Mr. Deville I'm ready for my closeup...

[Sounguru]

Finally after 2 months of waiting and trying I got a decent picture of my Severum....

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/0808081.jpg

[troy]

Wonderful picture!thumbs2:

[nwnittany]

Sounguru,

I'm sure you've heard this before, but you really have some serious talent. Your pictures are fantastic.

[Sounguru]

Sounguru,

I'm sure you've heard this before, but you really have some serious talent. Your pictures are fantastic.

Thanks but I have a long way to go........... I learn something new everytime.

[Holyvision]

POTM entry imo. I wish I had a camera good enough to do that..

--Holy

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Very nicely done.

[ladyoutlaw50]

wow that is so flippin awesome!!!:19:

[Sounguru]

POTM entry imo. I wish I had a camera good enough to do that..

--Holy

Sorry it doesn't meet the standards for the AC contest, and I do not think my photography really ever will.....

One thing is there is more post processing done in a photo like this than in a standard photo. Most of my photos do have a lot more post processing than the average shooter, which is common among professionals. We used to spend hours in a dark little closet with a bunch of chemicals doing all sorts of different things to try and tweak a photo to grab all of it's potential. Well since I have started to do the same with my wildlife photos they really do not adhere to the guidelines of the rules for the competitions here, I just don't have to worry about cancer from chemicals anymore....:-)

[Kayla-Bug]

Wow that's beautiful. You should shoot pictures for fish magazines! What kind of camera do you use, may I ask?

[Sounguru]

Eos40D by Canon....

[Lady Hobbs]

Lovely fish and lovely pic.

[angelcakes]

lovely picture:19: :19: :19:

[Kayla-Bug]

Eos40D by Canon....It takes awesome photos. Photography is something I love. I might give in and buy a nice camera like that someday lol. Where can you buy those kind at?

[sandy_n]

Awesome looking fish!

[Sounguru]

It takes awesome photos. Photography is something I love. I might give in and buy a nice camera like that someday lol. Where can you buy those kind at?


It isn't the camera that takes nice pictures.....

You can buy it at any decent camera store just be ready to spend $2500 to get what you need to get started.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I totally agree with you there. It takes skill to get good shots. The right equipment goes along way to helping you do that but it still takes someone who knows how to use that camera to get good shots. On the flip side of things, you can get some really good pictures with lower quality equipment as well, it's mostly dependent on the user. My camera is just a simple little Dimage Z1 but I've gotten some really nice pictures with it.

[Sounguru]

Someone several years ago did a study where they gave 25 professional photographers disposable cameras and 25 newbs to hobbyiest the super high end cameras with all the bells and whistles and a multitude of lenses. They also gave the non pros classes tought by the pros. Now this was all back in the days of film.

When all said and done 3 months later the pros with disposables out shot the other group. They took 2 of the best photos from everyone and put them up in a gallery and asked people to rank them in order of 1-100. The highest a non pro ranked was 25th if I remember the study right. but most of the bottom 50 were the non pros.

So it proved 2 things

#1 it is not the equipment that makes a great photo
#2 Knowing the limitations of your equipment is vital to making it work best for you.

[Kayla-Bug]

Yea, the quality of the camera does have a factor, but the person using the camera actually has to know how to use it before it works to it's best ability. I found that out with cameras I had. I had a Kodak at one point of time. I tried and tried getting good shots on it. It was really horrible at getting aquarium pictures, but it was ok at getting other pictures, but not the best. Well, I went out and spent a little cash on a new camera and got the one I have now, a Norcent Xias. It's wonderful! At first I didn't know how to use it right. It took me a while to figure out what techniques would work to make the pics clear and the work paid off because now I can get really clear pics with it. And yea, I know those professional cameras cost a big wad of cash. Before I moved in with my bf, my stepdad was going to buy me one because I was really serious about photography and he knew it (well still am) but I left and didn't get to get it. I actually found some good deals on professional cameras on ebay. I found bundles that have the tripod, cases, lenses and everything for $400-500; and that's cheap from what I have seen. Those were the SLR cameras though.

[Sounguru]

Sorry to say that anything below $1000 is not considered professional....

Actually anything below $2500 is not either...:hmm3grin2orange:

A camera like mine is what is called a prosumer. It has enough functions that a pro can use it and make it work but still has the idiot proof modes built in. A true pro camera does not have the idiot dial on top and has some functions not found on lower models like more control over color temp, lower noise, and so on.

There are a lot of things that seperate a pro camera from a prosumer or a consumer (or as we call them soccer mom cameras). Cameras like the Canon XSI and down, Sony, Pentax, Nikon D90 and down, Olympus and a few other brands of SLRs are all considered consumer cameras. This was true even in the film days, but for some reason not everyone was as hot on SLRs then as they are with digital, although the advantages of an SLR are still the same.

Right now as it stands there are really only 2 companies making true pro cameras and that is Nikon and Canon. Sony, Pentax, and Olympus are trying to break into that market, but as with film Canon and Nikon have a very strong hold on that field. People get confused a lot because comapnies will advertise their cameras as professional models when in truth they are not. They feel that just because it is an SLR it is automatically a pro camera. There are a few point and shoots that can out shoot some of the lower line SLRs hands down.

Also just because most pros use SLRs does not mean they are pro cameras. I do know a few pros that use nothing but point an shoot cameras. So if we were to base a camera as to who use it as being pro or not then there are some pro point and shoot cameras also.

I will agree that equipment does play a roll in what you can do, but the photographer is still 90% of any equation. Just like optics are 90% of image quality.

Oh one more thing do not buy one of those everything packages the optics are usually crap and you would be better off buying lenes seperate...

