Marturo Loc: Western North Carolina

Hello all, I'm new to PP & I am going with Affinity for now. Many of my pictures are in need of lightening
color is good.

Coming from film it's hard to see much mores needed than cropping & brightening.
However that's why I'm here to learn how to PP the right way.

So please feel free to post any pictures you feel may help you to explain your reasons you do it this or that way, I want to see it.

Thank you everyone.

Mike

Note how dark the picture is & in full sun.

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Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Hi Mike - I'm not sure at what stage your picture is - SOOC JPG or RAW developed or PPd or ?

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Hi again Mike - just copied your download to Affinity. Pressed the Auto Contrast button, went to Filters and pressed Unsharp Mask (60%) and exported to save as a JPG - just to lighten your pic. If all your pics appear to need lightening, try adjusting the contrast setting in your Nikon. Here is the adjusted pic.

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photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Very nice.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thanks for posting, Maturo! You have received an edit from Delderby, and I'm sure there will be others, but right now I have questions about your settings and technique.

You mentioned full sun but this flower appears to be in shade. Settings were f/16, 1/160 sec shutter speed, ISO 900. Did you have a filter on the lens?

Where was your focus point? Image seems unsharp (blur from motion? Unfocused? Filter issue?).

How far away were you? At f/16 your depth of field should be more than sufficient (1.75 feet at 10 feet distance). Nikon D7100 at 105 mm.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

And Hi again Mike - here is the edited pic after running through Easy Photo Unblur.

(Download)

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

There you go

.

Marturo Loc: Western North Carolina

All shots are unsupported moving from subject to subject.

The camera D7100, lens Nikkor 105mm F2.8, B&W filter clear.
Metering I change between Center & Matrix. F settings change
from subject to subject.

The 2 pictures were both taken with seconds of each pic.
SS 1/160
iso 180

Both have different lighting yet they are the same ??
Both pics need a deeper DOF like at least F8 or F11 &
a tripod

Before we go too far I have a very important question about storing PP photos.

I DL 5 free PP programs before I purchased Affinity as well as a program called Picasa.
What I need is a program to store & show my photos, but one where I can find them
& one that will not duplicate or add new pictures I never shot.

My PC Win 7 has a picture section & when I want to post a Photo to anywhere it
goes to my Win files not only Picasa. Do I need both a Win program & another program like Picasa?

#2622

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I want to apologize to both you and Delderby. Delderby gave you some ideas for PP - I think that second entry of his is gorgeous - and that was your original intent for this topic.

I introduced exposure and other camera settings, and by your response, which now includes storage and organization, we are trying to deal with way too many subjects at once

For organization of files, I suggest you start a new main forum topic for just that. Be aware, that as with pp software, everyone will have a different opinion.

Can you explain your question, "Both have different lighting yet they are the same ??" The two photos you just posted have the same settings.

Many thanks!

Marturo Loc: Western North Carolina

The settings I make are for learning what parameters I need, to get great photos.

With film I had to make my settings from known F settings that I knew would turn out. With the Digital
I get to try different DOF & learn what F settings each lens likes best.

Looking at the last 2 pictures you would never expect your negatives to turn out like that. So why did
the digital come up with two different light readings?

If I could ask one last question before I go and start a new post please. If like me you just moved from film to Digital,, what part of getting your pictures taken, developed, presented, then Post processed would you
start with first? I need a little direction please.

Perhaps I jumped the gun so to speak. I am going to find every piece of glass
that will fit this D7100 I own, & use every SS & F setting I can to see how it looks
when developed. So if I can go like a kid with a new camera with this new adventure
then I will be much happier. I do however want to PP my photos & get to understand
more about Digital Art from our photos. The Digital art I see some of you create
just has me wanting to try it myself.

However let me say thank you all for showing such a kindness to your fellow members, I really need the helping hand to make the move from Film to digital. At the point I am at, it feels good to have a digital witness picture that lets you see if your picture is alright. At the same time I get pictures that are dark or different than the picture before it. If my Negatives turned out like this I would say I need to change my settings. Change settings though when another exact picture turns out different? It is a puzzle to me.

Marturo Loc: Western North Carolina

I do see a difference in exposure of the last 2 photographs.

My first need is to learn the Digital body & then learn PP.

Thanks for the advice.
Mike

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

OK, thanks. I'm not able to discern the difference.

Regarding moving from film to digital:
I purchased my first dslr in 2008. I used a single lens (18-55 mm that came with the camera) for nearly four years, and almost exclusively in aperture priority because that is what I used with film and because most of my subjects were stationary. The hardest part for me was remembering which button or knob did which action (such as exposure compensation)

It has been nearly 12 years since I picked up my first digital camera and I am still learning, adapting, tweaking, experimenting, changing.

Take your time and enjoy the winding path!

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

I think you are over complicating things. For the moment do not treat your DSLR as being different to a film camera. Use Auto ISO, and your camera will be using the best "film speed" for the job in hand. You have recognised that your f stop was not what was required. On the second set of pictures your focus point was wrong - I managed to improve only the sharpness of the front petal and the stem to the right. There may be camera shake involved, although I think the blur is simply due to the wrong focus point. I think you might have been too close to the subject. You are not far off of shooting better pics. Keep at it. Del

Marturo Loc: Western North Carolina

Thank you both for your great advice, it's time to go back to shooting good pictures first.

I am aware that hand held shooting gets worse as you gain magnification yet it's something
I learned from years of shooting Herbs & wild flowers in the Mountains.

That's great advice about not seeing a Digital body from a Film body it is the same.
Time to see if Affinity has a storage program I can use instead of Piscasa.

(Download)

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Affinity Photo does not do cataloguing, similar to Photo Shop in this respect. I have always used my own system of directory trees, but I am sure other photo hogs will be able to help if you start a new topic.