The Photography Thread

[MikeyT]

Wow! Great work, really liking the colours and the detail in th sky in the first pic

Ahh cheers mate. I was there for about an hour taking photos as the sun went down. Took like 200+ photos. The top photo is pretty much all natural and not edited it, obviously the second is slightly edited. haha

[davieG]

From the Merc

Photographers are being urged to grab their cameras and capture images of Leicestershire's picturesque landscapes for a competition.

The Leicestershire Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) wants people to submit photos of their favourite views of the county and neighbouring Rutland to form a collection of images to celebrate and show off their diverse and attractive countryside.

The CPRE has teamed up with Leicestershire County Council, Natural England, the East Midlands Regional Landscape Partnership and Leicester Shire Promotions to run the contest called Leicestershire Landscapes Matter.

Leicestershire CPRE spokesman Robert Dews said he was looking forward to seeing the range of entries submitted.

He said: "We are very fortunate here in Leicestershire to have a great range of beautiful rural scenery.

"We have the Vale of Belvoir, Rutland Water, the former mining areas of north west Leicestershire, Bradgate Park and many other areas of unspoilt countryside which are less well known.

"Landscape is not just a view, it is our history, our culture and it is forever. It is something that encourages tourism and bio-diversity. It is important."

The competition has four categories – valleys and vales, farmland, wolds plus woods and forests.

A panel, including one of the Leicester Mercury's own photographic experts, will judge all the entries on items such as composition, technical ability and how well the picture captures the distinct character of the landscape.

John Seaman, of the Leicestershire Photographic Society, said there was a real art to capturing the best landscape shots.

He said: "There is an abundance of photogenic places in the Leicestershire countryside to inspire people but it's not always simple to get the best shot.

"Something that looks good from the car window won't necessarily look so good when you are trying to capture it.

"Anything with water can make a great picture and we are blessed with canals, lakes and reservoirs here.

"It's also about picking the moment as well as the location.

"Ordinary flat light in the middle of the day is normally not as good as sunset or sunrise.

"For me, east Leicestershire with its hills and villages, Charnwood Forest, Beacon Hill and Saddington Reservoir are among the best places for taking landscape shots."

The best entries could be showcased in promotional material for the county.

The prizes include stays at the 19th century Kilworth House Hotel, in North Kilworth, The 18th century Quorn Grange Hotel, in Quorn, and The Upper Rectory Farm Cottages, in Appleby Magna.

The competition runs until Friday October 15.

Entry forms, competition rules and detailed descriptions of the categories can be downloaded from the website below.

They are also available by sending a stamped addressed envelope to CPRE Leicestershire, PO Box 7986, Loughborough, LE12 8XT.

[Houdini Logic]

May well have a go at that - got a perfect spot in Rutland where I took the picture below - may look good without all the photoshop alterations/additions

[Mee]

May well have a go at that - got a perfect spot in Rutland where I took the picture below - may look good without all the photoshop alterations/additions

This looks awesome. What camera did you use for this? The editing makes the photo

[MikeyT]

May well have a go at that - got a perfect spot in Rutland where I took the picture below - may look good without all the photoshop alterations/additions

Pretty cool. Dunno why but it has a kind of post apocalyptic feel...well to me it does anyway. Good stuff.

[Asha]

I really like that picture HL.

And I'm really getting the post-apocalyptic feel too Mikey. Almost reminds me of the feeling you get when you look at pictures from Chernobyl.

[Houdini Logic]

This looks awesome. What camera did you use for this? The editing makes the photo

That was my old Nikon D65.

You're right about editing - the originals were nothing special, from what I can remember I used 7 photos for that picture

Also - Cheers NSLL and Mikey - original intentions were to have a beautiful landscape with a subtle powerstation photoshopped in, though sometimes it turns out to be a happy accident...

Edited 12 August 2010 by Houdini Logic

[Mee]

That was my old Nikon D65.

You're right about editing - the originals were nothing special, from what I can remember I used 7 photos for that picture

Also - Cheers NSLL and Mikey - original intentions were to have a beautiful landscape with a subtle powerstation photoshopped in, though sometimes it turns out to be a happy accident...

The more i look at it, the better it gets. Was the power station originally there? Do you have anymore photos you could share? I'm intrigued.

[Houdini Logic]

The more i look at it, the better it gets. Was the power station originally there? Do you have anymore photos you could share? I'm intrigued.

No the power station is in Corby and there's not really a good place to stop and get a photo of it so I actually took that photo whilst driving with my knees.

The landscape pics are taken on the A47 just before you get to Uppingham.

Happy to stick up a few pics, though they're completely random - fine art/fashion/landscape/documentary/crap/whatever.

I also must say that I'm big into 'modern social realism' at the minute - so lots of young people being crazy, doing drugs, clubbing, lonely, etc..

