The "Post a Picture You Took" thread

[Anton Chigurh 3318]

Well hell, I guess my D3500 is the oddball in the bunch then. It uses an EN-EL 14a I think. Prolly a battery designed for beginners.  

The physical size of your camera is much smaller and as such can only fit a smaller battery. A D7500 is a large framed camera even though it’s still a crop sensor.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

 
I would be tempted to tie a little fake bird to the drone and try to get a bigass hawk to attack it.

Hahaha. I have had a Mississippi Kite and a Red Shouldered nearly attack it. Got real close to investigate.

[Fire Jack Chevigny 938]

Little House in northeast Oklahoma (sucks)

[El Diablo 4232]

5 hours ago, Anton Chigurh said:

 

The physical size of your camera is much smaller and as such can only fit a smaller battery. A D7500 is a large framed camera even though it’s still a crop sensor.

 

I've got small gear???  

[El Diablo 4232]

Since getting a digital camera I've been somewhat interested in the whole post processing process but was hesitant to subscribe to LR just because I would have no idea of what the hell I'm doing or really even where to start. Until now that is.

I found a great tutorial by Nasim Mansurov that I think will be a great companion while actually learning to use the software hands on. So far I've just been reading thru his tutorial on the PhotographyLife website and I'm finding that many if not most of the functions that I've been familiarizing myself with in Nikon's Capture NX-D are pretty much the same as in LR but in LR they are available to be used on chosen regions of an image where in NX-D they're all pretty much global type changes. Still, some of what I'm reading in his LR tutorial I've gone back and looked at in the Nikon software and been able to apply it there already. 

One thing I was a bit concerned about from perusing the web was importing Nikon's RAW files into LR and the Picture Control setting not being imported with the file but it seems that LR has camera profiles that can be preset so that all of the files I might import will be adjusted to match pretty well with Nikon's proprietary in-camera adjustments. So far everything I've ever shot has been with the "Standard" picture control and I don't foresee that changing. 

Anybody here have any thoughts on Lightroom, Photoshop or Elements and the differences and your preferences?

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

I think we had a pretty good discussion about this earlier in the thread. I know a few guys here love Lightroom. I have not used it much and prefer the raw editor in photoshop (I also use the nic collection filters with some photos, especially b&w).

[El Diablo 4232]

2 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

I think we had a pretty good discussion about this earlier in the thread. I know a few guys here love Lightroom. I have not used it much and prefer the raw editor in photoshop (I also use the nic collection filters with some photos, especially b&w).

Yeah, I'm going to go back and revisit that discussion. 

[El Diablo 4232]

So is Elements a stand alone product or is it also tied to their cloud/subscription concept? 

[DougO 5239]

3 hours ago, El Diablo said:

So is Elements a stand alone product or is it also tied to their cloud/subscription concept? 

Standalone software package. If you find an older version on the cheap it will probably do everything the newest one will do, without stuff you didn't care about anyway.

I don't own it, though. I still use an ancient version of Photoshop CS3, like about a decade old.

 

[DougO 5239]

If I were starting out from scratch I would be tempted to just use gimp and get good with it. But Elements and Lightroom aren't nearly as huge an expense if you're going to stick with photography long term, and it will probably be fairly rare to absolutely need an upgrade more than a couple times a decade.

I personally don't see myself ever using a subscription cloud based model. Screw that, even if were usable with my crappy internet.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

And didn’t they recently bump the price up? I am using a stand alone version from a few years back.

[El Diablo 4232]

So here's what I did. I used the LR tutorial and applied it to the Nikon Capture NX-D that I have for free and I re-edited that picture of my mom. Here's the original as it came out of the camera and then my attempt at some post processing following along as best I could. Almost everything that LR has the Nikon software has a counterpart for.

I bought a copy of Elements for $60 off Amazon. It will do the little odd things that I can't do in Nikon's package plus it will do them with the jpegs that I'll get out of the Nikon software. So I'll be using 2 packages if needed but since most of the LR stuff can be adapted to Nikon I'm just going to say fuck their subscription shit. I've got a ways to go with my actual skill but the tools are all there to be used in one program or the other and all for a one time payment to Adobe of just $60.

 

 

[El Diablo 4232]

The Elements would have allowed me to sharpen up the eyes and maybe massage out a few more wrinkles. It should be here tomorrow or the next day and then I'll see.

[Anton Chigurh 3318]

And didn’t they recently bump the price up? I am using a stand alone version from a few years back.

No. It’s the same. They introduced a few new bundles though.

