Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Chess Players (3)


16 comments:

Julie said...

Look at how engrossed he is!!

Is this colour-coordinated or has the lighting played tricks with the colours?

This is a nice series, Ann. Makes me wish that I had taken the two Turks who play backgammon on their front porch in Redfern Street during the summer evenings ...

bitingmidge said...

I reckon if you'd shot that in RAW, there'd be enough data to recover those over exposed bits!

Sorry, don't mean to harp on it!

Ann said...

Yes, Peter, I know. As these haven't been through Photoshop at all, I may even have been able to recover some of it from the JPG in Levels, however I am trying to see what I can get without Photoshopping. Overall I'm pretty happy with these.

As I have the ability to take 80 photos in one lunch hour (yesterday), if I shoot RAW I will need far more than the 10 gig I am intending to take with me for 6 weeks. I will play with RAW at some stage but I really don't think its practical for travelling without a car, portable hard drive/laptop, a regular and reliable power supply and/or plenty of time to spend in netcafes. I have better things to do with my travel time.

I hate to shock you but I suspect I will revert to P or at least aperture priority for a lot of the group travel time and only play with full manual when I am alone.

Julie said...

I always take a lot more photos when by myself. The group shot and the landscape I am now able to withstand. I find that I am becoming much more selective.

I have a lot more to learn AND PUT INTO PRACTICE before I tackle learning RAW just yet.

I think when I travel I will end up with fewer photos than previously. Or at least delete more each evening. My head can now say "Oo that looks nice. Yes, but it will be a boring photo".

Ann said...

This is where we really differ. Landscape is one area I need to do a lot more work with, especially using the tripod and F22 and F32 which I haven't tried at all. Yesterday I was playing with the polariser with disastrous results. It didn't do at all what I thought it would, except for reflections on water.

I need to be able to recognise a decent shot on screen so I can go through and delete. A lot of mine look fine on screen but aren't when I get them on computer.

I will still take the "boring" shots as they are only for me and are to remind me of where I've been. However, when I look back over the years, my composition improves with each trip.

bitingmidge said...

Yes, my travelling RAW experiment last month was as I expected - a lot more work!

I took pics in both RAW and jpeg, so that I could update various blogs etc with the jpeg, and the old laptop wasn't clever enough to process the RAW.

I've bitten the bullet now though, the new MacBook arrives Monday, with its seven hour battery life, and enough grunt to process all the pics each night. I've also got a wallet sized backup drive, and a backpack with a camera and a laptop slot.

Only room for two pairs of undies though, which if I wear for two days each side before turning them inside out, will get me through a week with a day up my sleeve.

We think it will be four months at this stage, and I still mostly shoot in P (with the odd over ride), Aperture priority if I can't get the combo I want, and Shutter priority if it's moving fast or really dark.

Julie, I think you hit the nail on the head with your last comment. I'm taking fewer shots, and getting more keepers for the very reason you espouse!

I think that's really the key to my improved consistency of late, if it's not worth taking a pic, the camera stays in its box. Although having said that, there's nothing wrong with the odd souvenir shot either.

Ann said...

I'll be really interested in how my opinion changes during/after this next trip. At the moment I swear I never want to take the risk (damage and theft) of packing a laptop around Africa, South America or Asia with me. Its just one more thing to worry about. Although I probably would consider doing so for the US or Europe. I suspect I will end up with an external hard drive and spend hours on slow connections in netcafes in godforsaken backwaters. Although I did see something advertised as a "pocket laptop" the other day that looked very small. Apart from that, I hate working on laptops.

bitingmidge said...

It's all part of this whole change of situation thing for us. Travelling in pairs makes it a little easier, in that on of us (she) can carry the backup, so it's unlikely we'll lose laptop and backup, but then I would have said the same about our passports two years ago!

The new laptop is a 13" and very light, but it's the smallest that is practical for doing anything with photos IMHO. It's all a lot of bother really, but so's carrying an SLR. I liked the top of the line P&S, but not the lack of flexibility. So we (I)'ve decided that photography is one of the reasons for being there, not the be all and end all, but one of the reasons, so the price I pay is the inconvenience and extra risk. Camera and laptop are covered by our household contents insurance by the way (I'd better check about the four months bit...)

I'm hoping to avoid much of the net cafe thing by having all pre-prepared ready to upload. I'm also hoping to avoid it in the long term by getting a dongle or 3G phone with tethering which will work in France!

Oh, and I hope eventually to get a larger screen for home, but that won't be till after the home machine goes to a newer and better use.

Having "lost" one camera full of shots (the one with the passports), I can say that it hurts, but it's not worth ruining your trip for. There are plenty of pictures of where you've been on the internet!

Ann said...

This will be the first time I have travelled with more than a snoot bag. This time I'll have 2 lenses and am trying to convince myself to take the tripod. I know, if I don't, I'll wish I had. What is a dongle? I travelled the world for 6 months with a snoot bag and a plastic bag of film. For 18 months I got the film developed, posted the photos home and kept the negatives with me. In many ways it was a lot easier. I was also a lot more selective about what I photographed. I'm still selective but take a lot more shots.

bitingmidge said...

"Dongle" refers to a NextG broadband usb modem in this case!

Have you had any luck with a mini tripod? I'm still on the prowl, haven't been able to find anything that meets my criteria for tinyness but is strong enough to hold the camera and lens.

Carry on weight is another bridge yet to be crossed! I am considering taking many small bags, but putting them all into one cheap shop zippered blanket bag to get around the one bag on board rule.

I used to keep exposed films in a cloth bag in the bottom of my bag. Never lost them, but posting the prints home makes sense in retrospect!

Ann said...

I don't think a mini tripod will do what I want. I want it for landscapes, both day and night, also possibly for animals at waterholes at night using the zoom. Much as I love the F1.8 lens for night shots, it isn't going to get me close enough. The one I have is a good height for me but not strong enough for the camera which slips a bit, especially if I'm taking vertical shots. I suspect, if I really get into this, I'll end up spending a lot of money on a strong, lightweight tripod. There is a strong possibility, however, that the tripod will spend 6 weeks at the bottom of the pack without seeing the light of day. That's if I can make room for it in the first place. At least I don't have to take a sleeping bag this time so it will have to fight with the hiking boots for space.

Ann said...

Re carry on - as you can take a handbag and a carry on bag I'm hoping I can take the camera bag and a daypack. From memory, I've flown home with a day pack (which counted as the handbag) as well as one of those chinese stripy plastic bags full of overflow stuff, which was the cabin luggage. Don't think the larger camera bag will fit in the daypack as well as the medical kit, which gets larger as the years pass. that was the beauty of the snoot bag, it fitted in the daypack.

Julie said...

I wear both my jacket and my hiking boots on the plane ...

Ann said...

I may end up doing the same and have done before but don't want to wear them every day in the truck/bus thing.

bitingmidge said...

Re; carry on bag(s), in lots of places so-called security now limits you to one bag despite the airline's rules. Take a plastic garbage bag to put it all in - that gets you through security OK. (DAMHIK!)

On mini tripods: I used to carry a roll of elastic bandage with a couple of those clippy things (since before velcro was invented), and always found a tree, a post or a rail to strap the mini tripod to.

Goodness I miss my little plastic one!

On wearing jackets: Yep, my rain jacket has monster pockets, and will fit the whole of Bill Bryson's history of the universe AND a spare lens in just one of them. My weight goes up several kilos, but I still fit in the seat!

cara said...

i like the over exposed bits and I wear pyjamas on the plane and keep them on while I am in transit.