General photography related stuff thread

[TequilaMockingbird]

Like this:
http://www.photosbylm.com/p462674913/e5b19c136

Thought this was a neat effect as well, removing the background and adding a large lens flare.
http://www.photosbylm.com/p462674913/e5b19c9b7

[Racetrackreject]

Oooh, I'm not techincally talented enough to do that stuff..lol. It seems like there are some actions you can get that do some these things though.

[WheresMyWhite]

RTR, you can get the bottom effect through the post-crop vignetting that LR had (Under Develop > Effects, near the bottom of the options on the right).

I have messed with vignetting which I do like if there is a specific area of the photo I want to draw attention to.

TM, are those photo's HDR? They look like they might be. Most HDR isn't my personal taste Some of what you are now looking at will be very personal taste with what one person likes vs another.

The best part of digital photography (yes, you could do it also with film but not as easily) is you can mess with photos and then delete them. I shoot Raw and use LR to make "virtual copies" of photos so I can mess with a photo in many different ways and still easily fall back to the "original" if I want to keep messing.

[Racetrackreject]

RTR, you can get the bottom effect through the post-crop vignetting that LR had (Under Develop > Effects, near the bottom of the options on the right).

Oooh, I should have known that..lol. I used to play around with that sort of thing, but I've determined that's it not really my style. Tony Stromberg does some really interesting stuff that is similar, and some using textures, that I do love though.

This could have been done all in camera, but I suspect there are some other things going on.


How do you guys feel about sunflares? I've been shooting a lot of sunflared stuff lately because it's what people have wanted, but I'm not sure how I feel about it.

[Suzon]

That picture from Tony is a mixture of in camera and post. He definitely manipulates the lights and darks to bring out existing textures and bring focus to the subect. I'm fairly confident the wall is the actual background.

[viscountessleftfield]

I love sunflare RTR, I shoot for haze and flare!

The LisaMarie links above look like fake skies, it doens't look HDR to me. Not my style, but it is beautiful work!

Florabella makes pretty sunflare actions, I admit to using them when I can't get what I want in camera. I use light leaks, flares, and sunbeams from them. Florabella and Mastin help me keep my brand consistent, that and shooting portrait sessions at golden hour! I need dreamy light to make good stuff happen!

[Racetrackreject]

I love sunflare RTR, I shoot for haze and flare!

The LisaMarie links above look like fake skies, it doens't look HDR to me. Not my style, but it is beautiful work!

Florabella makes pretty sunflare actions, I admit to using them when I can't get what I want in camera. I use light leaks, flares, and sunbeams from them. Florabella and Mastin help me keep my brand consistent, that and shooting portrait sessions at golden hour! I need dreamy light to make good stuff happen!

I looked at the Mastin actions, but they were a little pricey for something that I don't know if I will use or like. I'm going to check out the Florabella ones too. Thanks.

I thought those looked like sky replacement as well, which I would like to try some time, but I want something a bit more natural.

Let's play a quick game of which lens. I have to shoot a handicapped rodeo tomorrow. Some of the kids cannot be photographed and they will be wearing a wristband to designate that they cannot be photographed. I'm stuck on what lens to take. I will be in the arena with the kids and they will be on leads. I was thinking I need a zoom and was going to go with my 70-200, but then I wonder if I will be able to get far enough back to get shots since there will likely be a lot of helpers. I started thinking maybe I should bring my 50mm. Any suggestions?

[Suzon]

I have a 24-105 that I bring for those in-between situations. Since I have two bodies, I throw that on the second body and then I don't have to worry about if I have the right lens. It's also a good range if you can only do one lens and you have a crop-frame camera. The drawback, of course, is it only opens to F4. But if it sounds like a good option, you could rent one for the day.

[Racetrackreject]

I have a 24-105 that I bring for those in-between situations. Since I have two bodies, I throw that on the second body and then I don't have to worry about if I have the right lens. It's also a good range if you can only do one lens and you have a crop-frame camera. The drawback, of course, is it only opens to F4. But if it sounds like a good option, you could rent one for the day.

That would be great, and I do have a 24-85 that I could bring, but it's going to rain so they are moving the whole thing into the most horribly lit indoor arena possible. I'm going to need that 2.8 at minimum, I'm afraid, and my 24-85 is variable 3.5-5.6.

