The DisFort's Chit Chat Cafe

[ilovedisneymm]

Hello Jim. I have no idea what's going on with that, ugh!

I use canon myself. I shoot with a Canon Mark II, and still have my pro line of lenses. I use Lightroom and CS6 (photoshop). Lightroom when I bought it was only $100 or so and the pro photoshop was $500 ish, but I had some educational discount at the time that helped on the photoshop. Now, I bought those editing software programs 10 years ago when I had a studio and not homeschooling like I am now. These software programs have changed greatly, and now photoshop is a month to month payment plan. I still have and use mine and never thought about upgrading to the latest software.

I suggest getting Photoshop Elements to start off with. That is a great start!

Photography is a very expensive beast! Be carful!

Best advise is not to run out and buy any actions! Nope! Learn how to edit by hand, every image, always! Also, prime lens will always be your sharpest bet. Also, stay away from prograde lens and the basic ones are almost as good.

Example,I have the 50 standard canon and the 50 L series canon lens. One cost me $400 and the other cost me $1000 - $1500 I can't recall. I think $1400. The difference between the two are minimal. Now I have a L 70-200 that ran me $2700 and than lens is golden. Like every image came from the heavens quality! That was worth it!!!

Also he should start with Bryan Peterson Understanding Exposure. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO are things to work with on.

With a fancy camera like that, he should only have the setting set to manual and nothing but. He needs to learn the functions!!

Letting the camera set your setting and you manually adjusting the settings are what separate an average image to that of something worth framing.

Good luck, Ian!

 

[Teamubr]

Thanks Melissa,

Ian was taking amazing pics with his cell phone. He would only shoot with it on "Pro", which is very manual with a lot of neat effects. I used to shoot a lot of film pics with a completely manual camera (Pentax K1000 with good lenses) and have been teaching him the effects of F-stop and shutter speed. Being able to set ISO on the fly (instead of film) is new to me, but pretty neat. He has been mostly shooting with the Nikon on manual. Or he'll shoot something on Auto or one of the programs and try to make it better with manual settings. He is very much a try-it kind of learner.

Thanks for the suggestions on software. Chris (PAHunter) suggested ON1, so we are looking at that too.

j

 

[ilovedisneymm]

I have never heard of that other software program.

Lightroom and Photoshop are the top professional programs and are vital (after correct exposure) to achieving professional quality images. If he hopes to one day have a career in photography, he will need those programs. I edit in Lightroom first and convert over to Photoshop for touch ups, portraiture, and layers. Photoshop is a beast in itself! It takes a good amount of time to learn this program and years to master it. It's best to start learning some version of Photoshop (again only if he wants to possibly pursue a career someday) than to start one program and then try to switch. The learning curve will be even harder at that point. Steps may possibly be in reverse in any other program.

Photoshop Elements is cheap compared to other versions. One can always upgrade from Elemnts to another level of Photoshop. Lightroom is worth the investment from the start!

That is great you can help with the manual settings!!!

Still need to post a picture but can't. Send help!

 

[tigger92662]

Still need to post a picture but can't. Send help!

Melissa, just for the heck of it check your preferences. There is a box to check for uploading files.
The past couple days I haven't been able to get on in the mornings (early am) it said site maintenance.
The last time this popped up I had to reset a few preferences. Worth a look maybe?

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Thank you, I tried that too. Turns out I can't edit my profile signature either. I send a message to the help desk a few days ago when I first realized this issue and they have yet to get back with me. Hopefully it will be resolved soon.

Melissa, just for the heck of it check your preferences. There is a box to check for uploading files.
The past couple days I haven't been able to get on in the mornings (early am) it said site maintenance.
The last time this popped up I had to reset a few preferences. Worth a look maybe?

 

[garneska]

Really Melissa I hope you get it figured out quick. I have a feeling you are trying to post an adorable Halloween picture of the kids

 

[Teamubr]

I have never heard of that other software program.

Lightroom and Photoshop are the top professional programs and are vital (after correct exposure) to achieving professional quality images.!

Looks like you have the PM straightened out.

Several have suggested Lightroom but they said it has gone to monthly subscription only. Chris said he switched to On1 as it is still a one time purchase until you want to upgrade, but it offers a lot of features.

Ian has a tremendous amount of natural photo ability. We discovered that when I was racing and he would walk around the paddock with his phone taking pictures. He just sees something and knows how he can make it come out. He would like to take pics professionally, but he knows that is hard and expensive. I also don't know how he would do taking pics the customer wants and not just what he wants.

He is looking into some classes at the local Jr college or the Y. Something to help him learn how aperture, exposure, ISO and the other cool digital tricks built into his camera can impact the pics. He has already discovered the wonders of optical zoom vs the digital zoom on his phone.

Here are a few he's taken since he got the camera. I had to shrink these quite a bit to get them on here.







j

 

[tiggerdad]

That boy's got talent! Good eye for things.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

And just like that, I can post pictures again!

Kris, here are the kids. Charlotte wasn't having it on the wearing her complete costume nor was she willing to partake in this here Halloween......then she got some chocolate and turned into a natural by house three.



