Calling all Photography nerds!

Depends on your subject and what you're trying to do. If you get it close in the camera, usually you can just adjust some basic stuff, adjust color temp, add some sharpening, etc. and be done. For portraits, I don't usually do a ton in Lightroom and I can adjust a photo and then paste it on a series of others in the same light. Easy. For landscapes, I'm usually in Photoshop doing more things manually, adding contrast via dodge/burn, correcting and enhancing color, blending multiple images for focus stacking or to blend in a sky and foreground from different shots if needed.

I'm sure you can find lots of stuff for free on Youtube. https://kelbyone.com/ - That's a great resource for people wanting to learn but not free.

 

What Odin said. I'll usually do 90% of my editing in just the basic raw editor that's within bridge or photoshop. I'll do what you said but also bring up the whites and down with the blacks. (Depending on the photo)
The gradient filters are awesome to work with in landscapes and is how I usually edit my timelapses.

 

I do mostly landscape and photos of cars/trucks. I used to do a lot of architectural photography. My photos are okay, I just get so jealous when I see the super crisp and sharp images.

I'll be honest, I have never done anything in Photoshop to my photos. I thought Lightroom had 'the works' when it came to post.

I guess I need to also watch some more editing videos on YouTube.

 

Lightroom is better for photos.. Photoshop really lets you manipulate them. Like add a different sky, change colors, dodge and burn in areas or do HDR processing.

Shooting with a large aperture helps because it will blur forground and backgrounds. Sometimes you just get lucky.. For instance most of the photos that i took at offroad expo came out kinda meh.. but theres a few good ones where the depth was just right, and i had a bush in the foreground and people in the background..

Heres the photo im talking about. Its of Chris's truck.

 

Sharp and crisp is going to depend on a lot of factors.

First, your aperture which will control the depth of field. If you're shooting at 2.8 and wanting to get a whole truck in focus (angled not straight on grill shot), that isn't going to happen unless the truck is farther away.

If you look at DesertDigger's photo above it says he's shooting at f/2. But the whole truck isn't in focus. It's not a problem as the front is in focus and it pulls your eye to the truck. This might be what you mean by "crisp" I don't know. But yeah blurring out the background or other parts that you don't care about focuses (HAH PUN) your eye on where you want it to go.

If you're shooting handheld, camera movement can blur photos slightly. Look up videos on how to properly handhold while standing/sitting/crouching, etc. A good general rule is to shoot 1/focal length or faster.

So if you are at 100mm, you should be at 1/100 a second shutter if not faster for best results. It takes practice but you can get better at holding still and be able to hand hold under this, and IS of course helps.

 

You sound quite seasoned as a photog.

Yeah, I was shooting most of the day at f2 because of the low light indoors and it was overcast most of Sunday. That above shot was actually shot with the 24mm full manual lens. Since it doesn't have electronics photoshop defaults it to thinking it's a 50mm in the meta. But yes, back to focus, I had it focused in more on the competitive metals and other side logos the very front is a bit blurred already from the shallow DOF. I had it mainly on aperture priority and tried to keep a low ISO with the f2.

Now here's were things can get tricky, if you use a tripod with a focus stacking method and compile in post, you can get some dramatic effects from what I've seen. I haven't done it myself but I've been interested to try. I've done stacking before to get rid of noise but never for focus.

Sometimes I wish I had a tiny micro 4/3 camera though.. lugging around that behemoth 100-400 on the 5d gets heavy after a few hours. I don't know how those guys do it with the 300mm f4 and those other literal "canons" of lenses. (Pun also intended)

Have any tips on settings for getting good panning shots? I know it takes a lot of practice. This is one of the better ones I've been able to get.


Can barely see the chain link that was completely blocking me.

