Introduce yourself !

[Frederic]

@Niki Patel I will totally go with what @Thomas Varghese is stating: it’s all about using what you have and making the best of it, and most of all having fun while learning new techniques and never being afraid of showcasing your photos or asking for help. The 50mm prime lens with fast aperture is indeed THE BEST BUY you can do to start getting fantastic portraits.

The IPhone 12 is an amazing piece of technology, and I followed the iPhone photography online classes that taught me a lot of getting the maximum out of it. Is it a replacement for a DSLR? maybe it is, as we always have it ready in our pocket and the software that got incorporated makes it now so easy to take stunning shots. It’s not a replacement for me but a welcome addition to my gear. 

At one point when you become a daily user you’ll come to understand what your camera lacks to get you to your next level, but until that day comes just enjoy your gear and get the best out of it. 

[Thomas Varghese]

1 hour ago, Frederic said:

@Niki Patel I will totally go with what @Thomas Varghese is stating: it’s all about using what you have and making the best of it, and most of all having fun while learning new techniques and never being afraid of showcasing your photos or asking for help. The 50mm prime lens with fast aperture is indeed THE BEST BUY you can do to start getting fantastic portraits.

The IPhone 12 is an amazing piece of technology, and I followed the iPhone photography online classes that taught me a lot of getting the maximum out of it. Is it a replacement for a DSLR? maybe it is, as we always have it ready in our pocket and the software that got incorporated makes it now so easy to take stunning shots. It’s not a replacement for me but a welcome addition to my gear. 

At one point when you become a daily user you’ll come to understand what your camera lacks to get you to your next level, but until that day comes just enjoy your gear and get the best out of it. 

@Frederic I totally agree to what you said. As a beginner photographer the most difficult part is what is it you want to picturize. Portrait, Landscape or Wild life. Maybe go beyond earthly photographs and turn to astro photography. Each has to have its specialized gear. Initial years of this hobby you just click moments you think have to be captured. I bought a camera just for the heck of it. Once you have the equipment you start to experiment. You will reach a stage where the passion overtakes the equipment. Like my Xterra. I know its a very capable machine to take you to places. Until you are trained by a professional can u? Answer is a simple NO. During my absolute newbie drive I was thinking there was something seriously wrong with my car as it gets stuck at every corner. Then I realized its not the car but the driver who is at fault. The car is only a machine to amplify your abilities. If you have zero abilities the machine is also zero. Same with the camera. All the crazy upgrades the camera manufacturers offer you is simply to make you buy a new product when you didn't even use the older one properly. Actually most cameras capture stunning pictures if you know how to. Same with the car. For real astro photography you have to actually remove the anti aliasing filter which is inbuilt into the camera and probably renders it useless for any other mode of use. Same like modifying your 4 X 4 too much and renders it useless for daily use.  

[Thomas Varghese]

Flash Freezes Motion Better Than Shutter Speed - YouTube

Very interesting. I hope @Frederic got a solution to his learnings with motion blur when photographing

[Mikhail Lukichev]

10 hours ago, Thomas Varghese said:

Flash Freezes Motion Better Than Shutter Speed - YouTube

Very interesting. I hope @Frederic got a solution to his learnings with motion blur when photographing

Nice to know! Unfortunately, flash cannot help in outdoors 😃

By the way, I took some photos during our last drive. I used 700-300mm lens with a crop camera (1.5x). Most of the photos were taken at 200-300mm focal length. 

So, some of the photos were blurry, mainly @Pancho red Wrangler and @Hennie Schoeman gray Wrangler, while others were ok! Hence, the problem is not the photographer, but Jeeps =)))

Seriously, I had some issues with my 3D following autofocus with the Wranglers. Not sure why. Probably, it's just me 😃

[Frederic]

24 minutes ago, Mikhail Lukichev said:

Nice to know! Unfortunately, flash cannot help in outdoors 😃

By the way, I took some photos during our last drive. I used 700-300mm lens with a crop camera (1.5x). Most of the photos were taken at 200-300mm focal length. 

So, some of the photos were blurry, mainly @Pancho red Wrangler and @Hennie Schoeman gray Wrangler, while others were ok! Hence, the problem is not the photographer, but Jeeps =)))

Seriously, I had some issues with my 3D following autofocus with the Wranglers. Not sure why. Probably, it's just me 😃

 There is no denying that Jeeps have a tendency to disturb others 😜

[M.Seidam]

On 1/18/2021 at 9:23 PM, Frederic said:

@Niki Patel I will totally go with what @Thomas Varghese is stating: it’s all about using what you have and making the best of it, and most of all having fun while learning new techniques and never being afraid of showcasing your photos or asking for help. The 50mm prime lens with fast aperture is indeed THE BEST BUY you can do to start getting fantastic portraits.

