Photos taken by Pentax cameras for tech. discussion - Season II

[detritus]

In what way? You need o give constructive comments. Is this not the thread for tech discussion??

i tend to think that constructive comments can only be prompted by constructive sharing.

agree that its not a free for all hamtam session but the person sharing may perhaps want to work on getting higher quality pics uploaded, so that commenters can talk about something other than "why so pixellated, why so grainy".

its like marking a student's script - even the best essay will not score very well if the handwriting is illegible and the teacher has to struggle to read line by line.

i'll just limit my comments to the food pix since thats my area of interest as well:

in 1 sentence: i feel that the shots had actually succeeded in making the food look rather un-appetising.

ways to improve:

- composition: position the plates and utensils properly, take a shot before you tuck in. the wantan mee actually looks like leftover table scraps thats been stirred, tossed, and abandoned.

- exposure: its underexposed. its probably challenging given the dark environment and the K-7's weaker high-ISO performance. so use the pop-up flash if u have to.

 

[pinholecam]

Felix,
As mentioned by others, the picts look pixelated.
Check if its because of the hosting site; you posted up the smallest size you camera setting or the compression you did when PP'ing the photos.
I looked at your photobucket site, and the photos there looks pixelated too a 100%, so I suspect it because you chose too much compression and low quality JPEG setting when resizing.
Just puzzled if it actually looks right on your computer?

 

[felixcat8888]

Felix,
As mentioned by others, the picts look pixelated.
Check if its because of the hosting site; you posted up the smallest size you camera setting or the compression you did when PP'ing the photos.
I looked at your photobucket site, and the photos there looks pixelated too a 100%, so I suspect it because you chose too much compression and low quality JPEG setting when resizing.
Just puzzled if it actually looks right on your computer?

Thanks J.K. It looks ok on my comp though. Will relook at it again.

 

[felixcat8888]

i tend to think that constructive comments can only be prompted by constructive sharing.

agree that its not a free for all hamtam session but the person sharing may perhaps want to work on getting higher quality pics uploaded, so that commenters can talk about something other than "why so pixellated, why so grainy".

its like marking a student's script - even the best essay will not score very well if the handwriting is illegible and the teacher has to struggle to read line by line.

i'll just limit my comments to the food pix since thats my area of interest as well:

in 1 sentence: i feel that the shots had actually succeeded in making the food look rather un-appetising.

ways to improve:

- composition: position the plates and utensils properly, take a shot before you tuck in. the wantan mee actually looks like leftover table scraps thats been stirred, tossed, and abandoned.

- exposure: its underexposed. its probably challenging given the dark environment and the K-7's weaker high-ISO performance. so use the pop-up flash if u have to.

Thanks Donald. Shot was taken by my 10 year old daughter after she tossed the noodles. Will relook at the pixelated photos again. I used to use "picsizer" on PC but now with a Mac, I use iResize. Looks like its that software.

Will need to redo the pictures again and repost.

 

[felixcat8888]

Hi Felix,

Your image sizes are about 18 kb - for the amount of fine detail in the image, this is very small, and I suspect this has to do with saving to very low quality levels. This will result in a high level of pixellation and softness, as shown above. What settings are you using to save the images for web?

So it must be the software that I am using to downsize the image. I an using iResize on Mac as I cannot find similar "picsizer" that I used on PC. The picsizer was great

 

[detritus]

Thanks Donald. Shot was taken by my 10 year old daughter after she tossed the noodles. Will relook at the pixelated photos again. I used to use "picsizer" on PC but now with a Mac, I use iResize. Looks like its that software.

Will need to redo the pictures again and repost.

i think its important to look at the whole workflow:

- are u shooting raw or jpeg?
- what is the JPEG quality setting?
- how are u editing your photos after extracting from memory card?
- how did u upload? did photobucket compress your photos further?

just to share, my basic workflow consists of the bundled pentax software to process the RAW and convert to jpeg, followed by Picasa to upload.

i've since moved on to CS5 because it offers more control - PP in camera-raw followed by additional processing (if required) in photoshop, and then Picasa to upload.

i normally reduce my filesize to 1600 pixels across and upload without compression. this ensures that the file suitable for viewing on a normal computer screen of at least 800X600 resolution.

we're not printing hardcopies so monitor calibration is not that critical but ensuring that the picture has enough resolution when sharing is important. otherwise, pple just think that the camera is incapable of producing high-quality pictures - a gross injustice.

