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Thread: Extremely amateur photography

  1. #46
    Feeding LouCipherr's Avatar
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    *raises an eyebrow*

    I know ya'll have more pictures. Post 'em!

    Here's one I took on top of "Grandfather Mountain" in North Carolina. This is the swinging "Mile High" bridge. Yes, I said "swinging" - it is a 'sectional' bridge that actually moves around in sections as you walk on it (not sure if this is to facilitate the winds up there or just to freak everyone out, but, whatever it is, it's creepy!). It's called the "mile high bridge" because it sits 5,282 feet above sea level.


    and to answer the question you're about to ask? HELL NO I didn't cross that bridge! My body wanted to, but my brain would not allow it. My wife and son did though. Amazing.

    Here's the twisty little road that lead up to the top of the mountain where the bridge sits. Pretty spooky drive up there!

  2. #47
    through another dimension bassman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LouCipherr View Post
    This shot reminds me of one of the early shots in Jaws when the doomed girl and her drunk boyfriend are running to the beach.

    Quote Originally Posted by LouCipherr View Post
    I would do it, but damn that looks creepy. The much smaller one at Rock City/Lookout Mountain in Tennessee gave me the willies, so i'm sure this one would have the stomach turning.



    Cool pictures all around, guys! I don't really have an eye for these kinds of things, so I've got nothing to contribute. I love looking at them, though.

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    Quote Originally Posted by LouCipherr View Post
    Here's the twisty little road that lead up to the top of the mountain where the bridge sits. Pretty spooky drive up there!
    Make me think of Alan Wake for some reason
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
    -Carl Sagan

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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    Make me think of Alan Wake for some reason
    Yes! I can see that too, Neil. Interesting

    How weird is it - one pic I take looks like something out of Alan Wake, one looks like something captured out of Dead Rising. I feel like I'm missing an opportunity here - perhaps I could be the weird photographer that takes pictures of real-life stuff that looks like certain video game's counterparts....? Hmmmm..... *ponders the thought*


    Bass - here's another one I took at the same time as the jaws-like one (Ocean City, Maryland):


    That one didn't seem too great as far as composition, but I like the dull colors, the sand, and the fences and all. Pretty neat looking in a dull kind of way if that makes sense.

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    There's a lot of seemingly innocuous photos on here, lads, that sort of creep me out.
    I'm runnin' this monkey farm now Frankenstein.....

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    Quote Originally Posted by LouCipherr View Post
    *raises an eyebrow*

    I know ya'll have more pictures. Post 'em!

    Here's one I took on top of "Grandfather Mountain" in North Carolina. This is the swinging "Mile High" bridge. Yes, I said "swinging" - it is a 'sectional' bridge that actually moves around in sections as you walk on it (not sure if this is to facilitate the winds up there or just to freak everyone out, but, whatever it is, it's creepy!). It's called the "mile high bridge" because it sits 5,282 feet above sea level.


    and to answer the question you're about to ask? HELL NO I didn't cross that bridge! My body wanted to, but my brain would not allow it. My wife and son did though. Amazing.

    Here's the twisty little road that lead up to the top of the mountain where the bridge sits. Pretty spooky drive up there!
    Fun me that's high up! I've got a big problem with heights, even standing on a chair gets my balance all upset, and even just being on a castle wall a single story up - if there's a clear view of a big drop, then I'm clutching to the nearest solid thing to keep me from leaning forward ... like a magnet is drawing me to fling myself into the abyss that lies before me ... it's a weird and unsettling sensation, and I feel it strongest in my knees, like they're going stiff and weak at the same time.

    That said ... if I was on holiday there, and I came across that with friends and saw other people doing it, I might actually force myself to do it ... it wouldn't be overcoming my unending fear of heights, rather more of a "fuck you" to the fear that otherwise controls certain aspects of my life. I'd be shitting bricks and holding on for dear life the entire way there and back, mind.

