August's "Post Your Latest Picture" Thread

[dannie]

@ taemo and cdnsir.... Let's do it!!! I would love the company and perspectives. I will PM you both

[msommers]

Let me know if you guys go next week!

[almerick]

Guess where I've been


Stanley by Almerick Wong, on Flickr

[maxomilll]

Some good shots already!

i'd be game for photo meets, shoot me a PM.

taemo here are some of those ilford pics!

35mm and 120

[importracer1]

[Evolution17]

Finally got around to edit this.
Kinda new to photography, so any comments would be appreciated!


Drop of Fear by Terry.Wu, on Flickr

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by msommers


Whats NX2 used for? I import all my NEFs using LR3. Am I missing something? If so, what's your workflow getting files from camera into photoshop?

NX2 does a way better NEF conversion than Photoshop does, AND it applies any in-camera settings you have to that NEF. Nikon doesn't share any information with Adobe, so Adobe has to guess what the best way to deal with their NEFs is. You can also fully adjust Active D-Lighting with much more optionality than in-camera in NX2.

You can adjust "in camera" settings in NX2, see how they affect the image, pick the combination you like, and then set your camera to that (sharpening, color mode, etc.). Now there is no guesswork needed with camera settings, you just shoot away knowing you've set up your camera exactly how you want for JPEGs, because you worked backwards from the finished product.

The other big advantage is you only ever need to shoot in RAW, and never have to shoot RAW+JPEG even if you just want some quick images without editing. All you need to do is batch-process save-as all your NEFs as JPEGs, and NX2 will save them all with all your in-camera settings applied (that information is stored in every NEF), so they will be identical to if you had just shot them in JPEG in the camera. Now you have the best of both worlds, because you can just keep the JPEG if you like it, or revert back to the NEF if additional adjustment is desired.

Also, whenever you edit a NEF in NX2, it knows what you did to it, so you can always go back and work on it again from where you left off.

I prefer NX2's black/white control points and U-Point technology to Photoshop's as well.

My workflow is basically open every NEF in NX2, do any basic adjustments to exposure, WB, contrast, etc. and then save it as a JPEG if I'm done, or a TIFF if it's going into Photoshop for additional processing. That way I get the best of both worlds, as my main adjustments as well as the RAW conversion is done in NX2, and then I can take advantage of much more powerful programs like Photoshop later if I want, without sacrificing anything.

An argument could be made that what you gain from better NEF conversion in NX2 is not worth the time of dealing with two separate pieces of software, but I really don't find it bad at all. Plus I prefer some of NX2's basic editing tools over the ones in CS6 anyways.

NX2 used to be PAINFULLY slow, but a recent update combined with 64 bit support has made a huge difference. NX2 also benefits tremendously from good processing power and a decent amount of RAM. After I got a new computer, NX2 is nearly as responsive as photoshop now, where back in the day it was so slow it was almost not worth it to use because of how much time it took to do anything.

And for those lucky D800/D800E owners, NX2 has been updated with a VERY good moire removing tool, in the very unlikely scenario that you would ever even see moire (it hasn't been NEARLY the problem people thought it would be, and the D800 will also show moire anywhere the D800E will show moire). Basically there is no reason NOT to get the D800E over the D800 unless you can't afford the extra $300 haha. NX2 will take moire off of a D800 file less destructively than other programs because it's Nikon's own software. Others will probably improve as time goes on too, though.

[msommers]

Interesting. I'd really like to see a side-by-side comparison between an unedited NEF to jpeg in both NX2 and LR3 to see what differences there are in the conversion. Active lighting I think is set at off or low, I don't think I've tinkered with it since I bought it years ago haha. I think I read something awhile ago about the higher settings closing sharpness or introducing noise, I can't remember exactly.

Other than that, everything NX2 can do LR3 can do as well. I find PS does a better job at cloning out things though. I have fastone image viewer to look at NEFs so I shoot RAW only and I don't have any in-camera settings, I don't think I've ever used them as I don't see the benefit when you're editing on your computer anyways. Do you use any in-camera settings? If so, which ones? Batch processing can be done in LR3 as well and it's super easy. Import NEFs, export whatever you want.

I torrented NX2 awhile ago and I found it sluggish and kind of confusing to use compared to the LR series. Maybe I'll have to give it another go.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by msommers
Interesting. I'd really like to see a side-by-side comparison between an unedited NEF to jpeg in both NX2 and LR3 to see what differences there are in the conversion. Active lighting I think is set at off or low, I don't think I've tinkered with it since I bought it years ago haha. I think I read something awhile ago about the higher settings closing sharpness or introducing noise, I can't remember exactly.

