I took a few minutes and cleaned up the photograph to get rid of the troubling areas you folks mentioned. Indeed, it is improved.

Again, thank you for the comments.

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You are correct Bkwaters. Skylum is rapidly improving the program and seems to desire user input for changes and new features. I have noticed an increase in activity coming from ON1 also. Perhaps this is an example of competition at work. FWIW, I like ON1 too, and I use it a bit less than NEO.

Although NEO doesn't offer DNG (yet), you can export in PNG which may be adequate. All of the formates have pluses and minuses, but I normally shoot and save my images in RAW.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you Bill and John. The white rectangle would be good to remove as you suggest.

Thank you for the comments. First, I only had <10 minutes to enhance it from a cold start. The dark rectangle you mention was pick up by the auto masking of the gg-niece. If I had noticed it, I could have easily removed it from the mask. Removal of the light pole and base is also easy to do. The process was to upscal, sharpen, the generate the bokeh.

Our great-niece took a photograph of her daughter in her prom dress (yes, she is wearing new tennis shoes as seems to be the style for young ones) at the Big Springs Park in Huntsville, Ala. She used a Canon EOS Rebel T6. You may notice the focus on her face is not quite on the mark and the composition could have been better. The image she sent me was 640x960.

I have a variety of programs for post-processing, but I figured that Luminar NEO would be appropriate. The first step was to use the Upscale feature to increase the pixel density for obvious reasons. I note that Upscale and Topaz Gigapixels yield similar results based on some tests I have made. Next, I cropped the original and then used the Develop, Noiseless, and Supersharp functions. The background is disturbingly sharp and detracts from the "star" of the day. I finished up using the Portrait Bokeh feature (almost a single step) and the Face and Skin features in the Portrait Section. The Portrait Bokeh features locates her and masked her beautifully and introduced the bokeh as shown below. I found that Lunimar NEO did a fine job of "fixing" the disturbing background.

Luminar NEO has essentially replaced Luminar AI and I feel does a better job. The Skylum Team seems to be working their rear ends off adding new features and improving existing features.

Our great-niece and our great-great-niece were very pleased with the results of my post-effort. BTW, it took less than 10 minutes as I recall.

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Thanks David.

Bob,
I did some tests with my 150-600 G2 as it was received. The IQ was not what I desired and I used the TAP-IN to calibrate the lens. It is timne consuming and really needs two people to do it better than I did alone. The IQ improved. Then I decided to let Tamron have a go at it after talking with them. As I mentioned, the turnaround was quick and the results were impressive. When I did my testing, I was quite pleased. FWIW, attached is a photo I made with the D810 and G2 (handheld) of the Christmas Star (Saturn and Jupiter) Dec. 2020. And I note that it was very cold and hard to hold the camera/lens steady. Yes, I should have used the tripod, but it was cold and I want to get inside fast! Even some of the moons can be seen.
Barry

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Hi Bob,

I have the Tamron lens and like it a lot. Beaware that the Tamron lens needs to be calibrated to your camera. I have both the D810 snd the D850. The lens can be calibrated by yourself using their TAP-IN device, but a better way is to send you8r camera and lens to the Tamron Service Center. They will, for no charge, clean and calibrate your lens to optimally work with your camera. Oh yes, they turnaround the service in a week, and return it FedEx at their expense. Better packaging I have seen from Nikon. The calibrated camera-lens combo has work very well. BTW, this is the only non-Nikon lens I have of my dozen plus lenses. Attached is a bluebird photo I took using the lens and cropped.

Have fun!
Barry

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After many trip around the world, I found that my D810 or D850 and the Nikor 28-300 mm lens does almost everything I have needed. Yes, I have pro glass trilogy, 150-600 mm lens, and a number of specialty lenses.

Enjoy the beauty of Hawaii and don’t be a pack mule.

I do suggest that you take a lightweight tripod so that you can take a few panoramic shots. Plan ahead.

Remember that beautiful photographs are made a good photographers who know how to use whatever equipment they have available. The very best camera gear in the hands of a poor photographer almost always yields poor photographs. 😃

Have a wonderful trip!

Coolhanduke wrote “iPhones versus Z0” (https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-754981-1.html) and concluded, “ I won't be getting rid of my Z9 or D850 anytime soon but the iPhone 14 pro will serve me well for my snapshots at events that I was going to buy a point and shoot for.” I perhaps have a different viewpoint.

There is an old water-powered mill in the valley below my home on a mountain north of the valley. On my way home from running an errand, I stopped on the way home to take a shot of the water mill. The sun was to my back and was just below the small mountain behind me. The sun was still high enough to brightly illuminate the trees on the mountain behind the mill on the other side of the valley. The trees are just starting to turn. I used my Sony RX100 VII (“M7”), which I often carry with me, to take the photograph (RAW). The focal length of the M7 used to take the shot was 62.4 mm at f/4.5 and 1/400s. Sadly, I neglected to take a shot with my iPhone 14 PRO MAX (“14PM”). The next day I tried to get there at about the same time, but the sun was now low enough that it was not directly illuminating the mountain behind the mill. The 14PM shot was taken at f/2.8, 1/24s, and a focal length of 77mm. This is the 2X camera setting.