I could rent if the whole thing wasn't tomorrow! LOL. Everyone thought someone else had contacted me, and when one of the directors happened to see me recently, he mentioned this event and I just had a blank stare for him.

[WheresMyWhite]

RTR, my sympathies on the challenging shooting environment ... haven't dealt with rain but have with bright sun... no fun...

[BlueMayPop]

Tequila Mockingbird--I'd find a nice, beginning Photoshop course and take it. One of the first things you'll learn how to do is to re-size.

As for me, I've not been shooting much for many reasons. But how I mostly use Photoshop is this: for most photos, I use unsharp mask or smart sharpen pretty much automatically. My Pentax tends to take photos a bit "soft". Then I find I usually need to brighten a bit, maybe fix the highlights a bit, tweak the contrast a bit, and very rarely I tweak the saturation--only to make the photo look like what I actually saw--I don't think of that as cheating

[BlueMayPop]

Bright sun is the worst! Love the bright, filtered light, of course.

[WheresMyWhite]

RTR, any update on your shoot on Friday, I think it was? Inquiring minds want to know

[Racetrackreject]

RTR, any update on your shoot on Friday, I think it was? Inquiring minds want to know

I ended up taking the 70-200 with a 50, 35, and 24-85 in the car as backup, and I ended up using the 70-200. Of course it rained the whole time, but I stayed for a few hours and was able to get about 600ish photos for them. The zoom was great because I could get under the announcer's stand in the arena and shoot, so I didn't get completely drenched by the rain.

Note to self, must buy rain gear.

[PaulaO]

This is such a basic question, I'm almost embarrassed to ask. I have 1,200 pictures on a USB stick. What free program do I use to save and rename them? I only have Windows Photo Viewer on my laptop.

[Racetrackreject]

I think you can do it with Windows Photo Viewer. Once you have the photo open, just click the drop down menu and choose "make a copy", then you can save it and rename the file.

If you want to just move all of them at one time, you can select them all from the USB stick, then hit copy, and just paste them over to a file on your computer. You would then need to rename them manually though.

[Racetrackreject]

Sweet baby J, did I have one heck of a photoshoot yesterday. It was pouring rain and had been for a while, so it was just about dark outside all day long. I had taken a video light and a flash with triggers, so I think were ok.

Looking at some of the photos last night, I couldn't really put my finger on what I didn't like about them, but I switched up my editing a bit and found a place where I liked the result.

I have had my flash for a little while now, but this we definitely a trial by fire. Any tips on a single flash, or flash with video light setup for single person portraits? I do have triggers for my flash and I"m thinking about getting another flash with triggers for future use.

I don't really like to shoot inside, and these photos were done outside, but it was just so dark. I used my nifty fifty lens.

[viscountessleftfield]

I have four flashes, with triggers, a ring light, and a video light.

Most of the time I shoot with one speedlight, held by a person, with a white umbrella.

I love, love, love nighttime photography! I have to resize *everything* I post here, but I'll try to dig up some outdoor, speedlight shots.

What triggers do you have?

[Racetrackreject]

I have four flashes, with triggers, a ring light, and a video light.

Most of the time I shoot with one speedlight, held by a person, with a white umbrella.

I love, love, love nighttime photography! I have to resize *everything* I post here, but I'll try to dig up some outdoor, speedlight shots.

What triggers do you have?

They are just some cheapos that came with my cheapo flash(Alturra?) I bought on Amazon (klassy! $80). I wasn't really doing a lot of portrait type photography that needed flash, so I just bought something to play with to see if I wanted to invest in a speedlight.

I had forgotten my big reflector at home or I would have tried that in lieu of an umbrella!! I did have a stand that I could, and probably should have, remoted the flash off of. There was a space issue though as were on a narrow porch walkway. I had my video light on a gorilla pod and I just kept strapping it everywhere to offset the flash.

I'll have to try and post a photo of an example.

[WheresMyWhite]

Since VLF opened the door

I have reservations for

https://www.dbg.org/events/bruce-munro-sonoran-light

(3 different nights... ). Two of the nights include

https://www.dbg.org/events/las-noches-de-las-luminarias

I have in my hand the D750 and the 70-200mm f2.8.

Suggestions on where to start with ISO and exposure compensation...

If I use the histogram on the back of the camera, push to the right as far as I can before it starts clipping or set exposure in the middle of the histogram or ???

