General Photography Discussion 2

[WheresMyWhite]

NB, Nikon has selected lenses on sale ("instant rebate"), both primes and zooms.

The much loved 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR is $2,599 including the $200 rebate

Suspect the monitor will just end up being covered with drool

[Jan & PJ]

NB, Nikon has selected lenses on sale ("instant rebate"), both primes and zooms.

The much loved 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR is $2,599 including the $200 rebate

Suspect the monitor will just end up being covered with drool

I want that lens soooooo much! But like you will probably just be drooling since I just got the new printer. Printed off a 17X22 print of one of my client's photos on my new printer and we were both blown away with the quality. My cell phone picture doesn't do it justice but here it is anyway

[WheresMyWhite]

Very nice photo along with what the printer produced!

The 70-200... I have that lens (blush) but I solved some of the cost "problem" by getting it refurbished from Nikon. Still wasn't inexpensive but less costly than full price new (and I've had mine a few years now).

I was looking at the 24-70 f/2.8 but what's on sale is the non-VR version and I prefer VR as I have sometimes a shaky hand hold. The VR version wasn't on sale. So, no lenses for me (which actually isn't a bad thing ).

[Jan & PJ]

Very nice photo along with what the printer produced!

Thank you!

The 70-200... I have that lens (blush) but I solved some of the cost "problem" by getting it refurbished from Nikon. Still wasn't inexpensive but less costly than full price new (and I've had mine a few years now).

I was looking at the 24-70 f/2.8 but what's on sale is the non-VR version and I prefer VR as I have sometimes a shaky hand hold. The VR version wasn't on sale. So, no lenses for me (which actually isn't a bad thing ).

I've been skeptical about buying refurbished. Does it come with a warranty and how has it held up for you? I'm right there with you on the VR. I need all the help I can get!

[Racetrackreject]

NB, Nikon has selected lenses on sale ("instant rebate"), both primes and zooms.

The much loved 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR is $2,599 including the $200 rebate

Suspect the monitor will just end up being covered with drool

I want that lens soooooo much! But like you will probably just be drooling since I just got the new printer. Printed off a 17X22 print of one of my client's photos on my new printer and we were both blown away with the quality. My cell phone picture doesn't do it justice but here it is anyway

I bought my 70-200 2.8 used from B&H and it's been great. I've had it for over a year now I believe.

Love the printed pic! I bought an Epson photo printer about 2-3 years ago. I used it for what I needed for at that time, then there was probably a year before I needed to use it again. When I tried to use it, it didn't work, and it was out of warranty, so it's still sitting in my office collecting dust. I think I'm done with printers. lol I have my galleries linked to photo labs, so clients just order from there. Some clients refuse to use the order system, so I just charge them more and order and deliver myself. One client said, "I want any photos of my son you've taken". I told him he could go to the galleries and order them and tried to explain how. I then received a lecture on how valuable his time is and how he didn't have time to do that, which I responded to with how valuable my time is and how much I'd charge him if I had to go hunt down photos of his son (no idea how I would even know if they were his son or not because it's team roping and they switch up with partners left and right!!). He said, "Well, I guess you aren't selling me anything". I said, "I guess not, have a good day". lol If it would have been a few galleries or I knew for sure I could pick out his son, I wouldn't have had an issue, but he wanted me to go back on almost 2 years of galleries. For perspective, team roping usually has hundreds of runs. Some go during the show and the rest in the slack after, which often lasts until after 3am. Now multiply that by 2 years...lol. Oh, and his son does pickup man/ turn back duties at some rodeos and bull ridings, so add those too.

[WheresMyWhite]

I've been skeptical about buying refurbished. Does it come with a warranty and how has it held up for you? I'm right there with you on the VR. I need all the help I can get!

From the Nikon site...

Refurbished Products

All refurbished cameras, lenses and accessories include a 90-day limited warranty against defects in material and workmanship. It offers the same coverage as the Nikon Digital Imaging Warranty, just for 90 days instead of one year.

I am not a "professional" photographer so it gets used usually once/week (well, not in the summer when I don't want pretty much any photo bad enough to go outside ) and I've had no problems with it. I use it mostly for landscape work but it often has to do double duty on birds. It's not stellar for birds because of the focal length but I think most of the bird photos I've posted here have been taken with it. It's a good focal length for insects as you can get pretty decent shots without invading their personal space (same with lizards ).

