[tomson]

Originally Posted by lucidcreations

Photography isnt just about taking technically perfect photos straight from a camera not matter the format, its about the end result.

completely agree. Very rarely do I take a picture and do nothing to it - all my internal camera settings are set to zero (sharpness, contrast etc etc) and I do all my adjustments in photoshop: exposure and white balance correction when converting from RAW, then levels, colour correction, sharpening (USM or Intellisharpen), any noise reduction and then finally tweak the saturation (sometimes a Digital Velvia action) to get the results I want.

I see little point in sqabbling over what we can and can't do to an image - just get on with the competition and let people decide what technique is best for them. Why not give people a bit of creative freedom and let them explain what they have or haven't done to their submitted entry - it'll be good to see what people have done to achieve the end result. We might even learn something!

Quite how a 'no photoshop' rule can be policed, i've no idea.

[oli]

here here

[cam]

Originally Posted by tomson

Quite how a 'no photoshop' rule can be policed, i've no idea.

latecomer to this thread, but completely agree with tomson

let's get the contest going and be done with it

[lucidcreations]

Looks like portraiture is winning at the moment. This site is a nice fashion portraiture gallery. All shots were taken on a Canon 300D with 50mm f1.8. All the same gear as me, but my pics dont look like that so mine must be broke

http://www.gleitfoto.dk/

[cyk]

I've been tempted to get the 50mm f1.8 lens for portraits, so this seems like a great time to get one Now all I have to do is get some subjects. Hope portraits wins

[lucidcreations]

Don't think the wife will let me upload "our" photos

[tomson]

50mm f1.8 is only 55quid at 7dayshop. A bloody bargain!

[cyk]

Yer I'm tempted to get it from 7dayshop, but I'd like it for the weekend and theres the glitch in 3-5 days delivery. I might just pay the extra and get it from Warehouse Express.

[tomson]

Aye, their delivery isn't exactly quick - I just got a 28-135mm IS but got it from a shop for the same reasons. It cost be 40quid more than 7dayshop but hey.

[paris]

sorry to bring it back up agian and ruin the camera convo, but Forever is your last say on the photoshop rule final?

i had a thought, perhaps all entrants are required to upload the original + the touch up. if it is found that the touch up is nowhere near what the original photo's "purpose" then they're kicked?

[Forever]

About the photoshop limitations.
Of course of everyone agrees on using adjusting features, such as contrast, brightness, sharpness etc. then I won't tell that we are not supposed to.

It is obvious that you are allowed to convert RAW pictures into jpegs lol.

I just thought that it would be more interesting to post your pictures as clean s they are. Straight from the camera without modifications.

But at the end, who am I?

Happy photographing, I think the next theme will be portrait..

p.s. cropping is allright of course, but I am still not sure about adjusting brightness etc. you should do that rightaway with your camera options. This is by the way a DIGIcam contest, so the old-fashioned options of adjusting stuff in the dark room are not in discussion.

[Forever]

But as this photo contest is set up as a try-out, it is of course influencable. All suggestions are welcome, we need this contest to evolve itself. So if we are doing this for a few months then we might consider to rewrite the regulations.

[lucidcreations]

Originally Posted by tomson

Aye, their delivery isn't exactly quick - I just got a 28-135mm IS but got it from a shop for the same reasons. It cost be 40quid more than 7dayshop but hey.

Tomson, how you finding that lens? I was gonna get one this week, but I've read mixed reports about its sharpness until you get to about f8 and stay in between 35 to 100mm ish.

[cyk]

I've heard its a cracking lens. I've got the 28-105mm non IS and its fantastic.

[lucidcreations]

see mixed reports

Although never heard a bad report about the 50mm. Its about £80 in Jessops, but they tend to not ave a clue when it comes to pricing

[tomson]

Originally Posted by lucidcreations

Tomson, how you finding that lens? I was gonna get one this week, but I've read mixed reports about its sharpness until you get to about f8 and stay in between 35 to 100mm ish.

Not had a great deal of time to play with it yet to be honest. Hopefully going to take it out and snap a few shots of the fireworks this weekend - the IS should come in handy there.

I've read loads of different views on the lens - the majority of them seem to be positive but it definitely isn't the sharpest lens out there (i'd have gone for a Tamron 28-75DI if sharpness was my main concern) but for me the range and the low light capabilities of the image stabiliser more than make up for it. I wanted a walk-around lens and narrowed it down to a Sigma 24-135 f2.8, a Sigma 18-125 DC and the Canon.

The DC i wasn't overly impressed with (vingetting, whining and fairly slow focusing). Has a really useful range on a dSLR though, and it very light. The other Sigma I really liked (especially being f2.8) but the USM and the IS of the Canon did it for me in the end. Its a tad on the heavy side tho.

[seen.to]

Originally Posted by tomson

...got it from a shop for the same reasons. It cost be 40quid more than 7dayshop but hey.

Glad that's not just me I've often been known to drive 100 miles and pay more just to get my hands on something right away.

[lucidcreations]

Boyz Toyz

[blindfive]

Mmmmmmm.... Portrait shots....

so when is this portrait competition going to start...?