I will have multiple attempts to get good photos but looking for thoughts/suggestions on where to start

I have done the Denver Botanic Garden's holiday display of Blossoms of Light (and usually end up freezing my b*tt off) so this is a bit different (and not near so cold ).

[lorilu]

You all are much more experienced than I am.... I have an old Minolta Alpha D (before the Sony buy out) that I like, but I am getting tired of carrying it around. I miss the days of film and my great little pentax spotmatic. I miss the little depth of field window on the old lenses, though. I liked to play with placing my subject.

Anyway, I am thinking of getting a mirrorless camera. Any opinions on the Sony a6000?

These pics are from a recent trip to Yosemite. I don't have photoshop - just a bit of editing in Office 2010.
I couldn't get the files small enough (how small do they need to be??) so I stuck them in photobucket http://s259.photobucket.com/user/lucaslphotos/library/Yoemite%20July%202015%20for%20DD

[Snork]

This is such a basic question, I'm almost embarrassed to ask. I have 1,200 pictures on a USB stick. What free program do I use to save and rename them? I only have Windows Photo Viewer on my laptop.

You might like Picasa. It is a google product, free, and works well. Allows you to do some basic editing and resizes properly for DDBB.

[Racetrackreject]

Anyway, I am thinking of getting a mirrorless camera. Any opinions on the Sony a6000?

These pics are from a recent trip to Yosemite. I don't have photoshop - just a bit of editing in Office 2010.
I couldn't get the files small enough (how small do they need to be??) so I stuck them in photobucket http://s259.photobucket.com/user/lucaslphotos/library/Yoemite%20July%202015%20for%20DD

I think the a6000 takes good photos, but I will say that I know someone who has uses one for their photography business and I do not like the way photos themselves look. They are sharp and in focus and composed well, but there is something about the color and dimension of the photos themselves that doesn't look quite right to me. That's just my personal opinion as this person gets many compliments from riders on her photos, but I just feel they often look flat, both in tone and dimension. It could be the settings or editing though. I still think it's a good camera and I've considered getting one to keep in my purse for those on the fly photos. I would love the a7, but I don't want to spend that much for a camera to mostly sit in my purse..lol.

[viscountessleftfield]

Since VLF opened the door

I have reservations for

https://www.dbg.org/events/bruce-munro-sonoran-light

(3 different nights... ). Two of the nights include

https://www.dbg.org/events/las-noches-de-las-luminarias

I have in my hand the D750 and the 70-200mm f2.8.

Suggestions on where to start with ISO and exposure compensation...

If I use the histogram on the back of the camera, push to the right as far as I can before it starts clipping or set exposure in the middle of the histogram or ???

I will have multiple attempts to get good photos but looking for thoughts/suggestions on where to start

I have done the Denver Botanic Garden's holiday display of Blossoms of Light (and usually end up freezing my b*tt off) so this is a bit different (and not near so cold ).

Here's my 'rules' for night stuff with the D750 -

If the ISO is below 2000, you can underexpose a half a stop without trouble. If the ISO is between 2000 - 4000 being spot in is great, if I err I'd rather slightly over expose, over 4000 I overexpose a half a stop.

Remember you're going to have really dark areas and bright lights, so you'll probably clip your blacks and whites. That's okay with twinkle light photos.

I crank my D750 up to 8000 at weddings without a problem. I might would consider renting an 85 1.4 or 50 1.4, that gives you another stop, they aren't as sensitive to vibration, etc...

[viscountessleftfield]

You all are much more experienced than I am.... I have an old Minolta Alpha D (before the Sony buy out) that I like, but I am getting tired of carrying it around. I miss the days of film and my great little pentax spotmatic. I miss the little depth of field window on the old lenses, though. I liked to play with placing my subject.

Anyway, I am thinking of getting a mirrorless camera. Any opinions on the Sony a6000?

These pics are from a recent trip to Yosemite. I don't have photoshop - just a bit of editing in Office 2010.
I couldn't get the files small enough (how small do they need to be??) so I stuck them in photobucket http://s259.photobucket.com/user/lucaslphotos/library/Yoemite%20July%202015%20for%20DD

Max file size is 256k

I like the Sony line, I don't know much about the A6000, but I've thought about the A7x for myself. There are a lot of video guys who use the Sony products with great results.

