Martin P Wilson Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I'm not new to photography, just the digital version. My camera club days are behind me. It's the photography software that's defeating me at the moment, and I'm not sufficiently interested in fiddling about on a computer, to be honest. It's darkroom work, or a retoucher's work, not what I wanted to do at all. Sorry Jan, computer time goes with the territory. I am afraid stock photography, most photography these days, requires extended time at the computer. Keywording, captioning, planning even, and dealing with agencies and clients is all computer based. I guess most of us probably spend more. or at least as much, time at the computer than we do shooting. For stock photography, as many threads here suggest, keywording is more important than the photography (for most pictures there are equally good alternatives). Without good keywording the images will never be seen and therefore have a chance of sale. We are all (even those with100k+ images) small fish in a very, very big pond of nearly 45million pictures. Sorry, that is how it is. Rather like when we did our own black and white printing taking is only the first step. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BqarbaraL Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Jan, I notice from the other thread that you don't want to spend the money for Lightroom. I just want to make sure you know that it is nowhere near as expensive as Photoshop. This is a link to their US store so you may have to search from there for UK prices but here there is a sale going on -- $30 off the usual $149 price. http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom.html?promoid=KAUCD I think there is a lot to be said for using it from the beginning for organizing your images so as not to be playing catch up later. Organizing images is a whole big subject with books written about "Digital Asset Management" otherwise known as DAM. You can make it quite simple in Lightroom. Paulette Hi Paulette I know it might look like a false economy but I've just spent nearly £500 on camera and tripod and the thought of spending another £100 makes me nervous, especially as I already have Photoshop Elements 9 on the computer. Will muse on it. Thanks for the link. Jan I downloaded the Lightroom free trial but I can't find my way around it at all. I can't find my way around my camera, either, and I'm beginning to wonder if I've made a huge and expensive mistake. The few pictures I took are dreadful at 100% (and not, come to that, I can't seem to set it up properly). O so sorry Jan .. I misunderstood your comment of not being able to find your way around your camera...I am sure you will get there in the end... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 On 07/01/2014 at 09:41, Martin P Wilson said: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I'm not sufficiently interested in fiddling about on a computer, to be honest. It's darkroom work, or a retoucher's work, not what I wanted to do at all. Jan Well, computer work, or 'post production', is an integral part of digital photography. It's not really something you can 'farm out' to anyone else. I'm an old geezer, and when I went digital (about seven years ago), I really wasn't sure if I was going to be able to master this new technology. "Old dogs, new tricks", etc. But I persevered... and I happily import my pix into Aperture, on my iMac, do adjustments in Photoshop Elements, and upload to Alamy. You need to spend time developing your skills with all aspects of digital photography, before you can expect to be paid for what you do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 You need to spend time developing your skills with all aspects of digital photography, before you can expect to be paid for what you do... Take away the words "with all aspects of digital photography" and you have an adage which seems to be lost on most people these days. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kilpatrick Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 In fairness to the complexity of digital photography, I shoot all my product shots on one fixed setting. I have my studio table, my lights. I pick up the camera, turn the mode dial to Memory position 1, and this sets: ISO 100, f/14, 1/160th, daylight balance. I have a flash trigger in the shoe. I shoot. I do not need to do any adjustments at all to any images. For close-ups of details, I open the lens to f/11 and for light coloured objects I close it to f/16. I use a Sigma 70mm macro on full frame (a 50mm macro would be the equivalent on your camera). My only Photoshop work is - cropping, to suit the shape if a 35mm frame is not right; spotting out dust or fingerprints, imperfections, cat hairs... David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 On 07/01/2014 at 10:56, Inchiquin said: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 On 07/01/2014 at 11:07, David Kilpatrick said: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 deleted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 You need to spend time developing your skills with all aspects of digital photography, before you can expect to be paid for what you do... Take away the words "with all aspects of digital photography" and you have an adage which seems to be lost on most people these days. Alan If this is directed at me, I have to say that you have no real idea of who I am. Yes, I have greatly under-estimated the technical skill required for digital photography, that does not mean I have not developed skills elsewhere in my life. I have, I continue to do so, and there are things I can do well that perhaps you wouldn't be able to do at all. It's very easy to drop snide comments onto a forum such as this - no skill required there at all. Not the sort of response that will get you much help here. There's the respected contributor with several thousand images up to snuff, and there's one with none who doesn't like what they are hearing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 You need to spend time developing your skills with all aspects of digital photography, before you can expect to be paid for what you do... Take away the words "with all aspects of digital photography" and you have an adage which seems to be lost on most people these days. Alan If this is directed at me, I have to say that you have no real idea of who I am. Yes, I have greatly under-estimated the technical skill required for digital photography, that does not mean I have not developed skills elsewhere in my life. I have, I continue to do so, and there are things I can do well that perhaps you wouldn't be able to do at all. It's very easy to drop snide comments onto a forum such as this - no skill required there at all. Looks like a general comment to me. Not snide at all. People have been pretty helpful, I'd say, in their responses to your posts. You have to submit four pin-sharp images, for Alamy to assess, before you get the 'green light' to submit pix on a regular basis. Maybe that should be your next move. Once you have a portfolio of pix here, you'll be in the game... