Hey there Dollarfifty, sorry about the late reply - this thread seemed to slip right past me!
To answer your questions - at the moment I use two digital cameras (although both are currently on the blink!) one is a basic compact Sony Cybershot, with a standard 3x optical zoom lens, the other is a digital SLR, Canon EOS 300D and I have two lenses for that which I alternate between - an 18-55mm f 3.5-5.6 (very standard pack lens) which is good for slightly wider angle shots, and a 28-200mm telephoto (f 3.8-5.6) which I mostly use because it's quite versatile. I don't use any fisheyes or fancy lenses - they're both very basic and meet my needs really.
As far as actual picture taking goes there aren't really any techniques I use with the camera - I alternate between using Manual settings when I'm in a certain area for a fixed amount of time, and Auto settings (no flash!) when I'm walking through areas quickly that are sometimes shadowed or sometimes in light. It's the same with focus, I alternate between manual and auto depending on how lazy I'm feeling and whether there's anything special I'm actually looking for. Because most of the surfaces I take are flat, I usually just employ auto focus, and occasionally manual if it's not quite right. But if I'm looking for something with more depth of field and a not so flat perspective, I will always use manual.
The actual 'look' of my work comes about through the actual way I use the area, and then post-processing in Photoshop. I don't really do anything fancy with the camera itself. I like to look for interesting textures and good natural light, move around for a minute thinking and considering composition. At the moment I'm enjoying taking photos through translucent surfaces, like the piece up on my page 'In Transition'.
Colour plays a major role in what captures my eye in the first place, and then how I use Photoshop. Once again I don't do anything overly fancy, I like the photos to remain in a 'photo state', because if you work them too much it's not a true photograph anymore, and is heading more into manipulation/digital art area (which is all well and good, but I like to stay in the photo state.) All I do is increase the contrast to bring out the intensities of the colours and textures, increase or decrease brightness depending on the 'feel' I'm after, and every now and again I'll do colour selections and fix colours up manually - because depending on the lighting situation of the original area, colours don't always come out great. For instance a white wall in complete shadow will look purple/violetish - and I like to tone that down by decreasing contrast and saturation of that tone, and playing with the colour balance until it looks more natural and how the wall would have look had it not been shadowed.
In some photographs (like 'Distanced', a recent one on my page), I like to employ a slightly more complex technique I call 'Digital Cross Processing', which is basically playing with the photos curves and colour balance to bring about a similar look to that cross processing film does.
All in all I think the original photo has to be a strong one though, and so that's what gets my most attention. The actual act of selecting and composing.
You are right about the different moods in the work.... that's something I like to try and work with. I like to make some works feel cold and distant, very sterile and lacking a human element. And then I like to make things feel very warm and personal, very contemplative. The original photo will always give off some kind of feel itself, and it's usually the general feeling I got from the area it was taken - then I feel my job is to communicate that feeling to my audience. This is sometimes a real challenge considering the nature of my subject matter - tiny sections of city walls! But if you can pump the feeling of a whole alley in to such a tiny section, I think that's a really cool thing.
I guess the best advice I can give is to keep experimenting, just keep on shooting. After a while you will start to realise what it is you really like, and that's when it gets really exciting, as you can start to develop your own style and really take the time to explore a particular subject manner from many different angles (both technically and conceptually).
Anyway, I hope that answers your questions! Thanks so much for the compliments and taking the time to offer me some feedback, I appreciate it very much so. Good luck with your photographic endeavors!
