sean corley

June 1, 2009

Seems like RAW was the wrong word to use.

I not talking about images that have just been sharpened with a bit of colour and contrast adjustment. More like looking at an Ansel Adams print before and after the dark room. To me that sort of comparison is extremely interesting and educational. Post processing was (in the days of the dark room) and remains (in the digital world) a real art and contrary to what many would like to believe, access to photoshop does not automatically mean you can start producing great images.

If there are others out there willing to share just a little of this art I for one would be extremely greatful.

June 1, 2009

I would like to see a forum where both the raw image, and the final image are displayed. With maybe a bit of detail of the post processing involved.

I would find it useful (and I assume others would as well) to get some idea on what is possible in camera and what sort of post processing work is required for the final image. I think there are alot of people who view images on this site, see a great photo and think that's because it was taken with a more expensive camera lens combination than they own themselves and have no concept of the sometimes hours of post processing work that has gone in it.

April 26, 2009

I suppose "wildlife" is up to the individual. Are photograps polar bears at Churchill from snow buses true wildlife even though the bears have been attracted by human habitation and are use to human presence. The same goes for African game park safaris. Drive up park the vehicle next to a pride of lions used to this routine, get your shots move on to the herd of elephants. Same thing tomorrow morning. In my post about the mountain lion. To me it is truely wild but the same animal to the local could be viewed otherwise.

April 23, 2009

A hard question. Do you judge a photgraph purely on it's merits or is the story behind it important? If I hike for 4 days up a mountain sit in a hide for a couple of days to get a great shot of a mountain lion. Is that a better shot than a similar one taken by someone who has lived on the same mountain all their life and to who's presence the lion is accustomed?

February 10, 2005

Yasterday I discovered how to retain autofocus when using my

400/5.6L+ EF1.4X teleconverter on my Eos 50e body.

It works quite well on well lit objects with edges of higher contrast

otherwise it tends to shunt around a bit.

I'm most probably the only person that doesn't know but I thought it

may be of interest.

December 21, 2004

BTW.If I had to choose only one lens for landscape I'd alway chose the wide angle over the telephoto.

December 21, 2004

During Jan/Feb 2003 I went on a road trip through the U.S South-West. <A HREF="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=004iuV">(Here)</a>.I took a 20mm, 28-105mm and a 400mm with 1.4 TC and a borrowed 100-300mm. I almost left the 400mm+TC at home. I'm glad I didn't as I used it far more than expected for landscape photography even with the 1.4 TC .I actually used it more than the 100-300mm. You would think after almost 2 years I would have scanned some shots to show as examples but I'm not that organized.You know what us old-fsahioned film types are like.

December 16, 2004

I use an Elan IIe/Eos 50e and 90% of the time I use manual mode the other 10% I use Av.(mostly when taking snapshot to record events Chrsitmas etc.)I like to make the decisions myself. I find it slows me down, makes me think about the subject light interaction and has helped me alot with my photography. I'm sure most of the time one of the picture modes would do as good a job. But it has taught me to evaluate a scene and set exposure especially in those situations where the in bulit meter maybe fooled.

November 10, 2004

+1EV for my palm.

November 8, 2004

If I could only take one lens it would be the 28-105mm. The next lens I would pack would be the 20mm (handy in confined spaces eg. in gorges at zion and hiking down into bryce and covering wide vistas eg. the entire bryce amphitheatre)The third lens would be a longer telephoto for isolating features.In summary if you can afford it get a lens wider than 28mm. Take a look in the gallery at landscapes taken with a 20mm and see if you like the look. Some people do some don't. If you get a 20mm take a few rolls before you go as it takes a bit of practice to get the best out of these lenses.

October 13, 2004

I'm very happy with my 28-105mm 3.5-4.5 USM II. Here are sample shots taken with this lens.

September 15, 2004

Why not stick a sheet of newspaper on the wall. Manually focus the lens then switch to autofocus and autofocus. If the focus changes and it is worse than when manually focussed then you have a problem with the autofocus.

September 7, 2004

Hi Ethan,

In the first shot you'll notice alot of the objects are shaded (the castle, under the trees etc) This is a high contrast scene.In the second shot most of the scene is in sunlight as is the third shot.These are lower contrast scenes.

In scene 1 if you exposed for the sky it would be lovely and blue but there would be little to no detail in the shadows. If you exposed for the shadows the sky would be washed out.The shot you have is about as good as you are going to get in those conditions. You have detail in the shadows and some detail in the sky.What you are seeing is the film (film in general not just the Superia) reaching the limits of its contrast range, not a limitation of the camera.

You have a blue sky in the other because the contrast range is lower.

To get blue skies and retain detail in the foreground skys it helps to shoot with the sun at your back (away from the middle of the day) as this reduces the amount of shading and therefore contrast. On a day with broken cloud wait for the sun to shine through to illuminate the scene.

