kja

In another thread Tahna put this link in:

Here's a nifty little DOF calculator that might come in handy ... it's interesting at least! And I actually miss my 50 1.8 ... I'm glad it went to a good home, though!

Yup, actions if I'm in PS or droplets in LR ... I love making things easy and fast!

Interesting method! I haven't heard of that one before. Just goes to show there is more than one way to skin a cat

I'm really slack about sharpening for web When I remember I usually just whap it through PS Unsharp filter ... settings depend on what the image is. I do have different files for web and for print as often a print will need a particular sharpening depending on the size. Sharpening is the very last step before saving for output for me...all edits, resizing etc are done first.

If you haven't already, explore your curves to control your tones ... it can really make a difference. I do all my bw conversions in LR now, but used to do them in PS ... for me, LR's controls are much easier and no pesky layers or junk. Curves is in the Adjustment menu in PS and you can choose the channels or all channels there. In LR you can control the tones with a graph or by clicking on a little dropper and moving around the actual image.

Luke did a nice summary & ruffdiamond got it in one, I think! Lightroom is your darkroom - where you develop your image. Think of it as choosing your film, your paper, your emulsion, the chemicals, the bias in your developing etc and as your filing system so things are easy to find later. It rocks for converting to black & white or tonal conversions. Love those sliders so you can see it right away and control it so smoothly. It doesn't do so good with cloning out bits etc imho. Photoshop can work that way, but if you have Lightroom then Photoshop is really there for manipulation - like changing backgrounds, adding borders, serious cloning work, more specific tweaks etc. LR can do some things in specific areas quite well now with the new version, but it does not deal well with any major alterations, imho. As with most things, less is often more but I find that to figure out what something does and to see how I might want to do it, I go to extremes first to really see the changes, then pull it back to "normal" or what is visually appealing (often my exploring isn't very lovely but it makes it easier to see things - I think of it as using a highlighter on text...you wouldn't the whole book that way, but if you do a little it helps your eye). All the tools in both Photoshop and Lightroom take a little time to get used to and each has strengths and weaknesses ... especially to a newbie like me!

Great that you got your camera back!! Glad it's working and ready for your weekend

Converting to jpeg (or any other format) is fast and easy in LR ... File -> Export -> choose your settings and folder and let it do it's thing. You do not have to convert to work on images though, so if you want to adjust anything at all do your adjustments before converting then follow the steps above. You can convert one at a time or whole batches...whatever works best for your particular purpose. I do both depending on the day and what I'm trying to do. I use the stars or the colours (or both) to tag the images in a folder that I actually want to do something with. For instance, my first run through gets marked in green and X (for stuff to just delete totally). I just did 1500 photos in about 15 minutes or so. Now I have 230ish that I know I either want to deal with one way or another (email family/friends, add to blog, upload to web, etc). 230 is much more manageable than 1000+. I use the stars to mark stuff I really like as I go through, too...if I know something is a definite, it gets 5*...if I can clearly see that I want to keep an image, but I also see that I want to "do something" to it (crop, rotate, tidy up) I mark it with 1*. Sometimes I'll mark photos with another colour, flag or star rating if I want to do something in particular, such as print it, or add it to a gallery, or send it in for ID ... again, this makes grabbing the photos for a purpose really fast and easy. It's all done on the first two rounds of culling. Round two and round three are for selecting images for things that come up after the initial cull and/or for selecting an image from a group of similar shots coz I get a bit lazy doing that sort of thing in round one sometimes LOL I may also select some images to try more "advanced" editing on at this stage, though that's pretty rare for underwater stuff (happens all the time for above water stuff). My culls will take about 30 minutes total max. My edits will probably take an hour or so. Converting for output will take another few minutes for each need. That's a week's holiday in only a few hours. When tweaking, if I have images that are in similar conditions etc I'll tweak one, then select the others that I think the same tweaks will work on and synch the tweaks...some might need a little adjustment, but especially for the web uses, this saves oodles of times and gets me right in the ballpark. I also try to keyword my images. The basics don't take long (select all images from my last holiday, add Wakatobi as a keyword and hit the button). Later I'll go back and add more keywords to the images like species names, dive site, behaviour etc. On my last US holiday, I added the keywords like San Francisco or Florida or 4th of July or fireworks right away ... so finding an image when I was ready to edit was easier as I could narrow down what I was looking at. I added more keywords (like Mom, Boat, Car, parade etc) later...this multi-approach works best for me as I don't want to spend too much time initially dealing with keywords and like to do it in smaller blocks. Of course, when I started, it took longer, but LR is awesome for this kind of thing.

I have and love Lightroom! I don't think you need a book or intense internet reading to get started and once you get the hang of things you'll find it really does cut down the time you spend with your photos - both in processing and organizing. I'm home now and would be happy to help anyone who's interested to get over the "newness" bump in LR so you can give it a fair go...

Cool items! I've just gotten back after my delicious week away so hopefully will get all the work stuff caught up soon and will be able to play this challenge!

