My frist official "Devious Journal Entry"

[feren]

Network Unreachable by ~panfah on deviantART

So yeah... this is my first time using deviantArt's "Blog This Deviation" feature. Please let me know if this photography is good, bad or indifferent -- and why you think so. As always, comments on the photograph are welcomed! Hell, I beg you to give me feedback on this. And I'm not a man who begs.

To put it another way, the only way I will improve is with your comments and practice. I'm working on the practice part (I've got over 4,854 frames shot so far since the camera fell into my hands) but only you can help me tell what sucks and what doesn't and how I might improve my style. So yeah, write me some comments, willya?

Comments

Feedback

[markvd.livejournal.com]

It sucks. It sucks because I want more of it! We need to see more of the awesomeness your camera captures. :)

Re: Feedback

[feren.livejournal.com]

Be careful what you ask for. Photography dumps are a three-edged sword.

Re: Feedback

[ya-wot-aver.livejournal.com]

..a three-edged sword.

So,.... a sharp club?

[rev-ringtail.livejournal.com]

Very well done. That panel has definitely seen better days. But as for the technical aspect of the photo. Good blocking and focus range. It's got the feel of something you'd find in a magazine article, or on a demotivational poster.

[feren.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I was frankly amazed the first time I saw the POP space about three months ago... it was like a bomb had gone off in there, quite a far cry from what it had been when I saw it back in 2000. I knew if the space's lease was actually picked up by our provider that I'd have to get in there to photograph stuff before they tore it all out and rebuilt it -- because man, that mixes two of my favorite things: ruin and technology.

On the photograph itself -- thanks! Tthis was one of three of that drop panel that I shot, but it actually wasn't my first choice. The one I thought was the best ended up getting discarded because the right edge of the frame picked up a tie-off bar, which blurred and looked bad. When I cropped the image it made things look worse, so I fell back to this one.

[feren.livejournal.com]

Forgot to mention this in the previous reply, the thought of that shot having the feel of magazine or demotivational poster absolutely thrills me. Thanks for the high compliment.

Maybe I should make it a demotivational poster. "The Cutting Edge: Eventually you rust," or something like that.

[ya-wot-aver.livejournal.com]

4,854 frames huh? Let's see, for me that would be about $1600+ worth of film/processing practice. Hate you! ;)
But the pic is good. I commented on your dA.

You and I, we need to talk about borders/mats. I've never taken the time to figure out the how-to. Perhaps you could someday save me the time of figuring out the how-to? =)

[feren.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figure the outrageous cost of the digital frame compared to what I paid for my trusty 35mm film camera (all hail the Canon AE1P) has been offset by the savings I realize by not having to pay for film processing. Mistakes become "free," and man do I make a lot of mistakes when I'm shooting.

As regards borders and mats, do you have Photoshop or some similar graphic manipulation program that groks "canvas size?" Because if you do then setting them up is stupid easy. When I figured it out I was actually mad at myself for not figuring it out sooner, that's how obvious it is in retrospect.

[ya-wot-aver.livejournal.com]

Ya, someday when I have money, I wants to get me a digital, but for now I guess I just gotta be careful. And I think I'll probably always keep and use my film SLR for certain things.

I do indeed have photoshop. We get along all right for the most part, but we have our moments. I know how to do a border with the canvas size, but I never tried to do the little white line. Oh wait! I just figured it out. Damn!

My recommendation for practice is to go entirely manual. Take pics of whatever strikes your fancy. I try to capture a moment that I want to remember, or just something that I think looks really cool. Play around. Art is for yourself, it's just a bonus if other people happen to like it too. Photography is strangely like poetry, it's amazing the different interpretations people apply to a photo.

[feren.livejournal.com]

[I know how to do a border with the canvas size, but I never tried to do the little white line. Oh wait! I just figured it out. Damn!]

Hah-hah! Now, don't you just want to slap yourself for not figuring it out sooner? I know I did. The toughest part, to me at least, was working out what way was the best method for me (pixels, inches, percent) to do the size increase and noodling around to find the ratios that I thought looked best.

[My recommendation for practice is to go entirely manual.]

This is good advice, and I've been trying to follow it since I've heard it before. The AF system and I, we have a love-hate relationship. When I need to shoot something Really Fast (Like Yawn Apex), I can usually trust it to get the focus right about 1 in 4 times or so. If I do the focus manually I get it right 1 in 2 times (I have a hard time perceiving minute shifts in the focus thanks to my glasses keeping my eye away from the viewfinder just that little bit) but I'm obviously a lot slower so the failure rate for the shot is actually much higher overall. But I'm generally happier with the results when they work. Network Unreachable is an example of manual focus working out for me. I suspect that AF would please me a bit more often if I'd take the time to learn how to set the camera to use a specific, single AF point instead of choosing on its own between the nine that are available.

[ya-wot-aver.livejournal.com]

Ya, I know what you mean about AF. It seems like the current AF is not too bad, but I grew up on MF (Ouch, I've been shooting with this old Minolta for about 22 years). Sometimes you just need FAST and all the auto stuff can be very handy. I can feel your pain with the whole glasses thing.
Definitely start playing with manual shutter speed and aperature settings though. That's where the fun is.

Wish I could offer some advice about indoor photography, lighting and flash use, but I'm woefully inexperienced and weak in those departments. That's actually my next big project/experiment. OMG, I might actually start taking pics of people. EeP!

Play! Have fun! And, most important, SHARE! Right? ;)=)