Photos of our four legged hunting friends
- Thread starter Fernando
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Wow! Those are some wonderful pictures!
I think that the pit bull's face illustrates the rule of thirds, too.
Here's the first meeting of the adult bird dog with the new baby bird dog. No time to set up a great picture: this was the first time they'd greeted each other, and I wanted to capture it!
I think that the pit bull's face illustrates the rule of thirds, too.
Here's the first meeting of the adult bird dog with the new baby bird dog. No time to set up a great picture: this was the first time they'd greeted each other, and I wanted to capture it!
And you captured it well, ArmedBear. Awesome resolution, very sharp pic too. I’ve noticed that you say “bird dog”. I think it’s the same as our “dog for feather”, lol. You are referring to what the dog catch the best, right? Bird as in opposition to fur?
DIM, best circular polarizers around are, IMHO, Hoya. You only need one polarizer, so get a good one (hoya has several lines, from less expensive to more expensive). But you have to buy one that fits your lenses! Probably your lenses are 58mm, pitch 0.75, but you must confirm this before you buy (specially if you buy it online).
One of the best affordable hoya’s are the hmc or super hmc, but if you can’t get one for less than 40 or 50 bucks buy another hoya less expensive (you will be able to adjust image anyways when editing).
A polarizer is never as impressive as a hdr pic (real hdr or fake). It is surely not the solution for every pics problem. A well used illumination or noise plug-in can make a lot more for a photo.
DIM, best circular polarizers around are, IMHO, Hoya. You only need one polarizer, so get a good one (hoya has several lines, from less expensive to more expensive). But you have to buy one that fits your lenses! Probably your lenses are 58mm, pitch 0.75, but you must confirm this before you buy (specially if you buy it online).
One of the best affordable hoya’s are the hmc or super hmc, but if you can’t get one for less than 40 or 50 bucks buy another hoya less expensive (you will be able to adjust image anyways when editing).
A polarizer is never as impressive as a hdr pic (real hdr or fake). It is surely not the solution for every pics problem. A well used illumination or noise plug-in can make a lot more for a photo.
NickEllis
Member
One of our dane Evie (but you can't see much of her!)
Another of the lab Lucy, who has a constant companion in Liam.
Another of the lab Lucy, who has a constant companion in Liam.
Full Scott-type American Bulldog
I JUST took these in the back yard... I said Canon, but it is actually a Kodak Easyshare Z1275.
f2.8 (minimum on camera)
1/1000 shutter speed
ISO200
My new understanding from what i just tried is that 1/1000 takes speed shots, 8s takes long exposure
Speed shots need more light, thus higher ISO, but too high in good light washes out picture
I JUST took these in the back yard... I said Canon, but it is actually a Kodak Easyshare Z1275.
f2.8 (minimum on camera)
1/1000 shutter speed
ISO200
My new understanding from what i just tried is that 1/1000 takes speed shots, 8s takes long exposure
Speed shots need more light, thus higher ISO, but too high in good light washes out picture
DIM, every editing software allows you to make adjustments in the brightness of your picture, yes? However, sometimes you just want to bring light to a particular part of the picture, to half an object that got darker, to a dogs face, etc, etc. So, unless you create a mask (select that specific part of the image), all your photo will get light on it, and that can be catastrophic (some areas that were already fairly illuminated will be over exposed, with loss of colors or details). So what can we do? We should leave that function to a specialized plug-in. How and what?
How:
If you use as editing software something like corel photopaint (X3 or X4) you will be allowed to install plug-ins in it. When you install the plug-ins, you can access them via normal effect menu. As I said before, plug-ins are little programs that do specific thins or apply specific effects to you image.
What:
One of the best illumination plug-ins around is the Shadow Illuminator Pro (from intrigue technologies) and will allow you to bring light only to the parts of the picture that really need it. And it has a scale, so you can choose the amount of light you want. Let me enlighten you with an example:
(My father playing around with a boar, lol)
What happened? When we tried to illuminate the picture with normal software, normal command in editing software, all imaged got attacked, got gray all over it and colours got lost. On the contrary, when we used a specific illumination plug-in, image got a lot better, and the colors didn’t suffer (some even got more alive).
Another fast example:
Now you say: hey, that last one gained some noise in the blue!
