r_johnston

<p>Have been using the D200 since the second year, have never had an error.</p>

 

<p>Personally shoot lots of paintings using daylight outdoors and to color correct do as mentioned above, two sheets of computer paper, though not the "Brite" a it is usually bluer. Shoot a couple of images before the session, then when loading RAW, I use the color correction eyedropper in Lightroom to read the paper. Then use the same correction to adjust all the paintings that were shot, for printing. They come out closer to the originals than any other methods Ive tried.</p>

<p>Sometimes its just a way of selling items below retail. If they say its refurbished, they can charge a lower price w/o manufacturer complaints or cutting them off. Have bought lots of things from Computers to Nikon's over the years that were refurbished. <br>

When you buy them direct from manufacturer, then they are. Items returned which failed for some reason or ones which did not pass initial inspections. Normally manufactures may only test one of ten units, and the test is not complete. If returned They run them through a stricter inspection process again, fix or replace any components and resell as refurbished, as it is against the law to sell them as new..... Have been buying refurbished computers since 1978, have never had one fail. But, a brand new Dell that I bought, burned up a motherboard on me, Dell wouldn't replace it 17 days after warrentee expired.. A year later, they recalled the model to replace the motherboard... Never bought a Dell again...</p>

<p>All in all, you had a good learning experience. Ive watch the TV Judges for several years (now retired) and you _did_ have a contract. Judges in Small Claims court, act the part of Lawyer and Judge for both sides. They will get the full story out of both parties, and uphold Verbal contracts. No Judge would have made you produce more than what you wanted, with this verbal contract. You would have won, you could still take them to court, and ask for payment for the images they demanded that went beyond your verbal contract. Most cases we see handled in small claims, are against a Photographer who promised things and never delivered them. No Photos, a year, two years after the wedding. Terrible images, out of focus, blurred, poor color, videos that include things which never should be in them or not delivered... To most of the Judges like Judy or Brown, and others, they would hold what you did up as an example of what should be done in such a contract, even if you only gave them 80 images or so... The reason they may have wanted the rest so much, was because what you first gave them was better than they expected, where it was better than the quality of Pro, photos they had in their home... But, they should have PAID you for the additional work you did.<br>

When I did wedding photography, my contract gave the couple a Wedding Album, with 20 8x10s in a White, and any above that, they had to pay an additional price per image. <br /><br /> Using film, would always take about 200 all keepers, with my experience it usually meant 3 our of 100 were rejected... (That boosted my profit) We managed the Wedding Photos, like some Wedding Planners do today. Even though I did, most guests never realized a professional was there. Dressed like one of the Wedding Party, and was unobtrusive, talk to the person marrying them, to find out what was allowed during he Ceremony or not and never violated the rules. Went to the Brides home before the wedding, to the wedding, and reception. Staying until the B&G left the reception. Then the B&G usually ordered an album for both parents, and a smaller one for each of the wedding party, which were duplicates of the B&G album. <br /><br />Now that Ive retired, always take photos of friends or relatives weddings and give them to them as a Wedding Gift. It always surprises me, to find the Pro they are paying, following me around trying to get the same poses and angles they see me going for, it makes me wonder why they call themselves a Pro... Then, several times the B&G feel mine are much better than what they had to pay to get. Back in my day, went to school at NYI of Photography two years. Then apprenticed with a Professional for two years, before considering myself a Professional... </p>

<p>In that very large enlargement of your image, the Luminance noise setting in Lightroom would improve it a lot. Lightroom is so good now, Ive switched from using Photoshop 100% of the time to Using Lightroom 95% of the time. Mostly using PS for creating Panorama's or editing garbage our of images like electric lines or other things that cant be done with Lightroom. <br>

To shoot that image, Id have set the camera on a tripod, and used a lower ISO to shoot it. With a sleeping child, there is no reason to use more than ISO 100... then the entire babies face could also be in focus.</p>

