General Photography Chat - Page 35

CRE8IVEDESTRUCTION · #**681** Posted **Apr 24, 2010, 4:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by edmontonenthusiast

18-55 and 55-250 for Canon is what I recommend (same for Nikon, except it's 55-200 for Nikon). You'll probably eventually want something wider than 18mm though. The Tokina 11-16 is good, and I believe they make it for Canon too (why wouldn't they?).

You're going to love the wide angle of 20mm and less for architecture shots. Most photos it seems of buildings are wide angle. Why are they good? Well, they get to include the entire building (especially tall ones) into one shot up close. This up closeness and including the whole building forms wide angle which gives a nice artistic warp and curve to things (this is dramatified with a fisheye).

But a tele (like the 55-250) has it's charms. Like in dramatic views (where wide angle can also be nice) you can get close in on details of mountains, maybe a river, different buildings close together in a skyline, etc. It's also great for doing candid street photography of people on the street and perfect for getting little urban details like repetition of windows, contrast of facades, textures like wood or concrete or grass, and it's great for getting shallow depth of field (where the thing that you are focusing most on is the only thing actually in focus...be it a face, nose, tiny slice of sidewalk, one lampost of 10 in repeating pattern, etc.).

Thanks Edmontonenthusiast for your recommendation! :} So I bought the camera a few weeks back and I've been loving it a lot. Now there are two telephoto lenses that I'm considering. One is the 55-250mm you mentioned for $300, and the other lens is a 70-300mm lens for $650. The only lens that I have at the moment is the 18-55mm. If I get the 70-300mm will I be missing out a lot on the 55-70mm gap? Will it even make a big difference?

ue · #**682** Posted **Apr 24, 2010, 4:37 AM**

^I'd get the 55-250mm as a starter to the telephoto world as personally I like to have the option of zooming a little out to 55mm without changing lenses. But I know both are good. I know sometimes I'd love more reach.

Aleks · #**683** Posted **Apr 24, 2010, 8:13 PM**

i entered a high school photo contest yesterday, and i really hope i can win!

first place gets a Cannon EOS 7D with a 17-85mm lens.
a full tuition to a choice of a photography class up to 615 dollars

since there are 13 categories, they'll do 'best in category" and whoever gets it will get 100 dollars in cash.

6 pictures out of the top 36 will appear on jones soda bottles, and one student (it can be any student) will get to shoot photos at a Seahawks game right from the field.

so i hope i win the camera! if i win it i would sell it and use half the money for my apartment and half for my community college classes (books, and thngs like that).

HomeInMyShoes · #**684** Posted **Apr 24, 2010, 9:11 PM**

^Son of a bitch. We never had prizes like that in high school.

Damn lousy Canadian education system.

Ayreonaut · #**685** Posted **Apr 24, 2010, 9:14 PM**

Yeah, the best I ever got was a $0.99 grab bag of Lays.

Lays!!!!

ue · #**686** Posted **Apr 24, 2010, 11:45 PM**

Yeah, no kidding. That is a sweet prize, Aleks! Do you go to the finest public school in Seattle, Washington or something? Or a private school?

Are you going to sell your Nikon equipment if you win?

Aleks · #**687** Posted **Apr 26, 2010, 3:44 AM**

hahaha, lays. they shouldve at least made it doritos!

haha, nah, i dont go to a private school! its a state wide competition so between 2 and 4 thousand pictures from around the state are competing against my six (thats the max number that one is allowed to enter).

and nahhh, my school is turning ghetto lately.

but i wouldn't plan on sellin my d90! like i said before, i'd save 1000 bucks for community college and 1000 for rent and moving-in fee's when i move out this fall.

and if i win 'best in category' i get 100 bucks extra, and i might spend it on a 1 terrabyte external hardrive.

i'll get results in two weeks! i really hope i win! i need money! i don't mean to blow my own horn, but from my school i really didn't see anyone who could beat my pictures. but it's all about preference and i've seen some AMAZING pictures from other high school students around the state. it's not my own friends i'm afraid of, it's the other school to the north and east!

lol, the last three to comment are from canadians!

Ayreonaut · #**688** Posted **Apr 26, 2010, 4:02 AM**

One of my photos got up to #176 in Explore! I don't really know why or how, it only has ten tags, and is in just one group. It got over 90 views today, and now has over 130 total, my second highest is 46.

vid · #**689** Posted **Apr 26, 2010, 5:00 AM**

My most viewed photo has over 5,800 hits and averages around 20 hits a day, but is not in explore. 99.9% of its hits come from some website, which I still haven't figured out.

bulliver · #**690** Posted **Apr 28, 2010, 7:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by flar

On a different topic: Does anyone have experience with the Nikon 16-85 VR lens?

