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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/11/2008
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It is indeed a good camera, Subhanjan, and you'll have much fun with it. BTW, any used camera markets where you live? You could really save much money with that.
Cheers!
Nick
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Subhanjan Sengupta
{K:883} 12/10/2008
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ya, that's what I will do. I'll buy a D60. I hope it is good for me. After all I will be using an SLR for the first time. I believe D60 will do well. All I need to do now is to save enough money.
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/10/2008
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A watermark should in a sense do exactly this! ruin the picture but still retain its... how can we put that in words? It shoudl retain its "what would be visible without the watermark". This is the sense of it. Much like a trailer of a movie that is not played yet. It shows you what it is about but no more.
Your parallel to terrorism is good! And it shows one thing: If we want to avoid plagiarism, then no technical means will really help. No security measures can make plagiarism absolutely impossible. As always it is not the prohibition and the penalties that work, but rather the logical convinction of the potential plagiarist that he/she shuoldn't do that. We need education for that, not penalties. A punishment by law works only as far as somebody has to fear it. At the very moment where the "threat" of punishment disappears the non-convinved will do what he/she always wanted to do but was only afraid to do. But of course they pump billions into politics of fear for punishment and education stays behind. ;-)
About your next steps in ohotography, take the Nikon. It is a company that really "melted into" photography for decades. Sony is for... well, for somebody that makes some shots eventually. Nikon is almost a synonym for photography.
Cheers!
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/10/2008
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Hi Stan!
Well, you might smile now, but this is also exactly what I do. Keeping notes in a small book about the settings, the light conditions, ideas, and so on. Some kind of a laboratory journal, if you will, or perhaps also some kind of a "photographical diary". It is "too non-artistic" many will hurry to say, but this is exactly the problem by most enthusiasts. They just rely too much on the "instinctive personal skills" though nobody ever told that they have them. ;-)
I am very glad to hear that you do keep track of your steps too. You know, skills are cultivated upon knowledge, and knowledge needs data. So, if you did something and it had an interesting result, you will be able to approach it in a much more dedicated, in this case I dare also say in a much more loving way. But simply shooting something without that necessary dealing with it.. well, it's like writing a song without really caring about the arrangements, the harmony, how things could best develop, and so on. It would get too "cold" for me then, without touching the many nice details that contribute to the overall "product" - be it a song or an image.
Of course it is a more tedious task, to write down the settings and the like, but if one takes that tedious task it is a very good hint of carefulness and dedication to what one does. And it also has good practical results too. In one of my last sessions I got the job to photograph a metal pincer. I was only glad for all the notes later on, when I managed to shoot some really good images of that pincer. It was those notes that brought me to the right path. Without them I would be lost in a jungle of apparently contradicting optical phenomena and I would be only hoping for some deux ex machina. So, it has also its benefits for real world problems, and of course the people that give you the job do not care about the typical excuses and "explanations" of the "natural born artits". ;-)
Cheers!
Nick
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Subhanjan Sengupta
{K:883} 12/9/2008
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Very true. One can indeed watermark his picture. I have Photoshop CS2 to do my job. But what if the image is cropped by the plagiarists? Therefore, A watermark at the corner of the picture will not work. At the same time, you can not apply watermark in the middle of the picture. It ruins the picture. So in either ways, we have trouble. The main thing that we have to accept is that if one wants to plagiarise, and is determined to do so, one really can not help. Have we been able to stop terrorism? NO. Because those who practise terrorism have far powerful convictions than we have. Same here. I think we have to live with all kinds of evil.
And indeed I am going through hard work to learn photography using my compact. But I am planning to buy a DSLR soon. I was thinking of either Nikon D60, or Sony Alpha 200K. But I do not know which one to choose. What to do? Please advise.
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/9/2008
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Hi Subhanjan!
And thanks of a lot for the "Mr." (Boy, am I old! ;-)) But you can really call me just Nick. Never had that kind of "respect wish" because of age.