Apple is a bit misleading in saying the 14PM is a 48MPixel camera. Yes, it has 48 MP, but the image data are captured only in 1X RAW (main camera). In non-RAW, 1X is 12 MP where blocks of 4 pixels are combined to make a larger pixel yielding a 12MP format. So how does Apple have a 2X camera when there are only three cameras? Simple, for the 2X camera, they don't make blocks of four pixels, but just use the central 12MP of the single pixels. This is true if normal or RAW in 2X. This trick allows them to use the same lens for both 1X and 2X. Clever. This means there are three lenses needed, viz., 13, 24, and 77mm. Also, Portrait uses the 77mm lens only. Pano can use all four magnifications, but not with 48MP in any of them; however, the 2X Pano is the only mode that provides single-pixel resolution.

The M7 is always 20 MPixel and optically changes the focal length and consequently, the FOV with a zoom lens. This optical zoom is 24 to 200mm or a ratio of 8.3:1 while the 14PM is 77/13 --> 5.9:1. Also, the M7 has a larger sensor (13.2 x 8.8 mm) than the 14PM sensor or 14 PRO sensor (9.8 x 7.3 mm) [the 14 sensor size is 7.5 x 5.7 mm].

The photographs I took are shown below, the first being from the M7 and the second image being from the 14PM. My overall experience with my former 13 PRO MAX and my current 14PM is that I rate both as generally acceptable for most applications. My M7 always I feel does a better job although, in many situations, the difference will be small. Both cameras are inferior to my D810 and D850. To be clear, the 14 PRO MAX can be used for capturing many great images, particularly if captured in RAW and using the manual mode when appropriate. The RX100 VII is a wonderful pocket camera that produces high-quality imagery. The D810 and D850 both can produce superior imagery, but who carries the big camera and lens around with them unless for a specific shot?

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Hi Fredrick,
Been there too and she is my favorite glacier. The old girl calved 7 times while we watched.

I do see a significant difference between the two photographs. The 12PM after your tweaking is very close to realism while the other is off the mark. Look at ice color and sky, and mountains colors. You should be able to have them look essentially the same since you are using Luminar (what flavor/version?).

My 13PM does a fine job if using RAW 12MPixels for many situations. But my RX100 VII does better for some situations and conditions, and my D850 and D810 can blow them both away for some scenes since I have a range of lenses to meet the needs. The new 14PM has more computational imaging to offer and the 15PM should be their first implementing full light field imaging. The processor in the 14PM uses I understand 3 nm technology and the 15PM will utilize 2 nm technology!

No matter how you dress up an ATV, it can’t go faster than a Corvette. 😀

My pleasure Ron. The iPhone 15 should have significantly greater computational optics capability. Apple has recently been awarded another light field US patent. Others have too such as Google and Microsoft. Goggle acquired Lytro. This will have a major impact on smartphone cameras. The iPhone 15 should have at least 5 times the computational capability of the 13 and better battery run time as well.

Have you ever seen something out the window of your home and by the time it takes you to get your Canon, Nikon, Sony, or whatever camera, the opportunity is lost? Why not use your smartphone camera since you, like most people today, are chained to it? The first photo shows a possible "why" when using the iPhone 13 Pro Max (13PM). When set to Photo Mode and the camera is close to the window, the camera wants to focus on the screen. A "trick" to fool the 13PM is to stand back from the window enough to allow the 13PM to focus on the part of the scene you desire. Then you carefully move the 13PM camera to the window pane (I have double pane windows with the distance from the screen to the inner pane being about 2"). The result is shown in the second photo. The image could be considered acceptable, but if you look carefully, a slight residual artifact of shooting through the screen can be observed.

I suggest a better way is to set the 13PM to the Portrait Mode which doesn't force the focus to the screen. In fact, unlike the other mode, one has some control over the focus and the depth of field (F/1.5 to F/16, tap the circled f in the upper right-hand corner of the display). The next two photographs show the result when photographing the hummingbird feeder. The screen artifact is not observable. Hey! A lady hummingbird flew into the frame just as I took the shot. After having a drink of my special hummingbird feeder elixir, she perched for a little rest.

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I have a Nikon D7000, D810, D850, RX100 VII and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Never use the D7000. The 13Pro Max is always with me and the imagery is not bad and often more than good enough. The D810 and D850 are both outstanding, but I must plan ahead when, where, and what I am shooting. I have over a dozen pro glass lenses for the cameras. Now, the RX100 VII (M7) fits in my pocket or in a nifty belt pouch and is a great grab and go camera. Its IQ is very good and suitable for most applications. The list of features is long and it takes a bit of learning to get the most from this fine camera.

For over two years, Sony has indicated that the M8 will be released soon. If it does, I'll buy one; however, I don't think the M8 will ever be available. What more can the M8 include or improve over the M7 that would make it a game changer? More pixels, faster processor, wider zoom range, hot shoe??? 20 Mpixels, 8.3x zoom, 64 (boosted) to 12,800 ISO, connectivity of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC, EVF, touch screen, and so on? What can Sony add to make the M8 a must have camera?

If I could have just one camera, the RX100 VII would be the be compromise.

Last time I was in RSA, there were something like 17 different systems that required specific plug faces for different systems. Often appliances came with pigtails and you have to install the proper plug. It would be smart to ask a contact there what you need.

Have fun. Beautiful country!