Weekly Photography Challenge Thread (see first post rules and then the poll at top before entering)

You can't learn if you don't do.

Don't know if you're aware or not but these SLR's do work in cold weather, the batteries just don't last as long.

I know it has. I've been meaning to get mine out and take some but I have a small issue at the moment. I sold my crop frame and lenses I had been using with it. Well I was using the 18-105 on the full frame also. So at the moment I have a 70-200 and a 50mm for my camera.

Missed getting a new 24-70 the other day by minutes. About to go look for one again in a few minutes.

 

Yep that is why I own 4 batteries LOL. And keep the spares inside my jacket next to my body to stay warm. Good luck on the 24-70!

 

Yeah not to mention I also lost my extra battery when I sold the other camera. Now need another battery and need to get another battery grip.

 

Just be careful going from cold to hot. Moisture tends to wreak havoc on glass and electronics...

 

Learned a long time ago when you've been out shooting in the cold wrap the camera and lens up in a hoodie then when you get home bring it in and leave it like that till morning. The hoodie will keep the camera from getting warm to quick and fogging.

 

Yeah with the temps here in the winter it is a real problem at times. I have a heated garage, but just above freezing, and use it is a transition zone when going between the 70 degree house and teens below zero outside. I worry the most during those few weeks in the summer when going from AC to hot humid moist air, last thing I want is moisture inside the lens and fungi take hold. One of the reasons I went with Pentax is weather sealing and most of my lenses are WR. However hard to believe a zoom can really be WR when you move it back and forth one of the reasons I am moving to primes.

Dark when I go to work and still dark (usually) when I get off this time of year hard to get out and get pictures except for the weekends. Sat temps are -1/-21 and Sunday -9/-18. Not sure I will venture too far out to be honest. When it is that cold I use a think tank holster with a chemical heat pack warmer in the bottom of the bag for my wildlife lens and body. Works really well highly recommend it, adds bulk but when it is below zero everything adds bulk if you want to stay warm. I use the chest strap system instead of the shoulder strap with the 300mm attached.

 

1/15/16 Between Boca and Stampede Reservoirs. Still not happy with my exposure.

 

I personally think the shot is very well exposed. Photographing snow in the foreground with a darker background like the river, is pretty difficult to do well. I always end up doing snow photos black and white haha. That water looks freezing cold too!

 

Exposure looks good. White balance is just slightly off. It's a little on the cool side. If you look at the snow you can see a slight blue tint to it instead of a pure white.

Just to show you I brought it in LR and adjusted the WB slightly. The snow pops with the correct WB. Which was the camera's fault. It was confused with all the white in the photo.

 

By the way, it's my entry this week. Hopefully I got that part right. I think. eh

 

Took this on the 9th during a walk around Casco Viejo in Panama City. Really crazy to see the nice, rebuilt buildings and streets right next to the old churches and ruins. The golden spiral seemed to line up nicely with the center of the spiral in the bell tower and the tail wrapping around with the old rails.

Casco Viejo, Panama by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

Sorry its a pic of my truck... Got my camera out today after a mild hiatus.

12 (2) by Marc Mayer, on Flickr

 

Sexy!

 

Taken this evening.

 

Great pictures this week! I wanted to get a landscape picture for this but sun and weather hasn't worked out, ended up doing portrait instead. And now know what focus and recompose means. Always struggled with snow and blue tint, have tried the +1 exposure compensation trick but ran into other issues so gave up a long time ago and so I just lived with it. Once Murph showed it can be corrected in LR didn't take me long to figure out how to correct for it, thanks! Good challenge I learned a lot this week. I parked the end of the curve between the eyes, the nose likely would have worked as well.

 

Do you use some sort of template to determine the Rule? I guess I'm still confused by the Rule.

 

Lightroom has the template built in for it. I likely only scratch the surface of what Lightroom can do, but use it a lot and shoot in RAW. It is very powerful but not a graphic editor like Photoshop, which I do not use.

 

Which version of LR do you have? When I looked online, or at Frys, there's always some crap I do not understand.

With my picture I just made a guess. My Chesapeake is supposed to be the focal point in the swirl.

 

I tried lol

 

Just guessing works too, how can you go wrong with a Chessie?!

I have LR5, which is no longer available I think. LR 6 is out and you can download it for ~$140 or spend a little more and get the media to install it. It is also available with Photoshop for a monthly subscription fee a one year subscription for both is $10 a month through what Adobe calls the Creative Cloud or CC. The CC is cheaper but more than a few people have had some issues with it. For now I will just keep LR 5 have had it for 2 years and don't need Photoshop. Plus I'm old school LOL. Likely get into focus stacking as I do more macro photography this spring and will switch to Photoshop CC with LR included. Here is a comparison of the 3 versions. Before you install LR highly recommend you watch one of the videos on its structure and best practice for installing it.