guys, what program do I need to learn to get a picture down to a "size" that the forum will accept?
not size as in from this edge to that edge, but from MB's down to KB's, what ever you call that.
I have been using paint to crop, shrink, save, change format, doing that many times, over and over again to get it down to "size".
it's a black and white study of a chassis we rebuilt for him and when I get done it's well and truly butchered.
windows or Linux program, doesn't matter I have plenty of rigs I can try what ever program on.
guys, what program do I need to learn to get a picture down to a "size" that the forum will accept?
not size as in from this edge to that edge, but from MB's down to KB's, what ever you call that.
I have been using paint to crop, shrink, save, change format, doing that many times, over and over again to get it down to "size".
it's a black and white study of a chassis we rebuilt for him and when I get done it's well and truly butchered.
windows or Linux program, doesn't matter I have plenty of rigs I can try what ever program on.
I use Light Image Resizer. It will resize and watermark for you if you want it to. It will also sequentially number photos in a group; i.e. you could select all the ones you want to resize, then make the file name "black-and-white-%NN" and it would make two-digit sequential file names (01, 02, 03, etc) for all the ones you select to resize at the same time. It really is a handy little program.
Haven't been around much for quite a while, but thought I'd throw this up here because I think some of you will find this useful...
Buried deep in many camera menus is a setting called AFMA, or Auto Focus Micro Adjust. Since different camera bodies and different lenses fit together (obviously) differently, there can be small errors in the autofocus system. You may have noticed, while looking through your photos, that what you purposely locked focus on when you took the shot isn't what ended up being in perfect focus when you look at the image. It might be the focal plane ended up being in front of, or behind, what you really wanted tack sharp. This is where AFMA comes in. It's used to compensate for this front or back focusing error of different lens/body combinations. There are several different methods for determining what value to set the adjustment, and I've tried several with varying success. Recently, I picked up a copy of Reikan FoCal Pro, and gave it a shot.
Focal Pro is a software based calibration (for lack of a better term) tool. It's been around for a few years, and plagued with some typical software issues, crashing most common. The latest version seemed to be quite stable, although I did have trouble with my Tamron 70-300 at the wide end (a quick search revealed that others have had the same issue with this particular lens). It requires your camera to be mounted on a tripod and tethered to a computer. If you own a Canon or Nikon camera that is supported, the software will automatically run through an automated testing procedure in which photos are taken of a specific target at different AFMA settings and compared. An analysis is run to determine the best AFMA setting, and a confirm dialog opens which allows the software to set the value in the camera. There is also another version of the software, Focal Plus, which lacks an included hard target and several additional tests that Focal Pro can do. Setup and execution is quite simple. Point your camera at the target from a specified distance (typically around 50X focal length, but they have a good chart on their website), start the software, and run the target setup. This will ensure that the target and camera are inline, and if they aren't, gives clear instructions on how to reposition. Once the target alignment is good to go, start the autofocus test. The test takes about 5 minutes to run, and you're presented with a very detailed report at the end. I've included some pics below to show what info you get.
A plot is also provided.
As you can see, for this particular lens, a value of +11 was determined to be the correct setting, and the difference from default 0 is quite noticeable.
A couple of other tests are available in the pro version. One of them is Aperture sharpness, which will determine the sharpest aperture of the lens. I won't bore you with all the shots, but here's the chart:
Another test is Auto Focus Consistency. I find the use of 10 shots to be statistically invalid, but you can run the test multiple times and plot it yourself.
Overall, I thought the whole process was pretty simple, provided a lot of useful information, and was definitely worth the money when compared to alternative methods. I was about to send one of my lenses in to the manufacturer because images were consistently soft, and this took care of the problem. I then found out every one of my lenses could use an adjustment, some more than others. I'd recommend this to any of you guys, just check the website to see if your camera is supported. It's not perfect, but the best method I'v tried so far.
Hoping you photo gurus might have a suggestion for me....
I am looking for a program.....really easy to use program to remove backgrounds.....
Example; if I take a picture of a system component and I want to highlight the component against a white background...
I have tried PS Elements, Photoshop from Corel and several others. I guess I just do not have the patience for a steady enough hand to get the hang of it.....
I don't know if I will get even get an answer from this thread but here I go. Thank you to anyone who does really.
I just became interested in photography especially editing with photoshop lightroom and playing around with color spaces, i was intrigued after reading an article about how manipulating them can bring the best out of photos if you know what to do with the raw format and very aware of all the steps afterwards.
What I am looking for is a cheap camera that will give me the option to save to RAW as well as the other two formats so I can edit them on the PC myself and see the actual gain/loss from them.
Any suggestions? Do all cameras have this option? What's the cheapest one?
I got a new lens today! It is a Sigma super-wide 10-20mm f3.5 (or just a regular wide angle on my crop camera ). Looking forward to getting some nice outdoor shots with it this weekend.
I got a new camera for Xmas. It is a DJI Mavic Pro quadcopter. I've been learning to fly it before taking on shooting pictures and filming videos. Here's a practice shot from a big boat ramp (wide open & no obstacles).
What I am looking for is a cheap camera that will give me the option to save to RAW as well as the other two formats so I can edit them on the PC myself and see the actual gain/loss from them.
Lots of cameras can produce RAW output. All digital cameras I know of capture the image in raw format but only some provide the capability to save the raw image. I know that DSLRs will. I'm less familiar with the newer mirrorless cameras but I'd be very surprised if they did not. High end and perhaps even some not so high end point and shoot cameras can also do that.
If your primary goal is to explore raw images, you could start with a camera app for your cell phone that saves the raw image, assuming you have a cell phone. A quick search shows that these are available for both android and iphone.
