The Photography Thread

[Rumau]

Photography. Ah, Photography. From what started out hundreds of years ago as experiments with a box and a hole, to documenting the world with unbiasedness and as never before, to petty neverending debates about the superiority of either Japanese camera brands with names that both end in -on (It's Canon by the way, Canon good. nah jk). But today we set all of those differences aside and move them someplace else to a brave new comedy stage, NationStates!

That's right! I am calling for all those who spends unimaginable hours inside their room with only potato chips and Adobe Lightroom by their side! I am calling for those who spend their lunch money on expensive film rolls for no reason! I am calling out to all ye pure souls who are about to dwell the underappreciated basement that is photography, to show off their shots here! If you are also one of those that snapped a thousand shots with your smartphones, you're going to fit in right here! Not only that, get recommendations on kits! Have nice, civil conversations on which camera brands are better than the other! And for the beginners, or anyone really, ask questions and get tips and advices about photography! Basically, everything photography!

Rules & Guidances
1.) Follow the site rules.
2.) It is highly recommended that you link your photos instead of posting them directly on here.
3.) Be nice and civil to each other.
4.) Stay within topic, photography.
5.) Don't spam.

Also, thank you to Valentine Z for his help and inputs on this thread!

[Valentine Z]

Ahhh nice. And thanks for the shoutout! ♥ So admittedly, I am cheating a little bit because this was something I have written for someone else close on the Forest RMB, but hey, it can apply to here too!

The backstory. I was never really into photography. I mean, I do appreciate cameras for what they are but as a kid... that thought never really crossed my mind. My granddad also did photography as a hobby (I am not sure if he did commercial too, I will assume he did!) so he didn't push it on me, and in fact - again I didn't know that he did until I was much older. In hindsight, I should have talked A LOT more about it with him. We are close, it just didn't cross my mind to talk to him about photography!

Back in 2010, my family (and myself) got ourselves a DSLR - a Nikon D5100. We used to use those compact cameras before smartphones became a thing, and then we decided to upgrade with an entry-mid level camera because.. we just need something that can preserve these memories a lot better. So we got that little camera! Still no interest. I mean, I did learn a little bit about it, but I didn't really give much of a care on the settings, going for Auto mode.

Then I got a Lumia 1020 back in 2014, a nice little camera phone that while pretty good, is also marred by having a very slow processor that takes way too long to do those photos. I started tinkering around the settings like shutter speed, ISO, exposure, focus, etc... and I love it! I love using it (though slow) and then I eventually started picking up the family DSLR and started using it more and more and more.

The D5100 and myself have went to Singapore, Burma, and even to Hong Kong. It was a delight to use, even if it is not the best camera. There is also this thing about working with the limitations or the equipment you have - better equipment does not necessarily make the photos better instantly. Although, more resolution / better sensor can help, yes, and on top of that, you also don't want to be limited by a sensor that is effectively from a camera from Temu or Wish.

Then eventually, the poor thing died. After 13 years of service, the D5100 croaked, its mechanical parts ending its lifespan. Then I got my D850! I know this sounds less of an advice and more of my life/camera story, but my point being that while I DID envy getting a better equipment, I never ditched my D5100. I told myself that I will make do with the lens and everything I have, and that it's just so happens that it died on me. I didn't damage it on purpose to get a new one, of course. I was heartbroken and frustrated as it happened during a shoot in a garden.

And so the D850 came to be, and it will be my DSLR and THE camera for years to come, I am sure and I hope. I don't exactly want the mirrorless cameras - they have their merits, but personally I like DSLRs more despite their flaws such as the weight.

Anyway, my general advice is to just shoot and try your best. I know this sounds like the most unhelpful advice to ever give, alongside writing with "Just start writing". My personal opinion is that it helps because once you start doing something and takes off, then you will really, REALLY get into it and you will start loving the process of it all. I love the process of finding places and spots, adjusting the settings, taking the shots, developing them in Lightroom (or other FOSS like RawTherapee, Darktable), and then sharing. I love the entire process, maybe save for walking around with the camera in humid and hot weathers, which I am still not used to.

So, yeah.. that is kindaaaa my advice, which I know it's not as much, but just start doing it, and you will begin to love it.

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In essence... ahh, it will boil down to this:

- Just keep shooting and trying. Play with the settings, learn what they do, and just snap away! We are in the digital age, there's no worry or fear about spending up the film canisters.

