Look at photos taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Also Garry Winogrand. Cartier-Bresson is often considered a father or pioneer of street photography. I would set the camera at 1/500th a second. Or faster. Use 5.6, 8 or 11. Maybe manual focus at a distance of 5 or 6 feet. What camera are you using? Generally you would not use f 2 for street. Winogrand was known for f11 and a 28mm. Cartier-Bresson for a 50mm and f8 zone focused to 8 or 12 feet.

I have started using Amazon Prime photo for basic image back up. You can upload jpeg and NEF files at full size, but you need to do it using a computer and the Amazon app for that purpose. Uploads from a phone or a Kindle appear to be at a smaller jpeg size. The navigation is a bit cumbersome but I am in the experiment stage.

I have used a Tamron 150mm - 600mm in Africa with much success. Mine is G2 version. The VR is solid for hand holding. I do not like carrying it on flights, but am happy once there. Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia. I have made two trips. You often get close enough for good shots at closer range, but may get frustrated without the range. More important for birds than elephants. An 80-400mm or 100-400mm would probably work on a crop sensor. Before my second trip, I did much research for a smaller solution but did not make a change.

It is very difficult in my experience to have a successful landscape with out of focus foreground elements. Worth experimenting with but often does not work. Here the problem is the bright colors and a main subject other than the flowers. If it we're a field of flowers only, some OOF flowers in both foreground and background might work.

It is very difficult in my experience to have a successful landscape with out of focus foreground elements. Worth experimenting with but often does not work. Here the problem is the bright colors and a main subject other than the flowers. If it we're a field of flowers only, some OOF flowers in both foreground and background might work.

Second that. An excellent camera. If you have the 18-55mm kit lens, you have a nice lens. If you want to consider a different look with shallow depth of field consider adding a 35mm Nikon DX prime lens. If you use those two lens for awhile you will see what, if anything else you might enjoy for the hobby. Maybe add a spare battery.

I would consider a Tamron 28-300mm, a 35 or 50mm prime, and a wide angle--maybe a 15mm Rokinon.

A couple of shots from Beng Mealea, Cambodia. One of the best spots i have been to experiment with black and white photos. Enjoy.

(Download)


(Download)

It is most flexible to shoot RAW and convert. However, I often shoot b&w jpeg. You will want to adjust your camera settings for b&w to taste. I set sharpening to 5.5, increase clarity .5, decrease contrast .5, increase brightness .25 or .5. The filter effects can help in certain situations and unlike a real filter do not reduce f stops. For example, to change the look of red rocks. I have found that the filter effects do not help as much as I would like for a blue sky. Here a circular polarizer can help.

The brucewells portfolio collection looks rather professional to me. More accomplished than amateur. I enjoyed visiting the link.

I will post a few more details shortly.

That is an excellent idea.

I like them even though there are limitations. The device is sold as a loss leader I suspect so you will use Amazon services.

If you have an Amazon Prime account and travel with a Kindle to read and watch videos, etc. the following may be of interest. I have a Kindle Fire 8. It will hold a micro SD card up to 256 GB, which I installed to hold movies and music. There is, however, a lot of extra space and I decided to see how I might use it to back up photos while travelling. I can hook a cable up to my Nikon cameras and transfer photos directly to the device. The Kindle itself has only about 8 GB of space on the device, but I have over 200 GB on the micro SD card. I have found that I can transfer both jpg and NEF files to the Kindle Photos file. I can then move them to the SC card, freeing up space on the device. There is a file transfer utility called "ES" which is free and allows you to do this. You can then view the photos using an Amazon photos app--and also upload photos to Amazon--which gives you unlimited file storage. Transferring from a Kindle to Amazon is not ideal, because you can only upload jpg files--the site says 2mb in size, but it seems it will take up to 4mb or thereabouts. However, if you later do the upload from a computer using the Amazon utility, you can upload full sized files, including NEF files. Amazon recognizes the NEF as a photo file, so storage is unlimited. Thus, on returning home you can do a proper off site storage. In the meantime, you have local backup storage on a second device which you can use to review photos, etc.


This is no substitute for the convenience of an Adobe Lightroom CC subscription with a cloud, etc. and an iPad. But, if you do not plan on doing any serious edits while you are away from home--or only adjust a NEF in camera to create a jpeg, this might be of interest. Even if you do not have a prime account, you might use it for back up. With the Prime Account, you can at least upload some memories on the road, and view each days work. You might do this solution for around $110 dollars for the Kindle, the 256 GB micro SD card, and an adapter to connect the Kindle to the camera cord.

If you already use a Kindle for travel, it might help you travel light. If you already have an iPad and a Lightroom CC subscription this might be of little or no interest (unless you wanted an inexpensive device to travel with).

If anyone uses such a set up or has any insight into how to make the Kindle work better, I would be curious for any tips. The Kindle would be a better product if it had less of an advertising orientation and a bit more function. For example, it makes little sense to not allow the Kindle device to upload a RAW file. If it even had that little extra bit of function, it would be handier.

I can highly recommend the Epson R3000. I print a lot of B&W. My local photo store uses larger Epson printers. When I want I larger B&W print, I use them but u must be careful that the operator change the settings for a B&W print. Otherwise, you may get a slight color cast. I give specific instructions, and sometimes go in the back room and show the operator how to do it. My choice of paper is very limited at the photo store because the printers are loaded with large rolls of Epson photo lustre. I like to use other papers, and find flexibility with the home printer. I think you want one black for glossy and a different one for matte. And, you want to be able to use a special profile designed for each different paper.

I do not know what the current Epson version of the R3000 may be but I would look at that.