Brian Yarvin

Just a tiny bit fewer than my entire 2017.

Even I saw a sale today.

I have used Capture 1 since version 6 and haven't seen a crash in years. I find it to be absolutely the best raw processing software for studio images. That being said, when I'm doing the sort of work that many of you do - places or events for example - it becomes less appealing. Do you really need this sort of power?

No, between the macro business and the very poor tech support, I finally sold all my Sony gear. Now, if I have to do macro in the field, I use a Canon sl1 and the Canon 50mm compact macro. If I have any sort of question at all, Canon will answer me without a trace of snark or superiority.

I tried it and found the Sony macro lens disappointing. I'm at the point now where macro lens quality is the most important point in choosing a camera system.

Very poor - too poor to spell out here. After months of improvement, a sharp slide backward to the bad old days.

Everything Jeff does is a source of amazement for me! Like some sort of history buff, he continues to thrive using methods that were perfectly tuned to the industry as it existed in 1989 ... and it works! The rest of us have to keep updating ourselves just in order to stay afloat. Is there a better way for Jeff to do what he does? Certainly! For me, the strangest thing about this thread is that Jeff is almost certainly paying for Lightroom already and hasn't yet put it to the test.

Michael, this is good detective work. I am always very suspicious of Bing. It can be itself, or it can be part of a mess of malware that can keep you awake for months. Leaving a default blank in Firefox can make it more difficult to see malware-induced changes when they occur. Adding a default setting puts you in control of one more of the many thousands of variables that you are up against. It appears that I've never seen this malware because I don't use Firefox. Chrome and Vivaldi seem to be able to block it. Or maybe it's how I have my defaults set. Or maybe it's something else. Just be careful out there! Thank you for the kind words. I've been exploring Pennsylvania for decades and now live in the heart of Lancaster Amish Country.

Your link is very interesting, but not very surprising, reading. I would suggest that in the future, you never leave your default home page blank. For that matter, always select your search engine too. The only thing that puzzles me about it is why I've never seen such a menu. I've been using Filezilla for at least five years and forced an upgrade this morning in order to see if I could find the offending check boxes. Are you using Filezilla as a stand-alone or extension? As for what it is - if it buries itself in your registry and keeps making changes, it's a virus, no matter what its defenders want you to think. If not, I can live with the name "adware" and suggest that you do the same. Whatever you call it though, make sure its gone.

This is a very unlikely - but not impossible - series of events. Let's see what we can see ... First, since Filezilla doesn't have a "default homepage," you must be talking about some other software, most likely a browser. (Which always has a default homepage.) If a "virus" has changed it, test this. Change the homepage to something else and check it. An actual virus would change it back. Remove all the add-ins and extensions from the browser and see if it still changes the homepage to Bing. Next, check to see if that Bing page actually is Bing and not some other phishing page. This too, would be a sign of either a virus or hijacking. While a switch of homepages to a clean search engine is possible, it's unlikely. Then check to see if you didn't get an automatic browser update of some sort. This is the most likely source of a switch to the actual Bing site. If your browser is Edge, than this is even more likely. Keep us posted!

Well I'm completely ashamed! I have almost all those images on Alamy but lack the fine British keyword porridge. Back to AIM this morning!!

Micheal, I suspect that there's more too it. Indeed, Lightroom may well be far better than ACR, but how does it compare to Capture 1? (Which I currently use) Or the many other processors that aren't made by Adobe? There are differences that become apparent when you start exploring. Jeff has expressed a willingness to go beyond Adobe and I think that's healthy. Indeed, I want to encourage him to push it further. Why? Because as one of Alamy's biggest volume producers, what he chooses takes will lead the way for the rest of us. From Silkypix Developer Studio, to DxO, to Corel Photo Paint - there are a vast number of possibilities, any of which might be the right one for us. I don't think I've even named ten percent of the possibilities.

Jeff, all raw processors have an auto mode of some sort. All are worth testing. It should also be noted that one that gives something slightly offbeat on auto could be the bit of style that takes you to the next level.

Jeff, your way is certainly valid. I would suggest trying several of the more obscure raw processors and see how they do on auto. The equation for those high style/on trend images back in the day was Unique Image Quality + Contemporary Style = Very High Revenues + an automatic reason to shoot new images. These days, no stock images of any sort have that kind of earning potential so there's no sense in doing them for stock. (Although there's plenty of commercial work for those who can)

Wim, back in the eighties and nineties, I did that with lifestyle and it was amazingly profitable. More recently, I have tried to ride food trends as they came and went. This has been very profitable at certain agencies, but not at all with Alamy. There really has to be solid understanding of style to make this work.