From what you say I can see that you have real interest. Don't worry that much about the DSLR, you will get that too. But as you say it is the interest that allows us to develop talents and get skills. And also, it is really much better to go the hard way with many limitations of equipments, since exactly this sharpens our minds. You will certainly find out way to accomplish anything with the dedication I read in your lines. To me it is much better than all the "quick masters" that go buy an expensive camera and think that now they are automatically great photographers. Your way is harde but it is fruitful - just keep on that.
Plagiarism is indeed a big problem. You could add a digital signature on your images - something like a watersign. But do you have software for that? If not, then of course the best thing to do is to reduce their size. One could also think of copyright for the images, but this of course means that if somebody misuses your images and you don't take notice of that then you wouldn't have any chance to stop it.
BTW, it also depends on who is misusing the images. Some small local paper would for example perhaps misuse mine but for bigger companies they are not good enough.
In general, I would prefere the watersigns but they must be really good, or else they can be cloned off image.
Cheers!
Nick
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Stan Hill
{K:35352} 12/9/2008
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Hi Nick. When I shoot I keep track of my apertures and shutter speed. With film I keep track and keep notes in my pocket. With digital I have the EXIF file with the information. When I process images in Photoshop I keep notes in a file if I am trying new elements to the process. When I opened Teton Moon I had listed the filter and density of the filter in a note with the image. I do keep my recipes to an extent. Hope this helps, Stan
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/8/2008
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That is the beauty of everything, if there is a beauty at all, Stan. Not only in photography but even in pizza. ;-)
Still you have to use some main ingredients, like in pizza, and the question is which of them. This way it would be a bit easier to know waht to do right by looking at the subject. But it is a long way and a long process, and it does bring much. Which is the most fascinating thing to me at all. Something like wanting a certain flavor and knowing where you should look in your board with spices and herbs. Of course one can just try things out, but then: the experiment and its results have to remain in the knowledge part of the brain, or else it will be forever... let's say an accidentaly good tasting pizza of whoch nobody knows the whys. And that's not really cooking, ey? ;-)
Cheers!
Nick
P.S.: Better metaphor is the one of somebody that plays some accidental chord on guitar without knwoing where to put the fingers next time. ;-)
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Subhanjan Sengupta
{K:883} 12/7/2008
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Thank you Mr. Karagiaouroglou (I would not say 'Nick' any longer as I think you are probably the age of my father) for the kind of inspiration and advice that you have given to me. And I do not know whether I deserve it or not. I am very new in this field and hardly know anything about it. I do not have a camera. I do not have the money to buy a DSLR. I borrow one from a teacher. That is a simple compact where I can not adjust focus. Along with that the lens is not sensitive enough for the manual mode. But I try my best to understand my equipment. It is by doing several experiments that I come to learn of things like aperture, exposure, ISO, so on and so forth. So I have to practice my passion with a lot of difficulty. For I few days I have been trying panning several times on the streets with my small compact. I hard a lot of hard time. But at last I got a good panned shot. And I am happy my mother appreciated it. I wish I had earned in Dollars, or Euro. I wish I had a DSLR. But Above all, I do have the best camera in the world - my own lenses. Whenever I go out to the streets, I keep my eyes open and look for frames. And I repent almost every moment. India is a vibrant country with the streets full of frames. And I see those frames pass by. And I pray God to give me money enough to buy an SLR. With a compact out on the streets, people start suspecting me as a possible spy or terrorist. You know what times we are living in.
Another important thing that I want to know is that how can I protect my pictures in my blog, as well as in Usefilm, from plagiarism. You see, that is why I have reduced the resolution of my pictures for posting them on my blog. So that one does not enlarge it and use it for personal benefits without my consent. Recently a national daily was charged with plagiarism. It took pictures from a personal blog. How can I protect my pictures? How do you protect yours? Please advice.
Regards,
Subhanjan.
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/6/2008
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Hi Subhanjan!
I also had a very very busy time but now it's back to normal again. (And I am really glad for that! :-)) Thanks a lot for your nice comment and good words. I don't think that I have any kind of "special" eye for photography - it's much work and steady learning for me. I don't believe that photography can be primarily based on that thing called "good eye" - this is for me the excuse of people wanting to boost the own image by introducing the aura of the "artist" about them and avoiding real work this way. I think that we all have all possible talents. The question is which of those talents we decide to cultivate. And whatever one takes it means work rather than anything else. So, if you have that interest for photography - and seem to really have it - you will be doing better and better. You already do.
