Frazer Family

From the position of someone who has used both Darktable and Lightroom for years, I can say that I have always been completely happy with Darktable, as a JPG and RAW editor. In fact, (sorry @jamesstaddon!) I much prefer darktable, which is free.

But if you are looking for a completely free editing software, there is, of course, Gimp.

True, @ernes…[Read more]

When I saw this assignment, I was thrilled. Where I am, I can rarely get good wide landscape photos, and macro shots are much easier. And here it is the season of Eastern tiger swallowtails. So yesterday, I went on a butterfly hunt. The first butterfly I saw fluttered down our driveway and landed on a birch tree. After a dozen pictures, it…[Read more]

This topic is a little more broad than some! I dug into my archives and pulled out a few macro shots of orderly, tidy subjects.
William

Thanks for the thoughts, @jamesstaddon and @dfrazer.
I think I’m getting a handle on the concept. I wanted to give the attached photo an aggressive feel to match the cat’s expression, so (among other things) I cropped it really close. I think it worked well, though maybe I overdid it…
(Sorry, it’s not that great of a photo otherwise.)

@James said:

It seems to me like the two pouring honey photos could use a faster shutter speed. Do you know what was used?

I assume you’re referring to the first two of the four, and if so, yes, I should have used something faster than 1/160th and 1/125th of a second, respectively.

The shape of the glass/plastic container … What is it e…

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I dug into my archives, and found the first shot, that I used for the labels on a local beekeeper’s honeyjars. For the others, I pulled my inspiration from @James. All lighting is artificial.
After eating up the remains from the bread and honey shots, I pronounced @James a capital fellow. 😋 Best assignment yet!

Hey, @James. No, I didn’t copy the catchlight from another picture. It’s entirely hand-drawn. As for the shape, that was relatively easy. A sphere-shaped object will always reflect things in roughly the same way; it was just a matter of curving the horizon and sky on the eyeball.

Welcome to the forums, @ephillips! No you do not have to watch the…[Read more]

Burning rays from the sun, freezing temperatures down to -45, frequent snowstorms from September through June, merciless wind year in and year out, little or no topsoil. The top of Mt. Washington is considered to have one the harshest climates in the world. What can survive in this inhospitable place? Not much, you might think. Yet in this…[Read more]

Taking these pictures was a challenge. Driving mist, biting cold, and a strong wind conspired to make conditions on a windswept, rocky shore of New Brunswick, Canada as miserable as possible for photographers. But these gulls have not only survived these conditions, but also thrived in them.

I experimented with adding catchlights in the eyes of…[Read more]

It was a gorgeous day for hiking in the White Mountains. A light breeze was blowing, the sun was shining, and in the surrounding trees was the twitter of a multitude of birds singing for the sheer joy of life. As we neared the top of Mount Moosilauke, the weather-beaten trees became gradually smaller and smaller until they disappeared…[Read more]

@James, thanks for the idea of shooting while the sun’s out! Yes, it was overcast and snowing hard most of the time I was shooting.
Today happened to be one of those rare sunny days of winter, so I tried again.
Unfortunately, the snow isn’t quite so nice by now. The delicate texture of the snowflakes, so visible before, has been sanded down to…[Read more]

I saw the title: Pure.
We just had 15 inches of snow, so that’s all I had for subjects.
I thought, “This is just too easy.”

Hey @James, Thanks for the comments. Attached are two versions of 20181008_WCF_0353 with glows made up in GIMP, using some modifiable filters, Supernova and Gradient Flare.
Do I need to upload these to Dropbox as well?

20180528_EJF_9349.jpg was taken on a scenic outlook of the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island, NS.
 
@James said:

It looks like…

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Here are some more paths, roads and trails.
The last picture is not really a path, but the stormy feel reminded me of the words of “Teach me thy way, O Lord”. Verse two and the beginning of verse three have key words such as “sad at heart”, “hours of loneliness”, and “doubts and fears”. Then at the end of verse three we read that the Lord will…[Read more]

Thanks James, for the comments.
I wonder where the softness you’re seeing comes from; maybe it’s the result of slight camera movement between frames?
I don’t think it’s out of focus.
What’s funny to me is that, upon examination, the softness, which is present in the .DNG file too, looks as though it comes from a denoiser. I didn’t use one, though.…[Read more]

Here are a couple other ideas. I realize that the first photographs are not toys, but they demonstrate organization vs. disorganization.

This is heavily edited in GIMP, as, in the original, the camera was in the middle of the picture.
Would you want the word ‘Nikon’ wiped out?