Quake3World

tnf wrote:I've been told not to use blowers by the Canon tech that cleaned my camera at a shop in town.

i don't suppose you need me to point out the self-interest in that advice. blowers won't clean off everything, but it's definitely worth trying first before dropping $$$ on a pro cleaning job. it's not like it damages the camera

that said, i'll see if there's somewhere around here that will do it for me. trouble is, the best camera shop in oxford closed down and was replaced by some bistro wank bar for tourists

seremtan wrote:

tnf wrote:I've been told not to use blowers by the Canon tech that cleaned my camera at a shop in town.

i don't suppose you need me to point out the self-interest in that advice. blowers won't clean off everything, but it's definitely worth trying first before dropping $$$ on a pro cleaning job. it's not like it damages the camera

that said, i'll see if there's somewhere around here that will do it for me. trouble is, the best camera shop in oxford closed down and was replaced by some bistro wank bar for tourists

If he hadn't followed up the advice with a recommendation for a self-cleaning kit that didn't use a blower, but rather a vacuum attachment that hooks up to a can of compressed air, I'd agree there was self interest. He wasn't out for that. He told me that they can blow dust up behind things (he gave me some specific camera part names, but I can't remember them).

On the other hand, I've seen blowers recommended in lots of magazines, so its obvious there isn't a unified opinion on this in the cleaning world.

Also, interesting that you mention shops being closed. All the good photography mags seem to come from the UK (there are about 10 that seem to be clones of each other) and it looks like every city and town is teeming with camera shops based on all the advertisements I see. Plus you guys have a million-fold better photography opportunities over there - its rather boring here.

which mags you getting TNF?

oh, and unless you're prepared to get a chemical cleaning kit and rub the sensor clean you better get used to dust bunnies or put your hand in your pocket.

PS, it's not a scary as it seems. I clean mine every month with sensor swabs.

tnf wrote:If he hadn't followed up the advice with a recommendation for a self-cleaning kit that didn't use a blower, but rather a vacuum attachment that hooks up to a can of compressed air, I'd agree there was self interest. He wasn't out for that. He told me that they can blow dust up behind things (he gave me some specific camera part names, but I can't remember them).

On the other hand, I've seen blowers recommended in lots of magazines, so its obvious there isn't a unified opinion on this in the cleaning world.

the overriding impression i'm getting from ploughing thru several different tutes on sensor-cleaning (actually, low-pass filter cleaning if we're going to be pedantic) is that a giotto blower is a worthy first effort, then some cleaner/swabs. i'm going to try the DIY method (i.e. swabs), because i think this is something worth learning to do myself. also, don't you have to be able to *see* the dust (i.e. with a loupe) to use those vacuum things? what if your dust bunnies are too small?

Also, interesting that you mention shops being closed. All the good photography mags seem to come from the UK (there are about 10 that seem to be clones of each other) and it looks like every city and town is teeming with camera shops based on all the advertisements I see. Plus you guys have a million-fold better photography opportunities over there - its rather boring here.

boring? you have a wider range of environments in the US, from manhattan to death valley. ok, those aren't necessarily on your doorstep, but they're there. you might think that living in oxford there'd be plenty of AAA grade picture ops, but tbh once you've taken your 1,000th gargoyle picture the novelty wears off pretty quick...

Some shots from this morning's sunrise.

The steam from the water fit the dramatic look I like to go for with clouds in HDR.

That water looks like polished steel. Excellent stuff

btw tnf where do you live (i.e. what city is that?)

Spokane, Washington

Thanks for the compliments - glad people liked the images.

she don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie
spokane

so those pics are of Spokane Falls, and the Great Northern clock tower and US Pavilion in Riverfront Park?

damn wikipedia is useful

Yes that is what they are - the bridge is the Monroe Street Bridge. You can probably wiki that too.


Stalker!


You don't own a brown 1970's van with curtains over all the windows do you? It's been parked across the street all weekend.

if it says free candy on the side, it's his. Cue picture:

and if it's painted black inside and full of bats, it's yours. cue emo tears:

no, then it's the batvan. Moron alert?

sounds like lars' van tbh

phantasmagoria wrote:Moron alert?

they're on to you

Taking textures and making things look old and cracked and aged is real trendy right now. Not a big fan of it, but I decided to give it a shot on an image that I had already done a lot of processing on, so I made this version of the waterfall picture from before. I don't know that this was the ideal texture to use, I just downloaded the first one I could find and masked it into the image.

good job, you ruined it.

Like I said - not a big fan of it. Luckily the wonders of digital technology allowed me to work on a copy of the original.

i just prefer the processed original ^_^

aging a photo = taking a good photo and making it shit

please continue not being a fan of this

Yea, it's something that might work on a very specific type of photo when you are going for a very specific look, but I agree with you about making photos look bad -
Even if the effect is well done, what you have accomplished is making a photo look realistically old and ruined.


Here's one from a boat I took today - had to crank the ISO up pretty high to keep the shutter speed fast enough, and this bird was a completely lucky shot because I was in the process of swapping CF cards when it flew by - just started shooting and luckily had exposure settings relatively close to where they needed to be.

Not artistically cropped, so Form would poop his pants if he hadn't disappeared.



Where did form go by the way? He left immediately after telling me I suck.