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I love My New Toy!

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zion4me

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May 31, 2001, 12:22:45 AM5/31/01
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I love my new toy...the Oly C3040, but other than"point and shoot", I
haven't the foggiest idea what to do with it! That menu! All those setting
options! What's it all mean??? I know nothing about photography. All I know
is that I want to be able to take beautiful picture like Pekka Saarinen does
with his G1. Of course, I don't have any beautiful moonlit, snow covered
backgrounds to photograph. All I have is the Everglades and all those dumb
alligators!

Marti


Jim K

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May 31, 2001, 12:54:19 AM5/31/01
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"zion4me" <zio...@email.msn.com> wrote in message
news:eVXSXlY6AHA.302@cpmsnbbsa07...

Well you can do one of two things.

A.) start shooting as many flowers and birds as you can.
B.) try being creative.

Most people spend $1000 for a digital and have nothing to show except birds
and flowers.
Others present extremely interesting scenics and perspectives.

Now go out there and shoot something!

Jim K


Mark Westling

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May 31, 2001, 2:07:45 AM5/31/01
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Check out http://www.clydebutcher.com/home.htm if you think there's nothing
to shoot in the Everglades.

Clyde's work is wonderful...

Mark

"Jim K" <enfo...@eznet.net> wrote in message
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jam

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May 31, 2001, 3:04:24 AM5/31/01
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Mark,

Thanks for the link. Some great B&W work there.

--
Jeremy McCreary (remove the zero before replying by e-mail)
jer...@cliffshade0.com
www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/
Most problems are multifactorial and most solutions incremental.


"Mark Westling" <mwes...@home.com> wrote in message
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jam

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May 31, 2001, 3:06:40 AM5/31/01
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Marti,

Unfortunately, there's no substitute for reading the manual, but here's
something that may help you make sense of some of the terms, issues and
options you find there...

www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/exposure.htm

--
Jeremy McCreary (remove the zero before replying by e-mail)
jer...@cliffshade0.com
www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/
Most problems are multifactorial and most solutions incremental.

"zion4me" <zio...@email.msn.com> wrote in message
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Mike Tickle

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May 31, 2001, 5:16:30 AM5/31/01
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> All I have is the Everglades and all those dumb
> alligators!

Well I got my camera 2 weeks ago (FinePix 4900) and all I have had to
photograph is Manchester - I'd swap for the Everglades and alligators any
day!

View my pics at: http://www.netvalue.f9.co.uk/photo/digital_highlights.htm


Mike


Marcel Cossais

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May 31, 2001, 8:26:45 AM5/31/01
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Mark,

Great hint.
I find that by seeing great photos, it gives ideas on how to put things
together. I'm not talking of "copying", but rather getting ideas.
I remember one such photo I saw. It was a simple shot of 4 or 5 swings.
I also went to a phot art show. One picture was of a "mound of tires".
Another was taken in a dump (closeup). It's surprising what the effects can
give ;-)

Cheers,

Marcel
___________________________
Marcel Cossais
mcos...@home.com
mcos...@canada.com
http://members.home.net/mcossais/


"Mark Westling" <mwes...@home.com> wrote in message
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Giles Morris

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May 31, 2001, 10:02:40 AM5/31/01
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"zion4me" <zio...@email.msn.com>

> All I have is the Everglades and all those dumb
> alligators!

Perhaps you could arrange an exchange with the photographers in Northern
Europe who are thinking that they'd like to exchange their dark, rainy,
misty, foggy, wet, gray, dank.... for the sunny, scenic Everglades.

Seriously, there are great pictures everywhere. You could probably find one
from where you're sitting right now.

Could I? Well, umm... Probably not. But you get the idea.