    A (comparatively) very minor example of that would be certain bit out on the rocks in the aforementioned (and pictured) seaside town of North Berwick - two spots in fact - one out on the rocks with a (to me) flimsy-looking metal bridge and staircase leading to it that overhangs about a ten foot drop into rocks and water, and another which is out on the harbour wall with a metal fence which you could so easily slip under and into the choppy sea below (when the tide is out, the fall would be much further) ... ... anyway, cutting through the ramble, when I went there in 2010, I forced myself to go out to those points as all through my childhood there was no damned way I'd ever go out to those points. I was clinging on for dear life to the harbour railing though.

    Like I said, very minor (particularly by comparison), but it was a little Bill Murray baby step into the "eff you vertigo" void for me.

    Quote Originally Posted by bassman View Post
    This shot reminds me of one of the early shots in Jaws when the doomed girl and her drunk boyfriend are running to the beach.
    I was just thinking the same thing.

    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    Make me think of Alan Wake for some reason
    Aye, I see what you mean - although personally I first though of The Shining, and that oh-so-memorable score.

    Quote Originally Posted by shootemindehead View Post
    There's a lot of seemingly innocuous photos on here, lads, that sort of creep me out.
    Kind of like "here's a nice picture of a bridge ... what you don't know is I threw a man over the side and chuckled as he fell to his death ... and, here's a picture of some fences on a beach, next to the bodies that I buried there..." etc?

    Below are pictures of my aforementioned mini-eff-you-to-vertigo.

    1) The view looking back at the town from the point where I'd never been before.

    2) Doesn't look like much at all from this pic, but it's scarier in-person for someone with a proper fear (and inability with) heights.

    3) Clinging on for dear life, while appearing non-challant, at the edge of the harbour wall. Not picture, 15-25ft drop (depending on tide).
    Attached Images

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    Quote Originally Posted by shootemindehead View Post
    There's a lot of seemingly innocuous photos on here, lads, that sort of creep me out.
    Quote Originally Posted by MinionZombie
    Kind of like "here's a nice picture of a bridge ... what you don't know is I threw a man over the side and chuckled as he fell to his death ... and, here's a picture of some fences on a beach, next to the bodies that I buried there..." etc?
    Yeah, I mean, if you want THAT kind of thing, let me help you out: Remember that picture of that nice little squirrel I posted a few pages ago? After taking the photo, I blew his head off with a 20 gauge shotgun slug and used a rusty butter knife to field dress him right on the deck for breakfast the next morning.

    Is that better?




    Quote Originally Posted by MinionZombie View Post
    Fun me that's high up! I've got a big problem with heights, even standing on a chair gets my balance all upset, and even just being on a castle wall a single story up - if there's a clear view of a big drop, then I'm clutching to the nearest solid thing to keep me from leaning forward ... like a magnet is drawing me to fling myself into the abyss that lies before me ... it's a weird and unsettling sensation, and I feel it strongest in my knees, like they're going stiff and weak at the same time.

    That said ... if I was on holiday there, and I came across that with friends and saw other people doing it, I might actually force myself to do it ... it wouldn't be overcoming my unending fear of heights, rather more of a "fuck you" to the fear that otherwise controls certain aspects of my life. I'd be shitting bricks and holding on for dear life the entire way there and back, mind.
    I am exactly the same way, only... if you took me 100 floors up in a high rise building and I was surrounded by walls or glass, I'm perfectly fine with the heights. It's the minute I step outside and am surrounded by nothing that high up - that's when my pants turn from blue to brown in the back and the front of them gets all wet from me pissing myself. I just cannot be out in the open where there is extreme heights. I almost get vertigo and feel like I'm going to just stumble right off the edge - which I don't, but it feels like I am going to in my head.

    MZ, I wanted to cross the bridge, and I got 1 step from putting my foot on it and my brain froze. It would NOT let me go any further. I wanted to go further, but my brain said "F this, you aren't crossing that shit, NO WAY!" and I just couldn't do it.


