First Post - Question about camera

[pakuchn]

My name is Peter, from Chicago. This is my first post. I was looking at some of the pictures that were taken by Pashnit, and they look amazing. I'm wondering what type of camera is Pashnit unit to take such amazing pictures with so much detail. Plus, is Pashnit using any programs to enhance the pictures?

Thanks.

Peter

[Rumpus King]

Er...couldja be more specific? There's tons of pics taken by all kinds of folks on this site. I've got a Canon 20D, but there's no pics of mine here.

Or did you mean what kind of camera does Tim have?

Oh well, either way, welcome!

[pakuchn]

For example, all these pictures have been taken by Tim. Please see link. I was wondering what type of camera use uses.

Thank you.

http://www.pashnit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13117

[Stradatourer]

I believe Tim has a Canon Powershot Pro 1. Here is a review:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonpro1/

I don't think the PP1 is manufactured any more, and I don't know what replaced it.

Tom

[Vermincelli]

I am just getting into photography and found a good starting DSLR is the Canon Rebel XT or XTI.
Figure when I learn enough I can move up to the more expensive D models.

[hrlyman]

Tim only takes pictures of post cards he finds along the routes he rides and he always uses photo shop to enhance everything!!!!!

See Tim I told everyone!

[pashnit]

Originally Posted by hrlyman

Tim only takes pictures of post cards he finds along the routes he rides and he always uses photo shop to enhance everything!!!!!

See Tim I told everyone!

Nuts. My secret is out.

Wee bit of info here: http://www.pashnit.com/motophoto.htm#2

[pashnit]

Peter, here are a couple pointers for you.

Yes, the Canon Pro1 is '04 vintage already and no longer made. I got this one in '05 off eBay used. So bear in mind you can still get them, just need to know where to look. There is an evolution to these cameras, and I think the Canon S3 or something like that is the successor. It looks similar, but is silver rather than black. Consumer reports rated it pretty high- top 20% I think. This is a $500 camera (back in the day), and one step below an SLR with interchangeable lenses. Also remember that a wise man once said, "It's not the camera".

But here's some pashnit photo secrets:

I know very little about cameras, and find the DPreview stuff like trying to read a textbook. The last two cameras I've bought, I found somebodies photos that looked good, asked them what they had, and bought their camera. My previous 4 SLR cameras were 2nd hand freebies all given to me. Wore every one of them out. . Incidently, I've shot about 20,000 photos with this camera and it's just about worn out too.

I always shoot on 'auto'. Might surprise you to learn that I know very little about camera terminology & nomenclature.

I never use a flash. 99% of the time I'll use natural light, even when shutter speed gets down to 1/8 of a second. Find a wall to lean against, and use the natural light to your advantage.

I don't use filters such as UV or tint, that sort of thing. I even bought the kit for this camera, but have never used it. Keep thinking I should try it though.

I love the flip out screen & will probably not get a camera without one. This allows shots with camera held high above head, around corners or down low.

The Pro1 camera (on auto) actually produces photos that are somewhat bland in the color. Or at least to me. I doubt this is indicitive to this camera, others pics when posted look the same too if there's no post-production.

I'm huge on using the zoom. This camera has a 200mm lens so I've often mentioned in threads zooming the camera all the way (don't use the digital) than start walking backwards (taking pic of your bike for example) until your bike (and some background) fits in the frame.

I'm big on cropping. Take the shot with the highest setting your camera has (these are usually 4M & 3200 pixels wide) so you have lots of square area to work with later on.

Frame the shot. A simple technique, use a tree on the left side, a building, a mountain side, something.

I'm huge on triangulation, or using triangle shapes in the shot in turn create create layers.

About 'layers' in the shot. Object in foreground, the middle, background in the back. Easy example is shooting ridgelines as they layer away from the viewer. Forest Rd 1 is famous for this.

Scenery shots are boring. Anyone can take a picture of a mountain or lake. Something needs to be happening in the shot to make it interesting to the viewer. A perfect example of this is here: http://www.pashnit.com/forum/showpos...9&postcount=13

I always follow the rule of thirds, or whatever it's called. Think of the shot divided into thirds. While that's in reference to composition, also consider the next rule...

A photo should tell a story. Read on...

You need to have three things going on it a shot. Scenery + bike + person = story. Curvy road + scene + bike = emotion. Again, picture of mountain. One thing going on = boring. If you can create emotion with a shot, you've got the viewer. Bike leaned over in a corner for example: http://www.pashnit.com/forum/showpos...91&postcount=2 I look at this shot of Tim on his VStrom and I can feel the bike in full lean just looking at the pic.

I'm huge on 'composition'. This is everything to me with photographing stuff. I'd also call it 'placement of objects'. There's some pointers on this idea here: http://www.pashnit.com/forum/showpos...2&postcount=21 (post 20 vs. post 21)

I read somewhere that the eye/brain when it looks at a photo, will follow an 'backward J' pattern when it looks at the photo. So I try to use that rule alot when setting up the composition of the shot. How they come up with that stuff, I've no idea.

[pashnit]

Post-Production: Couple years back I was fortunate to have a professional graphic artist show me with PhotoShop what they do to all the shots to pop out all the colors and such. I have a copy of PhotoShop, but have never used it as the learning curve most say is pretty steep.

I use a pretty old program called Jasc Paint Shop Pro which you can still find with a search. It's pretty basic, and probably no learning curve at all other than figuring out what all the buttons do and mean.

On panoramic shots, for that I use PhotoStitch which over the years has proved to be a great program, simple an easy to use.

I'm big on post-production and think of the photo shot by the camera as just a raw photo. It's intensely time consuming though, and a batch of 300 photos from a 3-day ride will take about 4 hours to get through. To create one of those long-winded photo thread takes another 4-5 hours, so think of one of those pashnit photo threads as about a 9-10 hour project & can take me a week or so of spare time.

One lil sidebar thing for you is I'm colorblind so I never mess with colors, as I'm never sure exactly what I'm looking at. Last time I was tested by the military, they rated me at 90% across the spectrum. And no, I don't see in black and white. But a green lawn looks red to me. Traffic lights aren't green, they're white. So I go when the traffic light turns white.

So the main things I mess with is I sharpen every photo. Not a lot, but just enough to get a bit of a crispy sensation to the pic. Most the raw pics in comparison are slightly fuzzy (might call that a 'soft feel'). If someone sharpens a photo and it just doesn't look right, or you even notice it, that's too much.

Jasc Paint Shop Pro has a control to adjust the brightness and contrast at the same time, so I'm always fiddling with that. Some shots come too dark, others a wee too light. Other times the sky is washed out a little bit, and a little bit of reduction in the brightness will give you more blues. Adjusting the contrast will get rid of that bland coloring the raw shots have.

The one other thing I'll fiddle with the program calls 'automatic saturation enhancement'. Saturation is a handy tool as it will make grass greener. Basically, it will bold out colors. It doesn't always work for everything but is a handy tool to get rid of the bland coloring of the original shot. Too much and the shot won't look right, but just a touch at time works great.

So alot of the bold color you see with the pashnit photography are those three & sometimes four simple controls. These are also all automated controls meaning I'm not messing with hues of individual colors, such as the reds, or the blues. I just adjust the shot till it looks good and done.

[pakuchn]

Well, I called around and I was able to find a new Canon PowerShot Pro 1 at Wolf Camera in Chicago. Price: $312.00. I did get it, according to all reviews it should be an amazing camera.