1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Photos Photo of the Day

Discussion in 'Photography, Art & Design' started by bentleya, 25 Jul 2009.

  1. Pete J

    Pete J Employed scum

    Joined:
    28 Sep 2009
    Posts:
    7,226
    Likes Received:
    1,784
    Hey all,

    I'm wanting to take my photography a bit more seriously now and am now in the scenario of 'all the gear and no idea'.

    I'm in Stoke on Trent during the weekends and in Bristol during the week. Anyone here in those regions and if so, would you like to meet up to do photography stuff? Would love to do a hike around the Peak District!
     
  2. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    I've always dreaded having to take photos of white stuff, 'cos my clients always insist on a white background. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try out a £30 LED backlight...

    upload_2018-12-6_13-53-45.png

    Very, *very* happy with that - should have bought one years ago, saved myself so much heartache!
     
    Bazz, Mister_Tad and Arboreal like this.
  3. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    It's hard to see how your skills improve from day to day, but having found some of my early product photography...

     
  4. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    I was rather pleased with this, even if the focus is a little off on the components 'cos I wanted to get the fan blades sharp (and didn't want to mess around with focus-stacking.)

    upload_2019-2-5_11-31-43.png

    Bonus points for the effort in getting the thing to stand up straight, when the rear bracket is proud of the right-hand board edge!
     
  5. Arboreal

    Arboreal Keeper of the Electric Currants

    Joined:
    21 Jan 2011
    Posts:
    5,400
    Likes Received:
    1,631
    That's NIIIIIIIIIIIIICE.
    It photographed well and has even been equipped with a decent cooler #CoffeeNCreamMasterrace :grin:
    I wouldn't mind getting my hands on an STX kit some time.
    How is the awkward logistics SFF round up going?
     
  6. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    It's... going. Was supposed to do a shoot of three more machines - all from Quiet PC, this time - over the weekend, but I've been laid low by the lurgy. I did finish my first benchmark run, on an Asus PB60, which included trying to get it to run Unigine Superposition on 4K Optimised settings. Amazingly, it didn't crash... but at two frames per second, I don't think I'm at risk of being anywhere near the top of the leaderboard.
     
  7. Arboreal

    Arboreal Keeper of the Electric Currants

    Joined:
    21 Jan 2011
    Posts:
    5,400
    Likes Received:
    1,631
    Ahhhhh, the illness; sorry to hear that you're afflicted; hope you all recover soon.
    A whole 2 FPS?? Slide show Central :lol:
    I have just found a used H110 Deskmini which I wouldn't mind playing with; that or a thin ITX board...
     
  8. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    Yeah, that one above is a DeskMini 310. Nice little box, though having to take the motherboard off the mounting tray to fit the heatsink was a bit of a pain in the bum. That one hasn't gone through the full review process yet, though, but I had to build it up before I could photograph it!
     
  9. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    I'll tell you what, having to get the studio all set back up again so I can try to take photos at the same angle as before is an absolute ballache. I marked the floor where the tripod legs were, how far the tripod legs were extended, but I forgot to mark the position of the head. Whoops.

    upload_2019-2-15_16-9-55.png

    Still, it's good enough - it's roughly the right angle and it's the same scale as before (cropped to a width of 5084, so everything's directly comparable), and I can't imagine anyone's going to notice the slight difference once it's printed the size of your thumb in a magazine.

    Sadly, I'mma have to do it all over again tomorrow when the next machines arrive - I can't just leave it set up, because I now need to do the front, back, and internal shots for the four machines I have on-hand. Bah!

    EDIT:

    Shiny!

    upload_2019-2-15_18-5-33.png
     
    Last edited: 15 Feb 2019
    Arboreal likes this.
  10. Dr. Coin

    Dr. Coin Multimodder

    Joined:
    13 Sep 2013
    Posts:
    1,102
    Likes Received:
    296
    That is very nice shot. I do like Streacom's cases.
     
