Thanks

My apprehension on LR/PS has been there from the (recent) beginning of my DSLR learning, but the recent changes have perhaps raised my level of worry. I have no doubt the Adobe suite of products, having listened to the pros on this site, is excellent, but more worry that is is just too much for a starting amateur whom does not want to publish or sell - just share with friends and family and have good pics of my own kids. I would like to do more than what auto-correct on MAC Photos would do, but I am not going to spend 30 minutes adjusting every keeper (at least until I retire!)

As for sharing, I have Dropbox and wetransfer for moving these files around rather than email.

Some members have reached out to me by PM. Thank you

Hi all

As some of you know, I am still a Newbie, having returned to photography this fall and still very new to DSLR. Now about 1500 shots into this new hobby, mostly of school sports events. While I have read and watched a lot, and taken my first community access photography class, the intro class to “digital darkroom” and PP scheduled for this month was postponed until winter.

This has left me a bit stuck. I was counting on that class to be able to process about 2 dozen shots into Christmas gifts for friends, and now not sure I an do any kind of a decent job. Add to that the confusion/apprehension caused by the change in Adobe’s offerings vs going in another direction with other software, and I feel very stuck at the moment.

So, with Christmas fast approaching, I was hoping to find a UHH member that might help me do a bit of PP on about 20-24 pictures. Enough to clean them up to make decent individual shots (8x10) or as a collage, in which case the largest will likely be 5x7 or smaller. I have tried just cropping and using programmed exposure fixes via Mac Photos on the jpegs, but for the Christmas shots I would like to do a bit more with the RAWs that I have dilligently collected and saved.

All were shot on a Nikon D7200 with either a 18-85 or a 70-210 lens. Almost all are sports shots (middle school level) XC running, soccer, and maybe some BBall, but 1 school play that will be quite noisy due to having to shoot handheld with high ISO. All where shot using auto-ISO but most are in the 200-800 range. Hopefully, the exposures are somewhat close and highlights not too blow out. My biggest challenge was I think learning how to focus decently on moving targets Frankly, you would be dealing with someone who is still in the steep part of the learning curve.

Not expecting, nor needing, perfection (and with my starting material, my expectations are I think need to be “just” reasonable). Frankly, just looking to get a bit better than what Photos could do for me on the jpegs alone.

So, if any member would like to help, I would really appreciate it. This number is more than I could ask reasonably ask someone to do for free , but I am an amateur/hobbiest so can’t afford too much (will eat into my XMAS equipment wish list!) but time is worth $$ so if we can work something out, I would be more than happy.

Thanks in advance for your consideration

Wish you had done this 3 months ago!!!

Nice combo at a good price

Will smartphones replace a segement of the market? Yes. Wil they keep having more features and be able to take better and more complex photos? Will the inscreen editing capabilities improve? Yes (just see the new iPhone “portrait” mode.

That said? will phones replace a full functioning DSLR - not for the foreseeable future. I just got back into photography because my iPhone/iPad could not take the shots I wanted. The small sensors on these devices will not be able to control DOF. They (for a long while) will not have 20mp+ sensors. They will not have the quality of glass available to us today. And I, for one, cannot imagine a 400 mm lens on the back of my phone.

JMHO.

PS. No, I don’t want my DSLR to talk on the phone. Happy just to chat on my phone while my camera sits on the tripod waiting for that shot

I like these a lot

Not sure, based on the shadows, that I understand how/when you were using the flash (except perhaps the cheerleaders).

I too would like to know your settings on the various shots. It first I thought you were indicating f2.8,but now I think that is just the lens. Your sharpness is nice, balanced by good DoF

Can I ask what AF pattern you are using, especially on the non-single subject shots? I have been using D9 on my Nikon, but occasionally find that I shoot “through the gap”, especially on 2 player type shots like what you have on the catch. (Or was that a larger shot where you focused on one of them, and then cropped it in PP to be centered?

Love your shots

Not having been to a wedding recently, have yet to experience this.

That said, I saw it all them time shooting country this fall, with parents progressively stepping further and further into the course to get the smartphone shot

Hi

I tried to take up Markngolf on his generous offer for Picassa, but alas it was for a Windows version.

Does anyone here know of a safe website they would recommend to find Picassa for Mac?

Thanks

Not being (yet) a purchaser/subscriber of any digital darkroom software, the debate on LR/PS vs alternatives has been timely. (4 months into DSLR and just finished my first local photog class - about to move to start learning PP).

