Post Your Photos (and lens/processing info)

Here we own one of the best still cameras in the world, yet we don't tend to post stills or talk about them. I'm starting this thread for this purpose.

Keep in mind that this is not PhotoBucket. The idea is that we should only post photos that give insight into camera operation, lenses, and processing. We don't need full size, full res photos for that, scaled or cropped images will do.

Here's my contribution... Last night I shot a photo of our cat, Figaro. His black fur makes him nearly impossible to shoot well with cheapo cameras.

Lighting: Four ceiling-mounted lights were on, surrounding the subject. The ceiling is two stories above the floor.
Lens: Nikon 85mm f/1.8 AF on Photodiox Pro adapter.
Operation: Full manual, using Live View Exposure Simulation. Handheld.
Focus: Manual, using 10x magnification
Settings: f/1.8, 1/30, 6400 ISO, custom WB.
Processing from RAW: Dropped the contrast slightly. Boosted the saturation. Cranked sharpness all the way to make up for slight focus/motion blur. The image is scaled, not cropped.

Using a Nikon lens this way for a photo was REALLY slow. Auto-focus, shutter priority, and IS would have really helped. A tripod wasn't reasonable, as the cat was pretty feisty and rarely stayed in one place.

The bokeh of this lens is pretty poor on the details of the gold couch pillow. Aside from that I'm happy with the lens. If I could manually set the aperture of lenses in video mode, I would definitely choose Canon lenses.

[Silton Buendia]

Here are a couple that I shot. This is a great camera for photos.

[Alex Chong]

A shot I took of my kids on our way to the airport in Singapore. Just got the 5D2 the day before.

[Steven S. Miric]

From few months ago. Trying 35mm/1.4 L... Processed in LR.
Full gallery here:
Zenfolio | FOTOGRAFIJA | 5D II: kidz

[Steven S. Miric]

Another time, another shoot...

[Charles W. Hull]

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L
1/400 sec, f/8, 38mm
Owens Dry lake, looking north to Mt. Whitney

[Greg Milneck]

Shot as the sun fell below the horizon w/ a 50mm f1.8 Canon lens.
f2.0
iso 400
1/100 sec

lots of cs4 action. Focus on the lens is short...need to spend the time to set it w/ micro adjust.

[Bob Thompson]

Black-crowned Night Heron

8th March 2009
Canon 5D Mark 2 and Canon 400mm f5.6 lens
Taken at the Typhoon Shelter at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Little Egret taken at Nam Sang Wai, Hong Kong using the same gear

[David W. Jones]

Nice shots Bob.

[Bob Thompson]

Thanks David,

Although people have commented on other sites that the camera is not suitable for birds in flight, because of the slow continuous mode. Personally I love the camera.

Another shot from the typhoon shelter with Canon 400 f5.6 lens, this time a Black kite

Bob

[Jon Fairhurst]

I shot this photo at the local podunk airport with a Nikon 85mm f/1.8 AF. I show two versions. One is processed only with the Canon software (contrast lowered, saturation and sharpness boosted.) The other is "Ortonized" - a process that uses multiple layers and only blurs the darks. You might need to click the photos to compare at a larger size.

In Photoshop, you make a layer from the background, then duplicate it. Set the top layer's blending mode to "screen" which brightens the picture. Next, merge it down. Duplicate your merged layer, and set the blending mode to "multiply", which will darken the result. Now apply about 20 pixels of Gaussian blur to the top layer. Boom. Ortonized.

You can do the same with Vegas. Open a project and add some video to a track. Duplicate the layer. Set the top layer's blending mode to "screen". Save the project. Open a new project. Place your previous project on a timeline track, nesting it. Duplicate the layer. Set the top layer's blending mode to "multiply". Add a Gaussian blur effect to the top layer and adjust to taste.

The effect looks better on some scenes than others. Anyway, it's something to play with...

[Jon Fairhurst]

Here's another photo shot with the same lens, indoors, wide open - and tweaked with the same process.

[Ron Coker]

My little friends arrive each day for breakfast and dinner snacks.
5dmk2 with 50 MM Lensbaby Composer, dual glass element, F4 aperture plate.
Camera in Aperture mode. Probably 400 ASA. (Very overcast mid afternoon)

With 50 MM lens distance to subject about 36 in. Manual focus.

The birds are on my Vimeo home page, both 5dmk2 and Canon HF10. I'm unable to load the link to this post.

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Ron Coker

My little friends arrive each day for breakfast and dinner snacks.

Those are wild birds?! Beautiful.

-- peer

[Ron Coker]

Originally Posted by Peer Landa

Those are wild birds?! Beautiful.

-- peer

Peer, Yes, wild, and aggressive. They eat the lot, chasing competitors off, large or small. The Kookaburra (Very Large) shuts them up however.

vimeo.com/3185936

5D MK2 + Birds.

Thanks for your comments.

[Ron Coker]

Setup, Window light overcast falling on table, a small hand mirror trimmed and fastened to table via Power Tack. Lensbaby Composer 50 MM F4 + #1 tube. Av mode 1/4 sec 100 ASA. Camera on 10 sec delay, well tied down.

Minor adjustments in PSD. Highlight reduction. Face dimentions 3/4 in H 1/2 in W

Funny, I wonder why my images are at this size? Sent at 8x12 72 DPI. I thought it may have been larger than my previous contribution.!! Never mind.