[naija 2854]

15 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

I think we had a pretty good discussion about this earlier in the thread. I know a few guys here love Lightroom. I have not used it much and prefer the raw editor in photoshop (I also use the nic collection filters with some photos, especially b&w).

ACR and Lightroom are for all intents and purposes the same, except LR has DAM features

[Lhorn 4885]

I got slightly older versions on Elements and LR on Craigslist for pretty cheap.  

[Fire Jack Chevigny 938]

If I were starting out from scratch I would be tempted to just use gimp and get good with it. But Elements and Lightroom aren't nearly as huge an expense if you're going to stick with photography long term, and it will probably be fairly rare to absolutely need an upgrade more than a couple times a decade.
I personally don't see myself ever using a subscription cloud based model. Screw that, even if were usable with my crappy internet.

I do the adobe subscription. With tax it’s 10.66 a month and I get Photoshop, Lightroom and a bunch of other programs. Plus the cloud based stuff.

[Fire Jack Chevigny 938]

[Fire Jack Chevigny 938]

Double post

[Fire Jack Chevigny 938]

Triple post

[El Diablo 4232]

7 hours ago, naija said:

ACR and Lightroom are for all intents and purposes the same, except LR has DAM features

My hope with using Elements is that the file management will be similar to that found in LR. The Nikon software does virtually all of the things that LR does as an editor it seems and Elements, from my understanding, has some Photoshop aspects that LR doesn't have. I figure I can use the strengths of both the Nikon and Elements to get me what I want fairly economically. Elements seems to be geared towards social media users, which I am not, but I think there's some useful tools to be found there. We'll see. For the cost? Eh, I've done dumber things with $60. And something about LR and the subscription model grinds my gears. It seems too much like being held hostage.

[El Diablo 4232]

I bought one of those refurbed D7500's and it arrived this morning. I spent probably 3 hours then getting familiar with all the buttons and dials and took a few test shots around the house and I gotta say,  the focus seems noticeably sharper. It's going to take me a little while to unlearn the controls on the D3500 as these are considerably different but overall my first impression is that this is a much more capable camera. 

Also my copy of Elements showed up in the mail today so I guess I'll be messing with that this weekend and going forward.

There's barrel racing at Extraco tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday and then again next weekend as well. I'm hoping to get some good pictures of cowgirls.  

[Anton Chigurh 3318]

I bought one of those refurbed D7500's and it arrived this morning. I spent probably 3 hours then getting familiar with all the buttons and dials and took a few test shots around the house and I gotta say,  the focus seems noticeably sharper. It's going to take me a little while to unlearn the controls on the D3500 as these are considerably different but overall my first impression is that this is a much more capable camera. 
Also my copy of Elements showed up in the mail today so I guess I'll be messing with that this weekend and going forward.
There's barrel racing at Extraco tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday and then again next weekend as well. I'm hoping to get some good pictures of cowgirls.  

Nice! Got that GAS already.

[El Diablo 4232]

9 hours ago, Anton Chigurh said:

 

Nice! Got that GAS already.

 

To some degree, yes. Maybe I'm crazy but I think I ONLY need one more lens to complete my gear bag and then I'll be done with the GAS for a good long while. The kit lenses are okay for outdoors but I want a telephoto that I can work with indoors/in low light. After that? Hopefully I'll be done. I can't decide between a fixed 200mm or a 70-200 but something in that larger focal length range is what I THINK I need. Obviously the 70-200 is more versatile but I've already become a big fan of the two prime lenses that I've bought. Mostly because of quality. I figure a lot of the cost of a variable focal length lens is tied up in that mechanical gizmo that makes it do what it do whereas with a prime lens, with price being similar, you're buying better glass. Anyway, I do plan to buy another lens at some point, just don't know when. 

[DougO 5239]

It's kind of a shame Nikon never upgraded the 180mm f2.8, much cheaper and lighter than a zoom but sharp and fast. They still manufacture the sluggish, outdated AF-D model from like 25 years ago.

The 80-200mm f2.8 two-ring version isn't a horrible option if you could find a good deal on a used one, like $500ish. AF is old school, but it's not bad. I used one for years until it got banged up. They still sell it new, but I think a grand is too high for that level.

The current 70-200 2.8 range just priced me out of that market for how much I would be using it, so I have the f4, which suits my needs 90% of the time.

Edited August 30, 2019 by DougO

[DougO 5239]

17 hours ago, El Diablo said:

I bought one of those refurbed D7500's and it arrived this morning. I spent probably 3 hours then getting familiar with all the buttons and dials and took a few test shots around the house and I gotta say,  the focus seems noticeably sharper. It's going to take me a little while to unlearn the controls on the D3500 as these are considerably different but overall my first impression is that this is a much more capable camera. 

