Go Back   Sports Car Forum - MotorWorld.net > Hobbies and Leisure Time > Photography



Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-24-2007, 12:54 PM   #31
harryo2b
Regular User
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Germany
Posts: 476
Default

Originally Posted by MartijnGizmo
It might have something to do with it, but I think most of it is from my postprocessing in Photoshop. I always try to achieve a clean and contrasty look, like this:



MG, I know it's hard to say what you do exactly as far as post processing for each photo but can you give us guys who strive to take pics like yours any insight on some of the steps you take when you process a photo? For example what are some of the basic PS processes you do just about any time you process a photo?
__________________

2006 Porsche Boxster S/Atlas Grey Metallic/Black/Black/6 spd
Canon 30D/17-85 IS/70-200 4L IS/580EXII/430EX/B+W Filters
harryo2b is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2007, 12:59 PM   #32
TopGearNL
Regular User
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: The 51st State
Posts: 10,181
Default

It might have something to do with it, but I think most of it is from my postprocessing in Photoshop. I always try to achieve a clean and contrasty look, like this
Ok I see.

MG, I know it's hard to say what you do exactly as far as post processing for each photo but can you give us guys who strive to take pics like yours any insight on some of the steps you take when you process a photo? For example what are some of the basic PS processes you do just about any time you process a photo?
My question exactly!

Maybe a small tutorial? Please! 8)
__________________
TopGearNL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2007, 01:29 PM   #33
MartijnGizmo
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Groningen - Netherlands
Posts: 1,324
Default

I shoot in RAW and do some small adjustments in Adobe Camera RAW.

After that my basic adjustments in Photoshop are:
- sharpen
- autolevels (only if it looks better afterwards)
- contrast +5

sometimes:
- saturation +15
- curves with a small S-curve

I do perform all adjustments on new layers, so I can always go back and/or use layer masks to only adjust a part of the picture.

That's about it..... oh, and since I set my 5D to Picture Style "Faithfull" my pics seem to have much nicer colors.
__________________
EOS 5D|EOS 600|15-30|24 1.4 L|135 2 L|2x 580EX|2x CP-E3|ST-E2|2x Pocket Wizzard Plus II|IXUS 850IS|Crumpler|Manfrotto|
MartijnGizmo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2007, 01:33 PM   #34
TopGearNL
Regular User
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: The 51st State
Posts: 10,181
Default

/\/\ Thanks!

Let me see what my D50 and myself can turn out with these tips!
__________________
TopGearNL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2007, 06:06 PM   #35
TT
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Lugano, Switzerland
Posts: 23,178
Default

Nice upgrade! I envy your gear dude
__________________
TT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-25-2007, 04:13 AM   #36
lambocars
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Belgium
Posts: 84
Default

Originally Posted by MartijnGizmo
I shoot in RAW and do some small adjustments in Adobe Camera RAW.

After that my basic adjustments in Photoshop are:
- sharpen
- autolevels (only if it looks better afterwards)
- contrast +5

sometimes:
- saturation +15
- curves with a small S-curve

I do perform all adjustments on new layers, so I can always go back and/or use layer masks to only adjust a part of the picture.

That's about it..... oh, and since I set my 5D to Picture Style "Faithfull" my pics seem to have much nicer colors.
sounds like a standard post processing, but it all depends on the photograph, they are all different, so they require little tweaks when processing them.

I never use the auto-levels options actually, I play around with the levels themselves, some more control over what is happening, and you can start playing with the RGB channels separately (or CMYK for printing) to really tweak the photograph.

The thing that surprised me the most when taking photographs with a dslr was the fact that you do need to use the 'UnSharp Mask' in PhotoShop, never had to do that with a compact camera ... but I discovered that this is normal, a compact has sharpening built into the camera apparently, the dslr takes the photograph in RAW and you can decide to do sharpening or not ...

Still a steep learning curve trying to use a dslr like it should be used, and expensive to get the decent lenses ...

Mark
lambocars is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-25-2007, 12:26 PM   #37
MartijnGizmo
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Groningen - Netherlands
Posts: 1,324
Default

For exact adjustments I always use Curves, a lot more control than levels, but for a quick adjustment I make a new Levels-layer and press auto once. I actually made an action for this. If the result looks better: ok.... if it doesn't: Ctrl+Z.
__________________
EOS 5D|EOS 600|15-30|24 1.4 L|135 2 L|2x 580EX|2x CP-E3|ST-E2|2x Pocket Wizzard Plus II|IXUS 850IS|Crumpler|Manfrotto|
MartijnGizmo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-29-2007, 10:36 AM   #38
SDK2003
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Solihull - UK
Posts: 502
Default

I also have a 24-70L F2.8 and it's a great piece of kit, nice buy
__________________


|| Canon 20D x2 | 17-40L | 24-70L | 100 USM Macro | 100-400L IS | 580EX ||
SDK2003 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-29-2007, 04:58 PM   #39
MartijnGizmo
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Groningen - Netherlands
Posts: 1,324
Default

It served me well today while doing an extensive shoot with a Lotus Exige S. 8) More to come!
__________________
EOS 5D|EOS 600|15-30|24 1.4 L|135 2 L|2x 580EX|2x CP-E3|ST-E2|2x Pocket Wizzard Plus II|IXUS 850IS|Crumpler|Manfrotto|
MartijnGizmo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2007, 05:15 PM   #40
MartijnGizmo
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Groningen - Netherlands
Posts: 1,324
Default

As the gear-lust was itching again, so I changed some of my stuff.