So anyway there is a short synopsis of a what is a pro camera....:hmm3grin2orange:

[Kayla-Bug]

Wow thanks for letting me know that! You may have just saved me about $500 on something that isn't worth it! I'll have to save up and get one, someday lol. Are SLRs film cameras? And I love the photos that you take. I have seen several of yours and they are awesome. I know it does take a lot of practice to get good at it. I thought it was going to be impossible to get good pics of my fish, but since I have learned how to use my camera (LOL) I get better pics then I used to. I still get crappy ones and I sit there and try and try again until my battery runs dead lol. I can get really good pics of things outside, but when it comes to fish, it is a challenge. But I love doing it so I keep on trying lol. I figured how to use my camera by myself though. I didn't read the book or anything because I wanted to figure it out myself. Looks like I did an ok job of doing it lol!

So SLRs are a no go. I'd rather have a digital one anyways. Maybe by the time I get some cash saved up to buy one they will have marked them down lol. Or maybe I can luck up like I did on my camera. I only paid $130 for it when it was regularly $200. It was well worth it IMO. And yea, the person has to know how to use the camera before it will work properly lol.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Kayla, the Cannon EOs40D is a Digital SLR

[Kayla-Bug]

Oh ok. I'm not familiar with SLRs, I just know I have seen them take pretty good pics lol.

[Sounguru]

Wow thanks for letting me know that! You may have just saved me about $500 on something that isn't worth it! I'll have to save up and get one, someday lol. Are SLRs film cameras? And I love the photos that you take. I have seen several of yours and they are awesome. I know it does take a lot of practice to get good at it. I thought it was going to be impossible to get good pics of my fish, but since I have learned how to use my camera (LOL) I get better pics then I used to. I still get crappy ones and I sit there and try and try again until my battery runs dead lol. I can get really good pics of things outside, but when it comes to fish, it is a challenge. But I love doing it so I keep on trying lol. I figured how to use my camera by myself though. I didn't read the book or anything because I wanted to figure it out myself. Looks like I did an ok job of doing it lol!

So SLRs are a no go. I'd rather have a digital one anyways. Maybe by the time I get some cash saved up to buy one they will have marked them down lol. Or maybe I can luck up like I did on my camera. I only paid $130 for it when it was regularly $200. It was well worth it IMO. And yea, the person has to know how to use the camera before it will work properly lol.


Digital SLR's are what you saw for around $500. Don't get me wrong they are a great place to start and grow from there. The nice thing is let's say you spend $500 on a really nice Macro lens for your $400 dollar camera. Now that $400 dollar camera will take better pictures if you use it correctly than the $100 lens it came with. So you toodle along and stumble upon a lepechaun and he gives you a pot of gold with just enough top buy that really nice semi-pro camera without a lens. So you go buy it and as long as it is the same brand of camera your $500 lens will work and now takes even better pictures because you have a better camera. So buying a simple digital SLR since film ones are only made by really highend companies like Lecia anymore are a great place to start.

What irks people like me is the people that come in to our field and think they know everything because they bought a $500 digital SLR and it is a pro camera. I watched the wedding photgraphy business get slaughterd by lowball and poor shooters because they would charge $200 bucks for a wedding. You get what you pay for. You don't know how many people I had ask me to fix their wedding photos because they decided to hire one of these schmucks, and then went into shock when I told them the price was double what I quoted them to shoot the thing in the first place. It takes me twice to three times as long to fix anothers mistake as it does for me to process my own shots. Now that people are beginning to realize that it takes skill and practice to make a good shot things are back on the upswing, but it is still a tougher market because people think digital means less work. In truth it is the opposite because I used to send my negs off and let someone else print them for me now I have to do all my own editing before I send them out to print.

So anyway off my soapbox I'm not saying that is you in anyway, but may give you a little background on why I take pride in what I do.....;-)

[Kayla-Bug]

Yikes that would suck. Yea, I really do need something to start off with before I actually go and get a really expensive camera and learn how to use it first because I may end up messing it up trying to use it LOL! I definitely am patient when it comes to photography. This is one thing that I don't give up on. Even if I don't become a professional photographer, I would still love what I do no matter what. I found a nice package deal at walmart that has all these little things in it like those background things, and some other things that would probably be helpful in some of the photography I like to do. Do you do this as a hobby or living?

[Sounguru]

Both Wedding as a living when I decide to work and Wildlife as a hobby I hope to make into a living....

[Tam18993]

wow thats a really good photo hope its in POTM

[Sounguru]

wow thats a really good photo hope its in POTM

Nope sorry it won't be in POTM the amount of post processing I do on photos is beyond the scope of the guide lines for this site.

As a pro that used to develop my own stuff I still do all the same things I did in a dark room just on the computer now. Sadly most people don't realize that we used to dodge, burn, sharpen, color correct, crop, and a whole slew of other tricks when working with film. It wasn't until the explosion of digital that these became more main stream knowledge and a lot of people called what we did before, just because it was on a computer now, cheating.

Here is the line that rules me out...

Photos must have no borders or added decorations to enhance them. Resizing and cropping photos as well as lighting or darkening is fine but photo's enhanced by digital coloring, modifying or changing the photo in any way is prohibited

See I color correct every photo it is a needed process and as I said it was done in the darkroom too, but is considered digital coloring by some. Also dodging and burning could be considered changing the photo by enhancing one area but down playing another. We used to do this by holding pieces of paper or screen over areas to expose them to less light than the rest or uncover certain areas to expose them to more. All of the pics you see here and on my website have this type of work done to it. Now I do not remove nor add things in, if you do that to me it is now digital art and no longer photography, but again sadly that is a grey line depending on who you talk to.

So just to keep things above board until some changes are made to the rules I will not be entering any photos here. I just work toward a different level than what this boards contest entails.

[cer]

wonderful pics

[Jon-C]

That is a great pictures