Giles Morris

Judith Gefter

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May 31, 2001, 10:47:16 AM5/31/01
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If you see that Clyde Butcher is having an exhibit and you can go see it -
DO! You will be amazed at the incredible quality of the gigantic B&W prints
he makes in his own darkroom. Clyde Butcher is already a legend. He uses
8x10 cameras and has no compunction about taking them deep into a swamp or a
river. Sometimes his tripods can be tripod head deep. But, oh the
photographs! For us digital people, matching that quality is not possible.
But, young owner of the wonderful 3040 - all those menus give you mind
boggling options. Use the 3040 as a point and shoot until you feel
comfortable seeing pictures. Then, slowly - very slowly - begin to learn
the camera. It is quite sophisticated.
JG

"Mark Westling" <mwes...@home.com> wrote in message
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Jose

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May 31, 2001, 11:26:16 AM5/31/01
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Give those dumb alligators a chance ;-) Who knows....

Jose..

"zion4me" <zio...@email.msn.com> wrote in message
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Scott E.

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May 31, 2001, 1:08:44 PM5/31/01
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> Seriously, there are great pictures everywhere. You could probably find one
> from where you're sitting right now.

Great idea, Glen!

I have lived in South Florida my whole life and am as guilty as anyone
in saying, "There's nothing to shoot here! I need a vacation to
<insert exotic destination here> so I can take some GREAT pictures!"

It would be a challenging assignment for the group if everyone had to
take a meaningful photograph somewhere in their own hometown and post
it online by, say, Monday. It would force your creativity to see the
same "dull" things in new ways...Not allowed would be the
aformentioned birds or flowers :-)

Well - I'm in if anyone else wants to play!!

;-)

Scott

Scott E.

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May 31, 2001, 1:09:40 PM5/31/01
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Of course when I wrote "Glen," I meant "Giles."

Sorry...

TonyB

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May 31, 2001, 1:24:56 PM5/31/01
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What a great idea! Let's say one or two images that shows everyone a little
bit of where we live. Also include address in country, city, town, village,
field?, swamp!!!


"Scott E." <mrm...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
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Redden

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May 31, 2001, 2:14:50 PM5/31/01
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You bring up a good point. Is there anything easier than taking pretty
flower pictures?
I would like to propose a moratorium on flower pictures. What do you think?


"Jim K" <enfo...@eznet.net> wrote in message
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>

Jim K

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May 31, 2001, 1:58:52 PM5/31/01
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"Redden" <red...@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote in message
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> You bring up a good point. Is there anything easier than taking pretty
> flower pictures?
> I would like to propose a moratorium on flower pictures. What do you
think?
>
>

Absolutely. If I see another gallery of flowers I may just puke. It never
ceases to amaze me that so many people spend so much money for a digital and
all they shoot are flowers, birds, and their pets. Then some have the nerve
to ask if we think they have talent! Like dude, how hard is it to shoot a
flower? It would look just as spectacular with a $40 point and shoot and
even to some degree a disposable. You just spent $1000 to duplicate what
has been done millions of times by even cheap cameras, big deal. Lets see
what else you can do with your digital, actually take it out of your yard
one day. But if we tell them that we would be attacked by everyone and thier
mother for being to harsh. So we must put up with the flowers I guess. I
can't tell you how funny it is too watch even men over 40 bent over
photographing a flower in the park. Mean while they pass up 100's of great
photo opportunities to capture yet another tulip!

You have to wonder about that.

Jim K

zion4me

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May 31, 2001, 4:29:30 PM5/31/01
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"challenging assignment" Scott? You sound like a college professor or
something:) Yeah, your idea sounds like fun. I'm willing to give it a
try...not sure what you'll get though:)

BTW: We are thinking of going to Yellowstone, Zion, and Grand Canyon this
summer so I'll have something to shoot......not like it hasn't been done a
bazillion times!

Marti

PS: I put some of my dumb gator pic's and a few others that might be
familiar in an online album. If anyone wants to see them, here's the link. I
hope it works!
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=270363&uid=146007


"Scott E." <mrm...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
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zion4me

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May 31, 2001, 4:34:55 PM5/31/01
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Gee Mark, my gator and Everglades pic's don't look anything like Clyde's.
Thanks for introducing me to his work. I should be so talented! If you want
to see mine...and promise not to laugh, go here:
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=270363&uid=146007

Marti


"Mark Westling" <mwes...@home.com> wrote in message
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zion4me

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May 31, 2001, 4:37:32 PM5/31/01
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Marcel, you hit the nail on the head! That is exactly what I want to
do...take a mound of tires and make it look like something besides just a
mound of tires!