[WheresMyWhite]

VLF, thank you!

Good suggestion on renting - do you have any preferred rental companies to work with? I might try to get one for one of my visits. I have the 105 prime but it's also f2.8.

Do you use the histogram on the back to help with setting appropriate exposure compensation?

The Munro light sculptures are there for a while (and are included in admission). The Luminaria are there every year but for a shorter period of time (and cost additional).

Interesting to know how far you'd push the ISO on the D750 (8000 makes me cringe a bit inside) but if you've had success, I'll give it a try )

PS. Yes, I know that the bright lights + nighttime will be a good challenge for me which I why I was looking for suggestions

[WheresMyWhite]

I found a nice lens (Nikkor 58mm f1.4) on borrowlenses. (This bad boy is NOT cheap to buy; definitely cheaper to rent to see if I need to start saving ).

Are they a good company to work with?

Good recommendation for any other lens to try?

Do you recommend the extra $$ for the damage waiver?

[Racetrackreject]

Borrowlenses has a good reputation. I will say though, that just recently, someone on one of the photo-groups received a lens with 2 large cracks in the lens glass from them. They were cracks that could not be missed if anyone actually looked at the lens, and the renter said that the way the lens was packed, there did not seem to be a way that the cracks could have happened in transit. I'm not sure how borrowlenses handled the problem because I did not follow the thread, but I just thought that I would put that out there for you.


Looking for recommendations for a rental lens- Client wants me to photograph her home, inside, with the Christmas decorations put out. Do I need something like a 14 or 11, or would a 20 something do it?

[viscountessleftfield]

The 58 1.4 is on borrow lenses? That baby is compared to Ziess glass all the time! I want one!

I've never used borrowlenses, I always rent local.

RTR, on a full frame for real estate you probably want a 20 - 24, aspherical - it keeps the distortion down. I use a 19-35 for my real estate work and fix verticals in PS.

[WheresMyWhite]

I have the Nikkor 14-24 (but it's not fast enough for the night stuff). Got it to do "architecture" photos but just now getting around to wanting to play with it...

I'll have to poke around to see if there are local places that rent lenses that have that lens. I didn't see anything else on borrowlenses with that fast an f stop.

VLF, I am afraid I will want one as well after I use it - and it is not cheap ... sigh!

[viscountessleftfield]

Borrow lens has the 50 1.4, 85 1.4, and the 35 1.4. The 58 is supposed to be amazing, but I have the 50 and have used the 85 enough to know they're great lenses. I don't really like the 85 length, it's not for me, but it's still a solid lens.

[WheresMyWhite]

I have the 58 1.4 reserved and set to arrive the day before i need it I'll keep it for both nights with Luminaria and decide in january what I want to shoot just the Sonoran Light exhibit with

It looks like it would also be a great tabletop lens as well.

I did look local and the two places that came up in Google for lens rentals are on the other side of Phoenix (which is not all that fun a drive).

Got my fingers crossed the lens I get is in good shape. Borrowlenses actually has a used 58 1.4 for sale for cheap but it has dust in the lens and something else was wrong with it - so I'll save my $$ for time time being.

A final, late PS mostly for VLF... given the f1.4G is available in 58 and 85, new and Nikon refurb, the same price (refurb is $200 less) which lens do you feel is more versatile/practical for outdoor night shooting as well as tabletop??

[WheresMyWhite]

A general question on shooting pictures when one is 'out in public'.

I get that if I pay to attend something (event, zoo, botanic gardens, etc) that I need to read/review their photography policy so I know what I can and can't take photos of and what I can do with those photos (usually just no commercial use...).

But what if I am out at the local baseball field (in the parking lot, not owned by any one baseball team but where the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians hold their spring training; can I take photos of anything I want from their parking lot (i.e., of trees across the street, or the skyline for example) as long as people aren't identifiable? There is an airport close by that has a number of older commercial aircraft that have been "mothballed". Can I take photos of those? Could I use photos from either of these shoots for commercial purposes? What about sitting in a grocery store parking lot and shooting across the street at a cool tree silhouette? Could I use that for commercial purposes?

