Sally R

That's a beautiful image Edo!

Nice to have a beautiful passenger with you. Sensible to not cycle and do photography at the same time! Almost crashed once on a bike when I kept glancing at a falcon flying to one side of me. Won't do that again.

That's sad Betty. Such a tough time for so many right now. My Dad died 4 years ago and I thought of him when the butterfly landed on me. There's also been a tame wattlebird landing near me in the garden lately. My Dad liked those birds and I get it when people say they feel like they see the spirit of their loved one in an animal. On a positive note a baby galah has hatched in a tree in a neighbour's yard and is squarking loudly and being fed by doting parents.

This evening I was picking up a takeaway meal to eat with my Mum for dinner. I managed to lock not only my keys in the car, but my phone and the just purchased food as well. The kind people in the shop let me borrow their phone. A kind neighbour was able to pick up a spare key and drop it off to me. So a bad thing but then a good thing in the end. I did have a nice butterfly encounter today which I posted in the 'good things' thread.

That sounds lovely Betty. It is spring here and I saw my first two butterflies today. They are orange and black with some white spots. Not the monarchs (which we do also get here) but a local species that is similar and slightly smaller but I don't know the name. I was standing in the backyard and one landed on my right foot. Then it fluttered off again and came back and landed on my left foot. If only I had my camera I could have got a 'butterfly on a foot' photo. Anyway, my good thing today was having a butterfly land on me and hangout on my foot for a while, perhaps thinking I was a tree. A few years ago I was trekking on my own on the south coast going down a steep hill to a river. All the way down this butterfly kept landing just ahead of me. It's like it was guiding me all the way down. Butterflies have a special presence about them.

Amazing images Kristin. It must be incredibly surreal right now. It looks just like the images from eastern Australia from late last year and early this year. People will be wearing masks for more than one reason now. I have a cousin in Portland, Oregon so hoping he is doing ok. Keep safe and take care.

Just got to looking at these. Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for posting Martin.

New Zealand Fur Seals like to hang out at the western end of Rottnest Island here in Western Australia. They loll about upside down with one flipper in the air. It seems to be very relaxing for them...

Thanks Mark. That interests me very much. Definitely worth watching its development, and cheap at $39. I think I might give it a go given I don't feel I have much to lose. I can see its layout/interface is very similar to Aperture and I think I would feel right at home in it. I'm not a fan of the Apple Photos App, but looks like you can use it independently. They made Aperture and iPhoto in a way that they could integrate, so I guess they are doing the same thing again. If I want more Photoshop-type options I will consider Affinity Photo I think. The two together would be $120 (Australian dollars). Will probably decide on this in a couple of weeks when I'm less busy. Had a bit of time to do more with On1 today, this time with Nikon files. I could not correct CA for my Tokina 11-16mm lens (second version for Nikon), a lens I use a lot for landscapes. Even for one of my lenses that it does have a profile for, the Sigma 17-50, it still came out with CA from the Raw file, but I was able to remove it manually. I really wanted to like this software but I don't think it's going to be for me. If they can improve their Raw conversion and camera and lens profiles it would be really good. Just an edit to the above in case anyone else is considering it - RawPower does not yet have cloning and gradient tools, something I would want in a Raw editor. Apparently those things are coming though, along with panoramas and HDR. This fact, along with finding my current Mac being just slightly to old to support it, means I'll be waiting a bit for this app.

The loss of editing functionality if I was to stop paying the subscription is what bothers me the most. It is the feeling of being locked into one particular system on a long term basis. About 7 years ago I bought Aperture outright for $89. That is all I have paid in about 7 years and it has been a really reliable, decent editor. The equivalent cost for 7 years for the Adobe package is about $1176, and should I decide to leave the subscription because I have decided there is another work system I want to set up, I can longer edit the images. I would like to think i still have a workable Lightoroom and Photoshop, even if I changed to a different system down the track. I also don't have a regular income at present, so I really do have to think about cost as well, but yes $14 a month is not a lot to pay when considering you get the ongoing updates to the software and the Lightoom/Photoshop combo. But for me, for now, I think I need to postpone the decision until I've investigated all options. I wouldn't pay for Capture One Pro which is particularly expensive, and I would be reluctant to dedicate myself totally to this system after the drawbacks raised in this thread. It also has high-end functionality related to studio photography that I don't need. However, it's dedicated software for Sony is really good so far, especially re: the rendering of the Raw file. The Express version will not serve me well in the long term as it does not have local adjustments. There is 25% off the dedicated non-Express Sony version though, cheaper than Capture One Pro, and this may be an excellent option for editing images from my Sony RX100. This may enable me to continue on at present, still using Aperture for my Nikon files, until I'm clearer about what I want to do. I think, too, different software fits for different people. One editor will be like a comfy pair of shoes to one person, but will be uncomfortable to someone else. Frustratingly I find On1 felt comfy, but doesn't render Raw files as well and seems unable to provide the correction profiles it should for the RX100. I'm still to experiment with it further with Nikon files while I have the trial version, but it looks to be no good for the Sony at this point.

P.S. Sorry I just called you Mark instead of Michael! i think my brain has gone to mush reading about raw editors. My apologies!

Thanks Mark and everyone else above for the further info. For its all round capability the Adobe package will meet all my needs. I have to say, though, that the Capture One rendering of the Raw file is extremely good. No noise to speak of, handles CA competently and the colour of the default Raw is so good it looks like it has already been edited. If it wasn't for the bad experiences Thomas described in this thread I would be very drawn to going down this path. It may also be that I'm using the version of Capture One that is especially made for Sony, so that may be why it is handling the little RX100 Raw files so well. The Capture One interface took a bit of adjusting to, but now I'm kind of liking it. I wouldn't mind trialling Lightroom first to do a Raw conversion comparison. The thing I'm learning is Raw converters vary a lot more than I realised they did. I've realised I can do perspective corrections in an old version of Photoshop Elements I have, so might do that in the interim before I make a definitive decision. It's like I have a bit of a morbid fear of feeling locked into a subscription 😬 I expect Lightroom will be a bit more like what I'm used to with Aperture, but obviously with more recently advanced capability and the added Photoshop bonus. I know the Adobe package is the best all round deal, I just have to convince myself I'm ok with the monthly subscription as I have a limited budget at present, and perpetual licenses somehow feel more safe.

It took me three and a half months to get my first sale Pawel, and then it was another seven months before I got two more sales. From what everyone reports here it is normal to take a while with Alamy, so hang in there and just keep uploading a variety of images. Your images look very good in terms of quality. All the best!

I've just purchased the Sony RX100 VA and can say I'm quite happy with it so far. The Raw files as rendered by Capture One Express came out nicely in terms of quality and sharpness. There was some corner softness but it wasn't too bad. I've taken it on just two photo walks so far and it works really well as a street photography camera. It's customisable in various ways. I was shooting in Aperture priority. Next time I will do the same but also set a minimum shutter speed and the auto ISO will adjust accordingly. I will see how that goes. The VA has a fast f1.8 lens, but if you need extra reach the VI and VII are better as Edo mentions.

I'm so sorry to hear about this Colin. Wishing you strength in getting through this. I haven't got to looking for images for the challenge yet, but just wanted to send best wishes for support. Photography has been a great healer in my life, so perhaps immersing yourself in the creativity of photography might help. Take care.