Didn't really see too much of that on this thread which is why I've generally kept away, but well up for that comp

[Mee]

No the power station is in Corby and there's not really a good place to stop and get a photo of it so I actually took that photo whilst driving with my knees.

The landscape pics are taken on the A47 just before you get to Uppingham.

Happy to stick up a few pics, though they're completely random - fine art/fashion/landscape/documentary/crap/whatever.

I also must say that I'm big into 'modern social realism' at the minute - so lots of young people being crazy, doing drugs, clubbing, lonely, etc..

Didn't really see too much of that on this thread which is why I've generally kept away, but well up for that comp

Yeh stick some up, i'm sure they will be good. Are you a photographer professionally? You seem quite into it

[Houdini Logic]

Yeh stick some up, i'm sure they will be good. Are you a photographer professionally? You seem quite into it

Nah - Don't be fooled - they're just my describing words for 'I don't really know what I'm into or what my photos look like'

I studied photography at Uni but had to get a proper job when I left

[Uncle Monty]

Seems to be some decent photographers on here, if in the unlikely circumstance that any of you fancy upping sticks and moving to Cardiff I am setting up a photography studio/centre with a few others - currently looking for about three more photographers.

Some good photoshop skills Houdini, not really my style as i find computers infuriating! But have you ever tried HDR?

Edited 12 August 2010 by Uncle Monty

[Houdini Logic]

Seems to be some decent photographers on here, if in the unlikely circumstance that any of you fancy upping sticks and moving to Cardiff I am setting up a photography studio/centre with a few others - currently looking for about three more photographers.

Some good photoshop skills Houdini, not really my style as i find computers infuriating! But have you ever tried HDR?

Big fan of the HDR look, but never really found a place for it in my work.

I used to have a plugin for photoshop and the few times I tried it my images looked scary and cartoon like, though I've seen examples where it looks class.

Who needs HDR when you can take several photos and spend 3 days straight on photoshop

[davieG]

Just back from Bradgate Park trying out my new camera phone.

A bit boring, you wouldn't know from those that place was actually jam packed

[MC Prussian]

I want to get into the whole HDR thing in the near future - it simply produces the most stunning still pictures I've ever seen:

Edited 19 August 2010 by Alex.

[danielpholt]

Not got much in the way of time, so here's my favourite photograph from the last set i took. Me and the Girlfriend went to Wistow maze, so i picked up my camera and my new macro lense and went a tad crazy.

Thoughts?

DSC_0073a by danielpholt, on Flickr

DSC_0068 by danielpholt, on Flickr

DSC_0061a by danielpholt, on Flickr

DSC_0060a by danielpholt, on Flickr

DSC_0029 by danielpholt, on Flickr

DSC_0029 by danielpholt, on Flickr

Sorry for the linking,i'll sort them out when i get back from work in the morning.

[Lillehamring]

Not got much in the way of time, so here's my favourite photograph from the last set i took. Me and the Girlfriend went to Wistow maze, so i picked up my camera and my new macro lense and went a tad crazy.

Thoughts?

i think they are really nice, well composed and great colouring...

[Ozwin]

How come I can't take pictures like that? I mean I have a fairly cheap Samsung but I dream of getting pictures like that! They're brilliant.

[Lillehamring]

i read up on that HDR stuff and it sounded like the kind of thing i'd have fun with, i really like high contrast images...

so i had a quick go with this picture...

before:

After:

...a bit random but kinda interesting

and if anyone can tell me why the feck it has rotated the image, cause it's in portrait in photobucket, for some reason firefox won't upload images in portrait....

Edited 19 August 2010 by Vålerenga

[Ozwin]

What is HDR? >_> I hate my basic menu functions.

[AoWW]

It stands for High Dynamic Range and basically allows you to edit images so there's more detail in the light and shade. I think [/end of very limited knowledge]

I'm sure someone else who knows far more about it will be along soon to tell you all the techie stuff.

[Samilktray]

My latest masterpiece, took me a bastard age to get the dog to pose.

[Ozwin]

This is probably the best picture I've ever taken, well I set it on the timer and then legged it so I fit in the shot.

I have the original somewhere on a memory stick but this is my Facebook pic so doesn't look as good.

[danielpholt]

I'v read up on HDR in some of the photography mags i read, and from what i understand, its basically taking the image, and then drastically enhancing various aspects of the lighting, shading, etc etc. A lot of people don't consider it 'true' photography because you are really manipulating the RAW image. That being said, when its done well it can look stunning.

[MC Prussian]

I'v read up on HDR in some of the photography mags i read, and from what i understand, its basically taking the image, and then drastically enhancing various aspects of the lighting, shading, etc etc. A lot of people don't consider it 'true' photography because you are really manipulating the RAW image. That being said, when its done well it can look stunning.

Is it as simple as saying you're taking two images of the same picture, one (slightly) overexposed, the other (slightly) underexposed, then putting both on top of each other?