Essential The Official Photography Thread

[Tommy Gibbs]

a few pics from this weekend

 

[Stir Fry]

Been bringing my camera to work with me these last couple days.

 

[Black Excellence]

I really like the light stand and flash grip setup a lot. Going to return the mini umbrella because it's pretty small and the stand surprisingly holds my 43" umbrella quite securely after I added a small weighted bag to it. Using only one, filled it with some small stones from my backyard and sewed it shut.

Late update but I noticed b&h had a similar product called the Angler Fastbox and it goes from 20”, 24”, 28” to 32”

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1852364-REG/angler_fastbox_32_octagonal_softbox.html


I’m gonna get the 28”, looks like a godsend for events.

Also gonna plus the trigger on this for outdoor photography:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1494719-REG/impact_c_stand_overhead_shot_kit.html

 

[Allen Poe]

Finally trying to learn how to edit my photos instead of just taking pics, posting them SOOC, and forgetting about 'em. Looking to get opinions on this shot I edited. Already got some feedback from some folks I respect, but i'm posting it here so i can get as much feedback as possible:

screencap of the RAW image

Edited version

 

[Allen Poe]

On another note, today I learned that sensor cleaning swabs aren't one size fits all. I had been noticing some dust/dirt particles in some of my pics (you can see them in the one i posted above), and since i'm going on a cruise and i'm going to be active with the camera, i figured now would be as good a time as any to finally clean the sensor. I break out my camera cleaning kit, only to realize the sensor cleaning swabs I have specify "APS-C 16mm." I'm thinking (more like hoping) it won't matter, but google and reddit confirmed using an APS-C swab on a FF sensor is a bad idea. le sigh.

Luckily I have an airblower, and that seemed to knock the dust out, so hopefully im good

 

[Majestyx]

On another note, today I learned that sensor cleaning swabs aren't one size fits all. I had been noticing some dust/dirt particles in some of my pics (you can see them in the one i posted above), and since i'm going on a cruise and i'm going to be active with the camera, i figured now would be as good a time as any to finally clean the sensor. I break out my camera cleaning kit, only to realize the sensor cleaning swabs I have specify "APS-C 16mm." I'm thinking (more like hoping) it won't matter, but google and reddit confirmed using an APS-C swab on a FF sensor is a bad idea. le sigh.

Luckily I have an airblower, and that seemed to knock the dust out, so hopefully im good

u can just clone out the dust spots

 

[Stir Fry]

Finally trying to learn how to edit my photos instead of just taking pics, posting them SOOC, and forgetting about 'em. Looking to get opinions on this shot I edited. Already got some feedback from some folks I respect, but i'm posting it here so i can get as much feedback as possible:

screencap of the RAW image

Edited version

Looks good to me. Colors are popping without looking oversaturated. One thing I would do is increase the blacks and the shadows so that we can get more information from the darker areas.


If you're using lightroom, the masking tool is ridiculously powerful these days. I would use it to automask the sky and then play around in the Effects panel to see if you could make the background a little more dramatic. "Dehazing" will pull out clouds that you didn't even know were there many times. Just don't go too crazy with it as the cars should still be what you want the viewers eye drawn to.


Also maybe see what it would look like if you got rid of that shadow at the bottom. I love the ai eraser tool these days, it's a huge cheat code of mine haha

 

[Allen Poe]

Looks good to me. Colors are popping without looking oversaturated. One thing I would do is increase the blacks and the shadows so that we can get more information from the darker areas.


If you're using lightroom, the masking tool is ridiculously powerful these days. I would use it to automask the sky and then play around in the Effects panel to see if you could make the background a little more dramatic. "Dehazing" will pull out clouds that you didn't even know were there many times. Just don't go too crazy with it as the cars should still be what you want the viewers eye drawn to.


Also maybe see what it would look like if you got rid of that shadow at the bottom. I love the ai eraser tool these days, it's a huge cheat code of mine haha

Yeah, I'm using Lightroom. I used the masking tool on the white Urus to bring back some of the white tone on the paint since changing the white balance warmer made it a bit brownish. I'll have to check the file when I get back in a few days, but I think I did bump up the blacks and shadows but only a modest amount. Something about moving the slider to the 60s/70s/80s feels like I'm doing too much.

Thanks for the tips bruv, I'll give it some more work when I get back.

 

[Stir Fry]

Yeah, I'm using Lightroom. I used the masking tool on the white Urus to bring back some of the white tone on the paint since changing the white balance warmer made it a bit brownish. I'll have to check the file when I get back in a few days, but I think I did bump up the blacks and shadows but only a modest amount. Something about moving the slider to the 60s/70s/80s feels like I'm doing too much.

Thanks for the tips bruv, I'll give it some more work when I get back.

Is it the high numericals on the sliders that bothered you or how it looked when you set them there? What’s important is the end result and darker tones are going to be naturally underexposed if shooting with a bright background. Nothing wrong with going full tilt as long it the viewer cant tell that you did or if it matches the vision you set out to achieve.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Pic is cool. Me personally I like my whites and blacks staying white and black so the warmer edit throws me off a bit. Since you were editing you can get those water spots right out easy in light room with a couple clicks of the band aid.

 

[Stir Fry]

Got some of these quick releases for my lightstands, makes mounting my ad200's so much easier and convenient.

 

[Black Excellence]

Got some of these quick releases for my lightstands, makes mounting my ad200's so much easier and convenient.

This is fire what type of lighstand you using? I just copped the endgame of all lightstands

 

[Vic Damone. Jr]

 

[Stir Fry]

This is fire what type of lighstand you using? I just copped the endgame of all lightstands

I’m just using that compact one that i listed a couple posts back. Honestly i really don’t even use flash much more now that Lightroom can automatically mask everything so well now. I just stick my subject in the shade, compose my shot, and nerd out on the post processing afterwards. One mask for the subject(s), one for the background, then i just play with the sliders until I’m happy with how i want it to look.

 

[Allen Poe]

Lightroom gave me all kinds of hell trying to export this imagine. Pic looked completely different than it did in the develop tab of Lightroom, and different export settings weren't helping. I had to change the color profile on my monitor for it finally export right.