Hiking the Kachalon River [56K Warning]

[The Grim Squeaker]

Some pics from my hike up North on Saturday, through a dried up river bed called "Kachalon river" near Haifa. A certain lack of epic foreign vistas, but one or two nice shots did come out.


Nice tree, I like the lighting and colours on this one.









Scream!

Environment is important, blah blah. (This trash was next to a group of some 20-30 American kids aged under 13),

All Jews. Look goofy behind a chain fence .

Photographer dude who invited me. (He also has a Canon 40D with L lenses, the lucky bastard )



He voted Obama btw .



Macro, yay .

And from lunch at a nearby village:



Comments, critique, requests for recommendations for hikes?

[J]

Your colours are getting better. If possible, try shooting the second picture and the macro during sunrise or sunset with the sun lower on the horizon. The light is warmer and less harsh, and you also end up with more interesting shadows and so forth with the angle of the lighting. The 4th, 6th, and 9th pictures should also look nicer with evening or morning lighting, I find the colours are better & richer then.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Your colours are getting better.

Thank you .

If possible, try shooting the second picture and the macro during sunrise or sunset with the sun lower on the horizon. The light is warmer and less harsh, and you also end up with more interesting shadows and so forth with the angle of the lighting. The 4th, 6th, and 9th pictures should also look nicer with evening or morning lighting, I find the colours are better & richer then.

The light sucked that whole day as a whole, and we were hiking as a group, so my timing ability was rather limited. (The day was either very cloudy, very sunny, or cloudy in trees). The view as a whole wasn't that spectacular though (mainly a narrow, woody canyon), so I doubt i'll be going there again (But there's always next time). I'll try to arrange some night or morning shooting next time I get my winter light saving time screwed ass up early though .

[aerius]

Yeah, what my wife said, she's the better photographer anyway. Me? I just use Photoshop to make stuff look better, Photoshop is my friend and I don't know what I'd do without it.

Speaking of which, there's nothing wrong with using Photoshop to fix up your photos and make them look the way you want them too. I think it's half the fun of digital photography, you get instant results on your camera's viewscreen, and if it doesn't look right you can make it look right without too much effort.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Yeah, what my wife said, she's the better photographer anyway.

Then why haven't we seen any photos by her, except of your spindly ass on a bike? I demand evidence! (Or photos) .

Me? I just use Photoshop to make stuff look better, Photoshop is my friend and I don't know what I'd do without it.

Actually bother to take a better picture in the first place? . Sorry, I prefer taking photos to editing them extensively, or even more than hitting "I'm feeling lucky (Batch)" and cropping here and there . (I don't have a single RAW).

Speaking of which, there's nothing wrong with using Photoshop to fix up your photos and make them look the way you want them too.

Yeah, but I'm lazy and the photos aren't that good anyway.

I think it's half the fun of digital photography, you get instant results on your camera's viewscreen, and if it doesn't look right you can make it look right without too much effort.

I agree with the first half, less so about the second. (I don't mind editing, it's just that it seems to me that if "I" was a better photographer, with a better grasp on the fundamentals, I wouldn't need to edit anything I could control on location (Within reason)).

[aerius]

Yeah, what my wife said, she's the better photographer anyway.

Then why haven't we seen any photos by her, except of your spindly ass on a bike? I demand evidence! (Or photos) .

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 4&t=126150

If you ask her nicely she might post more samples of her work. But that'll make me look bad.

I think it's half the fun of digital photography, you get instant results on your camera's viewscreen, and if it doesn't look right you can make it look right without too much effort.

I agree with the first half, less so about the second. (I don't mind editing, it's just that it seems to me that if "I" was a better photographer, with a better grasp on the fundamentals, I wouldn't need to edit anything I could control on location (Within reason)).

I view it as an entire creative process, I'm not a pro photographer with unlimited time & money on hand, I can't stand in front of a building all day waiting for the sky to be just the right colour and the light to angle in just right. My picture might only be 70% "perfect", but if I can get the rest of the way there in Photoshop, why not?

The other thing is, the camera can't see what I see, what I see in my mind when I take a picture isn't what ends up on film or the memory card on the digital. With Photoshop, I can adjust things till the picture I took matches what I saw, or what my mind says I saw.

That's what I think anyway, it is by no means "the right way" or the final word, it's just the opinion of some amateur photographer guy on the 'net.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Yeah, what my wife said, she's the better photographer anyway.

Then why haven't we seen any photos by her, except of your spindly ass on a bike? I demand evidence! (Or photos) .

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 4&t=126150

If you ask her nicely she might post more samples of her work. But that'll make me look bad.

That sounds like a better argument than any I could form myself .

I think it's half the fun of digital photography, you get instant results on your camera's viewscreen, and if it doesn't look right you can make it look right without too much effort.

I agree with the first half, less so about the second. (I don't mind editing, it's just that it seems to me that if "I" was a better photographer, with a better grasp on the fundamentals, I wouldn't need to edit anything I could control on location (Within reason)).

I view it as an entire creative process, I'm not a pro photographer with unlimited time & money on hand

Yeah, since I lounge around all week with my 50+ hour workweek and 100 dollars per month salary . That, and to hell with getting up at 3AM to shoot the sun rising, I'll do that on hikes to beautiful places (Like Massadah), not on my own time, dammit!

, I can't stand in front of a building all day waiting for the sky to be just the right colour and the light to angle in just right. My picture might only be 70% "perfect", but if I can get the rest of the way there in Photoshop, why not?

I'm not talking about taking shots during the sunrise or sunset, but about the other elements of the photo. And I haven't seen a photoshop job that'll make a 2100 black sky look like the dark midnight blue of the sky an hour after the sun has set. (And I've seen a few of even our bloody house ).

The other thing is, the camera can't see what I see, what I see in my mind when I take a picture isn't what ends up on film or the memory card on the digital. With Photoshop, I can adjust things till the picture I took matches what I saw, or what my mind says I saw.

Yeah, my issues tend to be lacking simple light or the hardware for that. (Bah, I need an L Lense! or a sharp prime! or Both!)

That's what I think anyway, it is by no means "the right way" or the final word, it's just the opinion of some amateur photographer guy on the 'net.

My vast (1 time for pay!) work experience and vast collection of exorbitantly overpriced gear (/sarcasm), as well as years of veterancy make me ignore your argument and flame you!
Am I doing it right?

[aerius]

Might as well hijack the thread real good since we're talking 'bout Photoshop & picture taking philosophy now.


So yeah, this is a picture I took of Old City Hall, I forgot to reset the camera back to my custom colour settings so the picture looks dull and the colours aren't right.



This is how I think it should look if I had the right settings dialed in on my camera when I took the picture. Not quite the way my eyes saw it but close enough.



And this is the totally surreal look I'd have if I was using Velvia film with some fancy filters on my camera lens and advanced film developing techniques.


Photoshop's a tool for me to get what I want. Sometimes all I need is a subtle correction, almost all the pictures I've posted on this board have been 'shopped in some way, either because I couldn't get the shot right with the camera or I wanted to tweak something and make it look better. And sometimes it's just fun to go wild and see what I can come up with.