    Goatee likes this.
  11. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    Right, that's all the machines I have on-hand photographed - there's a pair of Intel NUCs arriving from PC World supposedly today, and then I think I'll call time on things with 14(!) machines to test.

    If I had my time again, I'd probably tell the client to arrange their own photography - but if that weren't an option, I'd probably use my 40mm macro instead of my 35mm f/1.8 ('cos the 35mm has a fair bit of chromatic aberration and focus-wandering at these distances, but it is easier to shoot with for the bigger stuff 'cos I don't have to try and get so far away in what is a very cramped studio), remember to mark all the adjustable bits on the tripod (or, better still, refuse to do the photography until I have everything in-hand so I can do it all at once and not have to try to duplicate exact positioning), and make sure I have even more whisky than usual in stock.

    upload_2019-2-16_15-47-46.png

    upload_2019-2-16_15-48-1.png
     
    Arboreal likes this.
  12. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    ...and that should be it, now!

    upload_2019-2-25_9-11-41.png
    upload_2019-2-25_9-12-7.png
    upload_2019-2-25_9-11-48.png

    Might take one more shot of a system - probably the Raspberry Pi, definitely not the PB60 or H310 'cos they're back with their respective companies now - on a hand as a potential cover shot, but other than that I'm done.

    Just need to finish actually reviewing the buggers now!
     
    Arboreal likes this.
  13. yuusou

    yuusou Multimodder

    Joined:
    5 Nov 2006
    Posts:
    2,852
    Likes Received:
    916
    @Gareth Halfacree how many m.2 do those NUCs have? I was theory-crafting a GameCube mod with one of those and an m.2 to PCIe adapter for a dGPU under it and a BluRay on top.

    Also, does it have USB header for more USB ports?
     
  14. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    Just the one in this Gen7, and it's got a 16GB Optane stick in it which completely fails to make the 1TB spinning rust drive Not Slow, but the (significantly bigger) Hades Canyon Gen 8 I'm testing now has two, as does the Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny. The Lenovo also has a dGPU (RX460 4GB) as an official option - it sits in place of the 2.5" drive bay - while the Hades Canyon is one of those weird Intel parts with the Radeon Vega GPU on-chip next to it.
    Those two ickle white connectors at the top-right are single-port USB 2.0 headers, but on a 1.25mm pin pitch - so cables might be a challenge.
     
    Last edited: 25 Feb 2019
  15. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    Last shot needed (I hope) for the group test - a suggested cover image, if the editor would so desire to use it.

    upload_2019-3-24_11-48-4.png

    As modelled by my lovely wife('s hand and forearm)!
     
  16. stonedsurd

    stonedsurd Is a cackling Yuletide Belgian

    Joined:
    11 Mar 2009
    Posts:
    7,856
    Likes Received:
    417
  17. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    I was really pleased with how this picture came out...

    upload_2019-4-22_23-35-54.png

    ...until I realised the stand was upside-down. I'm not as happy with its replacement:

    upload_2019-4-22_23-36-26.png

    ...but I've spent enough time on it that it'll have to do.
     
  18. Arboreal

    Arboreal Keeper of the Electric Currants

    Joined:
    21 Jan 2011
    Posts:
    5,400
    Likes Received:
    1,631
    Nice photo but suspect design...
    Why why make the base narrower so it's less stable! :wallbash:
    It reminds me of the Braun electric toothbrushes we have at home.
    They taper to the base so they are really unstable on the shelf above the sink and will topple over even if you breathe on the damn things. Maybe they're designed to be left on their charge bases plugged in, in a non UK bathroom.
    /rant
     
  19. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    I know, right? In defence of the design, though, it's weighted to the bottom and there's a grippy rubber coating - so it's actually pretty stable. Can't blame me for thinking the bigger end went at the bottom, though!
     
  20. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    Been sitting on this one until the NDA expired:

    D9zhfpcWkAAUtMt.jpg
    Always fun getting the thermal camera out! I just wish there was room in the budget for me to upgrade to one of the higher-resolution models...
     
    IanW and Arboreal like this.

Share This Page