And note to self. I put on the 14-28 to go and take pictures of a no-longer-used dog track not far away that I thought I could get some cool sunset, silhouette photos with. Couldn't get close enough to the building even the driveway has been both fenced off and destroyed. And the 14-28 sucks at skyline shots... (well, unless you want little itty bitty skylines )

VLF, (and yes, I am still fussing), how do I get the histogram of the photo to show on playback on the D750. I'm still looking but haven't figured it out yet.

[Racetrackreject]

A general question on shooting pictures when one is 'out in public'.

I get that if I pay to attend something (event, zoo, botanic gardens, etc) that I need to read/review their photography policy so I know what I can and can't take photos of and what I can do with those photos (usually just no commercial use...).

But what if I am out at the local baseball field (in the parking lot, not owned by any one baseball team but where the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians hold their spring training; can I take photos of anything I want from their parking lot (i.e., of trees across the street, or the skyline for example) as long as people aren't identifiable? There is an airport close by that has a number of older commercial aircraft that have been "mothballed". Can I take photos of those? Could I use photos from either of these shoots for commercial purposes? What about sitting in a grocery store parking lot and shooting across the street at a cool tree silhouette? Could I use that for commercial purposes?

And note to self. I put on the 14-28 to go and take pictures of a no-longer-used dog track not far away that I thought I could get some cool sunset, silhouette photos with. Couldn't get close enough to the building even the driveway has been both fenced off and destroyed. And the 14-28 sucks at skyline shots... (well, unless you want little itty bitty skylines )

VLF, (and yes, I am still fussing), how do I get the histogram of the photo to show on playback on the D750. I'm still looking but haven't figured it out yet.

The baseball field would be a yes for photos and commercial use, imo, as would most of the other places mentioned. Taking photos of people in a public place, even if they are identifiable is typically ok (think of what paparazzi get away with). As for the airfield, that's a little fuzzy as it's under special guidelines, and I would think that you might need to ask permission for that one.

For histogram, don't you just hit the up or down arrow key when you are in playback mode to see the histogram? I cant' remember if it's up or down for some reason, I'm thinking down.

I'm just starting to edit this girl's photos and the green spot under the horse's neck is driving me crazy. Yes, I know there are other things to fix here (uh, the sky? lol), but does that green spot annoy anyone else?


Here's is an edited one, on a different horse, picture of computer screen with my phone. Very hi-tech! lol This is my trainer's granddaughter.

[WheresMyWhite]

RTR, lets see. Yes, I think now the histogram is the up arrow on the multi-key (I tried left/right but not the up/down).

Thanks on your take on what I can "sell" vs post just because I think they are cool photos. IMO, I am aways away from selling any photos but you never know

Along with Goodyear Airport with all the mothballed aircraft, I am just south of Luke AFB where the jet jocks train. I'm thinking photos of that (even from public property off-base) would not be popular On my list for this winter is to buckle up and drive down to Tucson to the Pima Air Museum where photos won't land you in jail You can also get a tour of Davis-Monthan AFB but as I recall, no photos allowed there as you can imagine (Davis-Monthan is an active AFB).

I also have an egret that lives nearby and tons of Gambel's Quail but I usually have a dog in my lap, not the camera when I see the quail.

Your photo with the "green spot" under the neck... I can't think of any background you could put in there that would either not stand out or make the horse's neck look funny so I'd personally crop it out and get rid of those green spots in the mane also. The second photo is very nice!

[Racetrackreject]

Thanks! I was thinking of changing the color of the sun spots so that they wouldn't be green, but leaving them. I have some closer up shots already, so I was trying to keep this one just a little more zoomed out. I'll have to play with it a bit as it's not very flattering of the horses neck either, but you're probably right and I should just crop it.

Oh, the air museum would be so cool! I love all of the color and lines in airplanes.

I have actually been on the hunt for a nice big egret to photograph. I actually saw the perfect one yesterday, on my way home, but all I had in my bag were short primes. I was so mad!

[WheresMyWhite]

The air museum would be an appropriate venue for my 14-24 (and not the skylines ).

I've seen the egret off and over about the last month. There is a huge water retention "pond" (maybe an acre in size) behind my house and I first saw him (her?) there. But, that water is drying up for the time being. I also have a canal behind the house but I think it is too deep and fast for the egret. I scared him out of a tree last week. Yesterday, he flew over the back yard. When he's in the pond, there is no good place for me to stop and get a photo (as the 45 mph frontage road really appears to be a 1 mile drag strip where the minimum speed is more like 60 ).

