Originally posted by: Eltano1
Amazing pictures, nice work. I'm a modest photographer , just family pictures and places that we go on vacation. I have a few questions, if you don't mind; first, do you use a tripod most of the time? How you set up your camera when taking pictures of a waterfall?, I'm amazed and how the water looks, it seems like is painted. I do have two digital cameras , both Canon (IS 2 and a A40), also have a SLR Minolta Maxxum, but I stopped using it when I got the A40 (I know, I know, I should still use it). My pictures don't look as beatiful and clearer as yours. Any reccomendations?
Best regards
Eltano
I do not use a tripod for my macro shots, but I do use an external flash which makes all the difference. For such high magnifications though (past 2X) I think I may have to eventually use a tripod with a macro focusing rail system.
As for the waterfall, they are long exposures, over 1sec, and taken at dusk. The long exposure accentuates the flow of the water and makes the pond's surface mirror-like and smooth. Obviously, with these you have to use a tripod and a remote shutter release, or at least mirror lock-up or a timed shutter.
As for film, it'd be WAY too expensive for me. I only keep around 2% of my shots. So out of 300 shots I only keep around 6 because I'm pretty picky. If I did that with film I would explode.
I do process my photos with software. I shoot in RAW, and I often up the saturation, increase the contrast, reduce the noise, and sharpen.
This is my general workflow:
1. Shoot in RAW+JPEG mode, using Adobe RGB colorspace (default on the Rebel is sRGB).
2. Download photos to the computer.
3. Use a RAW editing program like Phase One Capture One Pro or Photoshop CS2's built-in Adobe Camera RAW to edit the RAWs' saturation, white balance, contrast, exposure, noise reduction, etc.
4. Save as 16-bit TIFF
5. Open TIFF In Photoshop and do further noise reduction with Noise Ninja, further adjust saturation, contrast, curves, levels, etc with Adjustment Layers, so as not to touch the original image (Layers -> Create Adjustment Layer)
6. Once adjusted, sharpen using Smart Sharpen or Unsharp Mask at 1-50 strength and 20 radius, depending on taste.
7. Save as PSD.
8. Flatten image. Save as TIF.
9. IMPORTANT: Before saving as JPEG, convert from 16-bits to 8-bits, and convert the colorspace from Adobe RGB to sRGB, or else your JPEGs colors will look different from your colors in photoshop.
10. Save as JPEG.