I visited http://clickmoments.blogspot.com/ and I found many images very good. Some of them have that typical strong atmosphere and light that turns a photo to a small document of time. I am glad to see that you don't just get images under the usual light conditions that many too many use. Actually any light is good light for photography and you seem to make your way through all possible light conditions. Unfortunately the images are too small most of the time for telling you a bit more. I click on the images and they come up a bit bigger but not really big enough. On many of them I see some kind of "fuzziness" in focus, however. The details look softened. On many others this softening is not present and so I assume either focus problems or a bit of camera shake and the resulting effects. But as already said this is only on some of the images, the other looking very good as fas as I can see.
I tried also 'Follow this blog' but then I get the input form for email/password and I don't have a blog account at google. (Nor in any other network institution.) And this will remain this way. No account should be necessary for participating to a blog. This should be completely free of giving any kind of data much like we don't need identity cards for going into a pub. And blogs are the electronic "pubs" of our days. But we can keep talking here in UF.
Cheers!
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/6/2008
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The composition is much less than "incredibly beautiful", Hussam. But thanks a lot for the nice comment and extra-generous rating.
Cheers!
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/3/2008
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It turns to an image after Rina's suggestion for a crop, Afsaneh.
Cheers!
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/3/2008
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Rina's suggestion fro the crop was nice, Claudia, not my original crop.
Cheers!
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/3/2008
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Thanks a lot Aziz!
Yes, a greater DoF would be one of the possible ways to better it. The other one, whoch I prefer now, is Rina's suggestion for a crop. But both boil down to the same thing, I guess. Less "dead" areas on the image.
Cheers!
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/3/2008
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Thanks a lot Aylin!
After Rina's idea I think I know how to try that once more.
Cheers!
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/3/2008
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Thanks a lot for this good idea, Rina! It definitely *is* one of the best possible way to go for this! (Attachment.)
Very interesting as Indranil's and also Vandi's suggestions go toward a more detailed background, a stronger presence of it. This would expand the well visible area. Your suggestion goes the opposite way and shrinks it for keeping only what is necessary. If we project Indranil's and Vandi's suggestions to the same physical area of the image then we achieve much the same thing. Less of that dead space! Only that your idea also has the elegance of simplicity. Just get rid of undeeded space... that's trully ingenious to me as it completely avoids the need for complicated rearrangements!
The attachment is surely much much much closer to what I would like to so. So, as it is about cropping the top off, it means that I should zoom in a bit more. Helpful and elegant simplicity. Thanks a lot for that!
Nick
BTW, this is the way to attack problems in mathematics too. Make them simpler. I must like your idea, thus! ;-)
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Cropped off top after Rina's idea. Great! |
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/3/2008
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Hi Vandy!
Long tome but your idea still great! I guess this was it!!! If I only had those finer texture details on the background too! Arrrrrgh, now that I think of it! I really must go there again, set a narrower aperture and an lower speed and see what comes out! I guess it will gain much too much!
Thanks a loooot for that!
Nick
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Stan Hill
{K:35352} 12/3/2008
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Hi Nick, you know your process of how you wish the image to be. Some are harder to put a finger on than others. I just go with how I perceive them and if I like them. I know some others will like and some will pass them by. Photography is different to all. That is the beauty of it. Each person conveys their perceptions and visual thoughts through the lens. To Crop or not to crop, that could be one of the questions. It is all good.
Be well, Stan
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/3/2008
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Thanks a lot for the nice comment, Stan!
Stillmy impression of the whole thing is quite, say, incomplete. Perhaps it was simply good as an idea but bad as a shot after all. (Ideas I have many but to turn them to real images... sigh! ;-))
I have to keep trying the subject some more times and see of it can be done better. Or if it should be rejected right away, that is! ;-)
Cheers!
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/3/2008
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Thanks a lot again Gustavo!