It, however, has not fixed the problem with birds like the hummers or the quail which will just *not* sit still long enough to even frame a photo

I am in a wheelchair so the camera, when not actually being pointed at something is in my lap (I got a long, after market strap so the camera will stay in my lap and not hit the dirt ) so the camera + lens tend to not be abused too badly.

It's held up for me and pretty much unless I have a specific subject in mind, it's the lens on my camera.

On the Nikon page under the 'Deals' tab you can find Refurbished and see what they have. Sometimes they have 2 of a lens (at different prices depending on condition) and often not the lens you're looking for. I'd probably also check B&H (don't know their warranty) and maybe some of the lens rental places (but less inclined to buy from the rental places as I suspect those lenses get used pretty hard.)

When I got mine a few years ago, it was maybe $200 less than new but it seems like the new price has gone up maybe $400-500 since then

RTR, printers.... arrrgggghhhh... the bane of my existence. I detest ink jets as the ink always dries out before I get much use out of them.

About 6 months ago I went into Staples prepared to buy a color laser but had a hard time finding any that did single pass scanning (if the original is double sided, the scan would read both sides instead of reading one side, taking the original out, flipping it over and scanning the second side).

Got talked into an HP PageWide (377dw MFP) printer (the sale price brought it down to just under what was the top end of my budget). Its a big printer footprint (relatively), does single pass scanning (and will scan straight to my Mac via in-home LAN) and uses a "different" print strategy. The ink cartridges are the width of a page and not cheap (but you can get a lot of pages out of them). Supposed to not try out like a conventional ink jet. I bought the freakin' extended service warranty for 2 years so if it breaks, I can get service/replacement for it. Have not yet messed with the second paper tray to try printing a 4x6 photo and see how it does there. Ink jets do a better job with photos than laser. Overall, I detest HP printers as well so we'll see if this one cures some of my dislike It does print/copy/scan quickly and the paper tray holds a decent amount of paper (it's classed as a small business printer.)

[galopp]

Jan, what Epson Printer do you have? What is the largest format it will print? Cost per (large) print.

[Jan & PJ]

Jan, what Epson Printer do you have? What is the largest format it will print? Cost per (large) print.

It is an Epson Surecolor P800


Max Resolution: 2880 x 1440 dpi
Max Print Size: 17 x 22" (Sheet Media)
Print Speed: 8 x 10" in 113 Seconds
Borderless Printing at up to 17" Wide
Epson MicroPiezo AMC Print Head
9 UltraChrome HD Pigment-Based Inks
Auto-Switching Black Ink Technology
Advanced Black & White Mode
Optional Adapter for 17" Wide Roll Media
USB 2.0, Ethernet, & Wi-Fi Connectivity

The ink cartridges are 80 mls (starter cartridges are 60 mls). 17 inches wide is the as wide as it will print but you can go longer than the 22" with roll media. I got the following estimated ink costs per print from the Red River Paper site:
Here is a link to Red River Paper's estimates of ink costs per print with the P800. The cost for a 17 X 22 is a little over $3 per print, slight variation depending on if you use photo black or matte black ink. http://www.redrivercatalog.com/epson-surecolor-p800-cost-per-print.html
The paper I used for that large photo is $4.20 per sheet so it cost me about $8.00 to print that photo in the picture I posted.

[Jan & PJ]

NB, Nikon has selected lenses on sale ("instant rebate"), both primes and zooms.

The much loved 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR is $2,599 including the $200 rebate

Suspect the monitor will just end up being covered with drool

I want that lens soooooo much! But like you will probably just be drooling since I just got the new printer. Printed off a 17X22 print of one of my client's photos on my new printer and we were both blown away with the quality. My cell phone picture doesn't do it justice but here it is anyway

I bought my 70-200 2.8 used from B&H and it's been great. I've had it for over a year now I believe.

Love the printed pic! I bought an Epson photo printer about 2-3 years ago. I used it for what I needed for at that time, then there was probably a year before I needed to use it again. When I tried to use it, it didn't work, and it was out of warranty, so it's still sitting in my office collecting dust. I think I'm done with printers. lol I have my galleries linked to photo labs, so clients just order from there. Some clients refuse to use the order system, so I just charge them more and order and deliver myself. One client said, "I want any photos of my son you've taken". I told him he could go to the galleries and order them and tried to explain how. I then received a lecture on how valuable his time is and how he didn't have time to do that, which I responded to with how valuable my time is and how much I'd charge him if I had to go hunt down photos of his son (no idea how I would even know if they were his son or not because it's team roping and they switch up with partners left and right!!). He said, "Well, I guess you aren't selling me anything". I said, "I guess not, have a good day". lol If it would have been a few galleries or I knew for sure I could pick out his son, I wouldn't have had an issue, but he wanted me to go back on almost 2 years of galleries. For perspective, team roping usually has hundreds of runs. Some go during the show and the rest in the slack after, which often lasts until after 3am. Now multiply that by 2 years...lol. Oh, and his son does pickup man/ turn back duties at some rodeos and bull ridings, so add those too.