<p>If you have Lightroom, if not, try the Demo of V4... At the bottom in the "Develop" menu is a noise correction. Instead of having to replace your lenses to use full frame, it would cost a lot less to use Nikon Correction for lenses in Lightroom and the Noise filter.<br /><br />You might find it satisfies your need to eliminate noise. Even with the D200, as a Professional, it satisfies my needs. Then, personally am using Lightroom, with my personal preset to import all RAW files, so only very minor corrections have to be made.<br /><br />One thing in my preset, is locking WB to as shot, and exposure to 0 change, so that the images look as close to what I saw when making the exposure. Auto settings in Lightroom really throw them way off what Id planned.... so I tailor the setting to my spec's.<br /><br />Personally began in Photography in 1985, when my aunt taught me to use her darkroom. One thing she taught me, "Never change your camera to get better images. Learn how to use what you have, to get the best possible. Only if you need a different film size, lens, etc., should you spend the money." Have never bought a camera the first year it was released or used software in the first year. Wait, find out what others find in testing, or extended use, to decide if it is what we NEED."<br /><br />Ive seen many photos by Boy Scouts with a Photography Merit Badge taken with camera's that cost less than $50 which won State and International competition. Its what we know about HOW to use the equipment we have, which creates the best images. </p>

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<p>For those who may plan trips in the future....<br>

Use All suggestions above.<br>

Make sure to go to Yavaipi Point if its the only place you have time to visit. Then to Mather Point.<br>

<br /> Take the Bus (free) to Hermet Point with many viewpoints on the route. You can get off at any of them and catch the next bus. The bus in the opposite direction goes to Yaki Point. As both of these routes are limited to BUS service only and cars are not allowed there are different photos than tose most commonly seen from the first two locations. <br /> Many think we don't need a Polarized filter for digital camera's or if using Photoshop for post processing. But make sure to use one. Haze can almost totally obscure features at times and it throws the colors way of reality. Personally I also use a UV filter. The difference in originals is well worth the loss of speed. <br /><br />USE A TRIPOD, millions of photos are shot without them, and it is evident. You can use slower speeds, shoot time lapse sequences, use smaller lens opening. The distance varies across the Canyons from a few miles to 18 miles. In my opinion the most dramatic photos are those where you do not attempt to capture it all. Zoom in on the most dramatic peaks, canyons, trees, animals in addition to panoramic photos. If you shoot for panoramic images start with VERTICAL images and stitch them for more impressive panoramic. <br /><br />Ive seen suggestions in various messages about going to the Canyon and Monument Valley or Sedona, etc... For the best trip, spend as much time as possible in the canyon. Since 1970, Ive been going there FOUR times or more a year. When I retired in 1995, moved to Arizona so could spend more time in the state. Still go to the Canyon more than 4 times a year, and still find new images and now over 80 dont think Ill ever have enough time to capture all I want...</p>

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<p>When you figure the cost of replacing batteries all the time, rechargeable's beat AAA's easy. Cost for batteries is no where what some believe, just buy the MBD10 grip on E_Bay, through Cameta Camera, a photo shop from upstate NY that is a Nikon Dealer.... So you get a full US warrantee with everything you buy. They also have some very reliable used equipment for sale if you get on their email list. You get a big discount on the grip and one battery and a charger comes with it. Bought a second battery for less than $40 from another dealer on EBay and have been using them over three years. </p>

 

<p>Well I use Lightroom now almost exclusively. Maybe 5% or less in CS5. I just tie the D200 to LR, and import RAW images without any Presets, just set to NONE. The exposures need very little change from what I like, generally just an adjustment of contrast, as I like a contrasty image.</p>

<p>Id go to eBay and search for Cameta Camera, you can get one new for a good price. Bought my Nikon D200 and battery pack from them a couple of years ago it also included a second battery. Buy a used one, and it probably will not come with a battery or with one that is very used. Saved about $1000 over the retail prices available. They are a Nikon dealer from upstate New York, so have standard warranty on all products.</p>

<p>Personally prefer TIFF to JPG. As I said "copies" of the JPG, that is what I did. Saving the original JPEGs to DVDs, keeping the TIFF on my Terri-byte drives for working files.<br>

Personal preference is to work with Tiff, especially editing them to take out trash or objects like trash cans in Photoshop. Even in Lightroom my preference is to use TIFF files. They are larger, but using Terri-byte drives have no problem with space.<br>

Thanks for all of the opinions, they all helped...</p>

 

<p>There are also companies you can use to display or sell your work like Zenfolio, AND images on the site can be protected. If you set your site so they can not be downloaded and someone rightclicks and on View, etc you get a NULL page with nothing on it.<br>

You can display small images with low resolution, say 30-52 pixels. Then those attempting to print them, get badly pixelated images when making larger copies. If we post images at 300ppi, and as large as allowed, then we are making it easy for others to copy them.</p>

