Photography Thread

pblakeney

Tbh, the learning curve is steep. The sheer amount of help due to the number of users that is available for LR & PS is probably why most use it, and the most compelling reason to get it over any other.

Use free trials to get a feel but what I've seen most UIs are very similar.

Wheelspinner

Pross said:

Thanks, I'll tke a look. I've currently got GIMP installed and via Raw Therapee I can open and edit the Sony RAW files all free but I find it all quite complicated. I suspect the same would apply with LR or anything else to be honest as it probably comes down to me not unerstanding what all the functions do. One thing I'd love to be able to do and don't know if it is viable in any software (or at least not wiothout a lot of skill in edting) is to make the sky darker and stars / foreground lighter in my Milky Way photo. I got an 18" x 12" print done of that but it all looks a bit dark compared to how I see it on screen which is annoying.

Should be a fairly simple edit in any of the programs. There's usually a variable gradient filter you can switch on that will allow adjustment of exposure, colour temp, or any of the other major parameters across the gradient line. I'm using an older version of Luminar which is very similar in functionality to Lightroom, has all that stuff.

I stopped the LR subscription because that whole model is just greedy capitalism to me. I was not using the cloud storage option, made it pretty expensive software.

masjer

B/W weather. No trees, fungi or cliffs!

briantrumpet

masjer

briantrumpet

The sun came out eventually... and no, the second one isn't a self-timer selfie, someone came along at just the right moment.

pblakeney

briantrumpet said:

The sun came out eventually... and no, the second one isn't a self-timer selfie, someone came along at just the right moment.
...

The bike in the 3rd one may appear inconsequential but adds so much to the overall shot.

heavymental

masjer said:

B/W weather. No trees, fungi or cliffs!

Think I recognised Rickets Head from one of your recent pics but now I know you must be in Pembs!

briantrumpet

The sign appears to be in error.

rjsterry

briantrumpet

Ha, caught this favourite tree at its colourful zenith, in morning light, with no cars.

masjer

Been knocked backed by man-flu (humanity’s cruellest illness) for the last few days. Anyhow, getting back to normal, so onwards…
A curved fence.

briantrumpet

Greens & Blacks

masjer

Went to try and get some autumnal colour. Still too early.

Found a good backup, but couldn't choose between them.

briantrumpet

It's coming in fits & starts here:

masjer

^ Nice archway of trees!

briantrumpet

masjer said:

^ Nice archway of trees!

Yes, passed that loads of times, but did a double take today, and turned back, as there was a bit of sunshine around to make it worth a slight pause in the ride.

pblakeney

masjer said:

Found a good backup, but couldn't choose between them.

Waterfall #2 for me. The branch is an obstruction in #1.

masjer

pblakeney said:

masjer said:

Found a good backup, but couldn't choose between them.

Waterfall #2 for me. The branch is an obstruction in #1.

Cheers. I think you might be right.

Pross

pblakeney said:

masjer said:

Found a good backup, but couldn't choose between them.

Waterfall #2 for me. The branch is an obstruction in #1.

Was my thinking too.

Nice bit of autumn colour in the mist for me this morning. Had to get it on my phone while walking the dog and not looking like I was photographing kids walking to the neighbouring school!

briantrumpet

Pross said:

pblakeney said:

masjer said:

Found a good backup, but couldn't choose between them.

Waterfall #2 for me. The branch is an obstruction in #1.

Was my thinking too.

Nice bit of autumn colour in the mist for me this morning. Had to get it on my phone while walking the dog and not looking like I was photographing kids walking to the neighbouring school!

Some nice colours there... I think a crop of the sky would help emphasise the nice sense of perspective of the tree tops (and reduce the dead area of uninteresting sky). It's surprising what one can salvage from a quick phone photo (well, before BR's terrible upload resolution).

I do enjoy playing around with cropping. I knew someone who would never crop, but I'm not sure what is so special about 4:3 ratio in artistic terms... it would be like saying that all pieces of music should be 3'30" because that's the length of a 78rpm record.

briantrumpet

Funnily enough, I had a similar idea today... and, funnily, uncropped:

pblakeney

briantrumpet said:

I do enjoy playing around with cropping. I knew someone who would never crop...

Quite possibly a Henri Career-Bresson devotee.
He would only print what came direct from his film/slide, unlike say Ansel Adams.

briantrumpet

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

I do enjoy playing around with cropping. I knew someone who would never crop...

Quite possibly a Henri Career-Bresson devotee.
He would only print what came direct from his film/slide, unlike say Ansel Adams.

I know I'm inconsistent, as I like playing around within certain limits (e.g. the auto functions of my camera) and seeing what I can achieve, but too many scenes I see just don't fit 4:3, and just feel right when cropped, not least for removing dead area.

masjer

briantrumpet said:

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

I do enjoy playing around with cropping. I knew someone who would never crop...

Quite possibly a Henri Career-Bresson devotee.
He would only print what came direct from his film/slide, unlike say Ansel Adams.

I know I'm inconsistent, as I like playing around within certain limits (e.g. the auto functions of my camera) and seeing what I can achieve, but too many scenes I see just don't fit 4:3, and just feel right when cropped, not least for removing dead area.

briantrumpet said:

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

I do enjoy playing around with cropping. I knew someone who would never crop...

Quite possibly a Henri Career-Bresson devotee.
He would only print what came direct from his film/slide, unlike say Ansel Adams.

I know I'm inconsistent, as I like playing around within certain limits (e.g. the auto functions of my camera) and seeing what I can achieve

I like messing, too. All my recent efforts have been taken with a 2008 10MP Pentax paired up with an old film lens (Pentax M 50mm f1.7). No live-view, manual aperture and focus. I've really enjoyed it. It captures some great colours without having to tweak much at all, which makes me wonder why I've posted B/W shots.

Pross

I did crop the photo very roughly. I initially got the sky in for the mist but the camera didn’t capture it very well and it just looks like flat grey sky.

Pross

This one did a better job of the mist and has the foundations of the Roman barracks but the foreground trees are still quite green (the trees from the other pic are in the distance).

masjer

Pross said:

I did crop the photo very roughly. I initially got the sky in for the mist but the camera didn’t capture it very well and it just looks like flat grey sky.

I'd like to get trees in the mist, but it always seems to elude me. Maybe I need to get a dog.

briantrumpet

Pross said:

I did crop the photo very roughly. I initially got the sky in for the mist but the camera didn’t capture it very well and it just looks like flat grey sky.

Certainly no interest in it as compressed by BR. Also I think the ratios don't work out with the trees, which are the real interest and draw you in... but half the photo area is sky. I'd probably also try cropping out the bit of foliage on the left, which detracts from the nice tree further away.

Hope you don't mind my musing... just find working out what works, by trial and error, really interesting.

I'm sometimes too determined to include entire things (trees, buildings etc) when actually I should try closer crops/framing.

pblakeney

Cropping tools generally give you a preview so you can see if the crop enhances the shot to your taste or not. Main benefit of digital, free retrievable edits.