Winning Pictures

I am a first year user of a Nikon 775. Because of my enthusiasm, I
was made a moderator of a small web forum. I do not have enough
experience to teach much, but I would be most appreciative of
anyone who can give me some info on the following.

I would like to find a website or professional photographer who
could help me in posting a winning (pic of the day or?) with
a short narrative as to how he/she set it up to be as good as
it is. I would like to have such picture/explanation to be
such that no editing short of crop and resize was done.

That is because I feel that too much emphasis is placed in
software edits and not enough on the "Pure Setup" of a
photo.

My goal is to take a great picture with no editing, rather than
take a good picture and try to make it great by an edit.
Thanks
TonyM
email [email protected]

Tony - your goal is not attainable - like getting to Carnegie Hall - practice, practice, practice and computers are as much a part of digital photography as the darkroom was to Ansel Adams film photography. Each part is an ar unto itself and each takes masering.

This is as close as I come to right out of the camera - increased saturation by 10 in Photoshop.

if you think photography is as easy as your question implies (which I assume is serious) you are in for a big disappointment.

http://www.coloradophotos.com/sunset1.jpg--Greg Summers http://[email protected]

Greg Summers said:

Tony - your goal is not attainable - like getting to Carnegie Hall

• practice, practice, practice and computers are as much a part of

digital photography as the darkroom was to Ansel Adams film
photography. Each part is an ar unto itself and each takes masering.

This is as close as I come to right out of the camera - increased
saturation by 10 in Photoshop.

if you think photography is as easy as your question implies (which
I assume is serious) you are in for a big disappointment.



--
Greg Summers
http://www.coloradophotos.com
[email protected]

Click to expand...

Hi Greg
Thank you for your post, However I am aware of web contests by
photographers, that require that all "photo of the day" entries are
entered on the basis of no edit. That is also a fact. It is
situations like this that I am seeking
Tony

where - never seen such an animal and i see a lot of contersts - and HOW would anyone know if a digital adjustment were made - again not possible - images right fromthe camera at full res are almost 2 megs or almost 1 for the 775 - are ou sure you understsand what they want?--Greg Summers http://[email protected]

Greg,

Great image!

Tony,

Ah but you must be misunderstanding something. A Digital camera is not a mechanical device like an analog camera. It is full of hardware and software that can be configured in a number of ways to enhance, say, saturation and sharpness and a long list of other, 'artificial' manipulations.

In the analog world, you´d send off your undeveloped film to the lab and receive a set of nice images. - Do you think those are exactly what was captured on the film? If you think so, you´d be wrong. The Lab makes many decisions and alterations to create a good exposure from your film, without you knowing. If you ever developed your own film, you´d know that a darkroom is much like Photoshop is.

Pursuing the perfect shot straight from a digital camera (especially a lower end model) is simply masochistic. But can be done, ofcourse. Especially if you master your camera well.

But you are definately allowed to develop your image just like the lab would develop your film. It is not 'cheating'. It´s skill. Most of it are subtle enhancements etc.

Some say its an ethical question how much is allowed to alter. - 'I only do what I could do in a darkroom' etc. But it´s just a bunch of hogwash, because what makes a true photograph is a long list of manipulations.

A snapshot on the other hand, is just a snapshot.

Just my 2 eurocents.

Mathias

Greg Summers said:

where - never seen such an animal and i see a lot of contersts -
and HOW would anyone know if a digital adjustment were made - again
not possible - images right fromthe camera at full res are almost 2
megs or almost 1 for the 775 - are ou sure you understsand what
they want?
--
Greg Summers
http://www.coloradophotos.com
[email protected]

Click to expand...

Tony2 said:

My goal is to take a great picture with no editing, rather than
take a good picture and try to make it great by an edit.

Click to expand...

I would recommend that you explore digitalphotocontest.com. You can browse through the archives of hundreds of excellent digital photographs, all of which were made with minimal editing. In this contest, only global enhancements are allowed.