But... something is missing here and I don't really grasp what it could be. Yes, the colors are OK but don't you think that the very presentation of the subject is quite poor? Indranil said that some more of the land would do good, and Fabio referred to the overexposure of the white reflections. To me it seems that the highlights are too poor in structure and I don't know if this is adequate for a "spectrum". But I also don't know how much details a specturm needs.
Such images are quite a headache!
Cheers!
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/2/2008
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Thanks a lot for this, Fabio! I think you got one of its weaknesses right to the point. Perhaps this is also immediately connected to Indranil's wish to get a bit of the land too for the balance against the overexposure? Anyway, I have to retry somilar shots with less exposure and see what they evolve to.
Cheers and thanks again!
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 12/2/2008
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Hi, after a long time Indranil, and thanks a lot for the comment. I really have to try some shots with a bit of the land. The problem is, at that time of the night the land is really dark. It'll be hard to get some details of it without overexposing the reflections. But this is exactly the nice part of it - to try! So, let me try and see what I get.
Cheers!
Nick
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Subhanjan Sengupta
{K:883} 11/13/2008
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How are you Nick? we haven't talked for long? How is your health? Acutally I am a lot busy these days with my exams. I hope you are fine.
You truly have an eye Nick. I simply love your images.
I am new to photography and I have a long long way to go before I can take one truly good picture.
To me, photography is a brilliant medium to portray the world. It appeals to me more than videography. Capturing the world and its people in still images is a very difficult task. Probably even in my eighties I will have to tell myself that photography is not for me. But right now I am trying; training my eye everytime I go outside. I am serious about this hobby. And I will carry on with it for years to come.
In my new blog I have posted a few pictures that I have taken in recent times. There are four categories. There is also another category which has my sketches.
The URL is:
http://clickmoments.blogspot.com/
I will be glad if you pay a visit to it and post your thoughts. I hope others will pour their thoughts in soon. You can even vote in the voting machine at the bottom of my blog. You may even be my follower if you want to. By clicking the 'Follow this blog' link on the top left of this page, you may add yourself to the list of my followers. I will be extremely glad.
Happy browsing!
Regards,
Subhanjan.
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Hussam AL_ Khoder
{K:79545} 11/2/2008
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Astounding Colors and Composition Incredibly beautiful.
I like this picture a lot.
My best wishes
7/7
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Afsaneh Sarvghaddi
{K:2780} 10/18/2008
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Interesting!!!
Beast regard dear Nick...
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Claudia Perilli
{K:31090} 10/17/2008
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Great lights!! Nice crop.
Claudia
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aZiZ aBc
{K:28345} 10/17/2008
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I think a higher dof would be better but it's really beautiful even unchanged.
H&H
Aziz
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Aylin ATASAGUN
{K:13273} 10/17/2008
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intereseting theme and interesting focus. but colors and title are amazing :)
congrats
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Caterina Berimballi
{K:27299} 10/17/2008
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Interesting. Have you tried cropping from the top, effectively eliminating dead space? I've scrolled the image up in my browser, and I feel like I'm getting a totally different image that way. Say 120px from the top?
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Vandy Neculae
{K:7990} 10/16/2008
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Very good shot, Nick.
A high DOF would be better here, I suppose.
Vandi
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Stan Hill
{K:35352} 10/16/2008
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I like the image and the title.. Crop looks fine to me. The different tones and colors are nice. I see what is said about the overburn on the white and it could maybe be faded a little , but as an abstract I still think it stands alone quite nicely.
Be well. Stan
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Gustavo Scheverin
{K:164501} 10/16/2008
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Muy buena la exposición, y me gusta la combinación de los colores. Por supuesto me encanta el título que le pone un toque cientificista...:-)
Un abrazo!
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Fabio Keiner
{K:81109} 10/16/2008
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no, the crop is fine, but the overburned white parts of the 'spectrum' are destroying in some way the color mood of this abstract.
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Indranil Ray
{K:2035} 10/16/2008
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Nice light reflection there. Lovely colour contrast. I like it. It creats a different abstract indeed. IMHO, you can try with showing little bit of land.
Cheers!
Indranil
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