Jake's Backdoor Hippie-palooza, 2014 Edition

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
2014-062:

Could be another week of me not getting out anywhere, but just in case, I've provided an outlet to prevent you from critter pics all week. Both shots with the D600 and Sigma 105mm macro.
Your Move

So what are these Jake? Buddhist chess pieces? :) I refuse chess with pieces that are not Staunton. But I did before. I had a friend that had married a woman who did clay work and she made him a huge chess set with figures that were all dressed and painted like in the 1400 in the french empire. It would be so confusing that we ended up not using this set. But his wife never could understand why...

Do you play or are these just decorations in the house?
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
For the life of me, Marcel, I cannot find the wooden chess set I had as a kid and spend hours looking through boxes over the weekend for it so I had it for this week as I know I'll be in the office 10 hours a day and won't be getting out. Alas, all I could find was a 7-in-1 travel games box. I haven't played chess in decades, for many reason. Alas, if the pieces are going to cause stress among the chess cognoscenti I'll forgo the planned photos and you can all look at the critters outside my window for another week.
 
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Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
For the life of me, Marcel, I cannot find the wooden chess set I had as a kid and spend hours looking through boxes over the weekend for it so I had it for this week as I know I'll be in the office 10 hours a day and won't be getting out. Alas, all I could find was a 7-in-1 travel games box. I haven't played chess in decades, for many reason. Alas, if the pieces are going to cause stress among the chess cognoscenti I'll forgo the planned photos and you can all look at the critters outside my window for another week.

I was just kidding Jake, don't worry for my blabbering... Maybe I was just getting even for my lost chess game last night. I've been playing with the same friend for over 30 years on a weekly base and we both have our winning streaks, and now, I'm loosing. The main thing is that I enjoy the game more than the wins. Applying this in Life in general makes for many happier days. :)

Have a nice day and please use what's available for you project.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Ah, too late. I really didn't want to use it in the first place but the idea of getting hold of a real set was just too much of a PITA so I went with it. Now I'm back to where I was and sufficiently deflated about the idea. I'm not angry, so don't feel bad - it's just one of those things where I had ideas in my head that I want to get out, and stepped off before I was ready. Truth is, I know the set I have isn't really right for some of what I want to do anyway. So I'll sulk a bit, more because I am tired of shooting out a kitchen window, and see if I can hunt something down from a friend to borrow some time when I'm up for doing it again.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
First I need to know if you are as adept with a D5100 and the lenses in my signature. No other gear.
After paying for the 2 round trips I won't have money for any new gear!

Specifically? Just the 18-105mm. The rest? The way I look at it, eggs is eggs, so there's nothing there that doesn't have an analogous body/lens in my kit somewhere.

That said, even if you were seriously willing to ship me and a guest 1/2 way around the world, I am absolutely the wrong person to teach anyone photography. There's nothing you can learn from me that staring at 500px for a while and watching some decent training videos won't get you a lot cheaper. If I am an honest evaluator of myself it's in digital darkroom that I might have something to teach folks.

Taking the photo comes down to two things for me, and you can have these absolutely free:
1. Training your eye to see in a 4x6 frame, and being able to compose into that from where you are - and learning to move somewhere else when it's not working.
2. Understanding how ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture interact together to make a proper exposure, and how aperture influences depth of field and how it can be used to better frame the subject of your photo.

If I can get something usable out of those two things from where I'm standing then I know I can make a pleasing photo once I get them imported onto my laptop. I'm working to level the field, but I have to be honest and (continue to) say that the photos you're looking at in this thread don't often look anything close to that when I take them out of the camera. But knowing what I can do on the back end helps me understand what I need to capture when I'm staring at something - like "Is one frame enough or is this a situation that calls for HDR?", or "Since I can't position myself properly to capture this subject as I'd like (i.e. I can't stand on a 10 foot ladder, I can't move 20 feet to the right because of a 30 foot gorge, etc.) how do I adjust what I see in the frame so I have enough dead space in the right places to apply perspective correction?"

Case in point? I went out to shoot architecture and, like an idiot, had only a 16-35mm lens on my D600, not realizing until I got there how it would impact the lines of the buildings. But, knowing that I could correct all sorts of things in post, from bad perspective to the godawful back-lighting, I was able to capture the frame in a way that left me room to fix what needed fixing. Otherwise, what you see coming out of the camera is by no means impressive, and almost embarrassing. LOL

D62_3728Before-After.jpg


Now, this was purposefully processed on the heavy handed side, but I could have stopped at perspective and light correction. And there's no way I could make this photo without Photoshop CC and either the onOne or Nik Suite - at least without spending hours and hours in Photoshop.

The point is, the better you know your strengths and weaknesses, and the more deeply you can understand the tools you are working with, the more likely you are to come up with an image you're happy with. There's not a lot of magic to it, just a lot of work and a lot of shooting. I'm in the process of reworking my Lightroom catalogs and I've got almost 10,000 images to deal with since I bought the D7000 in early 2011 - and that's just the stuff I've kept (I've easily got a keeper ratio of about 10-15% at most). That's a lot of shutter actuations.