Yap, that can happen when you bring light to photos. But that also happens very frequently when we use high iso settings on camera (above iso 400) or when we shoot in pour light conditions. What can we do? We can use another plug-in, this time specialized in noise (grain) reduction. There are a few of them out there, but one of the simpler and most effective is the Neat Image.
Same picture, with some noise reduction:
We can apply noise reduction until there is no noise left, but image tends to became softer. In some pictures that can be bad, but in others can be great: all fashion magazines apply noise reduction filters on the portraits of their models to soften their skin. They design a mask and only softens what they want to soften (usually faces and legs, lol). What? You though all those bit#### were perfect? lolol
Noise reduction is highly used to level the blue in the sky in landscape pictures (it gets perfect). Or to improve phone pictures:
(hope Brad doesn’t mind, lol)
Besides illumination and noise reduction plug-ins, there are out there a bunch of others with cool effects, specialized in this or that. Nik color efex pro, 55mm (DFT), virtual painter, are just a few. They all run in cored photopaint or other software like photoshop (don't ask me about this last one, lol).
There are also other stand alone little software than can alter photos or join them (hdr). Also fun.
Lazy dog, lol:
Gaiudo, they let the parrot out! Nice pic, that last one
How:
If you use as editing software something like corel photopaint (X3 or X4) you will be allowed to install plug-ins in it. When you install the plug-ins, you can access them via normal effect menu. As I said before, plug-ins are little programs that do specific thins or apply specific effects to you image.
What:
One of the best illumination plug-ins around is the Shadow Illuminator Pro (from intrigue technologies) and will allow you to bring light only to the parts of the picture that really need it. And it has a scale, so you can choose the amount of light you want. Let me enlighten you with an example:
(My father playing around with a boar, lol)
What happened? When we tried to illuminate the picture with normal software, normal command in editing software, all imaged got attacked, got gray all over it and colours got lost. On the contrary, when we used a specific illumination plug-in, image got a lot better, and the colors didn’t suffer (some even got more alive).
Another fast example:
Now you say: hey, that last one gained some noise in the blue!
Yap, that can happen when you bring light to photos. But that also happens very frequently when we use high iso settings on camera (above iso 400) or when we shoot in pour light conditions. What can we do? We can use another plug-in, this time specialized in noise (grain) reduction. There are a few of them out there, but one of the simpler and most effective is the Neat Image.
Same picture, with some noise reduction:
We can apply noise reduction until there is no noise left, but image tends to became softer. In some pictures that can be bad, but in others can be great: all fashion magazines apply noise reduction filters on the portraits of their models to soften their skin. They design a mask and only softens what they want to soften (usually faces and legs, lol). What? You though all those bit#### were perfect? lolol
Noise reduction is highly used to level the blue in the sky in landscape pictures (it gets perfect). Or to improve phone pictures:
(hope Brad doesn’t mind, lol)
Besides illumination and noise reduction plug-ins, there are out there a bunch of others with cool effects, specialized in this or that. Nik color efex pro, 55mm (DFT), virtual painter, are just a few. They all run in cored photopaint or other software like photoshop (don't ask me about this last one, lol).
There are also other stand alone little software than can alter photos or join them (hdr). Also fun.
Lazy dog, lol:
Gaiudo, they let the parrot out! Nice pic, that last one
NickEllis
Member
Fernando, what is HDR? Nice effects.
everyone that sees her wants to know about my pit-bull... and I have almost given up on explaining the difference. 
There are 2 types of americans, Scotts and Johnsons... the Scotts have the almond shaped eyes, sleeker head and muzzle and are generally smaller (she weights about 65lbs)... the Johnson's look like thick Boxers...
Fernando, I dont mind at all. I know when I can learn something, and you can use my pics all you wish! FWIW, I liked the noise in the blue sky... and great lazy dog pic!
I am going to play some more with the settings on this cheap-o digicam to see what I can do...
There are 2 types of americans, Scotts and Johnsons... the Scotts have the almond shaped eyes, sleeker head and muzzle and are generally smaller (she weights about 65lbs)... the Johnson's look like thick Boxers...Fernando, I dont mind at all.
I know when I can learn something, and you can use my pics all you wish! FWIW, I liked the noise in the blue sky... and great lazy dog pic!I am going to play some more with the settings on this cheap-o digicam to see what I can do...
rattletrap1970
Member
This is one of my killers. She mostly hunts bunnies... Dust bunnies.
