Ahhhh,...a molotov cocktail with wheels.

Martys here,......
To all who commented above on Ricks post......
To those who were kind enough to view my work and webpages.....
I'm truly humbled by the kind comments,...I have no words.

I'm just one of many, many lifelong photo enthusiasts out there,.....like yourselves.
I'm truly taken aback and humbled to say the least.
A heartfelt thanks,.....your generous words are totally unexpected.
I'm just one of many, many photography enthusiasts out there,....an old timer who still enjoys exploring
hands on use of the toys,...what I call "the mechanics of photography",........my techy fix.
Many years of immersing myself to the nth degree,....has not in the least diminished the joy I experience.
Again,....many thanks.
Martys

Thanks so much imagemeister,....appreciated muchly.

All the images were taken on a Nikon D810.

If any are interested in the technical data I will gladly provide it.

I just purchased a Zeiss 100mm Makro, Planar T*, ZF2 from Rick from NY. here on UHH
Rick was very accommodating throughout the transaction.
I most definitely recommend his reliability.

Macro of a crab spider.
Meadow Lupines
Spiny Rose Gall
Misty Moon at West Quoddy Head Lighthouse


Am enjoying working with this lens and all its capabilities.
It's definitely not collecting dust.
Thanks muchly Rick

There's always the argumentative use of the word,..................up yours....................lol

Additional John Shaw information concerning the details of camera and metering calibration may be read in his publication titled "The Nature Photographers Complete Guide To Professional Field Techniques".....on pages 18 thru 27

I haven't seen any articles in recent memory,......about the calibrating your particular camera to properly use the "Sunny f16 Rule for Shooting"
I first saw it demonstrated and explained reading John Shaw's books and serve as a curiosity against today's digit cameras.
Cameras back in the day were manual,...camera metering was the the new included norm thus the calibration article.

The cameras at that time used a thru the lens (TTL) metering system.
TTL meters of that era read a true medium tone subject value differently,...surely less precise than today's complex sensors..............anyway

John Shaw stated.....
A camera meter does not think, there's no guarantee to assume it always gives the correct exposure value for any scene.

The typical premise is to.....set your camera to f16........then set the shutter speed to the closest reciprical of that ISO.....as the shutter speed to then use........example: ISO 200 = 1/250 sec shutter speed to use.....ISO 400= 1/500 sec. and so forth as typically practiced using the f16 rule.

But then,........point the camera at a true medium tone area (mid day north blue sky is often used or
a good non reflective gray card)..........Now,...on your camera,....Dial in (change) your ISO till the camera meter....aligns and corresponds to the proper exposure with those other two settings......Chances are,....that shutter speed will vary somewhat from the reciprocal of the ISO mentioned previously.

That new ISO,.....then will be your true and new ISO to use and set when shooting at say, ISO 200,..
(for that TTL camera and its meter only) from now on when shooting and using the sunny f16 rule.
This calibration is repeated at each ISO you might plan on using with each camera.....thus calibrating that camera and its TTL metering to properly use with the "Sunny f16 shooting rule".

Now with the newly calculated ISOs being used you proceed and expose your....."below medium tone subjects"..."medium tone subjects,.....and above medium tone subjects,...metering as you would normally do using the sunny f16 rule.

The new ISOs calibrated are used in this way,....each camera and its TTL metering system being uniquely calibrated with its inherent minor differences taken into account while shooting the sunny f16 rule.

True,.....films then, especially transparency films such as Kodachrome were much less forgiving.

Anyway it's still interesting concept to explore for those so inclined or curious about splitting hairs with the sunny f16 rule.

John Shaw's 1987 book..."Closeups in Nature",....pages 20 -23 goes into much more detail for any who might be interested in the article.

After reading all that nearby news,....I think id also give up reading Jerry!!!.....lol

I've been with Fine Art America for over 10 years now and have been pleased overall considering the hundreds of thousands and thousands of very talented artists who display and sell there.
FAA does NO marketing of anyone's work,...It's up to you,....it's a (You Do The Marketing) website and service.

They provide you a website/storefront an you take the time to set it up to look good and do ALL the marketing legwork to bring viewers and hopefully buyers to your site.
There's a little learning curve with any choice site,...FAA has lots of helpful artists and a great discussion group with many willing to give and share advice how to best sell.
It's $30.00/year,......You can upload and post as many of your pieces as you like.
You set your own $$ profit per piece margin is how it works.
It took me over a year to sell my first print,....I have been fortunate to have it pay for itself since then,....have done acceptable some years,...not so much others,......very occasional sales on average,...my marketing skills leave much to be desired but I do use a little social media.

Since smart phone technology has really taken hold,....I've noticed things diminish accordingly......lol.
Everyone now has a camera at the ready 24/7 and many regularly post to social media and to such selling websites..many newbies abound wherever you go seeking professional recognition flooding the sites with mediocre work mixed in with the highly talented artists.

There are many similar services,..... I will stay with FAA since I am now familiar with it's workings.
Some there do make more sales I'm sure due to being extremely savy on marketing as well as fluent in online techniques that aids in giving them better results.
Many artists have developed a following of buyers or display subject specific interests that appeal to a particular buyer and or customer.
I wish you luck.

Oh I remember,...then searching the stacks to match the alpha/numerical numbers for each book.

Got to admit,....the cabinet of drawers was some nice carpentry work,....I can still hear the drawers sliding open and closed in my mind.

The word,...Money,...always worked for me.

I shared wedding cake with mine and it's worked nonstop since.

Think about looking at Ease Us To Do Backup Home
Here's a link to review by Tech Republic.......(https://www.techrepublic.com/article/easeus-todo-backup-home-review/)
I used Acronis True Image for several years till their backup archives became too bloated in size, above 25GBs,.... and I could no longer burn them to 25GB Blu-ray disks which were easy to run to perform any restore system requirements,....rather than bulk up my on computer drive space.
I tried and switched to "Ease Us To Do Backup Home which at that time was functional on their free download trial version. I now use their Version 11.5 flawlessly.
I have been pleased and rely on Ease Us for all my backup needs and really like the "System Backup feature and their "Clone" functions saving directly to a spare SSD drives which allow me to just simply swap my computer SSD in seconds should things ever go awry.

As an aside,.....................
'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button "
Benjamin (Brad Pitt) travels the world, and writes of his journey to share with his daughter. ... Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences.
This movie has been around for quite some time,...I only recently found and viewed it on you tube.
It's a long movie at two hours and forty six minutes and well done I thought.