Any photographers out there?

[sknight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Route 66 I have learned so much from Ken Rockwell. His website is a gold mine of info. I like his philosophy on photography. It's not the camera but the photographer's eye for composition and lighting.

I'll have to check this site out. That's my philosophy also. I'd rather get it right when I shoot it than fix it later.

Normally that lightning shot would have been framed pretty much like that, maybe a bit bigger than I cropped it since lightning is so unpredictable, but since I forgot to bring my tripod (DOH!) I was using the roof of my car. I wanted the biggest field I could and cut out the (Hopefully good) from there.

Thanks for the link!

[Ron & Dee]

Quote:

You are correct sir, I think. I was on the frontage road of the Hwy 60 causeway about halfway across the bay, facing south. Not sure if that's Gandy bridge or not but you're probably right.

OK

The first bridge is Howard Franklin, but the radio towers to the right and in the background are on Gandy's west end. I can see the high span on Howard Franklin just to the right of center and I can see a string of lights a little lower that are from Gandy.

Ron

[rick_d]

The Hoover Dam, near Las Vegas, presents all kinds of opportunities for really nice shots. This is one of dozens I took in April of this year that I particularly liked. My G10 camera just seemed to capture so many different colors that I really liked.

[Ron & Dee]

Nice shot, looks like a place I need to visit someday

That camera takes as good if not better than my Xti.


Ron

[Wicked Whippets]

Don't forget B&W. You can set most digitals to shoot sans color, or do the conversion in Photoshop...

[sknight]

Great shots.

I find that converting it to B&W later doesn't come out the same for some reason. I've tried it by taking a B&W just after a color, the converting the color later. It just didn't look as good to me.

Anyone else see the same thing?

[sky_watcher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sknight Great shots. I find that converting it to B&W later doesn't come out the same for some reason. I've tried it by taking a B&W just after a color, the converting the color later. It just didn't look as good to me. Anyone else see the same thing?

I read an article in one of the photography magazines that suggested that you shoot in raw, in color and then boost the contrast before converting to b&w. I use Aperture for such things; I can choose different filters as well as plain old grey scale and custom filters. I test drove Silver Effex; it's a nice conversion program, but I didn't want to spend the $100 for it. Aperture will do exactly the same thing; you just have to work for it.

[sknight]

I'm test driving Lightroom 2 right now but I haven't tried it's conversion yet. If it's anywhere near as good as the rest of the program I'll most likely like it.

I just recently heard of Aperture, what's your impression?

[sky_watcher]

I've used Aperture since March 2008; purchased it when we got our Macs. I'll admit at first I didn't understand the power of its organizational tools. I've since gotten the hang of that part of it and love it. On import, I put in my keywords and copyright information. I know that Lightroom organizes with keywords as well; when you get used to badging all your photos up front that way, you'll never go back to any other way IMHO.

Aperture can do post-processing adjustments but that is not what it is known for; the organizational workflow is its strong suit. I don't heavily post-process so that's not an issue. The Photoshop products have more straightforward post-processing capabilities, I believe. Aperture does not have layers, for example. I test drove Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac and left it alone for now. I don't do a lot of the graphics kind of post-processing that Photoshop products are known for. When Aperture and Photoshop people talk, it's like two different languages; there's much commonalities called by different names.

The Aperture user forum has numerous articles debating Aperture vs. Lightroom usage. If you are interested in taking a look, the link is
Apple - Support - Discussions - Aperture

[RVThere]

Just went to Niagra Falls and caught the second to the last Maid of the Mist boat for the day. Lighting was very good for pics of the American Falls.

[sknight]

I just downloaded LR2 and thus far really like it. I didn't see an option to try Aperture, but it's too late now. I might get it later though, try different things out.

[sknight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVThere Just went to Niagra Falls and caught the second to the last Maid of the Mist boat for the day. Lighting was very good for pics of the American Falls.

Wow that's impressive! Nothing quite like good lighting is there?

[sky_watcher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sknight I just downloaded LR2 and thus far really like it. I didn't see an option to try Aperture, but it's too late now. I might get it later though, try different things out.

Aperture is an Apple product and only works with Macs.

Hope you like LR2. A link for your perusal is RB Design - Aperture - Lightroom - Photography In it, he discusses both LR and Aperture topics.

[RVThere]

Getting good lighting is being in the right place at the right time WITH your camera.

In this picture (taken in 2001 before the days of 10 megapixals), we took a sunset ATV ride in the BLM land across from Arches National Park in Utah. We stopped and walked on top of Uranium Arch (you are allowed to walk on the arches on BLM land but not in the park) as the sun was setting. I turned around and saw the shadow of the family on the cliff behind us and snapped the picture.