Photographing and tips

Try old tricks

In the distant history, during Pax Romana or at least when film was the thing, photographers had some tricks. Some of them seem to be forgotten.

Try to find them. If you do, test some.

This huge dumpper has been photographed through old time soft focus filter called "old stockings".

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©Alan Aspie

Stockings were white, coarse and pinned on lens hood. Like this.

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©Alan Aspie

Having a stocking filter in front of your lens gives you something you can't get in any other way.

Or you can.... (Go and read what else you can do.)
 
This is a great thread. I think the observations and suggestions made are valid. I have spent many happy years messing around with my Canon slr and a variety of prime and other lenses. I do like the technical stuff, but recently I have quite enjoyed the results from being low-tech, making me concentrate on the moment of the photo opportunity.

Here are some shots on a clapped out old iPhone 5 from a couple of days walking around Calcutta last summer. Low res, small, grubby lens, often poor light, and I was trying to be inconspicuous. Tripod, good lens, and more pixels would have changed these, but I think the essence would not necessarily have improved much. I find that I quite like the graininess.

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The drunken sign picture is fantastic, almost seems like it is more of a suggestion than a statement of fact, even the sign looks like it is only a suggestion. All of the stuff crammed into it and those fan units in the windows look way oversized but there they are. Nice green building next to raw concrete finish. Who knows what could be under the tarps. The light post is going in all directions while the lights seem to be in a line. As a digital artist I see so many artistic avenues in that picture to pursue. The trees lining the street make a nice green picture. The clean horizontal car motion blur emphasizes the soaring vertical aspect of the scene. So where exactly is this Drunken State located?
 
I could really use some old fashioned, easy to do, practical tips on photographing my artwork. The more finished the picture gets, the worse the picture of the work looks. The best pictures of my work are made from the digital files that I create printed out as glossy photographs.
 
The drunken sign picture is fantastic, almost seems like it is more of a suggestion than a statement of fact, even the sign looks like it is only a suggestion. All of the stuff crammed into it and those fan units in the windows look way oversized but there they are. Nice green building next to raw concrete finish. Who knows what could be under the tarps. The light post is going in all directions while the lights seem to be in a line. As a digital artist I see so many artistic avenues in that picture to pursue. The trees lining the street make a nice green picture. The clean horizontal car motion blur emphasizes the soaring vertical aspect of the scene. So where exactly is this Drunken State located?
Glad you like it.
Re: Drunken State. Is that a philosophical question? Physical location of the sign is at the junction of Chowringhee Rd and Park St, central Kolkata, West Bengal. Probably findable in Google Street view.
 
I could really use some old fashioned, easy to do, practical tips on photographing my artwork. The more finished the picture gets, the worse the picture of the work looks. The best pictures of my work are made from the digital files that I create printed out as glossy photographs.
Decent lighting, and be prepared to adjust the colour balance, saturation, contrast digitally afterwards. You can make that very complex with professional software, or do 99% of the job, probably to your own satisfaction with basic free editing software which comes bundled with iphoto or picasa etc.

Try to get the camera perpendicular to the picture, and far enough away that you do not get perspective distortion of the edges of the picture or aberration or blurring from the edge of the lens. Bright light and a small aperture are helpful in this respect. Use a prime lensand tripod if you have them, but not critical.

Is this the sort of thing you are looking for?
 
Drunken State, here we have dui or drunk driving. Drunken state sounds weird to me, more like a place.

Thinking it over from your suggestions, I think I will try taking several closeup pictures, smaller than the whole picture, and recombine them back into one picture.

Best lighting so far, for me, has been natural lightning, bright but not direct. The camera fixed in placed. The printed surface is underneath a few clear polycrlic layers. Its clear but not crystal clear and the surface is very uneven, making glare a real problem. Like photographing an image in a rounded surface with lights coming from all directions. The colors just don't come through. I have to recolor it section by section, it would be like digitally repainting the picture all over again. For selling it sight unseen, I really need an exact copy. Sounds like making the picture of the picture will be much harder than making the original picture.
 
The drunken sign picture is fantastic, almost seems like it is more of a suggestion than a statement of fact, even the sign looks like it is only a suggestion. All of the stuff crammed into it and those fan units in the windows look way oversized but there they are. Nice green building next to raw concrete finish. Who knows what could be under the tarps. The light post is going in all directions while the lights seem to be in a line. As a digital artist I see so many artistic avenues in that picture to pursue. The trees lining the street make a nice green picture. The clean horizontal car motion blur emphasizes the soaring vertical aspect of the scene. So where exactly is this Drunken State located?
Digressing a bit from the OP. Indian road safety warnings can appear whimsical, and are often thought provoking rather than directive. Probably more effective as a result.
My favourite is “ Arrive in peace, not in pieces “
Some others:
 
been playing with a new toy, a tamron adaptail 2 70-210mm lens that may well be older than me, had a bit of a play tonight.
 
Try symbolic telling. Happy or annoyed about something? Some kind of life situation? Do you need to share something you don't want to or can't tell? Go symbolic!

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©Alan Aspie

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©Alan Aspie

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© Alan Aspie

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© Alan Aspie

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© Alan Aspie

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© Alan Aspie

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© Alan Aspie
 
My hint.
Look at the works of great photographers. My hero is Henri Cartier-Bresson. Looking at his pictures changed the way I think about photography. I would recommend his book Europeans.


The other Magnum photographers are very good.

The Guardian newspaper has an excellent photography section.
 
Check your gear.

Is it clean? Do your lenses focus like they should? Is your gear right stuff for you or should you change something? Do you give your gear enough exercise? Are your batteries ok? Is your camera's censor clean? Do you know how to clean it? Is your computer and programs ok for you?

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© Alan Aspie
 
Publish in social media.

Put some of your photos to social media. Get more feedback that way. Let other people see your visual thinking, your emotional and artistic touch and what you are interested of.

Get yourself some kind of network among photo/video/sound/drawing/whatever folks.

Let others look inside your mind and heart through your art - or what ever it is.

And have a look to the inner world of other artists who let you look they way of seeing the world.

Here is my Instapage. You can publish yours in this thread if you want to.



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