Some photography

My hometown Ontario California. Born and raised here since 1963. Nice town, overly populated now but still here. Still love the place even though I miss the good ol American style it was when I was growing up. Used to be Newberry's, McMahon's, Sears, Orange Julius, Kinney's shoes, Butler Brothers and others now turned El Pescador, Jose's taco shop, El Stereo Shop, Gloria's Mexican Crap Food. Yes, I am a racist Mexican against Mexicans!

But still my hometown I guess! Some great events here, Rt 66 car show, All States Parade for the 4th, and free concerts here at the town square.

Snapped a few pics last night while Gina sat in the warm car and left me out alone to fight off the homeless and muggers in the park.

 

My favorite of the bunch.


Poor wise dude of knowledge! This is a blue man sitting in bus stop type structure surrounded by a garden of roses. He used to have arms, holding a book with a page opened reading something about the power of knowledge. Poor guy, had he had that much knowledge, he would know that it would not be any more than a few months that his arms and book would be missing. But his head was photographable.


Back of the stage, a room for the security guards. They must spend to much time in that room cause poor blue man's arm and book are missing.




Gina warm in the car. Hell no, the homeless muggers are out there ready to jack your camera. Plus it's warm in here!

 

You take good photos, Mr. Beanz! Second picture down has good vertical lines, not splayed, as is usually seen. I like to adjust those things, myself. And the exposures were good. A bit of HDR? Nice work!

 

Thanks! I picked up a $400 camera and decided I wanted to learn how to really use it. Full manual settings, none of this half auto settings this and that. I wanted to understand what the camera really means. Heck, I know paid photographers that don't even know what recomposing means.

I took pics at a wedding, 3 as a matter of fact, relatives. They hired photographers then passed on buying the prints after they noticed my pics were of better quality. Not being arrogant but I am really surprised at how many paid photographers don't know what they are doing with a camera.

I have a paid relative who does pics for realty and school pics of kids. I saw his work on his website and really thought he sucked ha ha! He's a relative so I can diss him after he told me I could not get good pics with my inexpensive camera and needed a $2,000 full framed sensor model like his.

As it is with bikes, it ain't the bike, it's the engine.

Yes, a little HDR. I downloaded a free program called GIMP off the net. Pretty much a copy of photoshop. I use layers to saturate the colors and images. Really does a nice job on solid images such as cars, building etc. Not so well on people.

I also shoot in raw when I want something to come out at its best. Then edit in Lightroom as well.

But to be honest, most my pics come out pretty good because of the focusing and full manual settings. So I really can't tell much difference between raw and jpegs. Maybe old age and weak eyes but I've heard raw files are better so I use them most times.

 

What camera is that?

Great job for an amateur. Plan on turning it into a career?

Btw I'm new here. Hello all

 

Not a career, I like doing it as a hobby. I would like to do a wedding as the main photographer to see what I can do.

I am using a Canon Rebel T3, cropped sensor. I actually bought it on accident as the Best Buy salesman didn't know his stuff. I wanted something that would work with the remote shutter IR system. But he told me this would work then got home and the remote didn't so I got screwed. Took it back, gave him a piece of my mind but kept the camera as I had bought a few extra goodies and didn't feel like swapping everything wondering if he would lead me astray again.

So I kept it and have thought about going with the T6 for the IR. But really, doesn't make much of a difference spending a couple hundred more for another cropped sensor model. Later I thought about a full sized sensor, one of the $1100 models but after viewing some pics from friends who are paid photographers, I found that I don't think it makes much difference. Is it worth dropping $1100 for little difference?

So I kept it but invested in a couple inexpensive but good lenses. Like a fixed 50mm with 1.8 for portraits and the bokeh effect.

If I ever do a wedding and find success, then I will invest in a more expensive model.

Hey, welcome to the forums, we need more active people!

 

I really concentrate on focusing and recomposing while shooting. I like taking pics at night too. Some I have done with the tripod and got some nice images.

This one I did without a tripod at night on the river in Laughlin. I was surprised I got a clear shot without a tripod holding in hand at the slow of an exposure setting.

I like structures at night. Just look cool to me. No tripod, no flash, just a night pic by using the full manual settings. Taken from up on the boardwalk down to this dock.

 

A pic of my granddaughter. With the 50mm fixed set at about 2.8 for some bokeh in the background. 1.8 was a little tough and 2.8 seems more like a sweet spot for this lens.

Now if all my subjects were as pretty as my 11 yo grandaughter! But I get my 75 year old beat up aunts at weddings wanting a set of 20 pics trying to make then look 20 again, that's more of a challenge!