We have been getting just enough rain about once a week to bring them all home for about 1/2 day. Which is a great blessing for them, for me, mostly for Daniel's father, John. He's 74 and keeps on going. But all these little rain delays have prolonged things. We still have 240 acres of beans left. Praying they can get them out before it's too late. Corn started falling down and we were expecting 50 mph winds the next day. Daniel, his dad, and brother stayed out till 3:30 the other night pulling the remaining corn out of the field around our house. We plan to hotwire the field around us and turn the cows loose behind the house and let them finish things off. This is a photo from the other day. Grace and I made chili, cheese biscuit, and chocolate cake. We bring them lunch a few times a week after our lessons are done and the kids spend the rest of the afternoon combining with grandpa, or playing musical chairs between the grain cart, grain truck, and semis. Charlotte and I just go back home for naps.

Here is our farm crew.

left to right

John (farmhand and cousin)
Charlie (farmhand and like family)
John (daniels dad)
Mrs. Shaffer (nice lady and this was her farm we were on today (cash rent)).
Danie & Grace
Cory (farmhand and like a big brother to not so little Daniel) (he's just a big kid)
Daniel (running on average of 4-5 hours at best a night since mid-September but still can hold a smile)
Charlotte (she's had her fill running around in the fresh air and she's ready for a nap)



And yes, Charlotte is a happy little girl......most of the time.

 

[bjschil]

And just like that, I can post pictures again!

Kris, here are the kids. Charlotte wasn't having it on the wearing her complete costume nor was she willing to partake in this here Halloween......then she got some chocolate and turned into a natural by house three.

View attachment 363199

We have been getting just enough rain about once a week to bring them all home for about 1/2 day. Which is a great blessing for them, for me, mostly for Daniel's father, John. He's 74 and keeps on going. But all these little rain delays have prolonged things. We still have 240 acres of beans left. Praying they can get them out before it's too late. Corn started falling down and we were expecting 50 mph winds the next day. Daniel, his dad, and brother stayed out till 3:30 the other night pulling the remaining corn out of the field around our house. We plan to hotwire the field around us and turn the cows loose behind the house and let them finish things off. This is a photo from the other day. Grace and I made chili, cheese biscuit, and chocolate cake. We bring them lunch a few times a week after our lessons are done and the kids spend the rest of the afternoon combining with grandpa, or playing musical chairs between the grain cart, grain truck, and semis. Charlotte and I just go back home for naps.

Here is our farm crew.

left to right

John (farmhand and cousin)
Charlie (farmhand and like family)
John (daniels dad)
Mrs. Shaffer (nice lady and this was her farm we were on today (cash rent)).
Danie & Grace
Cory (farmhand and like a big brother to not so little Daniel) (he's just a big kid)
Daniel (running on average of 4-5 hours at best a night since mid-September but still can hold a smile)
Charlotte (she's had her fill running around in the fresh air and she's ready for a nap)

View attachment 363198

And yes, Charlotte is a happy little girl......most of the time.

View attachment 363200

Harvesting crops this year has been a challenge for us, like you. Patience is short, like sleep. Good luck with the remaining acres. We are done until a hard freeze to make driving in the ruts a bit more easier and tricky(?!?). Have a great rest of your fall in preparation for your upcoming trip. Barb & Bill.

 

[garneska]

@ilovedisneymm kids are beautiful loved the costumes!

 

[ilovedisneymm]

How perfectly worded.

Harvesting crops this year has been a challenge for us, like you. Patience is short, like sleep. Good luck with the remaining acres. We are done until a hard freeze to make driving in the ruts a bit more easier and tricky(?!?). Have a great rest of your fall in preparation for your upcoming trip. Barb & Bill.

 

[garneska]

We are celebrating Diwali here at work. Some of the ladies have been kind enough to offer clothes to others for the day. I let them do my makeup and everything. I am usually a jeans and a sweatshirt, even at work, and blanket kind of person. Am turning heads today so i thought i would post.

 

[2goofycampers]

You look beautiful!

 

[garneska]

Thanks Denise. It was so much fun. We had food and singing and lots of gorgeous outfits. I even got henna done.

 

[Teamubr]

Kris- Gorgeous!

Melissa- Great pics. Hang in there on the harvest. It sounds like things are winding down. We haven't had quite the rain you and Barb have been getting. Nearly all the fields around town are in. The last of the bean fields were cut last week. Going down WAY below freezing this week. I'm rebuilding my back porch and the windows and doors aren't coming in until next week. Have I said how much I hate cold weather?

j

 

[tiggerdad]

Man, work has just been cruel this month. I mean, messing my weekends up badly.

Two weeks ago I had to go to Disney and stay in the Grand Floridian.

Now, this weekends VNS training...


The boring places I have to go...

And then the view terrible...


I hear rumors of a busy street just two blocks from here.

 

[bama_ed]

I hear rumors of a busy street just two blocks from here.

Nothing happens over there on a Friday night ....

 

[tiggerdad]

Nothing happens over there on a Friday night ....

I intend to find out...

 

[2goofycampers]

Be careful.