My cell phone picture doesn't do the printed picture justice but I think it still looks better in relation to the rest of the cell phone picture if that makes sense. I did a lot of research before I decided on this printer. My understanding from all the research is that most printers need to be run periodically to keep the ink from drying out in the print heads. Many of the reviews said once every month or two for this printer would keep it running. We'll see. It is a big investment for me even with the $300 rebate but I do not regret it. It is like adding the icing on the cake to choose a nice paper and print the final product yourself. I don't think I will ever do events. I just don't see how you make any money on it unless the event organizer pays you up front to be there. Then trying to keep track of all the participants like you said would drive me nuts. I'm representing myself as an "equestrian portrait photographer" and set up a sitting with a set fee for up to two hours then I charge more for any additional time. Then I provide a USB drive with about 10 to 20 of the best photos to use without any reservations. It is just a hobby right now. Not making enough money to cover anything but starting to get more bookings as my photos get seen so may have to run it as a business sometime soon. I do have some "fine art" wildlife photography on the Fine Art America site where people can order what they want from that site which is kind of nice but I'm barely making enough off the site to cover my annual fee. I don't run my portrait customer orders from their because I think their prints are way to costly. That is why I'm now happy to be able to work with my customers and show them some prints on different quality papers, they feel more involved and its just more personal. And I think there is more income potential to do it that way.

Thanks for the info on the lenses. I will keep an eye out for some deals

[Racetrackreject]

Oh the ink in my printer is just fine. It prints fine, it just doesn't feed, so your "print" comes out crammed into a 1/4 inch space. lol

I do sessions too, but 1 hour is typically my max unless we're doing stacked sessions (multiple subjects/place), which cost a bit more. I have a 30 minute mini session where they get 10 edited digital images suitable for printing with an option to buy more, but I also have packages for 1 hr and a full gallery of images (best value) or a set number of images (30), personal paparazzi service (follow them around at a show and shoot just them and their runs- works well for finals and championships and things like that), and sale horse/dog/puppy/rabbit sessions. I also have bulk galleries where I'll sell all the images of one horse and rider combo throughout a whole series for one price, but they must pay in advance so that I can sort them out when I'm editing, or else they have to a higher rate.

I like dealing with clients as little as possible, so having an outside lab is perfect for me. lol If you can print on site, you can make more money at events, but I make enough to cover my costs+, so I'm good with that. I'm not out to make a ton of money anyway, and do it more for fun. Can you tell I started in wildlife and nature photography?

An old photo I re-edited with Luminar.

[Jan & PJ]

Beautiful photo RTR!

[WheresMyWhite]

What Jan & PJ said

I was looking for the free trial on their website and didn't find it but it's also not super pricy so I think I am going to pull the trigger and fuss with some of the photos I have. I'm currently in the 'not taking photos because it's too darn hot' phase of the summer

I'll be back at the Desert Botanical Garden in early October

[Racetrackreject]

Thanks guys. I see some dust I need to edit out. I think it's between my lens and my filter, so I need to check that out.

I'm having fun playing around with the Luminar edits. I tend to edit very bland and flat, so it's fun for me to pump up with fun using one of their filters, then adjusting it how I want it. It's teaching me how to get that look by adjusting the levels myself.

I went to a few state parks this weekend to play around. I have a pass for all of the state parks in Texas and there are numerous ones around where I live, so I head out there often. Anyway, I haven't edited all of the photos, but I'll post a few. FYI- I hate spiders and they're EVERYWHERE right now!! The deer were also out, but I haven't gotten to those photos yet in my editing process.

[WheresMyWhite]

I like the pop of color from the Cardinals (?)

Spiders, not so much...

I like the 3rd one down that is kind of "swampy" looking with the trees in the water.

[Jan & PJ]

I love the top three. The detail on the spiders is amazing and the cypress trees with the water reflection is just lovely!

[Jan & PJ]

Why be a dragonfly....when you can be a flower?

[Racetrackreject]

Thanks!!


I love dragonflies, obviously..lol. I haven't found one that color yet though!! So jealous!

