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Jack

Jack

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In my quest for a photography hobby in retirement I found this site. Actually I found Steve's videos on YouTube first. I don't believe that this site existed yet.

I liked Steve's approach to photography. The Secrets To Stunning Wildlife Photography book, and now the Birds In Flight book, gave me a good foundation upon which I can develop my skills.

This site is very informative for someone seeking answers. The members are all very helpful and ready to assist anyone with any issues, drawing from their own experiences.

I don't have the budget for higher end equipment. Bought used. I quickly realized that my expectations far exceeded my budget.

After experimenting with several cameras, about five lenses and messing around with post processing programs, I had an epiphany!

Tell me if I'm nuts:
Kept my Nikon D5600 (used)
Bought a Sigma 150-600mm C (new)
Sold all the other lenses
Settled on Pixlr for post processing (free version)
mostly just use 'autocorrect' and 'sharpen'

If the picture is just not there I'm not going to enter into the 'make believe' world and start adding or eliminating to it.

I realize that higher end equipment can surely eliminate some technical obstacles. But is tack sharp really needed? Must you remove a little twig? Surely for National Geographic magazine but I find that the average person is not concerned about those things.

They very much enjoy just seeing nature as it happens...

Jack


D5600 - Sigma 150-600mm - 600mm - Pixlr (auto correct, sharpen)
20211020_171117.jpg
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Nope you're not nuts. Nice image!

Your approach is sound, a good working camera and a good lens that covers a useful focal range for your photo interests (presumably wildlife photography). Nothing wrong with that and a breath of fresh air in these days when so much on the internet might have you believe you need to take out a second mortgage to be a wildlife photographer. I applaud your doing the smart thing to get going.

In terms of post processing, nothing wrong with the free image editing tools, just know that there's a ton of space between just using auto corrects and getting into full composite digital art that wasn't based in reality. As you shoot more you might explore traditional photo editing techniques like: Dodging and Burning, Contrast adjustments, Color Corrections, Shadow and Highlight Recovery, Cropping for Compositional Reasons, Vignetting, etc. These are things we did in the chemical darkroom for years before digital and do in the digital darkroom today but they're not so much creating alternate realities as trying to bring out the vision you saw out in the field that often gets lost during initial capture. Anyway nothing wrong with keeping things simple but as you progress on your photo journey don't rule out learning some good post processing techniques to bring out the most in your images.

Great work and thanks for posting, keep 'em coming.

-Dave
 
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DRwyoming said:
Nope you're not nuts. Nice image!

Your approach is sound, a good working camera and a good lens that covers a useful focal range for your photo interests (presumably wildlife photography). Nothing wrong with that and a breath of fresh air in these days when so much on the internet might have you believe you need to take out a second mortgage to be a wildlife photographer. I applaud your doing the smart thing to get going.

In terms of post processing, nothing wrong with the free image editing tools, just know that there's a ton of space between just using auto corrects and getting into full composite digital art that wasn't based in reality. As you shoot more you might explore traditional photo editing techniques like: Dodging and Burning, Contrast adjustments, Color Corrections, Shadow and Highlight Recovery, Cropping for Compositional Reasons, Vignetting, etc. These are things we did in the chemical darkroom for years before digital and do in the digital darkroom today but they're not so much creating alternate realities as trying to bring out the vision you saw out in the field that often gets lost during initial capture. Anyway nothing wrong with keeping things simple but as you progress on your photo journey don't rule out learning some good post processing techniques to bring out the most in your images.

Great work and thanks for posting, keep 'em coming.

-Dave
Click to expand...
I appreciate your thoughtful input. My main case in point is not wanting to get to the point where I'm tweeking photos so much that they no longer appear natural. I guess your reference to 'keeping things simple' is spot on. Perhaps I'm just overwhelmed by the post processing possibilities. I'm getting old... Jack
 
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Jack said:
In my quest for a photography hobby in retirement I found this site. Actually I found Steve's videos on YouTube first. I don't believe that this site existed yet.

I liked Steve's approach to photography. The Secrets To Stunning Wildlife Photography book, and now the Birds In Flight book, gave me a good foundation upon which I can develop my skills.

This site is very informative for someone seeking answers. The members are all very helpful and ready to assist anyone with any issues, drawing from their own experiences.

I don't have the budget for higher end equipment. Bought used. I quickly realized that my expectations far exceeded my budget.

After experimenting with several cameras, about five lenses and messing around with post processing programs, I had an epiphany!