- Shoot in both JPEG and RAW. Most DSLRs should have this option. JPEGs are great for sharing quickly (or when you can't afford time to edit), but RAWs are what DSLRs are great at and they shine at this. RAWs are effectively digital films that you can develop in, and their range is absolutely great, much more than what editing JPEGs can do. I can tell you more about this if you would like.

- Don't be too worked up on the equipment. I mean yes, again, you don't want to be stuck with an out-of-date / unreliable camera from Wish or Temu or any other fishy site. It's more of the fact that it is absolutely fine if you don't have the best equipment and gear. I did my shots on a Nikon D5100, and I could produce better shots than some. Which, to be very clear, I am not being boastful here. That was what I was told a while back as a compliment. ♥

- Following that, don't be afraid of using your phone either! Phones are becoming decent enough for most shots, they are great at places with a lot of lights. Night scenes and stuff... yeah even cameras have a hard time with that. Anyway, most phones (Androids) have great manual modes in their stock camera. With iPhones, no problem - you have third party apps.

- Don't let anyone tell you what is and what is not true photography. That again is gatekeeping imo, and I don't like that either! You are using what you have, and you are doing the best with what you have. I have taken a lot of shots with my phones because I don't like lugging my camera on hikes. What matters is the spirit of it all, and to keep shooting and snapping those nice shots.

- And of course, have fun with the experience and also the journey itself! Often times people get obsessed with taking a lot of photos that they forgot about the trip, or the opposite where there was not a lot of photos to remember by. I managed to strike a balance in Japan - take the shots, BUT also embrace the environment and have fun with my friends.

- This one is less of a photography thing, more of care. I will personally invest in a small airtight cabinet with demoisturizer. You don't need the expensive electronic one, though the ones with those packets you might need replacing often. Cameras hate humidity, best to keep them dry.

I hope this helps and hey, can't wait to see the photos that you all have taken as well!

[British Arzelentaxmacone]

My father is a professional photographer. Has been for 30 years, and he loves his job. He’d be very happy to see many other people loving the same thing as him.

Me, I’ve showed an interest in it, although only causally and not by any stretch professionally. My photographs are generally pretty bad since they’re taken on a small, old phone instead of a good camera, but I find they’re better on average when the subject matter is better.

For example, the greyish photos I take in my South Western UK city don’t compare to the ones I took in China on my last trip, so I think location is a big factor into it, at least in my experience.

[Rumau]

Well I guess I should've started the thread with a topic huh. Also, we're talking about our history with photography? Well as for me I don't have a lot as I've only started doing photography August this year so the "background" thing is still in the process, but there is something to it.

I really only started to consider doing it in the first place because of a junior of mine. He was the first person in my life who had anything to do with cameras and the field. I thought he looked cool doing it and started to think of the whole idea of it as cool too. In short, I romanticized the idea of photography with the combined force of wanting to get more skills and sheer boredom. If he was here and been the one who created this thread he would've started it out with "Give me three of your best pics". I'd link my best shots here if Imgur wasn't such an ass with its compression. So where should I store my photos? Still Imgur? Flickr?

A fun little fact, I used to hate photography. I despised taking photos and being photo'd, so it's very, very ironic how I ended up as a photographer. I had that "The eyes and the brains are our natural camera and memory book" mindset. Now I go almost everywhere with a camera. Anyways, my camera is the Canon 550D and I have big plans for it.

[Valentine Z]

Personally I am going with Flickr now. I used to upload a lot of them on Imgur, but as it turns out, it compressed the resolution of the shots, i.e. they have a max resolution. The shots I took with my D850 are 8256 x 5504. Imgur reduced them to 5000 x 3333. Granted, I am not blowing up the pictures for the sake of it (in fact, I have done compression in terms of image size so that you won't be loading a 50 MB image) but the resolution is needed.

I also gave in to getting Flickr Pro, because I know in my heart that I will be doing photography and using it a lot so... yeah!

Well, as a shameless plug, here are the photos that I have done: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=2551911. Both Part 2 and Part 1 are also linked in there, Part 2 in particular consisting of the photos I took in Japan this May. ♥

Also hey I agree with taking the camera with you everywhere. I did try my hand bringing it with me to a hike, but the humidity and me sweating, made for challenge as I made sure the camera does not get hit by my sweat. It was fantastic though, better than what I can do with my phone, but I am still deciding as to if I should bring it with me all the time.

[Rumau]

I've made a Flickr account yesterday but can't log in. I'll just try again sometime later. Also, I wish I can get those paid premium account things but whatever few of my money goes to saving for kits, so I can't. (for whatever reason me and my friends decided to have a filmmaking project just a few months after I bought my camera).

