geoff s Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Not being overly confident / competent at the image processing stage I would very much appreciate any comments on that aspect of my images particularly. I have a steam-powered computer and ( should I whisper this bit? ) I'm using a pretty ancient Photoshop Elements. I have been shooting RAW but if my processing is not doing me any favours, now that I have the XT1 I may switch to jpegs from the camera since they are supposed to be pretty good. thanks, Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number Six Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 As a X-E1 and X100 user, I personally think that processing RAW images from the top-end Fuji X-series cameras is normally 'practice bleeding' given the IQ and glorious colours of the Fuji Jpegs. That said, I still record JPEG+RAW just in case I need to rescue the occasional shot which, thankfully, is very rare. Also using PSE (v7) - why pay for the full version if you're only going to use a fraction of its capabilities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I shoot JPEG+ RAW when I am under time pressure (e.g. news) and RAW only the rest of the time. The OOC JPEGs are excellent but I still often need to process them especially in extreme light e.g. high-contrast as we have had recenlty with low bright sun creating deep shadows, or in flat light where there is a need to tweak the contrast. The beauty of RAW is that as my knowledge and skills develop I can reprocess old images and get even better results. I have some images that I shot on JPEG in my early days with digital (2001-2) that I would love to rework but there is simply not enough information left in the files to do much with them. (find the same when I occasionally rescan film originals) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Your thumbs look good to me. I'm using a Sony NEX-6, but I switched to shooting JPEG (or RAW+JPEG) because I usually can't get my RAW files to look as good as the out-of-camera JPEGs. I finally upgraded my steam-powered XP computer to a Windows 7 machine last year (makes a big difference), but I still use an older version of PS Elements for minor tweaking and resizing. I keep thinking that I should get a newer version of Elements, but the my current one keeps doing the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ann Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 goeff s - I really enjoyed viewing your port - eye-catching, lovely, useful photos (that overall strike me as much more marketable than mine are, FWIW).Separately, the general wisdom seems to be to avoid multiple photos of nearly identical images since they end up competing with each other for zooms, downloads, and you have batches of those - snow, bike in alley, Megdaz....(In fact you have snow scenes that are so similar I wonder if one file somehow was duplicated during uploading for example - DY1RDK, DY1RDW RM)all the best - Ann edited to add: Below post by Inchiquin is one of the most helpful comments I've ever seen on this sort of forum. [the post about you making prints & greeting cards from your images] Stock photography is unlikely to be only worthwhile outlet for many, perhaps most, active stock photographers, so rather than just focusing on how to possibly license more stock photos, it's important to consider additional ways to market one's photography, whether offering items such as cards; working with direct clients.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I keep thinking that I should get a newer version of Elements, but the my current one keeps doing the job. Personally, I would say don't bother. I'm still using Elements 5 and that in conjunction with Lightroom does absolutely everything I need. I bought Elements 10 thinking that it ought to be better but it seemed to me that Adobe had sacrificed usability for a slick and visually appealling UI, and I very quickly uninstalled it and went back to 5. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Not being overly confident / competent at the image processing stage I would very much appreciate any comments on that aspect of my images particularly I would be making prints and greetings cards from a number of those, and expecting to make more money from those than from Alamy. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Alan, would you mean that you would produce those in house or put the work out to others? Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff s Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Many thanks for the replies. Encouraging too. Glad to here that not everyone uses the latest software, though I also work on a monitor that is deeper than the screen is wide so I think I do need to change that. Ann "(In fact you have snow scenes that are so similar I wonder if one file somehow was duplicated during uploading for example - DY1RDK, DY1RDW RM)" oops I do believe you're right. A deleting session is due. Alan - yes your comment sparked my interest too, though I don't have a website ( another symptom of my technophobia) but keen to know your thoughts on mechanics of selling prints. Taken a few test shots with Xt1 and after a cursory look I feel I'll probably still shoot RAW, though which processing software I'll use is another question as I guess my existing Adobe one won't work or can I upgrade it ? Looking at Adobe website I'm guessing not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Wow: Great images that go well beyond commodity shooting. Your processing looks fine to me, no problems there. The only advice I could give is to shoot with a higher resolution camera, as long as it does not interfere with your wonderful shooting, or your steampunk computer!!!! You are creating a photo archive for the ages. You do not know what opportunities will open for these images in the future. You may want to produce very very sharp wall size prints for instance. You may be approached by a postage stamp client who wants very high resolution for the small stamp, so he can use the same high resolution image to promote the stamp through point of purchase large posters. It would be unfortunate if your early, lower resolution, work did not qualify for future usage. As to JPEG always shoot and archive a RAW file. Pretty good today may turn out to be unacceptable in the future. The key to making a living from an archive is the ability to recycle the archive for money far into the future. Higher resolution today, would give you more future options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff s Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 cheers Bill. Yes all the images on here are taken on my old Olympus E3. From this point on they'll be from the XT1, which I've bought pretty much for the reasons you mention. Been waiting for the right camera/lens combination to come on the market - hopefully the XT1 with 18-135 ( and maybe the 10-24) will be The One with the right mix of quality, robustness, total weight, one do-it-all lens and future-proof too. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 cheers Bill. Yes all the images on here are taken on my old Olympus E3. From this point on they'll be from the XT1, which I've bought pretty much for the reasons you mention. Been waiting for the right camera/lens combination to come on the market - hopefully the XT1 with 18-135 ( and maybe the 10-24) will be The One with the right mix of quality, robustness, total weight, one do-it-all lens and future-proof too. Geoff That is now my minimal travel outfit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Alan, would you mean that you would produce those in house or put the work out to others? Personally I would print them myself. But the point I was really making is that Geoff has quite a few really strong images that should sell well as cards or prints (or calendars if you can produce them at a sufficiently low price to make a profit). And there's certainly a market for it. In the past couple of months I've earned far more from cards and prints than from Alamy. And I've only just started taking it seriously. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Alan, would you mean that you would produce those in house or put the work out to others? Personally I would print them myself. But the point I was really making is that Geoff has quite a few really strong images that should sell well as cards or prints (or calendars if you can produce them at a sufficiently low price to make a profit). And there's certainly a market for it. In the past couple of months I've earned far more from cards and prints than from Alamy. And I've only just started taking it seriously. Alan I agree with the point you are making having had a look at geoff s images myself. Just curious as to how you would achieve the quantity/quality from home printing against putting the work out to a studio. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Just curious as to how you would achieve the quantity/quality from home printing against putting the work out to a studio. Quality: Epson R1800 produces excellent prints up to A3. Quantity: could be a bit of a problem if the need arises to scale up production. For the moment the ability to produce in small quantities, and hence provide a wide range of subjects, is a definite bonus. Cost of printing myself is minimal, and I can be doing other things while printing so it's not overly time-consuming. It means I can make a profit on cards without the expense of large runs, and considerably more profit on prints. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff s Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Having installed the Silkypix raw converter, I'm not sure I'll be able to get along with it. What are my other options for RAW processing from the XT1, given that my current steam-driven set up is a fairly old pc with XP and as I mentioned before Elements 7 and the associated ACR ? Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 You need either the latest ACR, I use LR5, or as some would advocate C1Pro. I did try C1Pro but found I had as much trouble with it as Silkypix. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff s Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Allan, yes you're right, I do need the latest ACR but don't think my crappy xp will support it. Wondering if I have to deal with the xp issue first before getting any further. I want to make life and image processing as simple as poss but at the moment they seem mutually exclusive ! Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Allan, yes you're right, I do need the latest ACR but don't think my crappy xp will support it. Wondering if I have to deal with the xp issue first before getting any further. I want to make life and image processing as simple as poss but at the moment they seem mutually exclusive ! Geoff I'm on a limited budget, and I found a refurbished Windows 7 machine for a very good price last year. It's a huge improvement over my XP computer when it comes to image-processing speed. There seem to be plenty of refurbished PCs for sale these days. Upgrading was easy, plus I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of my XP software runs fine with Windows 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Before I switched to iMac I was running all my software from XP days on a Windows 7 machine. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Before I switched to iMac I was running all my software from XP days on a Windows 7 machine. Allan The only difficulty I've had is with slide-scanning software, so I've kept my XP computer running for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Before I switched to iMac I was running all my software from XP days on a Windows 7 machine. The only difficulty I've had is with slide-scanning software, so I've kept my XP computer running for that. I use VueScan, which I much prefer to anything else, and that works perfectly well on W7. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Before I switched to iMac I was running all my software from XP days on a Windows 7 machine. The only difficulty I've had is with slide-scanning software, so I've kept my XP computer running for that. I use VueScan, which I much prefer to anything else, and that works perfectly well on W7. Alan I would second that and it works with most old film scanners. I use it, very occasionally, with an Microtek Artiscan 4000t using SCSI interface on a Windows Vista machine (the latest OS I could get drivers for the SCSI card) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Not being overly confident / competent at the image processing stage I would very much appreciate any comments on that aspect of my images particularly. I have a steam-powered computer and ( should I whisper this bit? ) I'm using a pretty ancient Photoshop Elements. I have been shooting RAW but if my processing is not doing me any favours, now that I have the XT1 I may switch to jpegs from the camera since they are supposed to be pretty good. thanks, Geoff Your processing looks fine to me, you have some cracking images. I also use an old version of PSE (version 7). I use LR4 to convert RAW to 16 bit PSD and then PSE 7 does the rest so I wouldn't worry about it. I've tried all the later versions of PSE, but found them slower so kept going back to what I know. Probably a few too many similars, but you have captured some beautiful images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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