[Jan & PJ]

I love them as well RTR. I think it is a Halloween Pennant dragofly. I had never seen one with so much pink before. Here is one more pic. My favorite of the hundred I took of him that shows his color beautifully. Edited to add, I did absolutely no color editing on this photo.

[WheresMyWhite]

Jan & PJ, this is absolutely lovely! Great deal and color (and like how you can see the DOF as a couple of the wingtips are slightly out of focus.

He could easily be the stuff of nightmares if he was 5' tall

[Jan & PJ]

Thank you WMW. I think this is going to be one of my all time favorites and can't wait to see it printed out on my metallic paper!

[WheresMyWhite]

OOooooo....

if you can get a decent photo of the print on metallic paper would love to see how it turns out

[Jan & PJ]

Here it is printed out viewed from different angles.

[WheresMyWhite]

Very nice - it looks like it looks good on that paper. Are you happy with how it turned out on the metallic paper?

I've never done metallic paper but I've done a few metal prints using Bay Photo and I've liked how they turned out (although I did discover that some finishes I like better than others).

Very cool with the quality of print your printer is producing!

[Jan & PJ]

Yes, it definitely looks better in person. It doesn't pop quite as much as I thought it would but as you change angles you can see the changes in the metallic finish. It would not look nearly this nice on glossy photo paper.

[Jan & PJ]

I framed it and took a pic with my cell phone. So hard with the glass reflecting everything.

[WheresMyWhite]

Did you try the frame without glass? With that fancy paper, might be worth a no glass look.

I might also looking at getting it mounted on something so you can go frameless (or crop a bit wider so there is more "empty" space that the frame can cover rather than his toes

Still think it is a cool photo!

[Jan & PJ]

Considered the no glass look, I'm always a little nervous about that but it might be better. I may try a different frame. That one has a 1/4" edge that comes over the photo. Not sure how to mount it to be frameless. I like that option best.

[WheresMyWhite]

Frameless you might need to give a place like Michaels a try?

I have a number of photos that I had printed (I think these were done by Bay Photo) and framed without the glass and I like the look with no glare.

Maybe first just try pulling the glass out of this frame.

It may also be, IMO only, that the width of the frame and color "detract" from the print. A thinner width and maybe brushed gold/silver or another lighter color. The dark frame seems to detract from the picture instead of enhance it.

Take the print to the store when you pick the next frame out

[Jan & PJ]

I have a lot of frames on hand. I'll have to try some different ones. I tried it in a white frame just like this one and the black looked better. I do have a few more choices and I think glassless will be the way to go if I can just get brave enough lol. I don't know why it scares me. I've seen photos done like that before and they were just beautiful!!

[WheresMyWhite]

Just take the glass out and give it a whirl - easy to put back in

With the fancy paper I think it would be just fine without the glass.

You sound like me... I collect frames

I'm thinking something with a thinner width to it - not sure white is good but the wide black to me seems to overwhelm the photo.

Michaels has a cool tool when you're having them do the framing... you can pick the frame and mat and photo, they can put it under a camera and you can see on a monitor what the combo looks like. Fun to swap in different frames or mats to see what might look best. You only see a portion of the overall look and the color rendering is close but not spot on but, IMO, enough to give you an idea if the image/mat/frame will look good together. Done one like that now and was pleased with the resulting framed painting

[Jan & PJ]

Oh that is cool!! I think it is about a hour and a half drive to our closest Michaels but always worth it. My partners dad died and they did a estate sale. Don found tons and tons of picture frames. I asked him to bring me back the ones that were in good shape and not blemished. He brought me 3 large cardboard boxes full. I haven't had a chance to go through them yet. I use cheap frames to take to the Creative Arts Center to sell because most people want to use their own frames anyway. So the boxes of frames was great. I also found some brand new Craig frames at a decent price on line.

[WheresMyWhite]

If your closest Michael's is 90 minutes, I'd call 'em first to make sure they have this doo-dad. I thought it was great. Helped me pick out the right color frame for the watercolor I was getting framed.

Nice on scoring on the picture frames. Right that some people want to do their down but I know for me, I've bought a few oil paintings (not inexpensive ones ) and I left each of them in the frame the artist had them framed in. I could have changed them but I also figured she knew what she was doing

[Racetrackreject]

I went on Friday and took some photos of shelter dogs at the city shelter. Sweetest dogs ever!

[WheresMyWhite]

What cute get-ups

You've got a knack for getting the impression in their eyes to want to take them home (not a 'I want to get the heck outta Dodge' look ).