And don't worry about "shameless plugs", this is the thread for them after all. And I plan on doing them in the future when I get my Flickr account sorted out, so :P

I think me bringing my camera almost all the time is part of an attempt to do everything to the fullest, a way of thinking that I've been trying to hold onto to for some time now. It gets a bit handful at times but really it's no problem. All for the shots, right? Plus, I absolutely suck with phones when it comes to photoing. It's like all my knowledge of photography just went away the second I opened my phone with the intent to shoot a photo.

One last thing, do you have any certain philosophies in your photography or when you shoot a shot? I certainly do have it or at least trying to, but I'll share them together with my photos so it doesn't become just empty talk.

[Valentine Z]

Shooting with a phone is tricky. And.. sometimes it's the specific device problem too. So, here's my turn to rant a little about my Samsung S24 Ultra. The damn thing does NOT have actual RAW files. No, the native camera app (along with its Pro Mode... Pro, my foot) only makes "RAW" photos that are just big, oversized JPEG containers. So they have none of those benefits, and they are uselessly big. Fortunately, you CAN use a third-party app in order to get those RAW files and photos. The hardware is there, just not really on the native app.

I also really hate the whole optimized thing or just megapixels for the sake of it. The 50 MP and 200 MP shots look amazing on paper, and often times it does the trick. But the optimization and post-processing can't be turned off and it's just smears. I really, really dislike this.

On the other topics, if you have more lens on your phone, you can do pretty cool things with it, at least by working around with the limitations. For the lack of a better word or phrase, there are a lot of times when the camera captured too many things so nothing is standing out. It also didn't help that there is the lack of aperture control, so the bokeh effect had to be done post-processing once again. The results can look good but it takes a lot more effort.

In short - phone shots look way too busy for me, at least for the most parts. And that's even with trying the longer focal length lens / telescopic lens on my phone.

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As for my philosophy, my way is typically to take a couple of shots because as I said, all the benefits of the digital age and no worries about running out of film. On top of that, I will say keep the shutter speed at least to 1/100 seconds, along with at most f/8 for the widest aperture. My lens (24-105 mm Sigma f/4, fixed aperture regardless of focal length) can, as the name suggests, do f/4 at all the focal length, but unless the lighting is bad, I like to keep it at f/8 to keep things decently focused. Of course, this is for general shots, so stuff like macro or bokeh I might try out various settings.

For the ISO, keep it as low as possible for that dynamic range, but also don't be afraid to go high if needed. Cameras can do pretty damn well with higher ISO if needed, I have taken shots with up to ISO 10000 and there's not a lot of problems... for the most parts, anyway. For phones, I recommend 1/40 sec and lowest ISO you can go.

The genre of my photography is - as you can see on my Flickr account (https://www.flickr.com/people/146486195@N08), I am more about taking photos of nature, landscapes, and the like. I don't really like taking closeups or focus of people. I don't really do people photography unless I got permission or it's a photo zone (like a convention). Otherwise it feels a little weird to me like "Hey I am going to focus on this person!"

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EDIT: Oh right, the kits. My current set-up is Nikon D850 along with the aforementioned Sigma lens - 24-105 mm f/4. I have been saving up for a 60-600 mm Sports lens, which will be a massive purchase both in terms of size and price. I think after that then I should be fine. I am not too particular about the lens I am using, I am just more of an one-size-fits-all person and given that I do this as a hobby, I don't have a lot of lens.

In my Nikon D5100 days, I got myself an 18-200 mm Tamron lens and just been running with it throughout without any change.

[Emotional Support Crocodile]

I'd like to show you some of my photos, but I've had bad experiences with online photo hosting websites, so I don't use them any more.

[Valentine Z]

I'd like to show you some of my photos, but I've had bad experiences with online photo hosting websites, so I don't use them any more.

Given Photobucket with their watermarks, and TinyPic with that punchable sad smiley face (it invokes rage), yeahhh I do agree.

As much as this is not too practical with a lot of photos, but since we kindaaa also live in a place where storage options - both cloud and physical - are cheap, my personal advice is to back up as well. No, the common memes and screenshots may not need it, but those timeless family pictures or those vacation photos? Please do back them up. I mean, you will never know when you are going to look at them fondly again.

[Emotional Support Crocodile]

I'd like to show you some of my photos, but I've had bad experiences with online photo hosting websites, so I don't use them any more.