I don’t really know if I mind the subscription model. I have lots of subscriptions (my cable bill - via which I have the internet connection on which I an write this), my cell phone, Netflix, certain subscription websites, etc. All of these cost much more than $10 a month. Some of them MUCH more (look at your cable bill lately?). I have been paying $100 per year for my MS office subscription, usable on multiple devices, and have been relatively happy - as happy as one can ever be with a Microsoft program :(

$120 per year - less than 1 dinner with the family - less than I spend of coffee - less than the paint I just bought for the front porch. While I find the debate on the quality/usefulness of LR classic (and/or LR) quite appropriate and informative, I think the debate of $120 per year, which then includes updates to both programs, frankly offputting on real impact to annual finances. I just bought a camera and lens for 10 times (actually more- but don’t tell my wife) that much - and I doubt I will have any of this gear 10 years from now.

Same debate over autos. Do you buy or lease? Market competition keeps effective lease vs purchase costs about the same. Which is better depends on how often you want to upgrade. I don’t know about you, but when I purchased my Subaru, they did not promise to give me monthly upgrades with new features except for recalls (aka bug fixes) for life. If I want the latest/greatest as soon at comes out, would likely be happier with a short/mid term lease.

I think some comments above are on target here
-Jerry - note his $170 for 55 months (purchase plus updates). About $3/month. If he wants more frequent upgrades, likely would start more closely the new subscription cost
-blackest. Interesting walk through history. How much as could/mobile computing changed since 2013? And, as pointed out above, indefinitely does not mean forever. It means to a yet undetermined point in the future.
-chgcanon has it right, as usual. If you like a single purchase LR, buy it now. Will likely be good for several years. You will not have to move for a while, and by then other programs may be as good or better, if you don’t like the offerings now.

The competitive marketplace will provide different options that appeal to different users (we don’t own/lease the same car do we?).

I don’t see any value in getting “pissed off” at this. I can buy LR6 as a stand alone and use it for a few years, go to other options (both free and paid), or now have two options via subscription for LR CC. All of these for less than my Netflix subscription.

Seems to me, life is pretty good on this front

I am much more “pissed off” at my bundled cable bill, to which I don’t have competitive options here in rural VT. And it went up more than $10/month just this year....

PS. And while I cannot see a Raiders fan being “pissed off” at the moment, I could certainly see being in “constant disappoint” - says a Patriots fan.

-too complicated - and that means expensive, for a feature many would not regular use
-much cheaper to carry one spare battery, which you probably do already

The only advantage I can see is if you were shooting a variable scene, but then you are probably not in the 4-8 timeframe anyway

Jules - thanks for the comments. Every time i shoot, I am finding myself going closer and closer to the final size i want so that I have less adjustment to make (and therefore a less noisy image from cropping down). The learning curve is, of course, learning how to track and anticipate the action so that the closer image is framed properly from the start. What I am still experimenting with is DoF. I will post a few of my better images for your comments suggestions in the next week.

to your early comment - keep going out. I am amazed at how my thought processes changed from the first X-country race this season to the last. Where I am shooting from? Where is the light and how will it show in the pics? Where can I position myself so some Joe-Bob does not decide to plant himself between me and the images I want? Since I can't shoot it all well, what images am I looking for that day, and where do I need to be to get them. The UHH members have been incredibly helpful on helping me get some of the controls dialed in (I have only had the camera for 90 days) for this rather narrow use.

Thanks

Ah - I like those much better. I am more prone to the group action stuff and "portraits". that said, those girls, or especially their parents, will really appreciate these.

Who knows. I may get brave enough to post some of my own. My fear is not so much of the picture, its that I have not yet learned a digital darkroom editing tool so the pics are cropped, but otherwise unfinished. Class starts next month I hope. (I have about 800 RAW images ready to drop in - hopefully a few keepers.)

Nice. I always learn from your series of shots.

Would #3 (inbound pass) be better with the top section (maybe just below the dark windows on the left) cropped out? Just wondering if having a picture that is "non standard" shape is worth getting some of the distraction out? (Not dissing the shot - which is wonderful timing and sharpness, but really trying to learn if it is better to use "typical" formats for printing vs really tight cropping)

Jules - as an aspiring hobbyist just starting to shoot school sports, impressive to see how you compose shots

Thomas - as always, beautiful. Show why you are the artist/professional and I am... still and will remain ... a hobbyist

Welcome from another VT enthusiast, though you are light years ( our is that light rooms?) ahead of me

Thanks for the menu direction. Saves me from going into that horrible manual :). I also have my buttons set to CF when pressed and freeze when released. I am trying to train myself to use this to allow another player to "cross" my target and not change focus by releasing as they go through the frame.

R/