    Quote Originally Posted by MinionZombie
    Aye, I see what you mean - although personally I first though of The Shining, and that oh-so-memorable score.
    OMG, even better. You're right. Just like the opening of The Shining when the fly-bys are going on by the road on the mountain and that CREEPY damn score.. yes, that nails it. That's what that picture will forever remind me of now. Thanks, MZ, that used to be a "oh, look at my wonderful vacation photo!" Now all I will be able to think of is "Go check out the snowcat and the radio, Wendy. You're not going anywhere!" *insert evil Jack laugh here*


    Quote Originally Posted by MinionZombie
    ]Below are pictures of my aforementioned mini-eff-you-to-vertigo.
    Yeah, they squarely fit in the category of "Yeah, that'd freak me the F out right there!" Even if it's 15-25 feet - if I'm out in the open, I'm creeped out terribly.

    It's a shame someone like me with a massive fear of heights always wanted to be a pilot - and even flew a Cessna once - but again, I think that was a bit easier because I was "enclosed" - it's the open spaces high up and give me the willies to no end. *shudders at the thought*
    Last edited by LouCipherr; 14-Sep-2012 at 05:50 PM. Reason: spelling. I suck at it. Or should I say. Speling. I Suk @ ti!!1!

  8. #53
    Team Rick MinionZombie's Avatar
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    Being "enclosed" definitely helps an awful lot. I've only been on an aeroplane once (last year, internal flight, small passenger size prop plane), but because I was enclosed safely inside it, the height didn't scare me one iota - I spent the entire flight gazing down on Britain as it slid by beneath me with utter fascination ... I got a horrible crick in my neck that lasted days as a result, but the view was worth it.

    BTW - when I click on my attachements (for example in my post before this one), I can't get the pictures to load for me - is it the same for anyone else, or just me? The last couple of times this has happened, but not when I originally joined the thread.
    Last edited by MinionZombie; 14-Sep-2012 at 06:11 PM.

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    Here's one I took the other day while out walking my dogs, the cows came over to the fence as I was walking past so snapped one close up.

    MZ - Get a skydive done dude, I wasn't keen on heights till I did mine, but they haven't bothered me since! Beat the weakness
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    Last edited by Tricky; 14-Sep-2012 at 06:43 PM. Reason: bad link

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    Just Married AcesandEights's Avatar
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    Been meaning to comment on this thread before now, but it's a bit daunting since I want to give equal attention to so many different good pics from so many people.

    Before I even get into all that I do want to say that the below information is very useful, as I was completely stunned by some of the images I came across last year when I first became aware of HDR photography:




    Quote Originally Posted by LouCipherr View Post

     
    I'm using a program to do my HDR, and I do it on my PC. I do it in the following manner:

    Set camera to multiple exposures (mine can do 3 max). I realized I made a mistake in my first post regarding this: First photo is normal exposure, the other two are one at TWO f-stops below normal and one at TWO f-stops above normal exposure. I said one f-stop in my first post, that was incorrect.

    I take all three images and load them into what I consider the best HDR program out there: Photomatix. I get the levels of each of the picture to where I want them in Photomatix, then I export it to Photoshop and do "cleanup" if necessary. "Cleanup" usually consists of loading the final HDR and the "normal" exposure shot as a "mask" - then I can pull some of the "normal" exposure picture into the HDR to clean up some of the areas I want to focus your eye on. It's very subjective, and different for every photo. Some don't even require this step.

    My camera does have in-camera HDR, but you pretty much have zero control over the final output. I've tried to use it, but don't like the results.
    I don't have an SLR or anyway to take HDR shots currently, but it's in the plans. Honestly, I went to Italy this Summer and saw some incredible sights, took a ton of photos, but I had a horrible time dealing with most of the scenic shots because of the haziness (record breaking heat and humidity), so I would have loved the chance to see if HDR could have helped with this. Any idea, even an educated guess, if it would, Lou?

    Will post some pics over this weekend and respond to some of the cool images already posted. Great topic, by the way!