Marti


"Marcel Cossais" <mcos...@home.com> wrote in message
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zion4me

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May 31, 2001, 4:39:11 PM5/31/01
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Guess you wouldn't like to see pictures of my roses, huh? Darn:)

Marti

<red...@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Scott E.

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May 31, 2001, 6:20:55 PM5/31/01
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College professor? Not hardly :-)

I did teach 4 years of high school statistics where the phrase "challenging
assignment" would immediately reduce high school seniors to incoherent moans
and groans...

Actually, this is something that has been gnawing at me for a while. I read
a post in one of the forums on Pekka's page that discussed "giving yourself
shooting assignments." My first thought was that it would be neat to have a
sort of "web photo club" where there was a weekly or monthly assignment and
everyone got to submit ONE picture. I toyed with volunteering to host it on
my site, but the 5mb limit already restricts the space with my pics.

Who knows - if this works out, maybe it's something we can work into the
group...You know - shooting assignment for June: "Shadows," July: "Travel,"
August: "Summer," whatever...

Just a thought - we'll see what "develops"...

Scott

"zion4me" <zio...@email.msn.com> wrote in message

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DeeLeigh

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May 31, 2001, 11:18:25 PM5/31/01
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Try just sitting at home looking at everything through the camera lens. A
macro shot of the wood grains in a piece of furniture or the boards on an
outdoors step, a spool of thread, lots of spools of thread, the picture on
your coffee mug. What have you got to lose, if no one's watching?

Or check out the assignments page at www.mavican.nu They change assignments
every two weeks. Red. Barn. Artifical/electric light. Illustration for
favorite child's book.

dl.


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3in4

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Jun 1, 2001, 12:41:34 AM6/1/01
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Yikes, except the fact that it is in B&W. Nothing like a nice picture that you can't tell what the
colors are, or what it REALLY looked like when the picture was taken.

Redden

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Jun 1, 2001, 2:32:26 AM6/1/01
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We can get 50 megs on Tripod and devote to the "assignments".

"Scott E." <mrm...@mindspring.com> wrote in message

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Bill D'Erasmo

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Jun 1, 2001, 9:07:41 AM6/1/01
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"Todd Walker" <twalk...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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> Again, this is probably because I am an unenlightened yutz, but it
> seems to me that the everglades have such rich colors, that much of
> the feeling of the scenery is lost by shooting in B/W. I have always
> heard that the rule is to shoot in B/W when the color would add
> nothing to the image (and might detract from it.) I can't see where
> that would be the case in these pictures.
>
> But like I say...I probably just don't know "art."

Uh...I can't resist; let me enlighten you ;^)

One of the most unfortunate aspects of digital video, be it your camera (still
or motion), your monitor or even your TV set (though less so on a properly
adjusted one), is how poorly it represents Black and White (grayscale) imagery.
This is unfortunate for many reasons, but today it is even worse because there
is now a whole generation of people who have never seen a "real" B&W image
printed properly on silver-based photo paper or a Black and White movie in a
theater. I'm not talking about old family snapshots of aunt Flo after she had
her warts removed, either.

Lets start with your eyes and their "pixels" [This simplified explanation
ignores certain facts about the structure of the retina and the distribution of
rods and cones, but for this discussion is accurate enough.] Because of the size
and arrangement and ratio of rods (intensity sensing) and cones (frequency
sensing), there being more rods than cones and rods being smaller and more
sensitive, your eyes can see more levels of gray inclusive than pure colors
(colors across the visible spectrum *of same intensity*). Your CPU--er--brain
interpolates info from both to provide a smooth spread of tone and color. If you
only had cones you would be able to see more pure colors but it would look a bit
like applying a posterize filter to the palette. If you had only rods you
wouldn't see any color at all, but you could see the difference of the
intensities of light better and this would translate in your brain as more
detail and greater sharpness.

