johne37179

Looking at you last image -- the blur is not uniform across the image. It is greater at the margins. I think you should do a test on a tripod against a grid (or brick wall).

I do pretty much what Danny does. It doesn't make a lot of sense to have the exceedingly fast shoot and write capability of the camera without a card that can use it.

I use CC/ PS & LR, but rely heavily on plug-ins from Topaz Labs -- Studio is their new release and a great tool. I shoot RAW with Nikon gear and occasionally an iPhone 6s. I start in Lr and will bounce back and forth to PS and Topaz. I make most global adjustments in LR. Unlike most, I no longer use the layers in PS and work only in one layer. I may make multiple versions of any single image and I save all of the versions to LR. I am rich in memory and have about 30 TB, including 16 TB of RAID memory that I store my photos in - multiple copies across multiple drives. I'm on a fairly new (2015) 5K,retina 27inch iMac with a second 24inch Apple monitor.

Tim, all good teaching is about enabling you to teach yourself. What you teach yourself is what you truly learn and retain.

Good advice Wouter. Your equipment should become invisible in your process. Just as a fine musician can concentrate on the music (practice) instead of the instrument, it should be the same with your camera, lenses, software, etc.

As usual, Fred is spot on. Look at the visual work of others. Understand what you like and why you like it. Figure out how it was done. Try to emulate it and then try again and again. Go back to the beginning and repeat the process again and again.

Yesterday I was present when about 50 vets from WWII, Korea and Vietnam were visiting the WWII Memorial in Washington DC. This is one of them.

Charles, I found your comment most interesting. I, too remember shooting at ASA 25 and 32. These days I avoid shooting in the harsh light of midday. I prefer rainy overcast days when colors are most saturated and shadows soft. I also like the early part and late part of the day and look for those long deep shadows you avoid. I like the definition the shadows provide and the current set of digital sensors allow detail to be capture in those shadows if

I'm a planner and plodder. I shoot almost every day, but it is with a particular shot or type of shot in mind. Ever since spending time with Ansel Adams in the late '60s, I've worked to pre-visualize my shot. I pretty much have the image worked out in my mind well ahead of time - sometimes weeks ahead if it is a major expedition, like a week at the Grand Canyon or something. I will anticipate sun (or moon) angles and relative positions pretty exactly. There is an app called the photographer's ephemeris that does a slick job of that. Most of the locations I go to I have been to many times before (part of the advantage of being 75 years old). From time to time I will just grab shots, bet that is usually to test out new gear or a new technique related to software that I test for some developer.

This is a horse trainer -- the image was captured at the Virginia Spring Races -- D500, 70-300 lens.

This is the mill at Aldie Virginia. The image has been distorted to stretch the vertical axis. It was processed using Topaz software. It was shot with a D500 and a Sigma 10-20mm lens

I'd look at the diopter as a possible easy fix and eliminate it as the problem. I recently discovered that somehow the correction on my D500 had moved just slightly. I was attributing the focus issue to camera shake, but it was simply getting the diopter adjustment back where it should be.

Since getting my D500 I see no place for FX in my bag.

I use several DSLRs for about 98% of what I shoot, but I do use my iPhone for panoramas.