 

I used to do professional portraits and weddings. Did that about ten years. I carried two cameras during ceremonies, one with a 70-200 and the other with 16-35 or a prime, along with two or three lenses, flash and extra batteries and such in a belt pack. It does get heavy but you get used to it. I decided just to focus on landscapes and have been doing landscapes about twenty years now. I still do some portraits for fun and of my kids. I've seen a thing or two

One thing I've never done is panning shots, but you're right I hear it takes a lot of practice. That and there are lenses with IS modes specifically for panning. Can't really help you with settings here.

Your shot looks decent, just the pole in the back is detracting some. Wouldn't be as bad if the sun wasn't hitting it and drawing your eye there.

Focus stacking I don't do a lot of as I can get what I need in focus using hyperfocal focusing techniques but in some instances it's needed when important subjects are really close to your lens, see my sunflower shots several pages back I stacked one of them. Only works on still subjects though.

 

Yeah, my 100-400mm has the two modes of stabilization. That's what I was using to capture that image. I want to get the 70-200 f2.8. That race was a late evening race and the sun was low. Which lead to some good lighting, but I would have gotten more shots I think with a faster lens. It probably didn't help that I was trying to shoot at around 1/125th of a second at a focal length of around 200mm+ to try and achieve the blur I wanted. They are only j1 karts so they don't go very fast.

These are some from the race. He's racing again this weekend to finish the series. Might not make it though. Truck started to misfire and I've already done the basics. So need to dig a little deeper.







Btw I went back a few pages, there are some very talented members on here including yourself. Bravo guys.

 

A few recents


DSC00781 by Joshua Shipps, on Flickr

DSC00552 by Joshua Shipps, on Flickr

DSC00521 by Joshua Shipps, on Flickr

DSC00625 Snow by Joshua Shipps, on Flickr

 

Just thought I would give everyone a heads up. The camera rental company I work for in the bay area is liquidating all of its gear at great prices. You can check them all out at lumoid.com/purchase-store

 

Still pretty pricey. Have you guys checked out mpb.com that's where I get most of my used gear.

 

This isn't my newest Taco, but here is a shot from last October in the Eastern Sierra. Canon 6D with 16-35 F/4L at 20mm:

 

Friend of mine is a photographer and he also teaches photography at the local college. If you have Facebook you can check him out here.

 

Nice to see there is an active photography thread!
I have been shooting for many years. Mostly just as a hobby. Mostly just landscape. About 3 years ago I transitioned into doing mostly models, but still jump into landscape when I am just wanting to get out and relax. I find it to be refreshing and very relaxing.
Used to shoot film, but transitioned into digital. First digital was a Canon T3. I stepped into full frame with a 6DMk1 and never looked back. I now shoot with a Canon 5DMk4, and my 6D as a short term backup til later on. I must say I absolutely LOVE the Mk4!

 

Finally updated to a full frame, going from a Nikon D3400 to a D750. The difference is night and day!

 

With all the wildfires burning through california i started digging for some old photos when I was up for SCCA Run-Off's.

 

I'm blown away by the skill of some of you photographers. We obviously have some professionals here. When I put up my Tacoma picture a few posts back, I hadn't gone through the whole thread and didn't know it was acceptable to put up non-Tacoma shots. Hahaha. I'm simply a photography enthusiast, I've never taken anything worth selling, but here are some of my favorites I've shot (in no particular order):

 

If you do helicoper shots again, try to let the rotors blur more. It looks better and conveys the motion. Obviously they are moving while in the air but they always look odd when the rotors are so still looking.

 

honestly man, I'd check out Pentax full frame. It's a little steep at first but lenses are exceptional AND very inexpensive in comparison. Plus extreme weather resistance if you get the lenses with WR stamped on them. I've had Pentax for a few years, however I moved from a couple different Canon cameras (including a 6D - full frame). Then to Pentax, moved from their top-tier APS-C K3 to their new Full Frame K1 and I doubt I could ever look at a Canon the same way.

Check out lens prices between the two. Pentax is top-quality. I am a bit biased but I'd go so far as to say better than some full frames of other brands. Their 24-70 vs say, Canon or Nikon, in Canadian prices is about $1000 LESS.