Other than that, everything NX2 can do LR3 can do as well. I find PS does a better job at cloning out things though. I have fastone image viewer to look at NEFs so I shoot RAW only and I don't have any in-camera settings, I don't think I've ever used them as I don't see the benefit when you're editing on your computer anyways. Do you use any in-camera settings? If so, which ones? Batch processing can be done in LR3 as well and it's super easy. Import NEFs, export whatever you want.

I torrented NX2 awhile ago and I found it sluggish and kind of confusing to use compared to the LR series. Maybe I'll have to give it another go.

One thing I noticed with photoshop conversions of NEFs is artifacts. For example, I loaded 6 NEFs straight into photoshop and merged them into a panorama. I had all kinds of weird stuff going on. Next, I converted them all to TIFFs in NX2 first, then merged them into a panorama in photoshop, and there were zero issues. Another area you may notice a particular improvement with NX2 conversions is higher ISO images, as NX2 knows exactly how to deal with the noise a little better without doing anything destructive to the image.

I never turn on Active D-Lighting in my camera either, as it also slows down your frame rate (on a D300 anyways, it doesn't slow down then new cameras). Sometimes it's a useful tool for quickly bringing up the shadows in an image while preserving highlights. It's useful for things like if your camera meter accidentally grabbed the sky, but you wanted the foreground exposed instead.

PS has a WAY better cloning tool, you're right. NX2's heal tool is basically like a content aware fill brush, so it works well for some things but not others. What I like NX2 for is the control points, U-point technology, and any global adjustments. For example, the "mode 2" on the Nikon D2X was known for having some of the best skin tones from any Nikon camera. In NX2, you can pick "D2x Mode 2"and apply that profile to a D300 file, which is pretty cool.

I use Fast Stone for culling images, checking focus, etc. There is no better tool for that IMO, and it has a great image comparison feature if you want to pick the best out of 4 images, or something like that.

I do have all my in camera settings set, but I set them 5 years ago so I don't know exactly what they are haha. NX2 will apply those settings to any NEF you take exactly the same way it would have been done in camera, providing it's processed/saved in NX2. Photoshop cannot see those settings at all.

Yeah the batch processing part is very standard, but why it's useful is you never have to think about shooting JPEG or RAW or both - you just leave it in RAW 100% of the time, and if you want JPEGs just like the camera would have taken them, just save them all as JPEGs in NX2 and you're done.

NX2 used to be awfully slow. If you have a fairly powerful computer, try out the latest version of NX2 in 64bit, I think you will like it a lot better than before.

I would prefer to use just one piece of software (CS6), but until Nikon makes a NEF plug in or something for PS, I'll continue using both pieces of software.

[Go4Long]

nothing special...just the first couple shots from my new toy, an Olympus E-PL2, stitched together, didn't have much else I could think of to take pictures of with it for now...I've got an underwater housing coming for it, so I'm pretty pumped about that.


EPL2 Pan-1 by Steven Szabo, on Flickr

[kvg]

What lens did you get?

[Go4Long]

just the kit lens 14-42

[kvg]

That's a fairly good lens for a kit lens. I highly recommend getting a 20 or a 25 prime, the 20 is the best all round lens but the af is kinda slow.

[Go4Long]

Yeah, the only reason I really bought it was for the Underwater housing. And the only lenses that work with the housing are the 14-42 and the 9-18mm

http://www.olympus-europa.com/consum...ep03_23980.htm

[Tezzating]

[taemo]

^cool shots! where did you hike?

Originally posted by maxomilll
Some good shots already!

i'd be game for photo meets, shoot me a PM.

taemo here are some of those ilford pics!

35mm and 120

awesome shots, love the 1st one and the skin tone and grain is why I enjoy shooting film.



IMG_4182-5Dii-2 by earl.dieta, on Flickr

IMG_4190-5Dii by earl.dieta, on Flickr

IMG_4264-5Dii by earl.dieta, on Flickr

IMG_4272-5Dii (2) by earl.dieta, on Flickr

[kvg]

Lovin the black and white people


Lines and angles by Kelly Gibbons, on Flickr

[Wakalimasu]

[5000Audi]

blow turbo..

oil everywhere


happend sat in peace river! now im going to have to take my other truck up there with a step deck and pick it up !!

[Micho]

Went out to Moraine Lake yesterday and climbed up Sentinel Hill, will post pictures later.


IMG_4337wtf by BNR32Micho, on Flickr