First of all I sold my 17-35 f/2.8 L. I was mainly using it a 17mm and small apertures, most of the time the 24mm of my 24-70 is enough wide-angle on the 5D. So I decided to sell it, and get a cheaper and even wider lens. So I found someone who was willing to trade it for his Sigma 15-30 and some money. I heared a lot of negative things about this lens, but most people hadn't tried it for themselves. The price was good, so I could always sell it with some profit. So far the lens has served me good! Sure, the AF is slow an noisy, but that's ok for my uses. Also, because of the bulguous front element, you can't fit a polarizer to it. Not the much of a problem on a special use wide-angle, and I can put ND-filters on the back of the lens. The colors it produces are great, as is the sharpness, so I'm quite happy with it. And I've got 2mm more wide-angle now, 15mm is really wide on the 5D. 8)

Here it is:


And some shots made with it:




The trade of the 17-35 left me with some spare change. Ever since I sold the 35/2 (due to the noisy AF) I was lusting after a fast wide-angle-prime. I decided to save up for a 35 f/1.4 L, when a friend made me a great offer for his 28 f/1.8. Sure, the quality isn't as good as an 35/1.4 or 24/1.4, but it's much cheaper and he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. It has USM, so fast and silent AF, 28mm is a great focal length for low-light-snapshots (my main purpose for this lens) and it's really small. The bokeh can be quite ugly at times, but that's fine for now. I also really love the look of wide-angle with small DOF.

Here it is:


And some pics taken with it. No automotive pics yet, but at least I ordered a polarizer for it:







I was using my 70-200 f/2.8 L mainly at 200/2.8 to get a small DOF, so I thought "why not trade it for a prime?" The 200 f/2.8 L would be a logical choice, but I thought that it would be a little too long, so I went with the shorter 135 f/2 L for an even smaller DOF. So far I'm not missing the ability to zoom and the DOF and sharpness are surreal. Yesterday I used it at f/5 for the first time, and the pics almost looked oversharpened without postprocessing! :shock: It's supposed to be Canon's sharpest lense, and I totally agree. Also it's a lot smaller and more leightweight than the 70-200, excellent for the summerholiday.

Here it is:


And some pics made with it:







After all the lens-galore, it was also time for some more flash-action. I bought a second 580EX and ordered a second CP-E3 (still waiting for it). But better yet, I also got some Pocket Wizards from the US! They are much cheaper over there, even after customs. I also got a compact lightstand + umbrella, again to take with me on summer holiday. I used 2 old Nikon SB's with some radiotrigger from Ebay, and even though it worked quite good, the unreliability from the triggers and the lack of power from the flashes annoyed me. So I got rid of it, and tried using Canon's infrared-trigger-system. It does have some advantages like full wireless E-TTL control, but is quite useless outside when taking automotive pics. So I ordered this:

Two Pocket Wizard's (a 3rd one will follow later), a Westcott dual-fold-umbrella in white and a Bogen 3373 (Manfrotto 007B).

The Pocket Wizards use 3,5mm-plugs, and come with some pc-sync-cables. The 580EX has no external input at all, and since I don't want to use any adapters or so, I had my g/f's dad add 3,5mm-sockets to both my €400-flashes, thus using all warranty on it. One is from January this year, the other from April, but I don't think they'll fail on me.


They work absolutely flawless, much much better than the Ebay-triggers or Canon IR-system. They trigger every time, and should do so up to 1600 feet. I've also bought a cable so I can fire my camera remote from the same distance, but havn't found a use for that yet.

I only got them last week, so havn't shot a lot with them, but here are some pics from yesterday (using the Sigma 15-30 and Canon 135/2):



That's all for now, apart from getting another Pocket Wizzard and umbrella+lightstand (to replace the larger ones I have now) I havn't got any future plans yet.
__________________
EOS 5D|EOS 600|15-30|24 1.4 L|135 2 L|2x 580EX|2x CP-E3|ST-E2|2x Pocket Wizzard Plus II|IXUS 850IS|Crumpler|Manfrotto|
MartijnGizmo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2007, 05:44 PM   #41
TT
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Lugano, Switzerland
Posts: 23,178
Default

The 200 quality is really :good:

Congrats on the big news!
__________________
TT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2007, 06:10 PM   #42
MartijnGizmo
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Groningen - Netherlands
Posts: 1,324
Default

I went with the 135/2, not the 200/2.8.
__________________
EOS 5D|EOS 600|15-30|24 1.4 L|135 2 L|2x 580EX|2x CP-E3|ST-E2|2x Pocket Wizzard Plus II|IXUS 850IS|Crumpler|Manfrotto|
MartijnGizmo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2007, 06:41 PM   #43
Svensson
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 1,201
Default

Nice stuff! It's starting to get a big hobby of yours...
__________________
Svensson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2007, 12:43 AM   #44
TT
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Lugano, Switzerland
Posts: 23,178
Default

Originally Posted by MartijnGizmo
I went with the 135/2, not the 200/2.8.
Oh yes, sorry
__________________
TT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2007, 09:50 AM   #45
dutchmasterflex
Regular User
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,566
Default

damn whats wide :shock:

The sharpness and DOF of that 135 is just amazing! I wish my Nikkor 50mm 1.8 was sharper.. although I can't complain about it since I "inherited" it through a friend

SB600 and pocket wizard are next on my list as far as photo purchases.
__________________
dutchmasterflex is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump