Hobbies and Crafts

Thanks Errol, I may download Gimp when I get home. I used to like photo Suite but can't get it now. I tend to enhance with Picassa at the moment.

Ann - I always describe myself as a "photo artist".

I think that even using digital enhancement with the likes of Photoshop requires a high degree of skill and is certainly not a demonstration of computer prowess. You still have to have an "eye" for it.
I get quite annoyed with people who, because they know how to use software such as Photoshop, believe that they are artistic and that is quite obviously not the case.
But I do agree that as far as competitions are concerned it could be argued that there should be seperate classes to a certain extent although it would be difficult to say at which point it becomes a "Photoshopped" image rather than merely enhanced.. However, unless altering the actual content and composition of the image, all Photoshop does is an electronic version of what photographers have always done using filters, burning, under/over exposure etc.

Huia - you would have far greater control if you used a digital SLR. That way you can very easily alter exposure, focus, aperture (f stops) etc.

If you want to try a free programme that for most people is probably as good as Photoshop for what they want to do, try Gimp.

It is very very good indeed and can be downloaded here...

http://www.gimp.org/

(click on Downloads)

...or do a search online for it.

Lucky you Huia, gosh, colour photos as old as that, are they sharp?

You take very good photos, and, besides the fact I could not get to grips with photoshop, I sort of think it is cheating to alter the original photo so much and still think it represents what was taken. If it is a competition, there ought to be a separate class for photos digitally changed by programmes such as photo shop. I think the results are more down to computer prowess than photographic expertise.

I love the phrase, painting with light, which is one way of describing the act of taking photos. I do lighten, straighten and crop my photos as well as maybe change to B&W or sepia. But could never understand layers where you can, for instance, change the colour of the sky.

Hi there. I joined a camera club to see if I could improve my photography, but the judges seem very picky and seem to prefer photos which have been photoshopped, that is to say, digitally altered. I do not have the photoshop programme and even if I did I wouldn't make major alterations to my photos, just lighten if a bit dark, and of course I don't mind cropping my photos to improve the look. And I will change a colour photo to b&w or sepia if it improves it, but the basic photo is still the same. My one problem with the digital camera is that it is not so easy to change the focus/speed etc as with the old film cameras. And remember to change the settings for the next photo! So I just leave it on the one setting and point and shoot.

I have lots of old film photos which I have scanned to my computer, or rather scanned the film instead. That way, if the horizon is not level I can at least level it up to get a better photo, even if it means cropping.

I have some colour positive film taken about Dec 1938, by my dad. I have scanned them onto my computer. I was hightly delighted when my sister came to light with them as I thought they had been lost. I can date them fairly accurately because I am obviously about 3 yrs old in them (birthday in Jan). You wont find too many amateur colour pos photos as old as that. The colour isn't too terrible either.

Actually I am glad we had this conversation. I have decided to just take my compact camera to Tenerife to save weight this time and I had the 2GB card in, have just changed it for the 8GB which was in my other camera. :-)

I think it depends where I am, a lot of my photography these days is on holiday, i.e. in Tenrife, where I tend to take the flowers and sea scenes and it is repetitive because we have been there a lot. However when we go on holiday in the UK i.e. the Lake District, I will take more of the lakes and mountains always looking for a better shot than before. that is when I usually have more than one camera with me.

I reckon I take at least 100 shots to find one with which I am happy so I always carry a couple of 16 GB cards with me.

I tend to use maximum resolution and play around a lot with depth of field to try out different ideas and concepts.

I don't have a spare battery but I do charge my camera before we go out to take photos. I have a 2GB card so that holds a lot and I usually empty my card when the photos are downloaded to my pc. I also often carry two cameras.

Thanks Ann I have already learnt that lesson. We went out to take some pictures of car trails. We got up on Portsdown hill and got the camera set up ready to go only to find out after a couple of shots the battery had run out and we didnt have the spare. The next time we tried again we forgot to put a card in the camera. Third time lucky! We thought we had to get it right this time, but no after a couple of shots the card was full.
We had one last attempt and actualy managed to take some photos. Unfortunately they didn't turn out very well. More practice required.

