Many options for file management on Mac. Both Aperture and LR allow you to keep them in external folders, or in a designated place. Aperture handles them as a database, also, embedding them within the application package. Still accessible, but it is bit more work to get to them if you need to. I have LR set to import camera files directly to an external hard drive system (Drobo), so all are in one place with protection and redundancy. Mixing or changing systems is always a hassle, but sometimes the payoffs are big. When I dropped Aperture I found a LR plug-in that handled the conversion for me. It took quite awhile (60,000+ images, a day and half) but it ran in the background. New system is very efficient.

I use Lightroom (since Apple pulled the plug on Aperture). In fairness, though, most major PP apps can handle batch processing, including adding keywords.

Turkey tails, Trametes versicolor. It’s a common fungus that rots dead and fallen tree branches. A very pretty subject for closeups and macro.

I’ve faced that kind of problems a lot when trying to just get some family pics for the albums. You don’t always have much control over the subject matter, and don’t want to be bore by fiddling around too much to get it “just right.” Are you familiar at all with Photoshop or a similar app? A simple adjustment can make a big difference. Here I selected the red tablecloth and converted it to light blue. Just one idea for fixing this kind of shot. Took all of about 2 minutes. Oh, and congratulations to Julie!

Nice work! One more suggestion: try lightening the sword blade/scabbard a bit more. It looks like there’s a lot of detail that can’t be seen too well.

For stands for small objects, try a lump of modeling clay and a few pieces of wood dowel. Stick the dowels into the clay to hold the object. You can cover the clay with a background (cloth, paper, etc) to hide if you need to. Don’t let the object touch the clay, though. Talk to the curators, too, to see if they have supports available.

Like many forum topics, the answers are all over the place. It depends on your business model and how you deal with your customers.

I’m a consultant in a technical field, and now travel farther afield than ever, with clients around the country. For some residential or small projects, the travel costs of time and expense are wrapped into a package price. No need to haggle over cents per mile, etc. For larger projects where I charge hourly or daily rates, the miles and time are estimated and quoted in the contract. Half-time (one way) or full travel time or some other rate is up to you. Also, to be fair, I use a good mapping app to get the distance and drive time, then use those figures for my estimates and billing. This eliminates time spent in traffic jams, rest stops, airport delays, etc. Costs me some time occasionally, but makes it easier for the client to budget. Longer trips get rest or meal stops built in, if it isn’t a daily rate. For tolls, I either bill directly at cost on contract jobs, or just absorb it within the travel time fees.

Thanks. These leads led me to what I need.

I use a Canon EOS 7D Mark II with LP-E6E batteries. The kit came with an AC single charger for the batteries. I am trying to find a charger that I can use with an external backup battery source to recharge the camera batteries. I have an external battery for recharging various mobile devices, and would like to have it available for the camera batteries. Any suggestions for a charging station that will work for the camera batteries?

One last suggestion on #2. It looks like it might be a bit off vertical. Check it out, and maybe straighten it just a bit.

I really like what you’ve done with #2. This view is powerful. Brightening the roof colors helped a lot, and I agree about the reflection of blue (sky?) on the polished stone. The splash of orange of the tree on the left actually adds to the picture. The chairs are great. Might try cropping just a bit more off the top to see if you like it. The bike rack is a tough one, but you’ve got a good image now. Will be interesting to see what your instructor thinks.

As to using the cell phones, there are pros who have shot whole assignments with them, some have published books to show what is possible. When I was taking photography courses in high school (late 1960s, but don’t tell anyone) a girl in the class shot with an old Instamatic using 126 format cartridges. She could not afford the SLRs most of us used. She had no focus or exposure control. She learned how to use the available light and composition better than most of the class, and consistently got some of the highest grades. The point is, it is not the camera that takes good pictures, but a photographer that knows how to use the equipment he has. I suspect that’s what your assignment is really about.

FWIW, my comments. Does the assignment require the full frame, or are you allowed to crop, etc? #1 & 3 are quite good. The contrast of curved and straight lines works, and the people bring them alive. Experiment with lightening or darkening the shadows. I like the brilliant sky. #2- the building entrance in the background is a bit busy and distracting, and I particularly don’t like the green colored panels (but that’s just my opinion). Maybe this area could be slightly blurred to reduce the busyness. Also try softening the color, or maybe even intensifying to make it stand out more. #4 is nice for the colored chairs, but the building windows are distracting. Crop the upper section out, again maybe blur the building wall a bit. Draw all attention to the chairs. Same with #5—the background stuff is distracting, and there are some strong highlights (white vehicles and walls) in the background that I find distracting. Cropping closely to the wood bench, maybe even taking out the pedestrians on the right, might help. #6 could also be cr I opped to eliminate the building and background. I’m not sure what to do with the bicycle. It complements the forms of the racks, but the handlebars and seat get lost in the background. I’d try this one again with the same sun angle but without the bike. The orange chairs are also distracting, the color draws the eye away from the foreground. Tone these down a bit.

Before running out to buy those rolls of Ektachrome, be sure you know where to get it developed. Not too many places still do that. Home processing is not too hard, but you have to have the (simple) equipment and then get the chems for it. The prospect of using my F-1 again is alluring, but I don’t think I’ll be going back just for nostalgia.

rehess: Of course it misses the “issues’ with electronic shutters. There are issues with any type of shutter. But for those here who are not engineers, understanding the problem is the start of understanding the solution. Instead of derogatory comments, why not adjust or complete the analogy, so we can better understand the process.

The sensor sends the image data (what you call the charge state) to internal buffer memory. It is here that the camera CPU converts it to viewable formats, then sends it to the viewing screen and/or the storage card. The electronic shutter is simply the time that the electronics actually record to create that image. The sensor continually sends data to the view screen, but only captures the data specified for the necessary “shutter speed” to be saved as an image. Imagine a stream of water from a faucet as the light. You can see it streaming by continuously (your eyes are the view screen), then you pass a cup quickly under the stream. The cup collects some of the water for a brief period—that’s the saved image. How long the cup is in the stream (shutter speed) determines how much water (photons) are collected and stored to buffer memory. Next, the water in the cup (buffer) must be filtered and cleaned up before you drink it (image sent to storage card)—equivalent to converting the raw data to viewable image.

This is a VERY simplistic analogy. Not intended to spark a tsunami of arguments on its correctness. Just a broad mental image of the process inside your black box.