    "Men choose as their prophets those who tell them that their hopes are true." --Lord Dunsany

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    Quote Originally Posted by MinionZombie View Post
    Being "enclosed" definitely helps an awful lot. I've only been on an aeroplane once (last year, internal flight, small passenger size prop plane), but because I was enclosed safely inside it, the height didn't scare me one iota - I spent the entire flight gazing down on Britain as it slid by beneath me with utter fascination ... I got a horrible crick in my neck that lasted days as a result, but the view was worth it.
    Yes, being enclosed helps a LOT. I've been on plane flights cruising at 20,000ft and looking out the window doesn't bother me at all. Take away the fuselage, and I'd not only be falling from 20,000ft but I'd also be screaming the entire way down!

    No, wait, that's not what I meant. I meant, take away the walls, and I'm more scared than a field mouse being stalked by a mountain lion. Shit-my-pants scared.

    Quote Originally Posted by MinionZombie View Post
    BTW - when I click on my attachements (for example in my post before this one), I can't get the pictures to load for me - is it the same for anyone else, or just me? The last couple of times this has happened, but not when I originally joined the thread.
    I tried to click on them and they wouldn't enlage either (which is weird, as they used to do so in the past), however, my work internet connection is almost monitored in a militant fashion, so sometimes I have to look up this thread at home and check out the pics. Hell, some people posted from facebook show up as broken squares on the screen because my goofy work IT people block facebook (not that I care, but in this instance it does make a difference!). I figured I'd check 'em out at home, but it seems like I'm not going to be able to now.

    I'm having the same problem with Tricky's cow pics - Neil? Andy? Any ideas?

    MZ - I post some of my stuff on photobucket (it's just an online file locker for your pics), make them private folders, then just post the IMG links here for everyone and they show up full size right in the post.


    Quote Originally Posted by Tricky View Post
    Here's one I took the other day while out walking my dogs, the cows came over to the fence as I was walking past so snapped one close up.
    COWS!!! I LOVE COWS (and I have no idea why)! Not just eating them, but they're weird creatures to watch. Not the brightest, but there's something charming (is that the right word?) about them. I love the B&W. I've always loved B&W and would probably be shooting it if it wasn't for my eyes being tickled by this HDR shit. lol

    Quote Originally Posted by Tricky View Post
    MZ - Get a skydive done dude, I wasn't keen on heights till I did mine, but they haven't bothered me since! Beat the weakness
    MZ - DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS CRAZY BASTARD! I saw the video of him skydiving - I wasn't even THERE and I shit my damn pants! Tricky is out of his freakin' mind, so be very careful following his advice!

    j/k Tricky.

    Quote Originally Posted by AcesandEights View Post
    Been meaning to comment on this thread before now, but it's a bit daunting since I want to give equal attention to so many different good pics from so many people.
    Just sit back, take a few tokes of whatever flips your fancy, and take in the scenery. That's why they're here. Just stare and enjoy, Aces.

    Quote Originally Posted by AcesandEights View Post
    Before I even get into all that I do want to say that the below information is very useful, as I was completely stunned by some of the images I came across last year when I first became aware of HDR photography
    I'm glad I could shed some "beginners" light on HDR for you, Aces, but there is so much more to it than I could ever even begin to comprehend. I have only been doing HDR for, I dunno, about a year on-and-off (not enough to get proficient at it), so I'm slowly learning my way through it.

    In cased you missed it on an earlier page, I implore you to check out Trey Ratcliff's HDR Photography for some simply mind-blowing HDR images. As discussed extensively between babomb and myself, Trey does things his own way and it isn't exactly the perfect approach to HDR, but let's put it this way: do the images blow your mind? I think that's the only qualifier needed.


    Quote Originally Posted by AcesandEights View Post
    I don't have an SLR or anyway to take HDR shots currently, but it's in the plans. Honestly, I went to Italy this Summer and saw some incredible sights, took a ton of photos, but I had a horrible time dealing with most of the scenic shots because of the haziness (record breaking heat and humidity), so I would have loved the chance to see if HDR could have helped with this. Any idea, even an educated guess, if it would, Lou?
    Was the "haziness" because of the conditions outside, or did the humidity make your lens fog up and create haziness in the pics?

    If it was just hazy outside, it depends on the situation, but chances are HDR probably wouldn't make that much of a difference 'cleaning up' the haze - it would, however, put some nice details in the haze - but that's probably not what you want.

