Joshua Ong

…And the surrounding branches help add interest to the starry scene.

Looks like the picture was taken in the country. Rural settings provide excellent places for starry shots without the interference of city lights (even street lamps).

This is one of darktable’s most powerful and useful tools, and if you use darktable, I recommend that you get to know it thoroughly.

How does darktable compare to RawTherapee? Is the former more powerful, offering more editing options, than the latter? Would darktable be a closer substitute to Lightroom than RawTherapee?

Sorry for my questions a…[Read more]

The most beautiful natural phenomenon taken from an excellent vantage point. I really like the sunrise shot, with interesting elements in the foreground.

I also ps the sunrise to try and remove some of the lens flare.

I agree. It can be frustrating at times with the flares appearing in the frame when taking pictures of sunrises/sunsets.…[Read more]

Beautiful pictures with carefully chosen colour themes, possibly even evoking feelings of nostalgia.

Here are some suggestions:

Experimenting with some latte art could possibly enhance the appearance of the coffee. Being a connoisseur of this amazing beverage myself, I couldn’t help offering an idea for the coffee. However, if your purpose in…[Read more]

Thanks @bennett-family and @frazer-family for your tips.

Frankly, I’m not quite sure what that is. I panned the camera horizontally during the exposure, for sure.

Yes, I was referring to moving the camera horizontally in accordance with the motion of the subject. The camera I use happens to have a “Panning Mode.” Sorry for the confusion.

Hi William,

Thanks for your tips regarding the shutter speed. I really appreciate it.

I wonder if the shutter speed would depend on the direction the vehicle is travelling and/or the position of the photographer relative to the vehicle. But I’m pretty sure 1/500th of a second would still be a good benchmark, whether the vehicle passes from left…[Read more]

Thanks @buddingphotographer! It did require some patience, though.

Your RawTherapee video tutorial really got me interested in photo editing and simplified this sometimes complex aspect of photography. I used RawTherapee on some of my landscape photos taken in the past, and the post-processed pictures have turned out to be amazing! Thanks again.

If you’re already comfortable in GIMP, you can do a “selective color” edit much more effectively in GIMP/Affinity/Photoshop.

I tried the Selective Colour Effect with a bottle of artichokes. Attached are both the original picture and the edited version with selective colourisation. The reason for the edit was due to the fact that the colou…[Read more]

Thanks @buddingphotographer! Glad this effect could be achieved with a free software like GIMP.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this matter.

Thanks @esther for the wonderful and helpful comments, tips, and insights!

Pertaining to what has been recently discussed in the forms, what was your purpose in taking these photos? Showing variety? Leading lines? Just a stock photo?

I have to admit that I don’t often think of the purpose behind every picture that I take with a camera. Perhaps,…[Read more]

Thanks @jamesstaddon! Great to receive your input on composition and editing.

Hi @jamesstaddon!

Thanks for providing us your approach on editing pictures. I created a checklist of some composition aspects we as photographers should be addressing based on your response.

1. Lines
2. Symmetry
3. Removing distracting elements
4. Adjusting contrast
5. Sharpening
6. Adjusting colours (i.e. saturation)

when I’m editing a p…

[Read more]

@loganlamar, @blessingscaptured, @hayhand02, and @frazer-family,

Thank you so much for your helpful tips and insight into this area of photography. I’m assuming that the edited pictures attached above were processed using Lightroom/Photoshop.

@loganlamar and @blessingscaptured, to summarise what you have said, I think B&W would be used in the…[Read more]

Hi @loganlamar, @blessingscaptured, @hayhand02, and @frazer-family,

Thank you so much for your helpful tips and insight into this area of photography. I’m assuming that the edited pictures attached above were processed using Lightroom/Photoshop.

@loganlamar and @blessingscaptured, to summarise what you have said, I think B&W would be used in the…[Read more]

Hi @buddingphotographer,

Thank you so much for your helpful response and useful video tutorial with valuable tips. I recently watched it.

However, as I haven’t done much photo-editing (apart from GIMP)

I forgot to mention that I have used Google’s Nik Collection and some other HDR editing software in the past.

Hey @rejoiceevermore,

Good to see an “old” friend from the family conferences 6-7 years ago!

My favorite part of photography is actually shooting the photos. I particularly enjoy capturing nature and landscape photos. I do not enjoy the editing side of photography as much

I agree. To me, capturing pictures is more exciting than editing them.…[Read more]

Hi @esther,

Thanks for your thoughts.

One thing I aim for when I’m editing is to have the photo leave the editing process looking exactly as the scene looked to me in real life.

I like your point on preserving the originality of the scene. Pictures would look more “real” as opposed to “ideal.”

I’ve always had trouble composing and seeing all…

[Read more]