The *Official Photography Thread*

It would have been more beautiful with a Tacoma..

 

sorry, wrong pic in previous post ....

 

Brand new to photography but picked up a Sony A6300 with a 18-135 tele lens. Really fun and looking forward to learning from tips and tricks from this thread

 

Since it's a mirrorless camera that will shoot in RAW format I would suggest not shooting jpeg and only shoot in RAW. Use Adobe Lightroom (or equivalent software) to develop your pictures. When you shoot in RAW the sensor takes in all the information that the lens can bring in. Jpeg basically just processes slices of what the camera "thinks" you want to see (for lack of better wording). Since you have a camera that will shoot in RAW you will get so much more out of it by being able to have complete control over every aspect of each photo you take. RAW files take up more room on your memory card and a decent computer is needed to develop RAW files in a timely manner.

 

This is great advice and I really appreciate it. I am heading out on an Elk hunt this weekend and will do some tinkering. I am all ears for any other advice you may have. Thanks again for the input!

 

The one issue with Adobe Lightroom is you have to pay a monthly subscription to have access to Lightroom and PhotoShop. Are you on a Windows PC or Mac?

 

Mac

 

There is a free version, atleast on iPhone.


Don’t know what I’m missing out on by not paying though.


Also have open ears for advice- Sony A6000

 

Awesome!

My first question would be how often are you going to use the camera? If you are planning on using it quite a bit then it would be worth the monthly subscription for Lightroom because of all the features it has. Pictures take in RAW format will be converted to jpeg after you develop them in LR.
As an example...Once you develop them they will go from this:



To this

 

Mostly weekends, almost all 52 of the though.
Before

Free Lightroom

 

Basically the same advice as the other. Shoot in RAW if you can and use LR (or equivalent software) to develop the pictures. I've only used LR so I'm very biased toward that software. The downside is you have to pay a monthly subscription to use it. If you shoot a lot of photos then it is worth it. I'm sure there are other software programs that do something similar but I doubt they do it as well as LR (I could be wrong though). All I know is every professional photographer that I know uses LR to develop their pictures. I have my camera set up to shoot a flat profile so I can get the most out of LR. Same thing when I'm shooting video. I don't use my DSLR to shoot video but I still shoot in a flat color profile so I can color grade in Final Cut Pro.

Shooting in jpeg will never give you the full results that you want. Sure you can get some good pictures in jpeg but they will look so much better if shot in RAW and developed out of a DSLR or Mirrorless camera because you can change the lens to fit your needs. Saying that... I've shot some nice shots with my iPhone Xs Max and honestly, Apple's built in photo editing software isn't too bad for basic adjustments.

This was taken with my iPhone and edited with the software that is installed in Photos on my Mac

 

I posted on this yesterday and kind of explained my workflow. With that said... I would HIGHLY recommend subscribing to Peter McKinnon's youtube channel. There is a reason he was youtube's breakout star of the year. His videos are extremely informative, interesting, funny, and he genuinely want's his viewers to become better at this craft. He has every video imaginable over a variety of different subjects and he is fucking hilarious with a great, engaging personality. I've learned lot from watching his videos. I think you will find you might be able to do the same.

Here is one of his small docs. If you check out his channel he breaks down how he created each shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5DxpRARHhA

 

Okay, so my daughter wanted to go out and shoot some shots so we set up by the freeway to get some long exposure shots.

For those that are curious about Lightroom, this is what it looks like with the before and after shot in the "Develop" tab. It's a good way to see the differences you have made with your photo.



Fucking LED billboards make these shots hell

 

I use Lightroom, but thankfully I have a hard copy of 6. No way in hell am I paying for a subscription for two reasons; one I don’t get paid for this it’s just a hobby and two I don’t have reliable internet at home or many locations where I travel. I wish I had bought Photoshop CS6 as well but alas...

Alternatives to Adobe include Capture One, which is popular with Fuji and digital medium format users and various free editors like Gimp, RawTherapee and more.

 

Hello fellow Coloradan! What do you want to shoot or like to shoot?

 

Dead Horse Point at sunrise today

 

Out of curiosity... what are you using to develop your pictures? The animal shots are awesome but the pictures look slightly oversaturated to me. Not criticizing, just curious?