August 31, 2004

Not hard with a bit of practice. Even with autofocus I often touch up with manual focussing. If one of the AF sensors don't cover the eye rather than focussing on the eye and then recomposing I'll autofocus on the section of the bird that the sensor covers and then manually focus to get the eye sharp.

August 31, 2004

I would go with option 3. I have a 400/5.6l and like it alot for larger birds. Add a 1.4 TC and an extension tube and you've got a pretty good outfit for shooting smaller birds from a hide.Remember if you haven't got a sturdy tripod ,good head and good technique it will be difficult to get consistently sharp shots no matter how sharp the lens is.

Below are links to shots taken with the 400/5.6l

http://www.photo.net/photo/1919703

http://www.photo.net/photo/2069738

August 25, 2004

When I first started to get my E6 film developed the lab I used had a mechanical processor and I saw parallel scratches along the entire roll. I now us a lab that processes by hand (no rollers) and the scratches have gone.

July 13, 2004

Before a recent trip to the states I ordered a couple of books from Amazon before I left Australia. I said I would be at the Town and Country, San Diego for 5 days and asked for the books to be delivered then. Went like clockwork.

May 3, 2004

"Slow Down" & "Think Before You Shoot"

January 29, 2004

When I first started in photography I purchased some Hoya close-up lenses. I think I used them once and gave them away.(images were sort,distortion at the edges, color fringing etc).If you can't afford to buy a macro lens try an extension tube on your 50mm lens.It will work on your zoom but they are easier to use on a prime lens.I took these with a EF 28-105 + EF25 extension tube.A 50mm extension tube will give greater magnification but less working distance and more light loss. Not that I have found the loss of light due to using extension tubes a problem

This flower was less than an inch in height.

January 22, 2004

My 2 cents worth.

Day 1.

Las Vegas-Page (272 miles)

Day 2.

Page-Arches (Moab)(273 miles)

Day 3.

Arches-Monument Valley (165 miles)

Day 4.

Monument Valley-Grand Canyon (191 miles)

Day 5.

Grand Canyon-Las Vegas (276 miles)

These driving distances should give you time to shoot each location at dawn and dusk and drive during the middle of the day.Remember antelope canyon is best during the middle of the day.

The Grand Canyon shouldn't be too crowded. At least it wasn't last Feb and the southwest was having an unusually warm period then.

January 21, 2004

I was over there Feb 2003. I was really looking forward to Monument Valley but after being there, while very impressive,photographically it was quite restrictive. The loop road doesn't open to well after dawn so you miss the best light (besides the classic shot from the information centre),you can't leave the road and most of the tours miss the best lighting. I would rate Zion, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon or Death Valley well in front of Monument Valley for photographic opportunities. If I had to pick one place to visit it would be either Death Valley or Arches/Canyonlands.

To get the best out of photographing Monument Valley I would suggest trying to find a tour that caters specifically for photographers.

Sean

October 28, 2003

Whether to use ISO 40 or 50 is a personal thing. The extra 1/3 stop exposure at ISO 40 gives a little more shadow detail with a slight loss in saturation. I usually rate Provia 100F at 100. Being a high contrast film velvia is more suited to early morning late afternoon and overcast conditions. Use the print film for higher contrast situations like the middle of the day. If you are using a tripod I see no benefit in using Kodak 400 instead of 100. The extra 2 stops would be handy if you need to hand hold in lower light conditions though.

October 8, 2003

Hi Bill,

I always request full frame 8x10 prints which are 10 inches long but about 6.5 or so inches wide instead of cropped 8x10s. I like the look of the slightly longer print. These should fit in a standard frame with a custom mat. You could think about the necessary crop in camera but you miss out on the better looking (IMO) full frame format.

I'm interested which others prefer.

September 18, 2003

I don't know if this is too far away, but January this year I spent one night and half a day in Morro Bay. After dining at the Flying Dutchman I noticed an otter wrapped in kelp attached to a pylon just to the north of the wharf that the restaurant is on. The next morning while shooting the sunrise on Morro Rock, the otter was feeding close to the wharf. It then wrapped itself to the same pylon as the night before. Not having my 400mm lens on me I walked back to my room to get it on the off chance that the otter would still be there when I got back. It was and I was able to get frame filling shots.I don't know if I was lucky or if this is a regular occurrence. Later I also saw otters and a fur seal near the rock wall below Morro Rock. I also got a chance to shoot the elephant seals at San Simeon but I don't know if they are there this time of year.

Also if you are not experienced at using long telephotos you may be dissappointed with the sharpness of your images as it takes a bit of practice to perfect your technique. The longer the lens the better your technique needs to be.

September 9, 2003

How about an Ikelite Lite Link. I have one and it works great.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/lite_link.html

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Posts posted by sean corley