    If it was the lens fogging up...

    Humidity can be HELL on a camera lens. ESPECIALLY if you take your camera from indoors (where it's probably cool and not that humid due to the air conditioner) to outdoors where it's humid as HELL - it will fog your lenses up in hearbeat and that is bad, bad, bad. You do not want condensation inside your camera lens. It can lead to all kinds of funky shit from rusting/corroding parts inside to (and I never knew about this until recently) fungus growth on your glass!

    When I take my camera from inside to outside, especially when it's hot and humid as a MOFO outside, I will usually do one of two things: bring my camera case with the camera in it and put it outside and let it sit for a good 30-40 minutes before I open it to let it accommodate to the temperature outside so it doesn't fog up my lenses. Or, you could always put your camera inside of a zip-lock bag, zip it up good, then take it outside. You'll still have to wait a bit before you can take it out, but sometimes you can still snap some pics while inside the bag and it isn't screwing up your camera. I've done this when shooting around the ocean (salt water is one of the top enemies of a camera) when it was windy as hell just to protect the camera from the salt water and sand. If you pull the bag kinda tight and 'flat' across the lens, most of the time you can still get a pretty damn good picture. It's worked for me.

    Quote Originally Posted by AcesandEights View Post
    Will post some pics over this weekend and respond to some of the cool images already posted. Great topic, by the way!
    Please do! I don't really want this to be the "Lou Photo Show" but I'm probably just more of a shutterbug than most. I can't help it. I've been into taking pictures way back to when I was a pre-teen youngster. My mother would always make me take pictures because she always cut off people's heads in pics and stuff, and while I had no idea what I was really doing, I could at least frame everyone in the picture properly.
    Last edited by LouCipherr; 14-Sep-2012 at 07:52 PM. Reason: .

  12. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by LouCipherr View Post
    MZ - DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS CRAZY BASTARD! I saw the video of him skydiving - I wasn't even THERE and I shit my damn pants! Tricky is out of his freakin' mind, so be very careful following his advice!

    j/k Tricky.

    Bwahaha whats life without a little adrenaline & controlled fear!!

    MZ - same for me, its been a bit funny with attachements, hence why my last post is showing two of the same picture! All I wanted was to post it as per my previous ones!

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    "Men choose as their prophets those who tell them that their hopes are true." --Lord Dunsany

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    Team Rick MinionZombie's Avatar
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    Just wanted to add that Andy has fixed the problem we were experiencing in these last few days with attachments - it's working again now, so you can go back over older posts and see the images in full-size now.

    Quick links to older posts of mine that were affected by the attachment issue that's now solved:

    Pics relating to heights:
    http://forum.homepageofthedead.com/s...013#post289013

    Pics relating to good shots on cheap cameras due to your surroundings, and old school disposable film cameras:
    http://forum.homepageofthedead.com/s...825#post288825


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    HpotD Curry Champion krakenslayer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MinionZombie View Post

    The second two pics further the notion of taking good pics with basic cameras due to the natural beauty of your surroundings, here's a couple that I took with my Kodak Zi8 (which is primarily a HD hand-held video camera) of the Scottish seaside town of North Berwick. Naturally, my photo-taking skills improved quite a bit during the intervening 14 years between pic #1 and pics 2&3.

    Attachment 1096
    That's funny, I was in North Berwick a few weeks ago. Love your pics. I actually took a fancy-ass long exposure pic of that same island. The details came out kinda soft (probably due to me setting the exposure a bit too high; more time to pick up tiny vibrations of the wind on the tripod, fractionally blurring the image), but I love the smoky water effect.



    This one was inland a little bit, just on the other side of North Berwick Law, as we began climbing it:



    A couple of nice shots from Cramond, on the other side of Edinburgh from North Berwick. They have a causeway that connects it to Cramond Island at low tide, me and my mate David went at one of the lowest tides of the year, revealing miles of beautiful, deadly mud-flats:



    Last edited by krakenslayer; 16-Sep-2012 at 12:20 PM. Reason: .

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