 

Anyone can press a camera button. And some folks get a half-decent camera and think they're a photographer. It's a very competitive trade, too. I have two Nikon DSLRs, one converted for infrared. Phone cameras have come a long way but they still can't compete with the big cameras. Knowing all the camera controls is an advantage toward taking better photos, but composing is a very important part.

I posted an article on Facebook, recently, with photos of camera settings for a small point and shoot camera. I see photos that other friends post and I know they could do better if they understood the exposure control. I carry a Nikon Coolpix in my pocket all the time when I'm out on my bike, and people wonder how I get such great sunrises and sunsets with it.

I attended a friend's wedding on a rainy afternoon. After the service we all met at a hired hall for the reception. The 'professional' photographer took some outside photos, first, but stood the bride and groom next to garbage cans under a canopy. Those photos came out like soot and whitewash because he didn't use the right film. Most amateurs, unless they know they are good with a camera, shouldn't mess with wedding photos.

Full-framed sensors are usually the domain of the pro who really knows his stuff. DSLRs are adequate for most camera enthusiasts and do an excellent job. A low end DSLR in the hands of a good pro, can produce better results than a top-of-the-line full frame camera in the hands of an amateur.

Sometimes, people will look at good photos and say, "You must have a good camera." They have no idea that the photos are the result of skill, and not a good camera.

I can't tell any difference between RAW and jpegs ,either. They're good inasmuch as you can't edit and save the same file, so you always have the original to work with.

The late French photographer, Robert Doisneau once said, when asked how to take a good photo: "If I knew how to take a good photo, I'd do it every time." I liked that so much I borrowed it for my forum signature.

Incidentally, I saw an article, recently, about a Leica camera made in the 60s, the very last of that model, and it has never been used. The owner is asking around a half-million dollars for it. I might buy it, myself!

 

Hi, RoWarrior! Welcome to the forum!

 

Hey Chuckabutty! Thank you.

 

Yeah, too many that don't know what the heck they are doing. I've made a real effort to learn.

Last night I actually ran into a young dude, about 20 that knew about photography. We talked for about an hour. He knew what I was taking about when I mentioned certain terms. He said he was the editor for his HS paper so he had a chance to get exposed to the equipment. He had some cool pics too!

Understanding the settings is key!

 

I used to go out around 2 a.m. to take night photos .The towns were quiet, and hardly a car in sight.
Here's one of mine, taken in the city of Lewes, Delaware.

 

Nice pic!

Ha ha ha yeah I do the same thing. Luckily Gina my wife likes to cruise around with me so we have a good time and I'm always looking for cool stuff to shoot.

Wish we were closer to the water here. I am in the foothills so I have a chance to shoot mountain shots. But everything seems to get jumbled together and it doesn't look like much. Now boats on the water, that would be cool!

Reflections are cool. I even get little jewelry and place it on small mirrors then take shots just to see the reflections. Makes for cool pics. Water at night is the best!

 

Here's another along the canal bank in the city of Lewes.

 

One of my favorites, also a visit to Laughlin last year. Tripod but the water was moving too swiftly in the river thought I wanted a clear shot of the reflection. Oh well, can't win them all!

 

Nice pic, nice scenery!

Ya know, I took pics of some houses decorated for Halloween 2 years ago. I had them on my facebook somewhere. One guy from a local new station sent me a PM asking if it was ok to use one of my pics this year on the news, channel 5 KTLA news station. I said sure and asked to be notified when it would be shown. He said I would get credit under my name on the air. But I was working and he never gave me a time but that was cool! It was a house decorated with a bunch of spiders on the roof. So I may already be famous and not even know it!

 

I'm now in Florida, close to the Tampa Bay. I used to take my kayak out on the bay, and take my point and shoot in a waterproof container. Got some nice pics of pelicans and old rotting boat slips, but I got away from kayaks and now concentrate on riding a bike around the county

 

I took a bunch of pics at Love Creek canal and posted a couple in a local newspaper. I got a call from WBOC TV in Maryland to ask if they could use one of the pics. I thought it was cool seeing it on TV. It's nice that they ask. A judge has just ruled against media who use people's photos without permission. I'm surprised that they didn't know all photos are copyright, and need permission to use in publications. Either that or they thought they wouldn't get caught. The judge said fair use doesn't apply to the media when it comes to private photos.

 

Nice! I used to make plenty of cycling videos as well. I had a few people contact me to ask permission to use footage from my videos in presentations to city council involving cycling safety issues. That was pretty cool!

Not this video but an example of videos I used to post. I recently got a better video editing program too (Cyberlink PowerDirector) and it's pretty cool. Much better than the one I used here (Windows Movie Maker)

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