<p>Am amazed that so many post images without adding copyright information. It can be done in PS or LR and many other editors. My images that I want to protect now all have My PO Box and Phone Number. They include all data about the file, where taken if it is a copy, date copy created, etc... in the file and from time to time get requests and payments for use. It is so easy to enter, when loading the image for the first time in LR general info about me, goes into every image. Then adding in one image general info about the shoot, locations, subject matter, etc it can be then added to all images with a couple of key strokes.<br /> We can not expect others to respect our work, if we do not care enough about it to make it easy for them to contact us to pay for it.</p>

<p>There is code which can be added to your own web page, that will prevent others from copying or printing it and even from reading the page code. However, usually it can only be done from your own Website, though it can also be added to eBay website pages though few do so. Ive used it for years on my own domain sites, eBay and any others where I could write my own code. When using any of the normal methods to try to download, copy, or print it, nothing happens. It disables the use of browser options which allow it. <br>

Bought the code years ago, from a programmer who was selling it on eBay. Don't know if it is still available. As it is also copyrighted code can't just give it to others. But, if you have your own site, may be able to have a programmer do it....</p>

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<p>IF you really know how to use _your_ camera, it does not matter very much. Yes, there are limitations with cameras, no matter how good it may be. We just learn to live with the limitations and to use the one we have in any or all possible ways. Back in the 40's taught 4H and Scouts Photography. Many of them learned to produce excellent photos with whatever camera they had. From Box camera's with only two lens openings to the best which compared to today's cameras were very basic... One of them won a N.E. Photography Club competition, with a Kodak Vest Pocket camera. Then, Ive seen some of the worst photos ever, shot with Canon, Nikon, Leica's and other camera's over the years.<br>

Have seen some excellent shots with the first BW Polaroid Camera by Ansel Adams. It is not the camera which creates, but the Brain the camera is just a tool we use. Have used many, many cameras over the past 74 years. Used many formats from 5x7 down to formats as small as 8mm movie frames. In 35mm have been using Nikon since the 50's in the past several years switched to Digital Nikons. But at 81+ carrying two or three bodies and half a dozen lenses gets too heavy to take out every day. You may not be able to get a shallow dof with your compact camera. But Ive bought a cheap Fuji compact digital last fall so that Id always have a camera with me. Can get a shallow DOF with it. Have some really good shots that Id have totally missed without it. In fact some days shooting humming birds in bright sun, the DOF was toooooo shallow to catch five or six birds some blossoms. So had to zoom in close to eliminate the ones that would have been out of focus. The closer you get, the shallower the DOF will be.<br>

First, go through your manual and read it fast, just the headings.<br>

Second read all boldface or italics.<br>

Third, read it like a novel, without trying to remember anything.<br>

Fourth, read it slowly, and HIGHLIGHT the first sentence of a paragraph you feel is important to you or your use of the camera.<br>

Fifth read only what you highlighted each time before you practice, go out and shoot.<br>

USE your camera _every_ day for at least 12 weeks. 12 Weeks is the habit forming cycle, by doing that you will create habits so that you use it automatically without thinking about anything technical....<br>

Each time you use the camera to practice, before you do, read the first sentences you highlighted.<br>

IF the manual is written correctly _that_ sentence will contain all info in the paragraph. If you have a problem, go back and read the manual about that feature of your camera. Before long, you will know _everything_ there is to know about it, and will use it to the fullest. You may not get everything you want, but you will get more than 90 percent of the users who do not practice and learn everything about the same camera.</p>

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<p>Doesn't the D300 have the ability to shoot time lapse images like the D200?<br>

With camera on tripod, you set manual exposure and focus. Set the timer in the menu, with frequency of exposures and number you want. Then just let it do the job, itself...</p>

 

<p>Yep, all my life other photographers gave me TIPS on how to improve various aspects of my work. They helped much more than any rating would. Ratings including mine, are based upon personal opinion, can be subjective. Affected by a lot of unconscious things we are not even aware effect ratings we might give. It is difficult, maybe impossible to teach creativity, but we can help others improve original digital images or with post processing and give them ideas.</p>

<p>Its not easy to help, without being there and seeing the conditions as I have no "conscious level visual images." But can SEE over a dozen possibilities in the image you posted.<br>