PS. love that feather boa

[Canyon]

RTR - I love your photos of the shelter dogs. If I were looking to adopt, those photos would get me off my rear end and in to meet the dogs!

[Racetrackreject]

Thanks so much Canyon!

The Lab is on the euthanasia list . They have a rescue that said they would take her as soon as room is available, but we can't find a foster for her, and she has to be out of the shelter ASAP. A rescue in NY has pulled 14 other dogs, mostly puppies, so the shelter is trying to raise money for health certs and travel for those dogs as well as finding her a foster.



The female pit bull has been in the shelter for a while too, so we wanted to make her look sweet and feminine.

I still have to photoshop her collar and stuff out, but we liked the flowers on her too.








WMW- You mean this look?



At first he wasn't sure what was going on, but like 1/2 a second later, he decided this wasn't bad at all.

[WheresMyWhite]

I love that second look.

Sorry, can't take any. I can't do any "large" dogs and have 2 smaller "kids" of my own.

I hope they find homes

[Racetrackreject]

I received a message from the Animal Control officer for the city last night. She said that Judy, the black and white pitbull was adopted in the nick of time! She also said that it was the flower photo that made her adopters want to come in and see her. They are even changing her name to Sunny because of the sunflowers in her picture.

[WheresMyWhite]

Whoo-hoo.. nice to hear your photo made a difference in this cute pup's life

Love that they even changed her name!

[Flight]

I finally did a photography course and have started learning how to use my camera properly.
Is there any good forums on photography, particularly horse photography that can be recommended? I've got plenty of down time at the moment to read through things. I'd like to see photos and what settings people have used etc.

[Jan & PJ]

I get a lot of great information from here. I don't have enough spare time to take advantage of all of it. Their emails are not obtrusive and are full of free tips and tricks. https://digital-photography-school.com/

[Flight]

Thanks Jan & PJ, lots of stuff there on that website
I took photos at a couple of xc clinics over the last week and love that most of my photos turned out ok. Need to learn more about getting the right exposure but no blurry photos. Wish I'd bothered to learn sooner

[WheresMyWhite]

Wish I'd bothered to learn sooner

At least now with a digital camera, once you do the up-front purchase of camera/lens/memory card, the rest of the photos are "free" You can shoot and experiment and play to your heart's content without worrying about the cost of the film or processing.

Yeah, the camera and equipment isn't cheap but I find that it is more enticing to take more photos and play with shutter speed vs f-stop vs ISO with my digital camera. I also like that I can fuss with ISO without having to roll film in and out of the camera (which I have seen done but never did).

Now I experiment with ISO vs shutter speed vs f-stop vs exposure compensation just to see what happens. My latest "playing around" is changing exposure compensation vs ISO to see the results

[WheresMyWhite]

Whew, this needs updating!

The horse is/was life-size and part of what Desert Botanical Garden called Strange Garden; a new event for us replacing the former Pumpkin Festival. The Garden got nicely dressed up the Friday and Saturday evenings before October 31's with fun activities for the children and displays throughout the Garden that I think appealed to children and the adults alike

The butterflies are from the Garden's Butterfly Pavilion last week in the late afternoon. A Pipevine Swallowtail and a Zebra Longwing.

[WheresMyWhite]

And the Malachite...

How do you get more than 3 photos in a single reply?

[Canyon]

WMW - love the photos of the butterflies, and that horse is something special!

[Racetrackreject]

I love those WMW! Very nice!

I've been doing all sorts of crazy things, photography-wise. Shooting things I never thought I would before- portraits :O .

I've been truly horrible about editing them properly though. I need to do more photoshop type things to them, but I just can't make myself do it yet..

First off are puppies up for adoption at the shelter-








Then I did some couples photos-







And some horse and owner pics-









And some Maligators-







And girl and horse-







And of course playdays..lol. I have a unicorn shoot coming up too and I'm super excited about it.

[WheresMyWhite]

RTR... some great photos!!

Love the couple in the sunset, the puppy in the basket, dark top and daisies hugging her horse, the first little girl in blue with the front half of her horse, cuddling the puppy and all the 'maligators' Can't beat the drive of those dogs... seen them do both PD K-9 and barn hunt and they just don't give up.

Thought I'd include this majorly over post processed "whoops" photo A bunch of large, as in 12" plus large, fake flowers, outside and accidentally extremely over exposed the initial image. Fun to mess around with a 'mistake' and make me realize I need to make 'mistakes' more often to see what I can get and post process