# Kazooie's Photographery Thread



## Kazooie (Dec 28, 2011)

I'll say it right away; I am a beginner. I've been taking pictures since last April, but it was a while afterwords that I got enough confidence to post them online.

To tell you about myself...
I'm 15, I live in Alaska, and my main hobby is saltwater aquariums. The aquariums are what actually got me into photography. 

Anyways, I'm sure I forgot something, but here goes!





































Thoughts? Tips? Letters of hate?


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## Bo4key (Dec 28, 2011)

I actually really like the second one, the lighting gives it a nice dramatic effect. As well as the fourth, and the posters in this one give the image some nice leading lines and directionality. 

The last three are basically just snapshots and the last two look underexposed to me. The focus is too shallow in the last and the majority of the face is out of focus.


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## MLeeK (Dec 28, 2011)

Those are also REALLY heavy on the contrast. Otherwise? they are very nice! 

I lived in Fairbanks for a time. I miss it terribly!


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## Kazooie (Dec 28, 2011)

Bo4key said:


> I actually really like the second one, the lighting gives it a nice dramatic effect. As well as the fourth, and the posters in this one give the image some nice leading lines and directionality.
> 
> The last three are basically just snapshots and the last two look underexposed to me. The focus is too shallow in the last and the majority of the face is out of focus.


 Thanks, I guess I have a bad habit of underexposing a lot. I don't really understand what exposure is, other than how light or dark a picture is.


MLeeK said:


> Those are also REALLY heavy on the contrast. Otherwise? they are very nice!
> 
> I lived in Fairbanks for a time. I miss it terribly!


Thanks, is it better to adjust "curves" or contrast? PP is still a challenge to me. 
My brother lives in Fairbanks... too cold for me!

I'm digging through archives for pictures now...


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## GeorgieGirl (Dec 28, 2011)

They look good...keep going.


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## Bitter Jeweler (Dec 28, 2011)

Kazooie said:


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I kinda like this one. It's whimsical and mysterious. I think it could handle a square crop well.


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## Kazooie (Dec 28, 2011)

GeorgieGirl said:


> They look good...keep going.


 Thanks! I really like doing it, but wish I was better at it. That's why I joined here though.


Bitter Jeweler said:


> Kazooie said:
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Thanks, I just took it to try out a script I got for Gimp. My mom really hates it though, says it makes her look old!


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## MLeeK (Dec 28, 2011)

Better to adjust the curves. 
I think your monitor is not calibrated. The new ones are really dark. Monitors straight out of the box are set up for internet and gaming use. They are much too bright for photographic use. You can reduce the brightness on your monitor to about 70% and it will be much closer in the brightness department.


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## GeorgieGirl (Dec 28, 2011)

:thumbup:





Kazooie said:


> GeorgieGirl said:
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> > They look good...keep going.
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No...its the Neck that gives the age away...she's got it covered, she looks fine to me and we are prolly near in age. Look at her smiling eyes, can't beat that for good looks!!! :thumbup:


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## invisible (Dec 28, 2011)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> Kazooie said:
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I agree 100%.


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## Bo4key (Dec 28, 2011)

If you don't understand exposure, I highly recommend you pick up:

Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera: Amazon.ca: Bryan Peterson: Books


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## Kazooie (Jan 6, 2012)

Bo4key said:


> If you don't understand exposure, I highly recommend you pick up:
> 
> Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera: Amazon.ca: Bryan Peterson: Books



A bit late for me to reply, thanks.  I was just googleing it, and remembered I needed to post here. But after I got some basic understanding of it. 

Some pictures I took for my less photographic aquarium people. 










Thoughts?


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## MK3Brent (Jan 6, 2012)

Out of focus, and crowded. 

Subject in #1 blends in. 
I'd say snapshot for it. 

#2 dof isn't stronger than the foreground blur.

Keep shooting. Mess around with one shot, one subject... over and over.. But use different lighting effects in your scene.
Water is fun, because the light travels through and highlights areas differently.


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## D-B-J (Jan 6, 2012)

How are you lighting your tank?  






Setups like this are really useful.  A side light to give some texture and depth to whatever your shooting, and a broad light ontop to have a nice diffuse light. 

Which led to photo's like these.  I realize there's a lot to be fixed with the photo, but you get the idea.


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## Kazooie (Jan 7, 2012)

MK3Brent said:


> Out of focus, and crowded.
> 
> Subject in #1 blends in.
> I'd say snapshot for it.
> ...


I can see what you mean, when it's pointed out. Normally I take aquarium pictures for a build log I have on another forum, so the quality is not very good. Granted, none of my photos have good quality. 



D-B-J said:


> How are you lighting your tank?
> 
> 
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> ...



That's a nice looking take. 
Mines under a 50/50 mixture of Neutral White and Royal Blue 3w LED's dimmable. Pictures under the T5's on my other tank come out better, but I'm not sure why.

The spot-lighting would work really well if I could find bulbs with the right color temperature, so the corals don't lose the florescent colors.