You can also become a member for a small yearly fee; then you can enter your own shots, and have access to digitalphotocritique.com, where you may submit photos for critique by others.

The nice thing about this site is, it's a daily contest...you can submit photos in different categories each day, and it will be only a matter of days before you know if you "photo of the day".

There's also a forum for members. But, DPC is not a photo sharing site. You'll always be able to view your submissions, but others won't. A page containing your winning shots can be linked to for sharing with others.
Example:

http://www.digitalphotocontest.com/archivedisplay.asp?photographerid=2611

Hope this helps...I've always felt the site was rather useful for inspiring me to improve my photogrqphic skills. A little competition can go along way!

Drew

PS...I'm a CP775 user also. There's only one CP775 photo in the winners archive on DPC, and it's mine. ;-)

--Gallery: http://cohn.cohn.net

The list of enhancements allowed covers almost anything I would ever wantto do to an image - minimal - well, curves and levels can change an image dramatically - I think you need to understand what they are talking aboutmore thoroughly - an image directly out of a camera won't even be noticed. IMO anyway - curves alone can shift color values and intensity by incredible amounts. Using the tools they allow require as much or more skill than the capture itself.--Greg Summers http://[email protected]

Drew:

Thanks for the contest info -and congratulations of your winning entry.

--Greg Summers http://[email protected]

Greg Summers said:

Drew:

Thanks for the contest info -and congratulations of your winning
entry.

--
Greg Summers
http://www.coloradophotos.com
[email protected]

Click to expand...

Drew
Thank you. That is exactly what I hoped to find. And taken with
a 775 no less. I feel like Ii hit the jackpot.

With ypour permission, I would like to link your winning photo
to my group. Would you mind giving some details of how you set
it up? I would like to get my beginners off to a knowldgeable start
and this one is a great start. Congrats (G)
Tony

Mathias Vejerslev said:

Mathias Vejerslev wrote:
In the analog world, you´d send off your undeveloped film to the
lab and receive a set of nice images. - Do you think those are
exactly what was captured on the film? If you think so, you´d be
wrong. The Lab makes many decisions and alterations to create a
good exposure from your film, without you knowing. If you ever
developed your own film, you´d know that a darkroom is much like
Photoshop is.
Pursuing the perfect shot straight from a digital camera
(especially a lower end model) is simply masochistic. But can be
done, ofcourse. Especially if you master your camera well.
But you are definately allowed to develop your image just like the
lab would develop your film. It is not 'cheating'. It´s skill. Most
of it are subtle enhancements etc.
Some say its an ethical question how much is allowed to alter. - 'I
only do what I could do in a darkroom' etc. But it´s just a bunch
of hogwash, because what makes a true photograph is a long list of
manipulations.

Click to expand...

Mathias V is quite RIGHT!!! --Nik http://www.pbase.com/[email protected]

Tony2 said:

Drew
Thank you. That is exactly what I hoped to find. And taken with
a 775 no less. I feel like Ii hit the jackpot.

With ypour permission, I would like to link your winning photo
to my group. Would you mind giving some details of how you set
it up? I would like to get my beginners off to a knowldgeable start
and this one is a great start. Congrats (G)
Tony

Click to expand...

Tony, while your certainly welcome to link to the photo, I'm not sure I or my photos serve as the very best example. Generally, I don't "set up" shots...I'm more of a candid photographer who enjoys the challenge of using low-end cameras. I always look for photo-ops based on action or unique scenes. Most of the time I fail, sometimes I get lucky. The photo in question was simply from a bunch of shots I took when I was picking my son up from crew practice. I've been a member of DPC for almost two years, I think, and I only had 11 POD winners. I'm probably their "charity case."

Drew
--Gallery: http://cohn.cohn.net

Drew
I understand what you are saying. What I will do is to try to
show my group what a "photo of the day" winner is via a link,
then open discussion as to why and how "this photo" was
chosen. Some of my best shots were unexpedted uniques.
I am going to join your group.Thanks again
Tony