@CrankyYankee, please don't in any way knock either your skills or your camera. That's a stunning set of images you've put up, old or not it doesn't matter.
I personally think phones are deceptive in their capabilities. It's easy to see 'so many pixels' and think 'wow'. But not all pixels are equal. A pixel is a small block of colour, and all those blocks together go to make up the image. However, phone pixels are very small compared to your camera or mine, and ours are small compared to that of Sheps (I think Sheps has a full frame). Let's say the phone's pixel is a postage stamp, ours are postcards and a full frame is a sheet of paper. The coverage is fine on the surface for all of them, but when you start zooming or cropping, or on my phone using the macro function, the cracks start to show, literally. What happens is that you spread fewer and fewer pixels over the same area - bigger pixels keep covering that area for longer than little ones.
This is a hugely cropped section of the dianthus flower I posted a couple of days ago, you can see the individual blocks
A smartphone will do that much more quickly than your camera will.
And then there are sensors, lenses, manual controls, etc, in all of which the camera will beat the phone hands down.
It's horses for courses. Smartphones are very handy when you don't want to lug a camera around, if you can't afford one they will still produce reasonable images. Professionals use them more than you think. But ultimately they won't give you the quality or control of a camera, even one that's 10 years old. (I think I bought mine, second hand, about 8 years ago and it has not been treated kindly, I used to do weekly photo shoots for a rescue centre and we got knocked in the mud on many an occasion). The key is knowing how to get the best out of what you have, and I'm happy to help if I can without turning a gardeners' thread into a photo tutorial! You can always PM me
Then I decided to have a play with the flash. It's not something I use for plant macros very often but on the rain droplets it was interesting
The background to this last one was in fact a mass of rain covered grass but the flash has blown it almost completely, leaving just those few strands. Experimentation - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. For me this did.
I also think your photos are stunning @CrankyYankee, it’s time to get that camera out again! Your technique and use of lighting effects has got me exploring the features of my 18 year old digital camera and an editing software package I’m currently testing! Thank you for your encouragement @NormandyLiz, I am enjoying this thread and the contributions of all the experienced and aspiring creative photographers here!
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Taken last summer in front of our summer house.
I personally think phones are deceptive in their capabilities. It's easy to see 'so many pixels' and think 'wow'. But not all pixels are equal. A pixel is a small block of colour, and all those blocks together go to make up the image. However, phone pixels are very small compared to your camera or mine, and ours are small compared to that of Sheps (I think Sheps has a full frame). Let's say the phone's pixel is a postage stamp, ours are postcards and a full frame is a sheet of paper. The coverage is fine on the surface for all of them, but when you start zooming or cropping, or on my phone using the macro function, the cracks start to show, literally. What happens is that you spread fewer and fewer pixels over the same area - bigger pixels keep covering that area for longer than little ones.
This is a hugely cropped section of the dianthus flower I posted a couple of days ago, you can see the individual blocks
A smartphone will do that much more quickly than your camera will.
And then there are sensors, lenses, manual controls, etc, in all of which the camera will beat the phone hands down.
It's horses for courses. Smartphones are very handy when you don't want to lug a camera around, if you can't afford one they will still produce reasonable images. Professionals use them more than you think. But ultimately they won't give you the quality or control of a camera, even one that's 10 years old. (I think I bought mine, second hand, about 8 years ago and it has not been treated kindly, I used to do weekly photo shoots for a rescue centre and we got knocked in the mud on many an occasion). The key is knowing how to get the best out of what you have, and I'm happy to help if I can without turning a gardeners' thread into a photo tutorial! You can always PM me
I loved the seed in their little globes of water
Then I decided to have a play with the flash. It's not something I use for plant macros very often but on the rain droplets it was interesting
The background to this last one was in fact a mass of rain covered grass but the flash has blown it almost completely, leaving just those few strands. Experimentation - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. For me this did.