The IPhone 12 is an amazing piece of technology, and I followed the iPhone photography online classes that taught me a lot of getting the maximum out of it. Is it a replacement for a DSLR? maybe it is, as we always have it ready in our pocket and the software that got incorporated makes it now so easy to take stunning shots. It’s not a replacement for me but a welcome addition to my gear. 

At one point when you become a daily user you’ll come to understand what your camera lacks to get you to your next level, but until that day comes just enjoy your gear and get the best out of it. 

I am the worst photographer , hence I think it’s time for I phone 12 replacement 😅

[M.Seidam]

On 1/18/2021 at 10:56 PM, Thomas Varghese said:

@Frederic I totally agree to what you said. As a beginner photographer the most difficult part is what is it you want to picturize. Portrait, Landscape or Wild life. Maybe go beyond earthly photographs and turn to astro photography. Each has to have its specialized gear. Initial years of this hobby you just click moments you think have to be captured. I bought a camera just for the heck of it. Once you have the equipment you start to experiment. You will reach a stage where the passion overtakes the equipment. Like my Xterra. I know its a very capable machine to take you to places. Until you are trained by a professional can u? Answer is a simple NO. During my absolute newbie drive I was thinking there was something seriously wrong with my car as it gets stuck at every corner. Then I realized its not the car but the driver who is at fault. The car is only a machine to amplify your abilities. If you have zero abilities the machine is also zero. Same with the camera. All the crazy upgrades the camera manufacturers offer you is simply to make you buy a new product when you didn't even use the older one properly. Actually most cameras capture stunning pictures if you know how to. Same with the car. For real astro photography you have to actually remove the anti aliasing filter which is inbuilt into the camera and probably renders it useless for any other mode of use. Same like modifying your 4 X 4 too much and renders it useless for daily use.  

@Thomas Varghese I agree and it makes sense “ the ship without a captain is like the captain  without a ship “  and having that said I need a trainer in photography 😄 

[Niki]

On 1/9/2021 at 4:53 PM, Mikhail Lukichev said:

Hi @Frederic! Thanks for starting the club!

As you know, from time to time I take some photos. I believe that there two important component of almost every good photo: preparation and luck! If it is supported by some nice equipment, it's even better!

Sometimes it takes a lot of time to prepare to be in a right place at the right time. For me it might take around a week of research to make a decision to go to the fields trying to capture something like meteor shower, milky way or a nice sunset in the mountains. Sometimes I even request some leave days a year in advance just to be sure that I have enough free time for some event.

Then, once everything is ready, I just commit to the plan. And hope, that plan is good and weather would be nice enough to turn the plan into a picture. 

Honestly, my plans were never perfect. All the time something went not in a way I expect. But! This is the time when luck might be very handy! Sometimes you do not expect much but reality exceeds the expectations! In such moments you can just say "Woooooow" and not more than that.

One more important thing. Very important for me. I keep remind myself not to see the world through the camera but to see it with my wide open eyes. It is much better!

@AlexPol this is the thread we spoke about during the drive and @Mikhail Lukichev kind offer to host a group of us to practice and take similar style Astro shots!  Browse through the pages... we are in the company of so many superb photographers!  

[Thomas Varghese]

1 hour ago, Mohamed Seidam said:

@Thomas Varghese I agree and it makes sense “ the ship without a captain is like the captain  without a ship “  and having that said I need a trainer in photography 😄 

@Mohamed Seidam there are many training videos in you tube to acquaint yourself with the tools you have in your camera. 

Richard Bradbury - YouTube This guy is good in his training. 

[Thomas Varghese]

2 hours ago, Mohamed Seidam said:

I am the worst photographer , hence I think it’s time for I phone 12 replacement 😅

There are no good photographers or bad photographers. Please get this notion out of your mind that you are the worst photographer. The only thing which matters is if you got the exposure correct so that other people or you yourself can make out what you shot with the camera. What is the point in showing a perfectly black or white picture to anyone? Sometimes you deliberately change the exposure to contribute your personal artistic touch to the picture. Other than these instances its like driving an automatic geared car. Like the car deciding which gear it should keep going the camera decides what will be the shutter speed, aperture and ISO if you shoot in Auto Mode. Once you switch to the professional mode like a driver shifts from automatic to manual the creativity starts to improve. The camera is like our cars. Whatever commands we give both of them executes it without fail. You cannot decide if I'm a better driver than you just because I drive a better car. What good is it if I don't know how to drive the better car? Scenery choices and type of photography is entirely your wish.