I do...bought one last fall. I'm quite happy with it.

Doady · #**691** Posted **Apr 28, 2010, 8:26 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid

My most viewed photo has over 5,800 hits and averages around 20 hits a day, but is not in explore. 99.9% of its hits come from some website, which I still haven't figured out.

Doesn't Flickr have the Google Analytics option? Using Google Analytics for my Zenfolio site, I know exactly which external site link to my site, and not just the site but the page(s) themselves, and exactly how much traffic comes from each. it tells you how many people find your site through search engines, and which search terms people use, and of course the traffic numbers for each search terms and search engine.

vid · #**692** Posted **Apr 28, 2010, 9:54 AM**

I don't know if it is Google Analytics (Flickr is owned by Yahoo!), but what you describe is what Flickr Stats does. Results are broken down by site, and then by page (or in the case of search engines, sorted by search engine and then by search term).

As you can see, it even tells you when people use the link to go back to the original photo, instead of just hitting back.

HomeInMyShoes · #**693** Posted **Apr 28, 2010, 10:08 AM**

^It can figure out some sites, but some still come up as unknown. The unknowns annoy me.

Still waiting for a photo to hit explore. It'll never happen, but I can wait.

Top view getter is now at 585. It pretty much gets one view every day from the same woodworking site. When it first showed up there it got a few hundred views in a week.

Got another, we have no money story a couple of weeks back.

Quote:

Good afternoon,
I am with Stride Magazine. We are a new racing magazine that is online. We are doing a Derby issue and Wagner's is mentioned. I apologize in advance for not being able to pay, we are just too new. Is it possible we could still use your image? If so, please give me your name so we can credit you, it is a fun photo.

Not going to happen.

mr.John · #**694** Posted **Apr 28, 2010, 12:32 PM**

Quote:

Still waiting for a photo to hit explore. It'll never happen, but I can wait.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over that, I know a person who has over 50 photos that made it on explore ,all of them of cats and squirrels...if you want to amuse yourself simply sign off on flickr, then vist your photostream and click like crazy on a couple of photos and watch your views skyrocket

vid · #**695** Posted **Apr 28, 2010, 12:49 PM**

I have one photo that has been getting 15 unknown views a day since I uploaded it. It's driving me insane trying to guess what it might be. I think it is the government, since I criticize Dalton McGuinty in the description.

HomeInMyShoes · #**696** Posted **Apr 28, 2010, 1:01 PM**

^Lol.

@mr.John: I'm not losing any sleep over it. It just seems like a random goal to have.

Doady · #**697** Posted **Apr 28, 2010, 8:29 PM**

My old defunct Pbase site is still getting around 3 hits per day, even though I haven't updated it in over a year and it is mostly full of bad photos. My newer Flickr and Zenfolio sites hardly get any hits at all even though I constantly update them with newer and better pics. Kind of frustrating.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid

I don't know if it is Google Analytics (Flickr is owned by Yahoo!), but what you describe is what Flickr Stats does. Results are broken down by site, and then by page (or in the case of search engines, sorted by search engine and then by search term).

Hmm... I see. Pardon my ignorance, I had a pro Flickr account before but I don't remember this at all, it must be a new feature.

I'm have no idea why there would "unknown source." I have never experienced such a thing.

Aleks · #**698** Posted **Apr 28, 2010, 11:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Still waiting for a photo to hit explore. It'll never happen, but I can wait.

i wouldnt be so sure... explorer photos can be added or removed.

have you never had any photos in explorer? are you sure they just havent been removed? cause there are several of my photos that aren't in explorer and don't show up but i'm 100% sure that they've been on it before.

Ayreonaut · #**699** Posted **Apr 28, 2010, 11:41 PM**

You can still find out which photos have ever been in Explore, and have since been dropped.

Scout

BTW, I've now had a fourth one that's in the 300s.

HomeInMyShoes · #**700** Posted **Apr 29, 2010, 1:41 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aleks

i wouldnt be so sure... explorer photos can be added or removed.

have you never had any photos in explorer? are you sure they just havent been removed? cause there are several of my photos that aren't in explorer and don't show up but i'm 100% sure that they've been on it before.

I know they can be added and removed. scout reports nothing. Given that the most comments on any photo I've ever had is 5 and the most favourites is 2. There is little doubt that I have never had, nor will ever have a photo in the explore pages. I stand by comments I've made on this forum before: I failed social networking 101.