Given Photobucket with their watermarks, and TinyPic with that punchable sad smiley face (it invokes rage), yeahhh I do agree.

As much as this is not too practical with a lot of photos, but since we kindaaa also live in a place where storage options - both cloud and physical - are cheap, my personal advice is to back up as well. No, the common memes and screenshots may not need it, but those timeless family pictures or those vacation photos? Please do back them up. I mean, you will never know when you are going to look at them fondly again.

Believe I learned my lesson when I lost a whole year of photographic work, because my laptop was hijacked a few years ago.

[Valentine Z]

Given Photobucket with their watermarks, and TinyPic with that punchable sad smiley face (it invokes rage), yeahhh I do agree.

As much as this is not too practical with a lot of photos, but since we kindaaa also live in a place where storage options - both cloud and physical - are cheap, my personal advice is to back up as well. No, the common memes and screenshots may not need it, but those timeless family pictures or those vacation photos? Please do back them up. I mean, you will never know when you are going to look at them fondly again.

Believe I learned my lesson when I lost a whole year of photographic work, because my laptop was hijacked a few years ago.

Ahhhhh damn, I'm terribly sorry to hear. Got my own fair share of story regarding lost works. Hong Kong, 2017.

Photos were intact (save for the RAWs that had to be deleted back then). Videos from my camcorder, on the other hand... lost. I could not find my external hard drive for the life of me. I could have dropped it somewhere in my university, or worse even lost it in HK hotel. It was hazy but the fact of the matter was that yeah, I lost it. The videos are nothing too extraordinary but man, I missed those videos of our trip on a tram up the hill, for instance.

Rambling aside, that really sucks, sorry to hear about your laptop getting hijacked like that.

-----

Then there were a couple more shots of Burma in 2014 and 2015 that I have lost too, because I was being a bit careless and cut-and-paste with an unreliable USB cable. Well... you can guess how it went with that.

[Rumau]

I'm going to ramble a bit here.

I cannot make my scenery/nature photography work. I like people photography better because to me it's much easier to make it work, to make it look good, beautiful, and dramatic than I can with sceneries and nature.

I asked some photographers I know and they all seemed to like nature/scenery photography better because of its predictability. Sure, it is predictable but I am going to be honest, predictability is not as much of an important factor for me. The challenging nature of people photography means you're racing against time and people's random actions and that is pretty fun for me.

Nature/scenery photography, being as predictable as they are (plants don't tend to move) is a much bigger puzzle in my head. When I try to photo them I genuinely feel nothing and think nothing of it. I don't know what to do with it, and a majority of my photos that has nature and scenery as the subject looks boring and bland as a result.

Ramble over, Lesson of the Day: I'll practice my nature-scenery photography.

[Valentine Z]

Those are valid points, no argument there. While the plants / flora as a whole indeed does not move and hence predictable in your words, the part of the charm are the angles to make them work. The charm is in the fact that - for the most parts - you have control over how you want the pictures to appear and the like. I like that more often because while I have also been not able to get a lot of the pictures that would work (e.g. they are just plain' ol scenery with nothing too interesting), I found that if you zoom in a little bit, change the angle, and many more along the way, it brings out something rather nice.

This is one of the shots I am proud of. - While it does look quite predictable taking it from a rather wide angle, a closer shot, in my personal opinion anyway, looks better.

This one is unfortunately the failed shot, in my own words. I simply could not get the lighting to cooperate with me (even when adjusting away from the sun or bumping up the dynamic range). It looked washed out, the plants didn't look as nice as I imagined them too. That's what I mean often times with nature shots needing a good angle, because for this one... it's a bit typical and nothing too interesting.

It does add more unpredictability if you add little fauna into it. Like the little bee here.

Or this ant and a ladybug, or as I call them "Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Fourmi Noir". No black cats here!

There's something beautiful about plants and flowers up close, because they could really pass off as their little cities. Heck, I'm sure these are little cities for many critters. ♥

Sometimes it's the location! And as said before, yeah the lighting needs to be merciful to you too, because a really bad-angle light source can screw it up.

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With all this said, I am NOT here to shut you down on it, oh definitely no. In fact... two of the better shots I got in Japan are an urban setting - A lady crossing the street (this was unpredicted), along with this street, the sign, and the car.