Tell me if I'm nuts:
Kept my Nikon D5600 (used)
Bought a Sigma 150-600mm C (new)
Sold all the other lenses
Settled on Pixlr for post processing (free version)
mostly just use 'autocorrect' and 'sharpen'

If the picture is just not there I'm not going to enter into the 'make believe' world and start adding or eliminating to it.

I realize that higher end equipment can surely eliminate some technical obstacles. But is tack sharp really needed? Must you remove a little twig? Surely for National Geographic magazine but I find that the average person is not concerned about those things.

They very much enjoy just seeing nature as it happens...

Jack


D5600 - Sigma 150-600mm - 600mm - Pixlr (auto correct, sharpen)
View attachment 26325
Click to expand...
Great shot Jack! Love the colors👍👍👍Totally agree with your comments. whatever makes you happy.
 
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Older and/or less expensive cameras are capable of taking superb photographs. Although you might get the impression that anything but the very best/latest/most expensive gear isn't even worth picking up, that ain't true. There's also a lot of free editing software available and with the exception of Affinity (which I don't use much) that's all I use. Take a look at PhotoScape and FastStone, two of my favorite editors -- they're free and easy to use, especially PhotoScape.

I don't shoot RAW, just JPG, but I do undertake some editing on most of my photos -- normally just tweaking sharpness, exposure and contrast a bit. Most cameras don't really reproduce what the eye sees very well without some tweaking of the image they've captured.
 
Member's gallery
Welcome to the group, Jack. Nice photo and happy you are enjoying your new hobby, and agree with your realistic start. Editing however is not a 'make believe' world, I believe you will give it a go someday and enjoy the results
 
Member's gallery
Jack said:
In my quest for a photography hobby in retirement I found this site. Actually I found Steve's videos on YouTube first. I don't believe that this site existed yet.

I liked Steve's approach to photography. The Secrets To Stunning Wildlife Photography book, and now the Birds In Flight book, gave me a good foundation upon which I can develop my skills.

This site is very informative for someone seeking answers. The members are all very helpful and ready to assist anyone with any issues, drawing from their own experiences.

I don't have the budget for higher end equipment. Bought used. I quickly realized that my expectations far exceeded my budget.

After experimenting with several cameras, about five lenses and messing around with post processing programs, I had an epiphany!

Tell me if I'm nuts:
Kept my Nikon D5600 (used)
Bought a Sigma 150-600mm C (new)
Sold all the other lenses
Settled on Pixlr for post processing (free version)
mostly just use 'autocorrect' and 'sharpen'

If the picture is just not there I'm not going to enter into the 'make believe' world and start adding or eliminating to it.

I realize that higher end equipment can surely eliminate some technical obstacles. But is tack sharp really needed? Must you remove a little twig? Surely for National Geographic magazine but I find that the average person is not concerned about those things.

They very much enjoy just seeing nature as it happens...

Jack


D5600 - Sigma 150-600mm - 600mm - Pixlr (auto correct, sharpen)
View attachment 26325
Click to expand...
Beautiful shot. I'd just add the $10/month Adobe Photographer Plan - so much more you can do with LR & PS. It's like adding salt&pepper to a beautiful steak
 
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Member's gallery
Woody Meristem said:
Older and/or less expensive cameras are capable of taking superb photographs. Although you might get the impression that anything but the very best/latest/most expensive gear isn't even worth picking up, that ain't true. There's also a lot of free editing software available and with the exception of Affinity (which I don't use much) that's all I use. Take a look at PhotoScape and FastStone, two of my favorite editors -- they're free and easy to use, especially PhotoScape.

I don't shoot RAW, just JPG, but I do undertake some editing on most of my photos -- normally just tweaking sharpness, exposure and contrast a bit. Most cameras don't really reproduce what the eye sees very well without some tweaking of the image they've captured.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your insight, Woody. With all of the comments coming my way it sounds like perhaps I just haven't 'growed up' yet!
 
Member's gallery
Charles Loy said:
Welcome to the group, Jack. Nice photo and happy you are enjoying your new hobby, and agree with your realistic start. Editing however is not a 'make believe' world, I believe you will give it a go someday and enjoy the results
Click to expand...
Thank you, Charles!
 
Member's gallery
Johan Schmidt said:
Beautiful shot. I'd just add the $10/month Adobe Photographer Plan - so much more you can do with LR & PS. It's like adding salt&pepper to a beautiful steak
Click to expand...
Sizzling ribeye, blackened... Thank you for your input. Perhaps my biggest problem is just being overwhelmed by so many option. Simplify, simplify, simplify.
 
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