Also my copy of Elements showed up in the mail today so I guess I'll be messing with that this weekend and going forward.

There's barrel racing at Extraco tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday and then again next weekend as well. I'm hoping to get some good pictures of cowgirls.  

 

I think you chose wisely. Performance should be quite improved after you get used to it and get it tweaked just right. I have been working mine out and have it dialed in pretty close what my D500 can do. There are more settings inside, so it can take some time to get it all figured out, but it should up your game.

[DougO 5239]

39 minutes ago, DougO said:

It's kind of a shame Nikon never upgraded the 180mm f2.8, much cheaper and lighter than a zoom but sharp and fast. They still manufacture the sluggish, outdated AF-D model from like 25 years ago.

 

 

El D, it just dawned on me that I still have one of these. The filter ring is dented and the front element has a crack on the edge but it shouldn't affect the optics much, if at all. I just pulled it out and tested it and it seems to work fine. I had forgotten all about it. If you want to try it out just for grins I would be glad to bring it to you next time I'm in the area.

Check your PM.

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by DougO

[El Diablo 4232]

Had fun playing with the new camera. It's just flat out better than the other one. Makes sense I guess, the body alone costs around 4 times as much. Anyway, had to run post this one just because it was awesome.

 

[El Diablo 4232]

I just started looking thru what I got today and there's a bunch that look a lot like this. Not great but not bad either. I really don't know what to do with the tones though, the whole place is just a study in earth tones.

 

[El Diablo 4232]

@DougO thanks for the loaner lens. I'll give it a go and report back! I did take it outside briefly just to play and I liked what I saw. Keeping my fingers crossed that it's fast enough to work with in the shitty lighting I've been shooting in.

[Fire Jack Chevigny 938]

Took some shots in Picher, Oklahoma in between rain showers. They’ve torn down most of the buildings and put up tall fencing around the rest. If you’re not familiar with the story of Picher, it’s pretty interesting. Basically, years of unregulated mining lead to the water being toxic, mountains of cancerous material, and sink holes developing that the town basically had to be abandoned. The US govt has been working for years to clean up the mess.

[El Diablo 4232]

My sister and her family used to live in Miami, OK which I think is fairly close to there. Seems I've heard stories of folks using the mountains of spoils for 4 wheeling fun. Truly a ghost town. Thanks for the pictures!

[Fire Jack Chevigny 938]

My sister and her family used to live in Miami, OK which I think is fairly close to there. Seems I've heard stories of folks using the mountains of spoils for 4 wheeling fun. Truly a ghost town. Thanks for the pictures!

Miami is about 10 miles away. 4 wheeling on mountains of toxic material seems like a bad idea, but then again it’s Oklahoma.

[El Diablo 4232]

I've got a couple of questions for the collective here; If you're shooting action in low light is it better to get the exposure right with high ISO or to underexpose? If it's the latter, how do you bring the exposure back up properly in your post processing? 

[DougO 5239]

On 9/1/2019 at 7:17 AM, El Diablo said:

@DougO thanks for the loaner lens. I'll give it a go and report back! I did take it outside briefly just to play and I liked what I saw. Keeping my fingers crossed that it's fast enough to work with in the shitty lighting I've been shooting in.

If it's not exactly what you need, it should at least help you figure out what you do need.

I gave my new D7500 a good workout shooting the Baylor game Saturday. I started with the 300mm on the D500 and 70-200 on the D7500. Then after the half I switched them. Hardly any perceptible difference in performance. The DX body was way more useful with the zoom than the FX version I was using as my shoulder camera last year. It was a good move. Looking at the files I can't tell which are from which camera without looking at the custom prefix. Good test with a dusk to night game.

[Anton Chigurh 3318]

I've got a couple of questions for the collective here; If you're shooting action in low light is it better to get the exposure right with high ISO or to underexpose? If it's the latter, how do you bring the exposure back up properly in your post processing? 

 

The D7500 has dual gain ISO and is also ISO invariant, so ISO 100-320 use one gain amplification circuit, and 400-10000 uses another. So, it doesn’t really matter, but I would still underexpose to save your highlights (you also lose dynamic range the more ISO you use).

 

See this chart.