Brad, that is called hard light, because is very strong (a lot of dark shadows too). Clouds usually make the light more diffuse, pictures get more natural colors and few or no shadows. I got a lot of pictures with hard light too.
Fast pics but with a lot of light:
Gaiudo, HDR means high dynamic range and in few words means joining 3 pics to get one. What 3 pics? One normal, one under exposed (dark) and one over exposed (bright). A specific software will join all three to get a balanced photo, with not too dark or too bright parts.
True HDR and Fake HDR: True HDR uses 3 photos, as I already said; fake HDR uses only one photo (the software will try to do its best to equilibrate, to get the image balanced).
When joining photos (or when handling the photo in fake mode) we can also add some drama to the image, change colors and play with light.
Exemplifying:
Over exposed image
Normal exposure
Under exposed
Final HDR pic:
Note, that final pic could be very different if we had changed the settings when joining original pics (add or subtract color, noise, shadows, drama, etc)
Two more true HDR pic:
Fake HDR:
Normal photo
Fake HDR Photo
In fake HDR the software tries to balance brightness, but it is much more difficult to get it right because all the info comes from one photo alone and not three. Black tends to get more grain.
But in some pictures, the outcome is more or less ok.
Normal pic:
Fake HDR
HDR greatest photos are from landscapes with clouds, not portraits. And with a plain blue sky we will not do much.
Examples of software for making HDR Photos:
Dynamic Photo HDR 4 (true and fake hdr)
Photomatix (true hdr only)
Rattle, nice pic too. What are dust bunnies?
Fast pics but with a lot of light:
Gaiudo, HDR means high dynamic range and in few words means joining 3 pics to get one. What 3 pics? One normal, one under exposed (dark) and one over exposed (bright). A specific software will join all three to get a balanced photo, with not too dark or too bright parts.
True HDR and Fake HDR: True HDR uses 3 photos, as I already said; fake HDR uses only one photo (the software will try to do its best to equilibrate, to get the image balanced).
When joining photos (or when handling the photo in fake mode) we can also add some drama to the image, change colors and play with light.
Exemplifying:
Over exposed image
Normal exposure
Under exposed
Final HDR pic:
Note, that final pic could be very different if we had changed the settings when joining original pics (add or subtract color, noise, shadows, drama, etc)
Two more true HDR pic:
Fake HDR:
Normal photo
Fake HDR Photo
In fake HDR the software tries to balance brightness, but it is much more difficult to get it right because all the info comes from one photo alone and not three. Black tends to get more grain.
But in some pictures, the outcome is more or less ok.
Normal pic:
Fake HDR
HDR greatest photos are from landscapes with clouds, not portraits. And with a plain blue sky we will not do much.
Examples of software for making HDR Photos:
Dynamic Photo HDR 4 (true and fake hdr)
Photomatix (true hdr only)
Rattle, nice pic too. What are dust bunnies?
CoRoMo
Member
My high speed internet locks up after about five seconds of trying to load any of the pages in this thread.
I forgot to say one or two things about true HDR:
Most DSLR have a thing called AEB (Automatic Exposure Bracketing) – the camera automatically takes 3 photos, with different exposures levels (you can set the difference between exposures levels. In this case, all you have to do is:
1 – Put the camera in a tripod or steady surface (so all pics have same content *)
2 – Select AEB on the menu (at least -2 to +2)
3 – Use the remote or retarded shooter (so camera won’t vibrate when shooting)
* when joining pics you have to check image'S alignment (tricky thing to do if the wind moved your foliage)
To get fake HDR you obviously don’t need to do any of this
Most DSLR have a thing called AEB (Automatic Exposure Bracketing) – the camera automatically takes 3 photos, with different exposures levels (you can set the difference between exposures levels. In this case, all you have to do is:
1 – Put the camera in a tripod or steady surface (so all pics have same content *)
2 – Select AEB on the menu (at least -2 to +2)
3 – Use the remote or retarded shooter (so camera won’t vibrate when shooting)
* when joining pics you have to check image'S alignment (tricky thing to do if the wind moved your foliage)
To get fake HDR you obviously don’t need to do any of this
Coromo, sorry to hear that. My internet connection supports 10mb max and doesn't lock up. You can see only word’s not the pictures is that it?
Dim, Photo-Paint is one of the programs included in CorelDraw Graphics Suit (X3 and X4). It runs on windows. If you get the Suite, install only the Photo-Paint because is the only in the suite for editing photos.