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## Frequency (Jan 8, 2012)

The best one for me is the skull shot; you had done this with a much creative eye; liked the mushroom set, the group, but the singular one lost focus; and the masked lady is very captiveSo you have no reason to abandon photography.... all the best


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## Kazooie (Jan 14, 2012)

Frequency said:


> The best one for me is the skull shot; you had done this with a much creative eye; liked the mushroom set, the group, but the singular one lost focus; and the masked lady is very captiveSo you have no reason to abandon photography.... all the best



Thanks, maybe not such a creative eye as much as not knowing all the rules completely.  







Tried using my remote trigger to see if it helped, thoughts? Seems a little dark to me.


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## Kazooie (Jan 16, 2012)

:er:


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## Mike Lamb (Jan 16, 2012)

One or 2 images at a time for me, thanks.


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## Kazooie (Jan 16, 2012)

No problem. 





Looks to dark/light now. :huh:


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## Kazooie (Jan 17, 2012)

Never tried bird photography before...










Pretty blurry and gross I think. :l


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## briarder (Jan 19, 2012)

I like the 2nd bird photo - it's almost b& w, but w/ a little purplish tint to it, which I like, and I like the simplicity too.


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## Kazooie (Jan 19, 2012)

briarder said:


> I like the 2nd bird photo - it's almost b& w, but w/ a little purplish tint to it, which I like, and I like the simplicity too.



Thanks, I'm constantly having issues with white-balance, even if I calibrate it at each place.


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## Kazooie (Jan 20, 2012)




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## Kazooie (Jan 22, 2012)




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## Kazooie (Jan 22, 2012)




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## Kazooie (Jan 22, 2012)




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## Kazooie (Jan 25, 2012)

Tried water droplets, will upload 2 at a time. 











Next time I'll put a piece of black acrylic behind, so that the spout isn't so showy. :l


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## Kazooie (Jan 25, 2012)




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## Boutte (Jan 25, 2012)

D-B-J said:


> How are you lighting your tank?
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That's a great shot!


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## Kazooie (Jan 25, 2012)

Boutte said:


> D-B-J said:
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> > How are you lighting your tank?
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Just in case, that is D-B-J's picture .


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## Kazooie (Jan 27, 2012)




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## Kazooie (Jan 30, 2012)




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## Kazooie (Jan 31, 2012)

:l


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## Kazooie (Feb 1, 2012)

Thoughts?


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## hillaryclinton (Feb 1, 2012)

Um, hi. Not good at posting new topics, so here goes:
I use a Cannon EOS XS with a 18-55 (stock) lens as well as a Opteka fish eye and "macro" lens that came with it.


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## Kazooie (Feb 4, 2012)

Uhh, ok. Cool.


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## Kazooie (Feb 6, 2012)

Also a first for me. Thoughts?


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## Kazooie (Feb 9, 2012)




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## Kazooie (Feb 10, 2012)




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## Kazooie (Feb 16, 2012)

Wider Aperature would have been better, I believe. But I was impressed at the white balance for once! Thoughts?


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## eddlum25 (Feb 16, 2012)

I see improvement on all the photos in the 3rd page. Keep it up :thumbup:


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## Kazooie (Feb 18, 2012)

Archive Digging from last summer


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## Kazooie (Feb 18, 2012)

More archivie's.


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## Kazooie (Feb 22, 2012)




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## Kazooie (Mar 9, 2012)

Thoughts?


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## Bitter Jeweler (Mar 9, 2012)

Kazooie said:


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Nice abstract. :thumbup:


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## MK3Brent (Mar 10, 2012)

I see a cropping trend. 

Practice some composition exercises and try to fill the frames.  
Would love to see some full shots of a scene.


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## Kazooie (Mar 15, 2012)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> Kazooie said:
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Thanks! I really enjoy the colors and textures you can play with in abstracts. 




MK3Brent said:


> I see a cropping trend.
> 
> Practice some composition exercises and try to fill the frames.
> Would love to see some full shots of a scene.


Will do! Thanks for commenting, it's nice to hear what I can do to improve. 

Played with a long shutter speed while riding in a car last night.






I want to try a still scene with light-painting sometime soon.


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## LaFoto (Mar 15, 2012)

Kazooie, just a suggestion: feel free to start a new thread for each set of new photos you want to show us instead of creating one growing thread into which you put ALL your photos. Soon enough it will become too long and too heavy with photos and people will stop scrolling. To my mind, this one's too packed with pics already. You may well start as many threads as you like, see?


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## Kazooie (Mar 15, 2012)

Hmmm, you think I should? I just feel like I'd be posting too much then, but if you think I should, then I will. 

Guess I'll post one last one here then. My adventure into self-portrait and all the fail I brought along. :emmberrased:


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## LaFoto (Mar 15, 2012)

Well, you might feel like you'd want to restrict yourself to say three new threads per day or so, each with up to three photos ... that should be ok, don't you think so?
Funny selfie, how did you do it?


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## Kazooie (Mar 15, 2012)

That's about the amount I upload in a month!

Thanks! I pretty much just propped the camera up a little on a table with a fork, focused, then used a remote shutter.


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## Frequency (Mar 15, 2012)

Kazooie said:


> briarder said:
> 
> 
> > I like the 2nd bird photo - it's almost b& w, but w/ a little purplish tint to it, which I like, and I like the simplicity too.
> ...



She looks like Mdm. Blavatsky


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