Is anyone still there?

"...but it seems to me that the everglades have such rich colors, that much of
the feeling of the scenery is lost by shooting in B/W."

And to that I say "But it seems to me that the Everglades has such fine tones
and details, that much of the feeling of the scenery is lost by shooting in
color."

OK...neither one of those statements is really true or false. High-resolution
color film (I'm talking 8 x 10 transparency here) can indeed provide as much
tone and detail (to the eye, anyway) as Black and White film. The issue here
isn't really so much about maximizing tone and detail, but using tone and detail
as the medium of expression. Color v. B&W photography is apples and oranges;
they are both fruit and you may like the taste of one better than the other, but
that doesn't mean one is any sweeter than the other. It is your brain's
perception of greater tone and detail that makes Black and White photography
sweet.

The only way you can know the validity of Black and White photography, and grok
it rightly, is to go see some hanging in a gallery (or, god forbid, *print* your
own, as in develop and print, not hit the print icon in the graphics editor of
your choice); you won't find its truth on a computer screen or with an inkjet.

I said this before in this NG and others; It is often the limitations of a
medium, rather than the capabilities, that define that medium--and all art media
is limited in scope because it is not reality.
______
Bill D'
ŻŻŻŻŻŻ

Bill D'Erasmo

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Jun 1, 2001, 11:36:03 AM6/1/01
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Thanks Diane. I did say I was simplifying things; but I did neglect to warn
people not to stare at one spot for 10 minutes. Thanks for the Oliver Sachs tip,
sounds as interesting as "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat"--somebody even
wrote an opera about that one--I'll have to look into it.
______
Bill D'
ŻŻŻŻŻŻ


jam

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Jun 1, 2001, 4:05:28 PM6/1/01
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Bill,

Caveats acknowledged, all my research for the dpFWIW vision and
photography article

www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/vision.htm

indicates that at light levels typical of daytime, the cone cells do
=all= the work.

The densely packed long-wave (red and green) cones of the fovea collect
almost all of the data eventually interpreted as brightness and also
supply detailed red and green spectral input to the brain-eye's 2 color
channels, which amount to red-green and yellow-blue oppositions. The
relatively sparse short-wave (blue) cones feed only into the color
channels, and coarsely at that. The inherently low resolution of the
short-wave cones draws down the overall resolution of both color
channels but has no effect on the high-resolution brightness data coming
out of the retina.

The monochromatic rods come into play only in low-light (night vision)
conditions and are processed through their own channels. The rods all
peak at the same blue-green wavelength.

Still within the retina, several layers of specialized neurons quickly
separate the cone outputs into the brightness, red-green and yellow-blue
"visual sensations" reported to the brain. (The brain knows nothing of
the raw cone outputs.) These 3 distinct visual data channels (which by
design correspond to the L, a and b channels of the Lab color space)
remain separate through most of the rest of the visual process but
obviously recombine somehow at the level of visual consciousness.

The resolution of the B&W channel far exceeds that of the color channels
throughout the chain, from the retina to visual experience. WRT the
latter, note that it takes a fair amount of detail (brightness channel
data) to specify a speedboat, say, but a single sloppy stoke of color on
the hull instantly makes it a red speedboat to most viewers'
satisfaction. The preconscious brain allocates the lion's share of its
visual processing resources to the brightness channel.

IMO, much of the power of B&W lies in the fact that the brain-eye system
comes loaded for bear in brightness, and that certainly makes sense when
it comes down to recognizing and getting food, shelter and offspring.
The built-in neurologic emphasis on the brightness channel also goes a
long way toward explaining why B&W images seem so natural, even though
the daytime visual experience is undeniably in color. My brain-eye
system knows =immediately= what to do with an Ansel Adams photograph,
however complex, but seems to need some time to chew on a Monet painting
playing primarily to the color channels, even if the subject is
completely natural.

You'll find lots of pertinent links at the URL above.

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