The Gambel's Quail are quite fancy - my challenge with them will be getting them to "stand out" from their background. They are mostly ground birds and blend in nicely with the dirt and gravel (imagine that ).

The sun spots, I'd be okay with them if they weren't green - it's the 'green' to me that is distracting.

The chestnut for sure doesn't have the photographic neck the paint does As well, the second photo is definitely cropped in tighter which helps.

Feel free to post different variations of the chestnut and I'm always glad to give my opinion (which will be worth every penny you paid for it!)

[Suzon]

RTR, I would crop the photo because, IMO, it needs to be tighter anyway to emphasis the little girl and the texture of the mane. Problem solved by omission

ETA, though sometimes with flares, I actually bring them out and just roll with it.

[Racetrackreject]

RTR, I would crop the photo because, IMO, it needs to be tighter anyway to emphasis the little girl and the texture of the mane. Problem solved by omission

ETA, though sometimes with flares, I actually bring them out and just roll with it.

Yes, you guys are right, I know. I'm just stubborn..lol. To be honest, my whole flow and vibe felt off with the shoot. There were other people standing around and one was a photographer "who only photographs her kids", but she brought props and kept running in to fix stuff and do stuff, and that's just not how I work. I'm more organic and go with the flow and just work with what is there, but I wanted to give the mom what she wanted so I tried to incorporate the other stuff. I did get some truly nice shots, and the others will be nice with a bit of work. This was just a mini session, but I like to give a lot of variety and I don't know how much variety I have for them to choose their selections from. I tend to give more than I should though, 5-600 photos, culled down to 75-150, and they get to choose 10. >.> They can purchase more for an additional fee though, and that usually is what happens.

The shoot I did before this one was the one in the rain. We decided to go into the barn and pull out one of the horses to use for photos, and I'm so glad we did. Friday, the people messaged me that they wanted all of the photos that I took with that horse because he coliced and had to be put down. I quickly edited all of the photos I had of him and sent them over- good, bad, or ugly. I knew they wanted everything.

This was one of the photos I had culled and they love it. Excuse bad b&w filter, I grabbed it off of the young girls Facebook page.

[viscountessleftfield]

I love lens flare! As long as it doesn't cover faces I deliver images with flare a lot.

WMW, up arrow twice will show you the histogram or you can turn your view to show (I think) details and it will show a thumbnail with all the metadata and the histogram. That's what I keep my view set to since I really only care about my histogram. If I'm shooting a bridal party in red or coral I'll look at the seperate RGB histograms to make sure I'm not blowing my reds, but usually I peak at the histogram when I'm doing OCF stuff or really backlit photos I'll make sure I'm good. I really don't worry too much with the D750 because you can fix most anything. LOL My D700, eh, not so much.

[viscountessleftfield]

Here's some of my favorites from the past week. We had a foggy wedding in the SC low country that made for some amazing night shots.

[WheresMyWhite]

VLF, thank you on the histogram

I love the photo of the little boy with the lion and the scrunched up face (sometimes IMO, non-smiley kids actually make more entertaining photos )

Love the silhouette (bottom left). Very nice photo!

RTR, so you glad you got those "extra" photos of their horse. Sometimes, things happen for a reason even if it isn't always obvious...

[Racetrackreject]

Lovely VLF! I love the silhouette one too. I feel like the little boy's session may have been some work ...lol.

[viscountessleftfield]

Lovely VLF! I love the silhouette one too. I feel like the little boy's session may have been some work ...lol.

The boy was actually very well behaved! It was his 1st birthday party. We just got a 24x36 softbox and I've been using that for all my in home lifestyle stuff. It's a beast to carry around, but the light is so amazing.

[WheresMyWhite]

VLF, question on shooting for flare. Do you use manual or shutter or aperture priority??

After reading a bit on it, seems like it might be interesting to mess around with (although I'm not sold that its my personal taste or not yet.)

[Racetrackreject]

Lovely VLF! I love the silhouette one too. I feel like the little boy's session may have been some work ...lol.

The boy was actually very well behaved! It was his 1st birthday party. We just got a 24x36 softbox and I've been using that for all my in home lifestyle stuff. It's a beast to carry around, but the light is so amazing.

That's good! I worry about having a crazy kid, but I've been lucky so far.