However now before we go out now we double check that we have a spare battery and plenty of spare cards. Well most times!!!

Sounds like photography heaven Jane. Glad you had a good day.

I will have to unearth my camera and start snapping in the garden.

I think that it may need recharging - and that when I became aware of this 9a few weeks ago) I couldn't find the connectors, instructions etc.

All I need to do is practise. Don't even need to leave home turf.

Annx good advice re charged battery. Just need to pull my finger out and start pointing!

Yes, you can just snap away without any 'cost' and often something among the shots will be good. :-) Good idea with a digital though to get a spare battery to keep charged and carry with you. There is nothing worse than a perfect shot coming into view and your battery fizzles out! :-S

The thing is, with digital cameras you are not wasting film so take ten photos and there maybe one good one amongst them. It really is practice and learning what works but it sounds as if you had plenty to focus on. I bet the tall ship and sub looked good. I used to work near southsea (towards the ferry to Gosport) so could easily picture it all.

I am only a begginer at photography. Taking good shots doesn't come very easy to me so my husband and I decided to go to Southsea to practice taking photos of the kite festival.

Unfortunately I got a bit distracted and took photos of a Tall ship and a submarine that just happened to be passing. Then there was the Hovercraft and the Catamaran and other ships sailing by. Not forgetting the Spiniker Tower. Oh I did manage a few shots of the kite festival but they didn't turn out very well. There were too many of them flying realy close together.

However I did have a very nice day out.

Tess you can't go wrong with a digital camera just point and shoot, take as many as you like, no fil to waste.

I agree that photo albums are fun to look at, but they do take up so much space. However out of the frying pan and ....... Scrap books are bigger.
:-D

But photo albums are such fun to browse through.

A couple of weeks ago I showed my nine year old son a photo od his dad (my son) when he was about 19. Sons hair was long and flopping over his face. Grandson didn't recognise him (at first). When I told him that it was his dad, he couldn't stop laughing!

I still have loads of photos waiting to go into albums. As well as some albums of my dads, some of hi photos were ones he took in India in WW11.

I had an SLR camera (can't remember what type) but now find it too heavy to cart around. Then got a point and press one (good for snaps) which is much lighter than the Slr.

Have also got a digital camera, but haven't got the hang of it.

(Must try harder).

If and when I do I will be taking loads of photos of my garden, (and its visitors) as well as family members, hopefully some of them candid shots.

Well done everyone, on getting your photos in the paper or eshibited.

I love finding photos of places my ancestors came from online.

Keep up the good work.

I love looking at old photos of places I know/knew Ann. Have a few my Dad took around my home town which has changed a lot. trouble with so many of his photos they were quite small, if enlarged they don't really have the definition.

Good luck in the competition. Yes, we can upload to our local paper too.

I should have said before when mentioning my photographic interests, I too like to take old buildings and parts of old buildings.

The biggest problem with the old film photography is that the photos took up space. I have absolutely loads of photo albums. Keep meaning to scan the ones worth keeping and bin the albums but somehow can't make myself do it.

These days I still keep hard copies in the form of my scrap books. Habit dies hard :-D

Yes, I love photography too and have just entered a Hoverfly closeup in a competition in our local paper. I've had a few photos printed in the local paper, but have only entered a couple of their competitions.

I like to photograph landscapes, sunsets, flowers, animals, birds, insects and old or unusual buildings. I love to get out when there's been a good frost! It was quite an expensive hobby until digital cameras came along and years ago I had a Kodak Brownie, then used an Olympus OM10 for ages, which I still have somewhere. Now I am lazy and like a point and shoot I can carry in my pocket. :-)

There is a website for our local villages, where anyone can post photos of the area that may be of interest to future historians, so I have put a few on there. Things like what somewhere looked like before houses were built and ones of floods and when the local bank was being rethatched!! A lot of people have put on photos of events and very old photos they have as well so it is building up a bit of ongoing history on each place.

Now thre is an idea worth thinking bout.

Maybe we could have a GR photo competition?

Would like to have seen that Errol, an interesting concept. Lol The closest I have ever got to that was doping a quiz way back in the 80s, putting up lots of photos of close ups of objects for people to guess what they were.