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 On 07/01/2014 at 01:33, Lynn Palmer said: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynn Palmer Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Don't misunderstand me Jan, I offered suggestions to get you started until you can learn the processing skills needed to deal with camera raw files. I shoot exclusively in camera raw because a raw file contains a great deal more data and gives me the option too recover blown out highlights and shadow detail that are lost permanently in a jpg. The reason the jpg will look better straight from the camera is because the camera applies basic in-camera processing; auto balancing, sharpening and some denoising. Even so it will probably need additional processing to look it's best. The camera raw file is unprocessed so that is why it doesn't look very good straight from the camera. You can shoot jpgs and get by for a while but you will lose a larger percentage of images that could be salvaged if shot in raw. The images at greatest risk will have bright light sources (eg.sunsets) deep shadows. My suggestion would be to set your camera to record both jpg and camera raw files for each shot. If the jpg is adequate you can upload it but if not you still have the camera raw file to work with. The beauty of the camera raw file is that as your processing skills improve you can return to the original raw file and reprocess it for a better result. The one additional software I would recommend you purchase is for denoising. Denoise software can be purchased for much less than full editing software. I personally use or have used Topaz and NIK Efex, but there are other brands out there that work. Understand that Alamy will fail your images in a flash for noise. IMPORTANT! Never edit your jpg directly. Instead, make a copy of it and work on the copy. Now work on getting four good, sharp, clean images and submit them for your initial QC. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 "My only Photoshop work is — cropping, to suit the shape if a 35mm frame is not right; spotting out dust or fingerprints, imperfections, cat hairs..." -- DavidK Really? That implies you are shooting jpegs for tabletop. Is that the case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 "Hotel California"? Piece of cake. Try "All the Things You Are" or "Lush Life." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Jerome Kern's "All the Things You Are" has long been the acid test for jazz players. The night George Shearing first jammed with Charlie Parker he unwisely asked him in a very British accent: "What do you want to blow, Bird?" Parker, an inventor of bebop, did not like hip-cat speak. He told Shearing, "'All the Things You Are' in B." George of course had no problem playing it even at a faster-than-fast tempo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losdemas Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 "Hotel California"? Piece of cake. Try "All the Things You Are" or "Lush Life." "All the Things You Are" or "Lush Life" .....???? Dear man, I couldn't even master Frère Jacques on the recorder (when I was six) Cheers, Philippe God, those fingers make that technical proficiency and artistry look frighteningly effortless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kilpatrick Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 "My only Photoshop work is — cropping, to suit the shape if a 35mm frame is not right; spotting out dust or fingerprints, imperfections, cat hairs..." -- DavidK Really? That implies you are shooting jpegs for tabletop. Is that the case? As it happens I do not, but I could, as I leave the raw conversion settings at my default - which in turn was set up to match a standard JPEG as closely as possible. I have ACR/Bridge set to open JPEGs in ACR, and sometimes I accidentally open a JPEG by mistake, and it never makes any difference. I have the camera set to RAW+JPEG and normally discard the JPEGs. I use the spot removal tool in ACR, which now has a brush mode, to tackle micro dust/dandruff/skin dander visible on products. I don't want even a single speck. Once done in the raw file, the .XML records it all and if I want to reprocess any other way. I just use my normal workflow, but for my studio table shots, it's all preset for a good output in the camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Okay, good on you, as our Aussi friends like to say. My problem is I can get into shadow noise trouble shooting jpegs. But do you know the chart for "All the Things You Are"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 On 07/01/2014 at 20:27, losdemas said: On 07/01/2014 at 16:07, arterra said: On 07/01/2014 at 15:46, Ed Rooney said: "Hotel California"? Piece of cake. Try "All the Things You Are" or "Lush Life." "All the Things You Are" or "Lush Life" .....???? Dear man, I couldn't even master Frère Jacques on the recorder (when I was six) Cheers, Philippe God, those fingers make that technical proficiency and artistry look frighteningly effortless. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 this is where I get off. Blimey... that was even shorter than my modelling career. When I didn't get the Stannah Stairlift gig, I gave up. I started in antiques, as well... but photography suits me better. All the best in whatever you turn your hand to next... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Crumbs, I hope it wasn't something we said. Though a bit of sober reflection perhaps- I had digital for 5 years before making the business decision to get a DSLR five years ago and I'd been in the trade for over 25 years by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kilpatrick Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Okay, good on you, as our Aussi friends like to say. My problem is I can get into shadow noise trouble shooting jpegs. But do you know the chart for "All the Things You Are"? Not my scene. If you can't play it on bagpipes, I can't finger it on guitar. Same with photography -if you couldn't do it on film or in the darkroom, I still can't do it on digital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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