I have a softbox to play around with, but it's pretty small. I've been using it on the dog, who hates it and barks and growls at it. lol

[viscountessleftfield]

WMW - manual, if you're shooting into the sun then most cameras will underexpose the subjects because it'll expose for the background. The D750 is harder to get pretty soft hazy flares with. My D700 gives me those hazy flares so easily. I never use shutter priority, I rarely actually care what my shutter is. I do use AP if I'm in tough lighting (processional through deep shade and bright sun, bright stage and dark, dark crowd) or I'll sometimes use AutoISO and AP if I'm in really crazy changing lights. The D750 and D800 are programmed to not blow the highlights, and as long as my highlights are not blown I can fix most everything in post. I want to control my depth of field and set guidelines for the camera to follow with ISO and minimum shutter speed. But, in crazy light the camera ultimately makes smarter decisions than I do.

RTR, I have one of the small ones and hate it. My beast is the best thing ever. It's been the best investment I've made this year, my lighting is so much easier and much prettier.

Ohhhh, the kid's session was shot mainly with my manual focus 35mm 2.0 that is non AIS and won't meter. I think I'm going to buy a newer 35mm. She's been a great lens for me and we've been together almost 20 years, but I do like my auto focus lately!

[Racetrackreject]

RTR, I have one of the small ones and hate it. My beast is the best thing ever. It's been the best investment I've made this year, my lighting is so much easier and much prettier.
Ohhhh, the kid's session was shot mainly with my manual focus 35mm 2.0 that is non AIS and won't meter. I think I'm going to buy a newer 35mm. She's been a great lens for me and we've been together almost 20 years, but I do like my auto focus lately!

VLF- Yeah, I think I'm going to have to look into getting a bigger one to try out, but I was torn between that and a beauty dish. Care to share your thoughts on one vs the other?

WMW- I will admit that I use shutter priority for a majority of the time, but I mostly shoot fast action so that works for me. For portraits, I generally run the whole list of options. I will shoot S, A, and M all in a single session. Granted these are just mini-sessions, for people I know while I'm still trying to figure out my style and whether I want to continue to do portrait sessions at all, so these clients don't mind if I go over time shooting them and if I play around with different things in the process.

I'm headed to an Ren Fair this weekend and I'm taking a mirrorless camera with me. I'm kind of excited to see how it does, but I'm not expecting a whole lot. It's not a Sony or a very fancy mirrorless (Nikon1), but rather just something that didn't weigh 12 lbs total that I could carry in a purse. I do have 2 lenses for it because I thought I might need a longer lens for jousting. It's supposed to be able to shoot 60fps or 20fps in full auto-tracking.

[WheresMyWhite]

RTR, I tend toward A priority as I'm more interested in fussing with depth of field (love how different subjects can utilize different setups).

I have a Nikon1 and find that mirrorless, at least for me, just isn't as useful. Some, I suspect, is I feel things I want do with the camera I can't figure out how to do with the Nikon1. Trey Ratcliff (StuckInCustoms.com) loves them but I'm still not personally sold. It is nice that they are compact and light but just not there yet.

Will be looking for your feedback and some photos. Have fun!

[Racetrackreject]

RTR, I tend toward A priority as I'm more interested in fussing with depth of field (love how different subjects can utilize different setups).

I have a Nikon1 and find that mirrorless, at least for me, just isn't as useful. Some, I suspect, is I feel things I want do with the camera I can't figure out how to do with the Nikon1. Trey Ratcliff (StuckInCustoms.com) loves them but I'm still not personally sold. It is nice that they are compact and light but just not there yet.

Will be looking for your feedback and some photos. Have fun!

I do shoot A priority a lot with nature and macro stuff, basically still life items.

Which Nikon1 do you have? I'm sure I won't like the size of it at all, but the whole point is that I want something to carry around as a daily shooter for those things that pop up while driving down the road or at the barn or whatever. Something better than my cellphone too.
I've done a bit of reading up and I think I've figured out how to get the menus I will want for manual use. At least I have it all figured out in theory..lol.
Which lenses do you have? What is the quality like? I wanted the 10-100, but it was a bit more money so I stuck with the kit lens 30-100, and the short lens is the 11-27.5 I think.

Thanks! Noon can't get here fast enough, then I'm free! SO doesn't land until around 9 tonight though.