So, if you still want to fly me over, I'm happy to go out shooting with you. But there's a lot of wisdom available in the many threads here, and it's all free. I invite you, and anyone really interested, to take a look at my Flickr photostream and work your way backwards. There's stuff on there that I'm absolutely embarrassed by, but I leave it there because it reminds me that I'm growing, and as I look at others' work I see that I've still got a long way to go. It's a journey. Find some like-minded folks in your area, join a camera club, and shoot, shoot, shoot. The best part is, digital film is free!!
 
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Lawrence

Senior Member
Now that was a lesson in itself. Thank you very much.

I have joined a local camera club that meets once a month and my flat mate is into photography as well so we talk and do photography most nights.

As far as PP goes I have avoided getting too involved because every time I do try I get frustrated and think "oh gawd here is another 9 months at 65 hours a week of learning!" For EG I seem to have lost my watermark brush again (which I am 100000% certain I saved) so need to go back and watch the video again to see how I did it

By the way did you get my response to you kind offer? If so I haven't received anything as yet.

The transformation of the photo above is unreal! As in good unreal.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
By the way did you get my response to you kind offer? If so I haven't received anything as yet.

You mean the promise to bake homemade brownies in exchange for Business Class on Quantas? You bet. ;) Seriously, though, I did get it and apologize for not delivering on it. A couple "local issues" got in the way - but I'll get them up tonight and PM you with a link.

And just so you know, I just spent the better part of 90 minutes getting my butt kicked by flashes, umbrellas and LED constant lights. 50-60 clicks and nothing to show for it. So, if it makes you feel better, we all have our Achilles Heal. Plus, after getting my butt kicked by indoor lighting, I failed to get the camera reset to grab a cluster of 9 deer surrounding a bird feeder in my back yard (by the time I figured out everything I was down to 5). So let's just say this trip we're on is full of pot holes, and all we share are the smooth rides. If we remember that, we'll get FAR less down on ourselves. No one posts their crap - and when they do, it's their "barely crap".

As for the photo above, realize that it's 11 separate layers, 5 of which focus (no pun intended) on the glass reflection only and are masked out the wazoo!! Like I said, it's all in knowing what to do with it (that's what she said). LOL
 
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Lawrence

Senior Member
You mean the promise to bake homemade brownies in exchange for Business Class on Quantas? You bet. ;) Seriously, though, I did get it and apologize for not delivering on it. A couple "local issues" got in the way - but I'll get them up tonight and PM you with a link.

And just so you know, I just spent the better part of 90 minutes getting my butt kicked by flashes, umbrellas and LED constant lights. 50-60 clicks and nothing to show for it. So, if it makes you feel better, we all have our Achilles Heal. Plus, after getting my butt kicked by indoor lighting, I failed to get the camera reset to grab a cluster of 9 deer surrounding a bird feeder in my back yard (by the time I figured out everything I was down to 5). So let's just say this trip we're on is full of pot holes, and all we share are the smooth rides. If we remember that, we'll get FAR less down on ourselves. No one posts their crap - and when they do, it's their "barely crap".

As for the photo above, realize that it's 11 separate layers, 5 of which focus (no pun intended) on the glass reflection only and are masked out the wazoo!! Like I said, it's all in knowing what to do with it (that's what she said). LOL

No big deal - someone else will have seen the deer eating from the bird feeder and report them. :D

AND FYI I just spent an hour trying to film a small but fast moving object which really requires 8 hands and a barrage of cameras all on rapid fire. I am about to post the results in my 365.

Looking forward to the mail today. :cool:
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
2014-063:

Salvaged (barely) something to post after utterly failing to get proper lighting for what I was trying to do. I really need to get a better space for studio work.

20140304-D62_4132.jpg



And because I mentioned it, here's what I managed to get with a camera set at the wrong ISO and wrong mode, with a lens with the VR turned off, fired out the window at a pack of deer. Would have been nice if I managed to hold a little steadier at 1/20sec at 120mm. By the time I got the camera right they had spread out thanks to my muttered curses. LOL

20140304-D62_4136.jpg
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
2014-065:

Amazed that it took me this long before I had to shoot my dinner. Managed to squeeze in time to eat today, but not much else. Some Indian lamb dish my wife put together. Just enough spice that the neck was sweaty but my collar wasn't damp. :)

20140306-D62_4157.jpg
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
2014-067:

Easton Farmer's Market

Entertaining The Customers


20140308-D62_4280.jpg



We know who wears the pants in this organization

20140308-D62_4266.jpg



Blind artisan caning chairs

20140308-D62_4287-Edit.jpg



Mmmmm - Oyster Mushrooms (and I can vouch for the "Mmmmmm")


20140308-D62_4274-Edit.jpg



Artists Alley

20140308-D62_4290-B&W.jpg



An exercise in perspective correction (as an example to the Mrs.)

20140308-D62_4296-B&W.jpg
 
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