Link to wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corel_Photo-Paint
Dim, Photo-Paint is one of the programs included in CorelDraw Graphics Suit (X3 and X4). It runs on windows. If you get the Suite, install only the Photo-Paint because is the only in the suite for editing photos.
Link to wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corel_Photo-Paint
After you install Photo-Paint X3, install all plug-ins in :
C:\Program Files\Corel\CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 13\Plugins
The plug-ins will automatically be shown in “Efects” menu.
Note: Dynamic Photo HDR 4 and Photomatix are not plug-ins but stand alone programs.
C:\Program Files\Corel\CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 13\Plugins
The plug-ins will automatically be shown in “Efects” menu.
Note: Dynamic Photo HDR 4 and Photomatix are not plug-ins but stand alone programs.
ept000
Member
This is Claire and our rooster. She may look timid, but don't count her out.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Lololololol! EPT some knifes had that rooster in its feet! Nice editing job on the last pic, eheheh
DIM, he got a bit whiter, your dog. With time and practice you will master the plug-ins. Now, there are some little things you must know:
1 – Prime lens usually produce much more sharp (detailed) pictures than zoom lenses. Your 50mm will be sharper than your sigma zoom lens; you just have to find the best aperture in the 50mm (probably f/2)
2 – Zoom lenses, near their maximum extension, will produce softer images. A 70-300mm is sharp to around 250mm, and after that you will get softer images (large amounts of light may help us beyond 250mm, but the image will suffer anyways). And this affects all zoom lens, even the more expensive series.
DIM, he got a bit whiter, your dog. With time and practice you will master the plug-ins. Now, there are some little things you must know:
1 – Prime lens usually produce much more sharp (detailed) pictures than zoom lenses. Your 50mm will be sharper than your sigma zoom lens; you just have to find the best aperture in the 50mm (probably f/2)
2 – Zoom lenses, near their maximum extension, will produce softer images. A 70-300mm is sharp to around 250mm, and after that you will get softer images (large amounts of light may help us beyond 250mm, but the image will suffer anyways). And this affects all zoom lens, even the more expensive series.
countertop
Member
Best HDR site on the internet (IMHO) is Stuck In Custom.
This guy is good.
http://www.stuckincustoms.com/
Fernando, excellent pictures. We love Portugal, where abouts are you? Big fan of the Algarve, but like even more the mountains just north of there. Monchique and Foia are just gorgeous.
We've been there 4 times, and keep talking about getting a vacation home there.
This guy is good.
http://www.stuckincustoms.com/
Fernando, excellent pictures. We love Portugal, where abouts are you? Big fan of the Algarve, but like even more the mountains just north of there. Monchique and Foia are just gorgeous.
We've been there 4 times, and keep talking about getting a vacation home there.
Quote: “Best HDR site on the internet (IMHO) is Stuck In Custom.”
Great shots, yes. If you want to see a pile of high quality hdr’s go to flickr and search for HDR. You will be amazed.
http://www.flickr.com/
Quote: “We love Portugal, where abouts are you? Big fan of the Algarve, but like even more the mountains just north of there. Monchique and Foia are just gorgeous.”
I live and work in lisbon, capital, but almost every weekend I go 200km north, to near the centre of the country. Algarve is way south (300km from Lisbon, in the bottom of the country). Algarve is usually the first choice for tourists from all over the world, because of the warm weather. It’s a bit (a lot, actually lol) crowded in summer time, so I usually don’t go there every year.
All my grandparents were from the north, so I don’t like much of the south anyways.
A few more of my flea bag, lol:
Great shots, yes. If you want to see a pile of high quality hdr’s go to flickr and search for HDR. You will be amazed.
http://www.flickr.com/
Quote: “We love Portugal, where abouts are you? Big fan of the Algarve, but like even more the mountains just north of there. Monchique and Foia are just gorgeous.”
I live and work in lisbon, capital, but almost every weekend I go 200km north, to near the centre of the country. Algarve is way south (300km from Lisbon, in the bottom of the country). Algarve is usually the first choice for tourists from all over the world, because of the warm weather. It’s a bit (a lot, actually lol) crowded in summer time, so I usually don’t go there every year.
All my grandparents were from the north, so I don’t like much of the south anyways.
A few more of my flea bag, lol:
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