[Rumau]

Ah, fuck it. Flickr is fucking me over so I'll just use Imgur until my battle with the Flickr login page is won. My desire to showoff my photos are becoming too overwhelming to ignore, so I shall post them now. Here are some of my better pics:

1. Bus pic
2. This became his Instagram profile picture (imagine my pride when I saw it)
3. Restaurant pic
4. Get rid of the table and do some tweaking and this will be better
5. One more pic

There are some more good ones but I either didn't get their consent, unable to contact them for consent, or I forgot where I placed them, but these ones are good enough I think.

[Rumau]

snip

Having seen these I'll definitely use them, as well as some other photographers my friend recommended, for inspo. I'll try fleshing out and discover my nature photography over the end of the year holidays and who knows, maybe I'll submit them to Forest's photo competition :P

That said, I've definitely underrated the power of angles in this particular use. Or maybe I just like dark and dramatic lighting too much for my nature photos to work. Or I need to edit my pictures more.

As I am right now I barely ever edit my photos. Maybe due to the sheer volume of the photos I take, maybe I forgot, maybe I was too lazy, but also the fact that I want to see how far, how good I can go without editing, a trait that I shared with a colleague of mine. Although I've heard people say that editing is half of photography.

[Emotional Support Crocodile]

I'm going to ramble a bit here.

I cannot make my scenery/nature photography work. I like people photography better because to me it's much easier to make it work, to make it look good, beautiful, and dramatic than I can with sceneries and nature.

I asked some photographers I know and they all seemed to like nature/scenery photography better because of its predictability. Sure, it is predictable but I am going to be honest, predictability is not as much of an important factor for me. The challenging nature of people photography means you're racing against time and people's random actions and that is pretty fun for me.

Nature/scenery photography, being as predictable as they are (plants don't tend to move) is a much bigger puzzle in my head. When I try to photo them I genuinely feel nothing and think nothing of it. I don't know what to do with it, and a majority of my photos that has nature and scenery as the subject looks boring and bland as a result.

Ramble over, Lesson of the Day: I'll practice my nature-scenery photography.

I do more scenery/landscape stuff, partly because nobody in their right mind would call me a people person, but also because pretty much any kind of public display of your work will now ask for written permission from anyone recognisable in the picture. So people in my photographs tend to be more like the figures in a Lowry painting.

[Rumau]

I'm going to ramble a bit here.

I cannot make my scenery/nature photography work. I like people photography better because to me it's much easier to make it work, to make it look good, beautiful, and dramatic than I can with sceneries and nature.

I asked some photographers I know and they all seemed to like nature/scenery photography better because of its predictability. Sure, it is predictable but I am going to be honest, predictability is not as much of an important factor for me. The challenging nature of people photography means you're racing against time and people's random actions and that is pretty fun for me.

Nature/scenery photography, being as predictable as they are (plants don't tend to move) is a much bigger puzzle in my head. When I try to photo them I genuinely feel nothing and think nothing of it. I don't know what to do with it, and a majority of my photos that has nature and scenery as the subject looks boring and bland as a result.

Ramble over, Lesson of the Day: I'll practice my nature-scenery photography.

I do more scenery/landscape stuff, partly because nobody in their right mind would call me a people person, but also because pretty much any kind of public display of your work will now ask for written permission from anyone recognisable in the picture. So people in my photographs tend to be more like the figures in a Lowry painting.

I want to say the results makes it worth it but I know dealing with permissions (to post in public) is quite the something to do. It needs to be done and the satisfaction of hearing "Why not? Go through with it" is unbeaten though. I'd be lying if I said the process isn't a bit frustrating , but making people/one person the centerpoint of my photos really is rewarding sometimes. Do mind that this isn't an argument nor an attempt to proselytize or me shoving my opinions in your face, I'm rereading this post and it is coming off as that. Also, I wouldn't exactly call me a people person either, hehe .

[Valentine Z]

I would like to revive this one day so I do hope that it won't get into gravedigging. I do got a couple of stuff that I would like to share regarding street photography - which is NOT me arguing, to be clear. ♥ I ain't about all of that!

But yeh, I have not been taking photos lately because life got a bit busy, and on top of being in a training for a week. It became the complete opposite of photography - no photos in army camps! Ugh, otherwise I might have a couple of nice shots of our cats/mousers.

[Rumau]

That is quite the posting gap there, wow. I thought this thing was completely lost.

Although yeah, I've also been a bit busy to photo anything lately (well, ""busy"", very heavy air quotes). But I got some photos on Christmas though. It was a very merry affair, I got a present even though I did jack shit, the rest had to participate in some kind of contest to get presents. I think the story on them photos are strong. But did anyone get any photos on New Year though? I certainly didn't.