Amature/Amusing photography thread

[Brian]

Who doesn't have a digital camera, these days, anyway?  So, thinking we all see interesting/amusing things, let's post them here:

This guy cut me off in traffic (no, really, his custom plate, it made me laugh!):



I took this during a moment of stop-and-go traffic; hilariously, I forgot to disable the flash on my camera-phone, which seemed to spook this guy.  Oops. >_>;;

[Brian]

I tried to snap a picture of an interesting cloud verge on the way in, spilling over the coastal range from SF, but I couldn't get a good shot while driving.  I took a not-quite-as-good-as-I-hoped shot from the parking garage at work; I found some interesting foreground elements to make up for that.  Mmm, my composition is still way off. :p

Cloud verge over the mountains:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Here's some pictures from the last time I went to Davenport (found them while I was clearing out old photos).  This is on the northern cliff, facing south (I performed a marriage ceremony on that beach once, nearly a decade ago now):

Spoiler: ShowHide

Here's turning around and walking to the back of the promontory (so, this is a view off the north side of the northern cliff):

Spoiler: ShowHide

Incidentally, if anyone is curious as to more shots from Davenport, lemme know now, because I just don't visit that often....  Scaling the southern cliff is really tricky, and I plan to go in the evening -- so probably not going to take any shots from up there. Hope you enjoyed~!

[Brian]

I took these today on the way in to work.

There's a story to go with them....



Obligatory (you'll have to look really closely: DOUBLE RAINBOW!

[Yuthirin]

You need a better lens filter, sir!

Unless you're using a phone or pocket camera. Then carry on.

[Brian]

It's from my HTC Inspire, which is a pretty decent camera, for a phone.  Unfortunately, both of these shots are in the rain (there is a rainbow, after all) and through the less-than-perfectly-cleaned windows of my car while I was driving. :\

The second one, you can actually see the arc of my steering wheel reflected in the window, almost paralleling the second arc of the rainbow. :p

[Yuthirin]

I was actually talking about the shots you took on the 30th.

[Brian]

Oooh.  Those I just reduced the quality because I had only MS paint and didn't want 1.5 MB pictures.

[Yuthirin]

I was actually referring to the fact that the colors would have benefited from a UV filter. They'd be much more alive. The photos themselves are pretty good, but thay lack a certain warmth.

[Brian]

Hmm. I'll have to see if that can be adjusted in the future, then.

[Yuthirin]

If you're not shooting from an SLR camera, the chances of correcting that are unlikely at best. If so, don't worry about it. If you ARE using SLR, you can pick up a cheap filter for $8-10 at any Best Buy.

[Brian]

Mm.  Sounds like I'm gonna need to get a bit more serious and buy a better camera in coming months.  Good suggestions for that?

[Yuthirin]

Nikon or Canon. Olympus isn't quite able to hack it, and Sony is TERRIBLE. I'm a Canon man myself. Looking at getting a t2i within the next few months. I encourage you to do some research. A good site I have used for years is http://www.dpreview.com

[Brian]

What's the cost of that?  As an amateur I'm not looking to spend much.

We moved offices today; I have twice as much deskspace now.  Here's my new cube:
[spoiler]


Really need to decorate it with ... stuff.

Of any kind. ._.

Not in frame: Two monitors with no mounting equipment (on the empty desk to my right), a server motherboard (in box) that we have no idea what to do with, and the secondary vinegar bottle.  Also, a vast number of screws from an older desk.  Not ... sure what to do with those yet.

[Yuthirin]

Sweet desk!

Canon t3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830120506

Ranges from $550-600 for the basic kit, which'll do everything you want it to do (probably). The price is a bit of a kicker, yeah, but it'll last you a long-ass time and take some supreme pictures.

[Brian]

Yeah, I think I'm going to go lower-end than that.  I realize it means not-so-perfect pictures, but I think I'd rather practice on something cheaper and figure out how into this I really am before throwing that much money into it. :x

Can you suggest anything that (with decent accessories) would be around 200$ max?  This is probably asking for the best of a bad lot, but....