Canon 7D Mk II

The Hat said:

not what you’d call a keen photographer

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Maybe not but you would print the bloody 'ell out of that image!

Don't forget your strong points, uncle.

The Hat said:

Nice going guys and thank you, so I need not worry then because, you can’t make a sows ear into a silk purse even if you sharpen the hell out it.

I don’t have any of the fancy bells and whistles on my camera, (Lumex FZ48) and if I did they’d be wasted on me, because frankly I don’t know enough to tinker with it and usually just press the shutter set to auto.

I don’t even bother to check how good an image looks, I just hope when I turn on the darn thing there’s enough battery left to take the odd few shots, more wishful thinking on my part and not what you’d call a keen photographer.

For me a photo should be a snap shot of time, with more emphasis on content rather than quality, then your imagination could allow you back into that photo scene when viewing it later, as I said timeless..

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There are times for the "snap shot of time" and times for working to get artistic expression. Sometimes the two overlap. My best attempts at artistic expression were during my single years of travel. I was unhampered by the need to be attentive to another's needs as well as my own. I could wait for the best "sky", experiment with position, focal length, f stop, use of filters, etc. I could return to the area that I wished to photograph at another time of day or another day. I lugged around a (film) SLR, several lenses, filters, a light meter, and B/w and color film of different speeds for matching film to circumstance. With marriage and family I still took off alone occasionally for a day of photo shooting in San Francisco and retired to the darkroom for hours with the images.

There came a time, however, when life became more complex and the snapshot was the order of the day. travels with wife and friends didn't leave much time to do otherwise. I've often thought about investing in one of the fine digital SLR's , but the thought of carrying that large a camera while on a trip led me to find a smaller camera that would suit my purpose and still give me considerable creative control. a few years ago I purchased a Canon G11. It is a compromise when compared to the SLR's in this thread. I'd much rather have better low-light, higher ISO capabilities, a longer tele capability, and more frames per second burst firing, but I'm also more comfortable carrying the G11. Horror of horrors, I also take a pocketable camera (only one I could find with an eye-level view finder) for the occasional "whiskey pictures", as one of my buddies calls photos at a party or an evening out to dinner with friends.

My photographic creative urges are now satisfied by taking my 12 year old granddaughter for "photo-shoots" in our area. I gave her one of my older digital cameras - one that can be simply "point and shoot" or can control shutter speed, f stop, ISO, flash, focus, etc. Although I'm sorry that I gave away my film cameras and darkroom equipment, thus denying her the "magic" of seeing an image come up in the developer bath, I've turned her loose on Photoshop. As a person of her generation the use of Photoshop is less editing as we do it but instead having fun with distortion, color changes, making photos into impressionistic images, etc. As expected, she's a quick learner and becomes more adept with each of our little trips.

Of course, she is much better than I would ever be at using her iphone and ipad for photos and creative expression. Some of it is very good by any measure! She has done slide shows and videos for school presentations and family events. As an activist in school she conducted video interviews and put together a presentation to make the students' views known for a change in the school cafeteria food program.

Creation and use of images is a phenomenon that is changing rapidly. Our own interests in creating and using photo images can change as the years go on as well. There is room for the person who is happy taking family snapshots as well as the person committed to using the most fantastic equipment and using it to the fullest for artistic expression. There is a whole spectrum of interests in between these two. Each has equal value for the individual behind the camera (or iphone or ipad)!

The Hat said:

A Question for you photo guru guys:

What exactly do you do to sharpen an image and why, as most know I don’t do photo editing, so be gentle please..

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I'll stick my neck out and risk disaster by saying : provide one of your colour images (post it on PK), in its original un-sharpened/unmodified state and I'll give it the treatment that can be used.

@fotofreek you certainly have captured some nice images on you travels down memory lane, thank you for sharing..

Emulator said:

I'll stick my neck out and risk disaster by saying : provide one of your colour images (post it on PK), in its original un-sharpened/unmodified state and I'll give it the treatment that can be used.

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OK Ian, this one you’ve seen before, so would it be suitable for a complete transformation..

Well here is the result. The adjustments were purely mechanical optimisation, without any artistic adjustment.

The Hat said:

Nice going guys and thank you, so I need not worry then because, you can’t make a sows ear into a silk purse even if you sharpen the hell out it.

I don’t have any of the fancy bells and whistles on my camera, (Lumex FZ48) and if I did they’d be wasted on me, because frankly I don’t know enough to tinker with it and usually just press the shutter set to auto.

I don’t even bother to check how good an image looks, I just hope when I turn on the darn thing there’s enough battery left to take the odd few shots, more wishful thinking on my part and not what you’d call a keen photographer.

For me a photo should be a snap shot of time, with more emphasis on content rather than quality, then your imagination could allow you back into that photo scene when viewing it later, as I said timeless..

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The FZ48 is no slouch and can make good images.

Agree with @fotofreek for most its about capturing the moment, in fact if you think on it even the most basic advertising image is about that.
My pet hate in photography would be best illustrated by reading the lens forum in DPR
To me pixel peepers are the kin of stamp collectors, only difference is some stamps have some worth. They crack on about resolution and then post an example of their work. A person gets to expect that what is to be revealed will be a glory of colour, composition and a capture of THE moment that says it all. Waddya get? .....a bloody pathetic ill framed, oof picture of an ugly child in its natural home setting to which NO thought has been put into capturing the essance of what that little person is about or doing. ........and this crap artist is banging on about pixel peeping resolution??????
When I talk about art in photography I can only reference it to my own endeavours and they are like most opportunistic, that is in the moment, where I am at the time. If its with family then I dont want Aunt Ethel with a light pole sticking out of the top of her head or half the group with their eyes closed. But if Uncle Jim never pays attention I want to be sure to wait till he looks away.
Few of my images are shot with one eye on making the front cover of Picture Review glossy magazine...but I sure as hell want them to have what was going on at the time nailed, so that in years to come my kids can look at them and have a sense of what was going on.
We are able to cronicle our lives moment by moment on mobile phones, we can carry compacts that deliver good resolution, this thread is about the 7DII, not a lot you cant do with it.
So I guess what I am saying is just because a person has simple tools and chooses every day subjects the images made have no less merit than the output of the finest studio set up.

Emulator said:

Well here is the result. The adjustments were purely mechanical optimisation, without any artistic adjustment.View attachment 3273

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Just to clarify things...

Most of Emu's improvements had nothing to do with sharpening.

Wasn't it Ansell Adams that decried a sharp image of a fuzzy concept, or something like that.

rs

Thanks @Emulator, On screen it beats the pants off my scene by a mile, so I saved the two prints and printed them on glossy photo paper and set them aside to dry.

I also printed the original Pic that I used to upload because it had not been altered and crunched up by the uploader.

When viewed in hand my two Pics are more natural but sort of plain, where as your edited version has far more punch to it but with a bit to much magenta in it and the sky shows the effects of some noise, now when viewed from 1 metre your wins visually because the edited effects are more pleasing to the eye.

@Roy Sletcher, Ian didn’t say anywhere he’d actually sharpened the Pic.

I wonder what could be done with this one..

Here it is with the same comment. It took 3 minutes and is really the basic treatment (adjust histogram to optimise distribution, adjust clarity and vibrance, adjust sharpening, noise reduction, profile and aberration if any) without any artistic judgement. You can do it with one hand behind your back. You can if you wish spend hours on an image carefully optimising every aspect. The first image did not have any features that really benefited. I think this one did benefit a little more. How do these print?