Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

Hayden, the picture looks great! I’m hoping to take better pictures and limit the amount of adjustments needed to make a picture look great. I’m just starting to scratch the surface learning about my camera, adding different picture enhancing tools just adds to the complexity.🤔

Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

Thanks Jerry,
Hopefully I’ll figure out what program will be the easiest to use.

Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

Thanks Foathog,
I definitely have to learn how to use my gear, and the Canon program.

Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

Thanks Todd,
I normally use a hood, but due to the clouds I removed it for a few shots. I always have a B&W UV, based on your suggestions should I removed the filter for all shots, or just under certain conditions?

aellman Loc: Boston MA

I do not believe that skylight filters have anything to do with the color of the light or your images.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Cookie, I never use filters on my lens to try to protect the lens. I guess I feel I get better bump protection from the lens hoods and just about always have them on even when indoors. So, I would go to hood use and leave the UV filter off. Using a unnecessary filter is just putting another piece of glass in front of your lens that was not part of the original lens design parameters. Then there is the whole issue of the quality of the filter in both the glass and in the coatings. That can vary widely and is why you can get a set of filters included free with a purchase to paying several hundred dollars for a single filter. Filters were and can be needed for film photography, even B&W film.

A UV filter is not needed in digital photography. I might use a neutral density filter if it is very bright out and I am trying to shoot with a wide open aperture and very slow shutter speed. An example would be to show the smoothing of clouds or water flowing in a landscape. Think of the ND filters as sunglasses for your lens. The only other filter I would possibly use is a Circular Polarizer to control reflections. But even this would mostly be used for Landscape shooting in my opinion. Other filter effects can be more easily simulated in Post Processing. My local camera store literally has large boxes of both new and used filters for sale in their used equipment area. They are largely not in demand for those shooting digital images.

As for Post Processing and managing your photos I would suggest you consider Lightroom and perhaps later using Photoshop if needed. I have nearly 60K images in my Lightroom catalog. I worked for decades in digital imaging and document management and Lightroom has very power ways to manage and organize the photos you shoot. I also do virtually all of my PP in Lightroom. There are powerful tools that enable one to quickly and accurately make corrections or changes to one or a number of photos. There is a learning curve but I found the Laura Shoe video on Lightroom to be very useful in learning the basics. She covers topics in small manageable video bites. There are also many users of Lightroom and other video resources on YouTube you can take advantage of too. Shooting in RAW, using a ColorChecker Passport and Lightroom can make a big difference in your photography. I use the $10 per month CC option for Lightroom and Photoshop. Some use the purchased versions if they object to the monthly utility like fee. You get all the updates included with the monthly subscription and some features that are not included with the purchased versions. There are many tools out there to do PP including the DPP software from Canon, and I used that for a long time. But I found I really needed a better way to manage my images and that is what ultimately took me to Lightroom.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

Toment Loc: FL, IL

All good comments. I have to tell you though, I love that last one..great shot!

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

A second on this response!



Cookie, Without even making a WAG at your age, the prints coming out darker than shown on your monitor or computer screen may indicate that it is set too bright. A lot of us do that as it may make the details easier for old eyes (like mine) to see, but the computer is trying to emulate the colors in your processed file, not what you may see overly lightened on the screen.

Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

Thanks Todd.

The one thing that I've learned and continue too, is the fact that one could spend a few bucks when you don't know what you're doing, or worse yet to ask the right question!
Have purchased some of the best rated filters for each lens, and I now have little if any use for them.

But on the bright side, I've spent the last hour playing around with the Canon picture program and so far it looks easier than I thought it would be. I'm going to give a few pictures a going over, and post the results.

Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

Thank you! That's Missy wearing the sun glasses, and swinging the bat. She and her brother are the reason for me to get into this hobby/habit!

Take care,
Cookie

Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

JC,
I'm almost 70 and I can't read anything without my glasses. There's no doubt that my vision is a major factor with my end results. I had a discussion with my wife about what I see as being clear, and what the actual picture come out as.

How the heck do you fix that?

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Auto W/B is usually pretty good on Canon camera bodies but it's not perfect. This can easily be corrected in post.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

UV filters don't do a thing for most digital photography. Nor do skylight filters. Modern sensors filter out UV and IR before it ever gets to the photo sensitive sites. And ANY color filter gets neutralized by Automatic White Balance or a Custom White Balance that you do in reference to a target. If you do want to apply a color filter, do it in post-processing.

The ONLY filters that are truly useful in digital photography are circular polarizers, neutral density filters, and graduated neutral density filters... although graduated ND can be simulated to a degree in post-processing.

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

Cookie223, There is no fix for that problem, but at 77 years young and after 55 years of married life, the best I can offer is to quickly say "Yes Dear", and don't argue; you will never win!

Would a larger monitor help you better see prints on the screen? I'm using a 27" Samsung and find it much better than the 15" laptop screen.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

We all make mistakes in sometimes not asking the right question or not knowing the question to ask. I have made less than ideal purchases in my hobbies even though I try hard to not do that. Sometimes education costs money in one way or another. The good news is you bought what are quality filters. Cookie, You can always resell them and get something that may be more useful. A good CPL if you don't have one or a ColorChecker Passport. Or there will be those who also say you should have them for protection. It might be a good idea if you were not using hoods. I am not sure there are totally correct answers...only those that make logical sense to our own manner of thinking. Some on here have 10 cameras and 25 lenses, but I would rather have one or perhaps 2 great cameras an a half dozen lenses ultimately. Does that make either of us wrong and the other right...probably not. I myself learned about the ColorChecker Passport about 8 years ago. But I sort of ignored it and only got into it a couple years ago. Fortunately I shot a lot of photos in RAW and I can go back and redo some of them as I want. After using the CCP it was sort of a forehead slap and saying what didn't I get this sooner... We all do the best we can under the various circumstances...live and hopefully continue to learn...

I found the Canon DPP software to be decent for edits but not a manager of images... There are tons of choices for editing too...

Best,
Todd Ferguson