INSIDE the box and i sit the jewellery ON TOP OF the box.
i don't really know if this exists... but in theory (or in my own head) it makes sense to me that this + the studio lights that i already use, would give me a pure white background, because it is flashing behind the object, therefore giving me no shadows , and a perfectly white background, without interfering with the exposure of the piece of jewellery.
make sense? :blink:
Click to expand...

Ramseus said:
You could try using a light table. I don't know where you would find a reasonably priced one, I googled it and came up with a few little light tables costing over $200-$300 and beyond (can you say ripoff?) but mostly guides on DIY light tables.
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Yes, you want a light table.

If you're only shooting small pieces of jewellery, straight down or on a slight angle and you don't need a large one with curved infinity background you should be able to make one yourself.

You just need a decent sized piece of translucent acrylic.

Suspend it on a frame and put your flash head under it.

Let me know if you have any questions.
 
Ramseus said:
Drat! I also didn't bother trying to get rid of the reflection of the guy on the miura and ignored the "admire but don't touch" sign on the floor.
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Nah, I'm plenty happy with what you've done, there. Thanks, man! I just wish I'd have taken a better photo in the first place now! I didn't bother to frame it properly or adjust the camera for the very best results because I figured it would always look bad, because of the fence et cetera.

I don't know much about no photoshopping. I guess I didn't really realise what can be done.:(

Clockwerk said:
^Wow great job Ramseus! Makin' me look like a chump:D.
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You're lucky I gave you + rep before I scrolled all the way down. :p
 
epp_b said:
Couple of things...

1: I've been getting a little annoyed with Nikon lately. It's not just my D40. I've played around with a D60, D80 and D90 with entry-level-to-mid-range lenses. On every one of them, there seems to be a slight lag in the AF initiation (at least with AF-S lenses) and the AF itself (AF-S lenses) is just slower compared to Canons. Now, I haven't really used any of Nikon's "pro-level" bodies (D300, D3, D700) ... are those any different? Even if so, you shouldn't need to have a body and lens each costing well over a thousand bucks with a for AF to be reasonably quick when Canon can give it to you in an 1000D kit for a few hundred bucks. I'm almost considering saving for a 40D setup at this point OR a D300 if someone can tell me that it doesn't have this same lag issue. I really should go try one myself.

2: My shoulder bag is becoming labourious to carry, especially when I'm also carrying my tripod. A backpack with a tripod holder would be a lot easier to carry, but backpacks are a pain to get your gear out of when you're out shooting (and shooting a lot). The ThinkTank Rotation 360 possibly solves this problem, but it's way too big for my small collection of gear and I'm not spending $300 on a bag. I've also considered a better shoulder bag with an OP-Tech strap. Any other ideas?
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Sorry I guess it got lost in the fray. I have only had experience with Canon camera's including the XTi, 40d, 5d and 1d mk IIn and in order of AF quickness I would go 1d (of course), 40d, 5d, XTi. I would also highly recommend a 40d because it is a great piece of kit the only draw back is the cost of switching is so high. Does the d40 have an option to disable certain AF points to speed up the remaining points?

As for the second question, I tried the thinktank 360 a while back and didn't care for it and didn't feel like it merited the price tag. Have you given any thought to a belt system? something like this where you can add modular packs to suit your needs?
StrdSpdBlt2.jpg


At a rally race I went to recently and I saw a guy with this system and I'm defintly going to pick up something similar in the near future, when I feel like dumping more money on photo stuff (I already have 5 bags:D)
 
Does the d40 have an option to disable certain AF points to speed up the remaining points?
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I suppose setting the AF point manually (which is what I almost always do) effectively does this, yes?
 
epp_b said:
I suppose setting the AF point manually (which is what I almost always do) effectively does this, yes?
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I guess that would only help if say you were taking pictures of cars going past the exact same spot...hmmm on my 1d there is a custom function to reduce the amount of AF points, but that doesn't help you.

In what type of conditions are you reaching the limitations of the AF. Is it due to speed of object or light conditions?
 
Speed. I've missed several action shots because the AF just isn't fast enough overall. I prefocus when I can, but sometimes that's not possible.
 
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