Another option is to find used gear. The photo of the moon was taken with a used lens I acquired from ebay. (Nikon 80-400 f4.0-5.6D AF VR ED AF Nikkor Zoom Lens) It was less than the third of the retail cost because Nikon has introduced a new and improved model. Pros and serious (and wealthy ) photographers are replacing this lens with the newer lens and selling perfectly good (*) lenses on ebay for a decent price. The camera I'm using is a Nikon D80. This was my son's graduation gift when he got out of college. His wife took up photography and they eventually got a better camera and gave this one to me. It was introduced in 2006. I see them listed on ebay for about $100 (though I cringe at the ones pictured w/out a lens cap on the body.)
Canon and Nikon are the two most popular brands for DSLRs. There are other less popular brands that would probably cost even less on the used market. I'm sure any of them would exceed my capability to take advantage of all of their features. The photographer takes the picture, not the camera. (I have posted cell phone pictures to this thread and I'm sure others have.)
In between cell phone app and full blown DSLR system there are probably options at various price points that might suit you. I am not particularly familiar with them. I have a Panasonic P&S that generally suits me. My fishing buddy bought one on my recommendation and was unhappy with the lack of support from Panasonic when it malfunctioned and needed repairs.
(*) It took two tries to get this lens from ebay. The first arrived and looked good but the manual focus mechanism was broken. I returned it and got my money back including shipping. The second lens is satisfactory.
HTH
Edit: This is really what I got the lens for. Every fall my fishing buddy and I head out for a week and lately that has been to the Mississippi River near Red Wing Minnesota. Most years we get pictures of eagles along the river but this year we had some opportunities to shoot some pelicans.
I took an unintentional hiatus from photography for a few years, but I'm getting back into it because of some local and remote friends. My Canon 70D is 9 years old, and doesn't hold up great for the kind of photography I'm doing (portraits, low light, handheld, possibly with motion). Recently went to a convention, left my 70D at home, and took over 800 photos with my Pixel 7 Pro. While it did exceptional for a phone and I took some great photos, it does poor in low light environments with movement.
I recently sold my Subaru WRX since I never drove it, and decided to splurge on a new camera. I narrowed it down to a Canon RP vs a Nikon Z5, and the features with the Nikon outclassed the Canon. Decided to go with the better Nikon Z6 II and a Nikon 28-75mm f/2.8 lens. This is my first full frame camera and constant aperture lens; both are an absolute treat. This camera has image stabilization on the sensor which works in tandem with the lens' image stabilization.
The camera will run off an external battery pack through the USB-C connector, which is very convenient. I don't need multiple batteries and can run it off the fat (40,000 mAh) Anker battery pack I carry with me at conventions.
The version of Lightroom I've been running (5.7) did not understand the new raw format nor would it have the lens profiles, so I reluctantly upgraded to Lightroom Classic (I tried Lightroom CC and hated it). I hate Adobe, but Lightroom is very good. I gave Digikam a try, and it would not recognize my camera no matter what I did, even though it is supported.
I've been playing with the camera, doing test shots, and I'm already liking it. It is bounds and leaps better than the 70D.
Nice cat pic! Photographing animals is tough, it's nice to get that shallow depth of field, but I prefer to stop down a bit and get their whole head in focus, but that's just my taste. It is really impressive technically to get that sharp of a handheld photo and excellent separation from the background.
Old school lenses are not sharp at open apertures or if they are, then only under ideal lighting and conditions. I still love film photography, I have way too many film cameras to list here, but a czech TLR called a flexarete takes amazing night photos, but I have had a difficult time getting good sharpness during the day. I have a lens hood for it but I never use it because it doesn't fit in the hand case, but I believe it is a necessity for naturally lit scenes unless you're in full shade or stopping down a lot. I also have a more modern fujica 6x4.5 rangefinder that has some issues but can make great images. Despite the cost, I find medium format makes such a rich and beefy negative that you can do a lot with. 35mm is fun but I often find it lacking, which is tough because I move more towards compact cameras the quality falls even more and I have less reason to use it over my phone. Moreso I think 35mm is just a great process, especially as I learn to develop my own more. Medium format is difficult to spool without damaging it, so I will probably keep sending it in because I've already invested quite a bit more in the process.
I also have a couple of nice digital cameras with aging sensors but superb glass. A Nikon Coolpix A which is a DX sensor point and shoot with a fixed neutral wide lens. It's pocketable pro glass and it's value has actually held since I purchased it used about 8 years ago. I also have a fujifilm XE-2 which is the last Japanese made XE, with only the kit 18-55 F2.8-4 lens. I would love to have a trifecta fast primes (wide, natural and portrait), but it's difficult to justify spending that much money when one lens does 95-99% of the same work. Any loss of low light performance can be compensated by the fuji's excellent high ISO performance. I did a lot of looking at photos and the ones I liked the look of the best came from the 35mm 1.4 and the zoom I have. It's difficult to justify having a single prime when a zoom can be so good. I know for what they are the lenses are an excellent value, but I still hesitate to spend more on this hobby, when 9 times out of 10 I'll just use my phone. Remember the best camera is the one you have with you .
Hopefully I'll come back in a few days and share some photos.
Nice cat pic! Photographing animals is tough, it's nice to get that shallow depth of field, but I prefer to stop down a bit and get their whole head in focus, but that's just my taste. It is really impressive technically to get that sharp of a handheld photo and excellent separation from the background.
I was playing around with the camera, so this is part of a bunch of test shots I did to get used to the camera and the settings, but I'll keep the field of depth thing in mind. This camera has people and animal face detection, which means the hard part about animal photos is getting them to do something or look a certain way. The shot was aperture priority set at f/2.8 with 1/80 shutter and ISO 100.
Can't wait to test this camera for real at a conference or meetup.
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). Looking forward to getting some nice outdoor shots with it this weekend.
cool photo!
