Marrakesh (pic heavy!!!)
Discussion
Well guys im finally back from my little trip. It was very very good only took circa 5oo shots in the 4 days we were there. but i am so so so gutted as it seems that i have got a load of crap on my lens some how, i could see some of it on the lcd screen so cleaned all of my lenses and though i had sorted it, but it appears not and alot of the photos now look even worse than they did with my poor skills. Im a rather unhappy bunny at the moment!! but heres a few of the ok ones along with some of the pics i like but have the bits of dust and what i think is fluss off the cloth i used...........
rest of the photos HERE
C+C wanted please!! (ps sorry for the long and pic heavy post!!)
Medina
The Souks (markets) are also used by motor bikes and you really do need eyes in the back of your head
Tried so different stuff for me and was rather happy with this shot.
Dont know why this shot was out of focus but i still rather like it.
Typical state of cars in Marrakesh, and the taxi's are mental (the roads were crazy, i actually was glad that i didnt hire a car in the end!!)
Atlas Mountains towering over the city
My fav shot of the weekend!!
Orange sellers in the main square
Entrance to the government run market
PLaying with macro mode
Back streets to the ben yousef museeum
Koutoubia
The view from inside our raid (hotel)
Just for comedy value!!
Thanks for looking.
Matt
rest of the photos HERE
C+C wanted please!! (ps sorry for the long and pic heavy post!!)
Medina
The Souks (markets) are also used by motor bikes and you really do need eyes in the back of your head
Tried so different stuff for me and was rather happy with this shot.
Dont know why this shot was out of focus but i still rather like it.
Typical state of cars in Marrakesh, and the taxi's are mental (the roads were crazy, i actually was glad that i didnt hire a car in the end!!)
Atlas Mountains towering over the city
My fav shot of the weekend!!
Orange sellers in the main square
Entrance to the government run market
PLaying with macro mode
Back streets to the ben yousef museeum
Koutoubia
The view from inside our raid (hotel)
Just for comedy value!!
Thanks for looking.
Matt
Crikey, brings back some memories of a 4 day trip I was on back in January , errrr, um, either '82 or '83.
The market looks a lot more developed than it did back then.
Get pestered by a lot of street sellers?
To the shots...
Matt, I don't know what it is but to my eyes all of the shots you have posted over recent weeks (or at least those I have seen) with the new camera look like there is no point at which there is a spot on focus. They are all at the very least 'soft'. Now that is very odd assuming you have autofocus on. Indeed it is odd if you don't 'cos they don't show signs of obvious movement blur either. (Other than shots of movement where you would expect some blur!)
The tiled wall could be an exception here but it's difficult to tell at that size given the subject matter.
Now it could be something to do with compression for the web but it sort of has a different feel to it. So I'm wondering how you see it in your monitor. Do things look sharp or a little fuzzy?
I could be miles off here but somehow things fairly consistently just don't look 'right' in a way that I would expect at least the odd shot to appear even if your camera technique was the worst in the world, which I rather doubt.
I'm not familiar with the camera but most cameras these days have a whole load of settings that can do odd things. Have you been through them all? It's almost as if there is some soft focus portrait setting that is coming into play by default on all images when you are not expecting it to.
As I said I could be way off beam here but it's a thought that has been nagging me for a while so I thought it was time to mention it.
I like the tiled wall shot but, forgetting any issues about focus for a moment, the verticles aren't (not surprising unless you had a step ladder available) and it is not symettrical though the composition suggests you set out to make it symmmetrical. Close, but not quite there. That said you would have a problem with a symmetrical shot anyway since the ceiling is not symmetrical ...
It's a challenging shot even as a good snapshot and your take is probably at least as good as anything I would have done with the same subject. So I'm not criticising as such, just observing, with aftersight, the things that one probably needs to be sensitive to before the shot is made. Our images will improve when these considerations become automatic in the picture taking process. (Or we suddenly become incredibly proficient with Photoshop!
Grant
PS. I too especially like the blurry one of the lady with the package on her head. Great impressionist image IMO. Could maybe make a nice large print with a bit of processing for punchiness.
PPS. 1/4 second and f32. Interesting combination for a moving subject ....
BTW my editor is reporting the images to be full size (I guess) but only small files. Converting to very low quality for posting? Or is my editor misinterpreting the Exif information?
The market looks a lot more developed than it did back then.
Get pestered by a lot of street sellers?
To the shots...
Matt, I don't know what it is but to my eyes all of the shots you have posted over recent weeks (or at least those I have seen) with the new camera look like there is no point at which there is a spot on focus. They are all at the very least 'soft'. Now that is very odd assuming you have autofocus on. Indeed it is odd if you don't 'cos they don't show signs of obvious movement blur either. (Other than shots of movement where you would expect some blur!)
The tiled wall could be an exception here but it's difficult to tell at that size given the subject matter.
Now it could be something to do with compression for the web but it sort of has a different feel to it. So I'm wondering how you see it in your monitor. Do things look sharp or a little fuzzy?
I could be miles off here but somehow things fairly consistently just don't look 'right' in a way that I would expect at least the odd shot to appear even if your camera technique was the worst in the world, which I rather doubt.
I'm not familiar with the camera but most cameras these days have a whole load of settings that can do odd things. Have you been through them all? It's almost as if there is some soft focus portrait setting that is coming into play by default on all images when you are not expecting it to.
As I said I could be way off beam here but it's a thought that has been nagging me for a while so I thought it was time to mention it.
I like the tiled wall shot but, forgetting any issues about focus for a moment, the verticles aren't (not surprising unless you had a step ladder available) and it is not symettrical though the composition suggests you set out to make it symmmetrical. Close, but not quite there. That said you would have a problem with a symmetrical shot anyway since the ceiling is not symmetrical ...
It's a challenging shot even as a good snapshot and your take is probably at least as good as anything I would have done with the same subject. So I'm not criticising as such, just observing, with aftersight, the things that one probably needs to be sensitive to before the shot is made. Our images will improve when these considerations become automatic in the picture taking process. (Or we suddenly become incredibly proficient with Photoshop!
Grant
PS. I too especially like the blurry one of the lady with the package on her head. Great impressionist image IMO. Could maybe make a nice large print with a bit of processing for punchiness.
PPS. 1/4 second and f32. Interesting combination for a moving subject ....
BTW my editor is reporting the images to be full size (I guess) but only small files. Converting to very low quality for posting? Or is my editor misinterpreting the Exif information?
Edited by LongQ on Thursday 12th March 00:03
Calitri said:
Some nice shots. Went a couple of years ago for a week, went up into the mountains and onto Essaouira for another week, didnt feel very welcome though...and far from relaxing! Still some great restaurants hidden away, if you can find them! 
Hmmm very different to my experiance then, i really found it quite relaxing as much as it can be within the hussle and bussell! but you are right about the resturants, the best i found was during the day in one hidden away in the Souks!! I thought there was alot less hassel than in say Turkey and people were rather friendly other than the usual beggers you seem to get abroad now days!!Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff