Photography

[Englishgremlin1]

I am still very much interrested Emma - you don't have to go far for a camera to find a target.

[Ems_85]

That's true! there are so many different things to shoot I guess.

Do you have any tips for getting to grips with the camera again? I was getting used to controlling everything manually but can hardly remember what it all means now!

Also, do you know of any good sites that I can take a little inspiration from?

Emma

[Englishgremlin1]

A few thoughts may help, but I am not the know all I am afraid!

go for aperture priority for a bit so you can control depth of field and let the meter do the work. Why not just have a play and not worry about perfect results, go for what you eye sees.

I don't tend to look at photo sites but one or two one here us Flickern which may help. Otherwise just google a topic and opt for images.

If you cannot get far use you can use the clsoe up mode or go for a lage aperture and have a play with shots of house plants etc.. They can produce some good shots. #

Hope this helps

[Ems_85]

Thanks for the tips!

I've been messing about with shots of random items in the house this weekend and decided to take inspiration from myself! I've been looking trough the many, many photographs I have taken in the past and am starting to rediscover my creative side! Yey!

[Englishgremlin1]

that is excellent - hope you get some good results

[Jorgie]

Hey,
I've recently started to get quite into photography, especially wildlife. Only have a very small, very cheap compact camera at the moment though (currently drooling over a Nikon DSLR). Have noticed that sometimes I find it quite difficult to hold the camera steady and end up with a few blurry and out of focus shots. Any tips??
Did manage to snap one of a lion cub at the zoo the other day though, and was quite proud Don't have a link for it though.

[Englishgremlin1]

There are a few tips I know which may help with the camera shake. If it a digital camera set it to a higher film speed rating (400 or so plus) and that should mean it using a shorter exposure time and that may well help.

Also sometimes lighter weight cameras are harder to hold steady than slightly heavier ones. I quite often brace against the arms of my wheelchair with my hands to give it a bit of stability but if he's a lowlight situation using a table or anything that is about can help.

[Jorgie]

Thanks Englishgremlin

Yesterday the zoom lens on my camera broke. But I'm taking this as a blessing in disguise as it gives me the excuse to buy a canon powershot which are bigger and heavier than other compact camera so should be easier for me to handle. And the zoom is quite impressive. Still sticking with the digital compacts atm. Would love a bridge camera but unfortunately my finances won't quite allow it.

[Englishgremlin1]

I wouldn't worry about how impressive the actual camera is, although the more expensive ones do give you more options I have seen some wonderful pictures taken on compacts. In the end it's the eye and the judgement of the person holding the camera that gets the shots.

I'm just glad you can enjoy it as with conditions like this we all need some relief on something else to think about.

[Jorgie]

It's mainly the zoom and macro function I'm interested in because I take a lot of wildlife shots (having free access to a zoo helps enormously with this ) and wild animals tend not to be so helpful with the close up stuff. On my last camera, the one that broke, I did manage to get some really good butterfly shots using the macro and a couple of good lion cub ones only when they felt brave enough to venture up close to the barrier.

[Lou661]

Jorgie this or this might be good for a bit more stability. Don't know how good the smaller one would be with a larger camera, but seems reasonable for a smaller digital. I've got a small(ish) 150mm tripod(similar to this) for my minolta camera . I got the camera just before DSLRs became a bit more affordable,about 5/6 years ago, so it's halfway between that and a digital compact and it's a fairly heavy camera and the mini tripod was really good for helping me to keep a steady shot.

[Englishgremlin1]

I can see you problem - and yes a tele zoom lens on an SLR would be a lot easier. Even an older one would do the job - you are like me and could do with a lottery win !

[Jorgie]

Thanks lou661, I really like the idea of the first one. Will definitely think about getting one.

Yes! A lottery win would be amazing. Although I imagine I'd have to start playing first...

Heading down to the zoo this week to see what I can do with my new canon. There have been loads of babies born since the last time I went and the weather's supposed to stay good so hopefully I should get some crackers.

[Lou661]

Yeah the good thing with the gorillapod is you don't need alevel surface and can use it anywhere...still haven't got round to getting myself oneyet though

Was trying to share a couple of my favepicswith you but I don't have flicker or anything,the files on fb are too big and my own files are gigantic...I'm too lazy to resize them now so you'll have to wait

I tend to like photographing plants and interesting textures then playing with photo editing to change hues etc. I also love to play with apetures, shutter speeds and movement when taking pics of lights, some the effects are great and with abit of imagination ablur of light can be anything you want it to be.

[Jorgie]

Have you tried photobucket? I had an account a few years ago and it was pretty good for image storing. Didn't use it much so in the end it was deactivated but I think I'm gonna set up another.