Here are a few more of the scanned black and white photos from Turkey. I have started posting the best ones on Photo.net, but the copies available here are larger.
Topkapi palace second courtyard.
One more shot of the Blue Mosque, what an elegant structure.
Ship on the Bosporus.
Suleymaniye Mosque.
Domes outside a mosque.
Author: Milan
In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford.
Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here.
View all posts by Milan
the photos are good, but they exhibit the same problem of blown out skies (albeit, more pleasantly) as your A510 photos. Alas, 700$ camera, 500$ lens, and professional film still need filters for real professional results.
A yellow filter could darken the skies, but I can hardly be bothered to carry one around to put on and take off when there happens to be a lot of sky in the picture. This is why I virtually never use my circular polarizer.
PS. I can send you a zip file of all the raw scans, if you want to play with them. Virtually all the photos liked above have had the contrast increased significantly.
It’s a common practice in black and white photography simply to leave a yellow filter on all of the time. Why woudn’t you use your circ polarizer? Unlike my zoom, the front of yours doesn’t even rotate as you zoom or focus. Not that mine focuses (broken).
On another note, you might want to look at this http://www.topgear.com/content/news/stories/1523/
I don’t use the circular polarizer:
a) Because it is inconvenient to be fiddling around with filters
b) Because I don’t have a comprehensive understanding of what it will do in different situations. Most of the time, it doesn’t work quite how I expect it to (the exception being glare reduction and effects on reflections).
What kind of yellow filter should I buy? And is the advice from people on photo.net that you should spend $30-50 on one sensible?
I don’t know whether it’s worth it for you to invest in a filter set. It’s really something your photo teacher should have encouraged you to buy 8 years ago when you were in high school – using the correct coloured filter for a BW photograph makes the difference between a crummy and a great shot.
If you do get an Xti, and shoot in raw you can apply coloured filters in photoshop as you make shots BW. Some DSLRs even let you do it in camera producing bw jpgs.
Circalur polarizers are a bit passe today. they are really for getting colour film to saturate in the 70s, which it does on its own now. Thats why shots I took with fuji colour film and a circ polarizer come out with blue into black skies. They’re not really designed for BW photography, although they can darken skies somewhat.
Really you should get a set of yellow, green, red. Preferably as cheap as possible. But again, if you arn’t shooting a lot of BW, it probably doesn’t make sense to invest.
Tristan,
Once I am gainfully employed, I can start thinking about expanding my collection of photo gear. For now, the challenge is coming up with enough to pay my remaining fees ($9,519.02), rent ($5,062.46), cost of living, and travel cost to wherever I am going next.
Preferably as cheap as possible.
What about all this business about not putting a $10 piece of glass in front of your $500 lens. Does a cheap filter really cause optical problems?
As for high school eight years ago, most people in my photo class were taking it because it was seen as easier than any of the other arts, and it was mandatory to do one. The people who were able to master the basic techniques were essentially on their own after that, while the instructor concentrated on those who didn’t understand aperture and shutter speed.
Yes, it makes all the sense in the world to put a 10$ piece of glass in front of a 500$ lens. Especially when you remember that a 500$ lens usually takes no better pictures than a 50 year old box camera. What you paid 500$ for was not picture sharpness (you could have had that from a 10$ box camera from the window of salvation army), but convinience ( and we all know what happens when we try to get convinience cheaply – there are all manner of old sigma and takamur zooms that you can’t give away today).
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filters.htm
this site on filters is pretty good
I like the shot of the ship. Is there a higher res. version somewhere?
I can email a 2048 by 1024 version, if you send me an address. The same goes for pretty much any photo I have ever posted.