Post your photographs here

[snowhiker]

For me, "post processing" is so frustrating, I basically haven't taken any photos in nearly 2 years. I DO NOT WANT to deal with any catalog or database PP software. No Adobe pay monthly crap. I'm not printing. I'm not selling. I'm not sharing (save the occasional post to forums). I'm not creating a web site or posting to social media. I simply want to File--> open RAW file --> "edit exposure/color" --> crop --> save as "XYZ" --> DONE.

I haven't purchased any post-processing/photo editing software. I downloaded "Darktable," and I have Nikon's "Capture NX-D" to edit RAW files. I also have "GIMP 2" and "Paint.net" to edit .JPG files.

I can't even figure out how to select a rectangle to crop in Darktable. Tons of options, BUT NO SIMPLE, INTUITIVE way to crop a selection on screen. WTF?!? I can "rectangle select" in Paint.net (Click upper left, drag to lower right to select) but you can't even independently drag the left/right/top/bottom sides of selection to re-size. WFT!!!!!!!!!! I can figure it out in GIMP, but GIMP doesn't read RAW files. Pathetic.

Maybe I'm just a retard but it seems even basic PP software has a learning curve I can't overcome. /sigh

 

[snowhiker]

I see you are getting closer the subject.
What are you using for PP? There is too much chroma noise, especially for ISO 400.

EXIF data says 2.99 meters to subject. I bumped up the saturation to enhance the colors (sent you a link to RAW file) so that might have increased the noise.

I'm still hand holding camera. Images still not as sharp as I'd like even with a 1/2000 sec shutter speed. Looking to pick up a quality tripod/head+gimbal very soon as the 200-500 lens is a pig to hand-hold.

 

[LunarMist]

So you just sit in your glass house and throw stones?

I'm trying to help out. What value would posting my images online have, especially nowadays?

 

[Chewy509]

I can figure it out in GIMP, but GIMP doesn't read RAW files.

RAW is handled via the ufraw plugin for GIMP.

http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/Install.html

 

[LunarMist]

EXIF data says 2.99 meters to subject. I bumped up the saturation to enhance the colors (sent you a link to RAW file) so that might have increased the noise.

I'm still hand holding camera. Images still not as sharp as I'd like even with a 1/2000 sec shutter speed. Looking to pick up a quality tripod/head+gimbal very soon as the 200-500 lens is a pig to hand-hold.

The eye is sharp, so your shutter and focus were fine, but a tripod helps composition and control substantially at 500mm.

 

[snowhiker]

Another pic. I bumped exposure a stop, increased contrast and saturation a bit, cropped then export to a JPG.

 

[LunarMist]

Spammers will be deleted.

 

[snowhiker]

I thought bumblebees were simply all black, but they seem to have an iridescent sheen on their wings and bodies. This shot is two stops underexposed, taken at ISO 180. Must have bumped the exp-comp as I was zooming as EXIF says photo taken at 480mm not 500mm.

Flower seems fine but sky is more noisy than I thought it should be. The sheen on the body looks like bad color noise mentioned by Lunar above. Hmmmmm.

 

[snowhiker]

She finally opened her wings. Too bad she is upside down and these a leaf bottom/center of pic.

 

[snowhiker]

When you exit Grand Canyon National Park from the eastern portal you come upon the "Little Colorado" gorge. This shot taken April, 2015. Image is 4k (3840x2160).

 

[snowhiker]

Bird on a wire.

 

[snowhiker]

Quail. In the shade, early in the A.M. Taken at ISO 5000. Yeah, that ISO is just too high for my D610.

 

[ddrueding]

Nice work Snowhiker. I need to recover some of my old work from places on the internet. Lately all I do are pictures of the kid.

 

[ddrueding]

I haven't put pictures there for years, but here is the full stream:|

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ddrueding/

 

[snowhiker]

^^^ Some very nice vacation pics DD. Industrial stuff is interesting as well.

Yeah. Life happens. Things change. Hobbies change. Busy, busy, busy. So many things I used to do, all the time, I seldom or never do anymore. Such as: Day hiking, car-camping, backpacking (incl. snow-hiking), vacation/road trips, weight lifting, mountain/road biking, racquetball, build/upgrade/repair PCs, PC gaming, chess/backgammon, etc, etc, etc.

Photography almost joined that list but I haven't abandoned it yet.

 

[snowhiker]

Well I got the near perfect wing beat. <ding> However ISO too high, background wrong and feeder skewed and dirty. <bzzz> <bzzz> <bzzz>

 

[snowhiker]

Yellowstone NP, Aug 2017.

Not a spectacular shot by any means, but just resting against a railing and using a shutter speed of only 1/3 sec + VR, worked out decently.

 

[snowhiker]

Grand Teton NP, Aug 2017.

 

[LunarMist]

Quail. In the shade, early in the A.M. Taken at ISO 5000. Yeah, that ISO is just too high for my D610.

View attachment 1330

5000 is too high, but at least you should PP to reduce the chroma noise.

 

[snowhiker]

Arches NP, sunrise, Nov 2016.

 

[snowhiker]

Doh, nevermind.

 

[snowhiker]

Can't insert two images in same post apparently. Second image is an attachment and not inline.

 

[snowhiker]

Arches NP, sunrise, Nov 2016. I thought this was a great photograph. Lighting was awesome. But then I realized there is no "subject" in the picture. Just awesome sky and sunrays.

 

[snowhiker]

Arches NP, sunrise, Nov 2016. Crop of the above image. Less empty space below sky but still kinda boring/dull.

 

[LunarMist]

You'd have to use multiple exposures. Also, stop down and lower the shutter speed.
When did you get the D500 and why would you use that on the landscapes rather than the D610 or was it just the lack of normal zoom?

File: 2475-crop.jpg
File size: 157KB
Image counter: 31180
Camera Model: NIKON D500
Camera serial number: 3005916
Firmware: Version 1.20
Date/Time: 2016:11:01 09:01:07
Shutter speed: 1/1600 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Manual
Exposure compensation: -2/3
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Center-weighted average
ISO: 110
Lens: 14-24mm f/2.8
Focal length: 24mm
Focal length: 36mm (in 35mm film)
AF mode: AF-C
Image size: 5015 x 2249
Rotation: none
Image quality: RAW
White balance: AUTO0
Active D-Lighting: Off
Picture control: STANDARD
Color space: sRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Color profile: sRGB

 

[snowhiker]

I was thinking of purchasing a D500 way back, so I rented a D500 and the Nikkor 14-24/2.8 from lens rentals for that two week trip. A friend used my D610 and 16-35/4. The rental was close to $1000. I should have just bought a D500 instead of rented.

Edit: What are you using to read the EXIF data?

 

[snowhiker]

Petrified Forest NP. Oct, 2016.

 

[LunarMist]

I view files with BreezeBrowser. It's not good for RAW conversion nowadays, but I use it for first and second pass editing and it provides very useful adjustments of time/date, complex strings for renaming, IPTC/XMP fields and keywording, jpeg extraction, GPS tools, etc.

 

[Newtun]

Can't see the forest for the rocks. .

(BTW, The Petrified Forest also happens to be a nice, classic pic.)

 

[LunarMist]

I'd spent many hours staring at landscapes in the clouds.
At least the snowhoker has the advantage of proximity.

 

[snowhiker]

Look what I found in the tree in my backyard. Heavy shadow, so less than ideal exposure but a nice find. I shot the pic through a bunch of small branches and twigs that are nearly blurred completely out, but they caused "blotchy patches" on the photo.