 

http://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/RN_ADU.htm#Nikon%20D7500_14

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

On 9/1/2019 at 3:48 PM, Fire Jack Chevigny said:

Took some shots in Picher, Oklahoma in between rain showers. They’ve torn down most of the buildings and put up tall fencing around the rest. If you’re not familiar with the story of Picher, it’s pretty interesting. Basically, years of unregulated mining lead to the water being toxic, mountains of cancerous material, and sink holes developing that the town basically had to be abandoned. The US govt has been working for years to clean up the mess.

Love the pics. Were you passing through? Live nearby? I spent many years in Oklahoma. Lot of beauty, lot of sadness, lot of memories.

 

If you live near there, have you been to the Price Tower in Bartlesville?

[Fire Jack Chevigny 938]

Love the pics. Were you passing through? Live nearby? I spent many years in Oklahoma. Lot of beauty, lot of sadness, lot of memories.
 
If you live near there, have you been to the Price Tower in Bartlesville?

I was just passing through. I’d been there in 2015 and decided to stop by again. I have not, but I’ll check it out. I’m always up for a road trip.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Fire Jack Chevigny...really digging the abandoned spots.  One of my favorite things to shoot.  Hoping to hit up a few in a couple of weeks.

A little bit of everything in this post.  Went to a park near where I grew up to find a Mississippi Kite, had no luck, but ran into some college kids skimboarding in the creek.  Pretty resourceful and certainly something we never thought about growing up out in the burbs of Houston.  A couple of drone shots as well.  One in particular of a location some of y'all might know.  It is a somewhat graphic photo, and if you do know the location, please don't say where it is.  I would like this to not show up in a google search.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

Ah, geez, Mr. Swayze, I always always love your pics and to be fair you posted a warning, but that first one- Wow, I don't know if I want to know what that is.

 

 

 

[El Diablo 4232]

16 hours ago, Anton Chigurh said:

 

The D7500 has dual gain ISO and is also ISO invariant, so ISO 100-320 use one gain amplification circuit, and 400-10000 uses another. So, it doesn’t really matter, but I would still underexpose to save your highlights (you also lose dynamic range the more ISO you use).

 

See this chart.

 

http://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/RN_ADU.htm#Nikon%20D7500_14

Why you wanna make my head hurt like that?  I did a lot of mixing and matching yesterday, some higher ISO with higher shutter speeds, some lower and slower. Still going thru them. The higher ISO shots aren't terrible when viewed full frame but cropping and zooming that can get pretty grainy pretty quick. 

[Incredulity 11541]

3 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Ah, geez, Mr. Swayze, I always always love your pics and to be fair you posted a warning, but that first one- Wow, I don't know if I want to know what that is.

 

 

 

good lord.  this. 

 

WTF.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Simply put, it’s science. Forensic science. Nothing malicious or evil.

[El Diablo 4232]

25 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Simply put, it’s science. Forensic science. Nothing malicious or evil.

Ah. Had me thinking it might have once been the site of a boat shed. SWT had a bone farm back in the day.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

9 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

Ah. Had me thinking it might have once been the site of a boat shed. SWT had a bone farm back in the day.

Okay, it just gave me a start. I'm used to enjoying your pics of abandoned buildings, cityscapes, people, your pets and family and then I was like CSI Houston.

[Fire Jack Chevigny 938]

Simply put, it’s science. Forensic science. Nothing malicious or evil.

Pretty sure I knew what I was looking at, and your post solidified it for me. That drone is coming in pretty handy.

[Fire Jack Chevigny 938]

Have any of you gone to Bevo Blvd to shoot before a game? Was thinking of coming down and shooting this weekend for the game against LSU, but wasn’t sure how big of a shit show it might be or what their rules are as far as carrying gear around. I tried to look up any rules they had, but couldn’t really find any.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Have any of you gone to Bevo Blvd to shoot before a game? Was thinking of coming down and shooting this weekend for the game against LSU, but wasn’t sure how big of a shit show it might be or what their rules are as far as carrying gear around. I tried to look up any rules they had, but couldn’t really find any.

I would like to do the same thing but am worried about where to put my gear during the game. Not sure I want to leave it in the car. But to answer your question, I don’t think there are any problems taking photos outside the stadium.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

I don't know about football as that is pretty media saturated, but sometimes a non-press affiliated person is allowed a pass to take photos as long as the university in question can preview the pics (or something like that). My husband's former colleague did that (at a Big 10 school) but he focused on non-revenue sports. I think all he had to do was reach out to the sports communication staff and request a media credential. It was kind of cool because he could get closer to the action for his photos instead of taking them from the stands.

[DougO 5239]

A few scattered shots from the last couple of weeks.