 

[felixcat8888]

i think its important to look at the whole workflow:

- are u shooting raw or jpeg?
- what is the JPEG quality setting?
- how are u editing your photos after extracting from memory card?
- how did u upload? did photobucket compress your photos further?

just to share, my basic workflow consists of the bundled pentax software to process the RAW and convert to jpeg, followed by Picasa to upload.

i've since moved on to CS5 because it offers more control - PP in camera-raw followed by additional processing (if required) in photoshop, and then Picasa to upload.

i normally reduce my filesize to 1600 pixels across and upload without compression. this ensures that the file suitable for viewing on a normal computer screen of at least 800X600 resolution.

we're not printing hardcopies so monitor calibration is not that critical but ensuring that the picture has enough resolution when sharing is important. otherwise, pple just think that the camera is incapable of producing high-quality pictures - a gross injustice.

Taken in JPEG at full Resolution. Looks like it is the software I used to downsize the image. I will do it again and repost.

 

[pinholecam]

Thanks J.K. It looks ok on my comp though. Will relook at it again.

I once used a free software to downsize, and then sent it for printing w/o dbl checking, only to discover that they were all automatically converted to low res

 

[felixcat8888]

I once used a free software to downsize, and then sent it for printing w/o dbl checking, only to discover that they were all automatically converted to low res

I think is is what happened. Will need to look a that free iResize software again.

 

[felixcat8888]

Have looked at the software and now repost here with changes made. Looks like software setting. I have increased the compression to 75%. Earlier it was defaulted to 25%.

I hope this looks better than the previous photos posted.

 

[felixcat8888]

 

[felixcat8888]

No crop done to this photo. Actual size.

 

[felixcat8888]

Sunise at Tanjung Bungah. Taken from Copthrone Orchid Hotel Balcony.

Sunset

I hope it looks better the the previous post now.

 

[Supersimon27]

Seem like Yr horizon for the landscape photo are all out . Did u turn on the horizon correction function ? If could be the cam levelness already offset hence when he do a auto correction , straight photo also become tilted

 

[Supersimon27]

Wahlau, so fast ah. I havent even take the memory card out yet. ahahaha.

This one I think u should focus more on the attacks at the Aphids. Coz the compo kinda confusing to me. have to look left right for subjects rather than leading it.

Just my 2 cents

Cos I am a free man for this month mah . So can sleep late late . Lol.

Thanks for the point .

 

[detritus]

Have looked at the software and now repost here with changes made. Looks like software setting. I have increased the compression to 75%. Earlier it was defaulted to 25%.

I hope this looks better than the previous photos posted.

where food photography is concerned, the objective should be to make the picture of the food look "good enough to eat".

hence, exposure, colours and composition is important. underexposed food pictures makes the food feel "cold" and "stale".

top-down, still-life shots also may not do full justice to the food item. maybe instilling some "movement" into the picture by having someone hold a piece of popiah or some char kway teow with chop-sticks would make the shot more interesting.

i've seen some really nice food shots taken with iphone cameras so i think there's really something missing here...

 

[otc]

where food photography is concerned, the objective should be to make the picture of the food look "good enough to eat".

hence, exposure, colours and composition is important. underexposed food pictures makes the food feel "cold" and "stale".

top-down, still-life shots also may not do full justice to the food item. maybe instilling some "movement" into the picture by having someone hold a piece of popiah or some char kway teow with chop-sticks would make the shot more interesting.

i've seen some really nice food shots taken with iphone cameras so i think there's really something missing here...

Yes, a little out of focus as its not sharp but photographer is under instruction from Daddy, right Still learning to be a better pentaxian Shots should be better as time goes by.

I remembered my first macro shots was all black shadows beneath and I was so excited seeing those enlarge image:bsmilie:with hots spots around...

marcus

 

[GSiGuy]

So it must be the software that I am using to downsize the image. I an using iResize on Mac as I cannot find similar "picsizer" that I used on PC. The picsizer was great

That's ok. It happens. Recently sent a whole batch of photos to my FlickR after PP in lightroom and exported too not realising that i had the "resize to fit" box ticked and they were all like really small resolution files. We learn from our mistakes this way ya?

 

[felixcat8888]

where food photography is concerned, the objective should be to make the picture of the food look "good enough to eat".

hence, exposure, colours and composition is important. underexposed food pictures makes the food feel "cold" and "stale".

top-down, still-life shots also may not do full justice to the food item. maybe instilling some "movement" into the picture by having someone hold a piece of popiah or some char kway teow with chop-sticks would make the shot more interesting.

i've seen some really nice food shots taken with iphone cameras so i think there's really something missing here...

Thanks for the tip Donald! I have been a people photographer for too long. Don't know how to take photos of still life. Maybe must go back to Bukit Brown to practice more. (Later the residents there chase me off for taking too many photos of them "sleeping"). Will learn from this mistake.

 

[felixcat8888]

Seem like Yr horizon for the landscape photo are all out . Did u turn on the horizon correction function ? If could be the cam levelness already offset hence when he do a auto correction , straight photo also become tilted

Eh? is there such a function in the K7? Didn't know it existed. Must go check the menu/manual. Thanks Simon for the tip.