I'm just not going to find any time I am off on holidays Thursday morning so won't be able to play again until after the 19th!

This is essential reading re: histograms when learning to understand them when shooting. I use my histograms in LR to make sure that I don't have any blinkies unless I know I want the blacks solid or the highlights blown; it's very helpful to find a compromise in shadow detail, for instance. In Lightroom you can also use the histogram to get the colour balance right...if you have a triangle in the upper corner you can grab the edge and slide it towards the centre a bit. Kind of a cool trick sometimes that just makes life easier.

I use Lightroom presets and split toning to achieve this type of effect. There are some great presets available for free downloads that will give you a starting point that you can tweak (I rarely find that the preset is exactly right!). Lightroom comes with a few presets already installed and they can all be tweaked. Playing with the sliders is the best way to get what you want and if you get something you like it's really easy to save it as a new preset that you can then use again on other photos! There are also actions that you can download for Photoshop that will offer the same sort of effect, but usually with less control. actioncentral.com (I think, you may have google) has tons of cool stuff for free.

That's pretty cool! A slower shutter speed would do more here than a wider aperture, I think. I don't think you'd want your DOF too much shallower than it is. Do more long exposures and experiment to get the detail you want. 28 is pretty long already, but maybe even longer... Also you're shooting a good low noise camera, bump that ISO up a bit

Nice photos everyone! Things are crazy here and I'm not exactly sure why - feels like I don't have a lot to do, but I'm not getting everything done! LOL

I agree, never skimp on glass (lenses) when you have the cash. Especially when there is a lens that meets all of your needs beautifully, so you will actually use it all the time. The downside of this lens is the bulk and weight, of course. The review posted does link you to an alternative and it might sit better with you. But really, you'll end up with this lens someday, so you might as well start with it. And if you don't like it, they hold their resale value extremely well so you'll be able to offload it without much of a loss Ooo! I know the alternative - the Sigma 70-200 2.8! I forgot about this and don't know if they make it in Nikon mount so you'd have to check. I have a couple of friends who shoot band gigs in all sorts of funky venues and also weddings in some of the darkest churches you have ever seen (why you'd want to get married there I have no clue, but I digress) ... I've been told we'll have to pry that lens out of their cold, dead hands. They adore it. And these are guys who have top of the line glass in their kits and who use their glass every day, so I trust their opinions. I have the Sigma 50-150 2.8 and it's a cracker...especially for what I paid for it! It does not miss focus, it's razor sharp even wide open and it rarely hunts in low contrast as long as it has a little something to grab. I was a bit surprised at how good it was, really. I agree on going for a prime - they are awesome. Make sure to get something 1.8 or faster (1.4, 1.2, 1.0) if you will be shooting in very low light. You'll pay more for them, but you'll be able to actually use them. Choose your focal length based on where you will likely be standing...85 if you are going to be a bit further away and have room to back up a bit coz it can be a bit long in tighter spaces; 50 if you are a bit away and can move forward for tighter shots, like closer-ups; 30 if you are very close to the action; 24 if you are super close (you won't be this close or you'll get trampled ) Does Nikon or a third party have a 17-55 2.8 lens choice? Canon does one and it's fabulous - it has IS, too, so you can handhold ridiculously slow shutter speeds. I know one of the third parties makes a 17-50 2.8 which has excellent reviews and it might be a good indoor dance option. Flashes really open up your options, but to get the most of them you'll need a stand and a remote trigger so you can get your light off of your camera. Also check with your venue - lots of things, including kid productions, are "flash free" though you'll see a million flashes from the P&S crowd - a "real" flash will not be allowed.

An excellent choice for sure! If your budget allows for it, don't hesitate! If your budget won't stretch quite that far, there are a few other options - though this is the top of the line!

OK, I totally blew it this week. Just couldn't keep up Let week three begin!!

Firmware is just the "instructions" the camera uses to do it's thing internally. Often a model will be released, they will find bugs or improve something after the fact and then they release a firmware update that you download. Directions are all on the Canon website. I would not worry about it unless you run into problems, though.

For $200 if it's in working order, just do it. It will be just fine

This is still a great camera. No, it isn't as advanced as the newer models but it is more than capable of producing great images. If the price is right, go for it!

Love the last two shots - their eyes perfectly capture their thoughts! Excellent timing with the Dalmation Fabulous! I really like the concept of the single dog bone in the stainless steel bowl.

I LOVE the 80s!!! Rock on, dudes

I understand if this needs to be moved ... I have had a not good Sunday today and am just putting this out there to ask for your thoughts and prayers for a couple of families in need. I found out today that two people who made this world a better place are gone forever. I counted them as friends, and my life was richer for them. One died doing what he loved doing on the weekend. One was murdered a couple of weeks ago but I just found out today. These two men really added to the planet and I will miss their presence. They each left families behind including two young girls and one unborn grandchild. I'm gutted at the loss but trying to send out as much positive energy to those close to them that are left behind. Please remember them as you throw your energy into the universe in the coming days - their families are going to need every ounce of strength they can get.