GET in CLOSE... Many times there can be interesting arrangements even in garbage. Look for bird feathers, shells, tracks of crabs that walked on the beach and many other things can have a lot of punch. Become as a small child, see things that would have amazed you when you were two or three years old. Show people things they cant see because they are not there.<br>

<br /> Focus in on footprints, especially those with bare feet. Get photos of ones walking in a straight line or wandering back and forth to put an interesting s-curve or other curves. IF none are there, create them walking on the beach yourself. Get sharp ones, others with sand beginning to crumble into the print, etc, capture them with water in them on the edges of the surf. If no one is there take photos of your OWN footprints.<br>

USE YOUR IMAGINATION, practice shooting anything available, underexpose for low key images in BW and use Post processing to punch up color. Make High Key images or those with subtle colors can also make some of the best images.<br>

<br /> Practice making images with one color which dominates, like controling the colors to make one all in blue tones. I did one of a beach in CA that way, with ten zones of blues and called it "Rhapsody in Blue." Remember we are not "Journalists," there is no "law" which states an image must be exactly like the original. In fact most which are, are blah or gag me and be an "ARTIST" CREATE what you see as your own interpretation in your own mind. Photography is a means of COMMUNICATION, when we communicate what is in our mind so others can understand it, then we are a success.<br /> <br /> Search for beach photos on PhotoNet, there are probably thousands of ideas in them. Close ups of driftwood, rusted nails or other metal and whatever on the beaches. Im not even there and as I write, idea after idea after idea comes to me.... Study the work of others here, the more good information you put in your grain, the more ideas will come out. The brain combines many things and can create unique combinations which will make your images different.<br>

Sunsets can be fleeting, but if you have a camera which will take multiple shots, you can grab quite a few before the sky goes blah. Use the polarizers, I ALWAYS keep them and sometimes add a UV filter on the camera together. <br /> If you have Photoshop, play with the HSL, especially the Luminance to alter brightness of colors or zones of gray in BW images. Change HUE in colors to make a broader range of gray zones in B&W. Do this before removing saturation, then double check them after to get a full ten zones of gray to white.</p>

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<p>Dont use Camera Pro 2, but there should be a setting which only copies the images from the card and leaves them on the card. There may be a box to check or uncheck to leave them on the card.<br>

The default in Lightroom, leaves them on the card, then we have to deliberately re-format the card to remove them. Personally am copying them to the HD, and burning them to a DVD, to have a backup of the RAW files. Then deleting them from the card. Feel DVD's (especially from Phillips Corp) are more reliable than saving them on a card, and it is also less expensive. Ive got very old CD's and DVD's that are some of the first made, which seem as good as the day that they were burned. </p>

<p>As Ansel Adams said "85% of my finished images are completed in the darkroom." (paraphrased) Edward Weston (who invented one of the best exposure meters) said, "The exposure meter is only an aid. We have to know how to use it, then apply it to get what we want." <br>

A meter is a very basic computer. Exposure meters attempt to make ALL images look the same. The best computer, is our brain. Experience fed into it, helps us to make better decisions over time. We do not have to learn from experience, but can learn from everyone's experience here, and in books. The more reading we do, plus experimenting or practicing what we learn from others, gives us the ability to automatically produce what we desire. <br>

TTL flash metering will _never_ get it done exactly the way we want, it is still only a tool. We can not expect to create a perfect image with metering. Light exceeds the ability of the media used, to reproduce what is in our head. Something must be sacrificed, we have to determine what we want to sacrifice.<br>

NOW the potential may be in this image in this image, to create just what you wish. Photoshop is the Modern equivalent of the darkroom. Spend the time learning to use it, like the Masters learned to use chemicals to do what they desired. 85% of what we want to produce, can be completed in Photoshop. Just learn to create the finished images you desire. Ive used both for over 74 years, believe me its much easier in Photoshop than a Darkroom. :) It is also faster, and less expensive.<br>

The beauty of digital, is that if we do not have the ability or knowledge today, we can come back to it in the future and create something better than we did today. With Photoshop, we can use various techniques to change various portions of the image, to balance it the way we want. <br>

There are many courses on the Internet which can teach you Photoshop. Free tutorials are available on YouTube, etc... Just because some are free, does not mean they are not good... Watch them, listen, and practice what they teach, in a year looking back you can be very surprised how much you have learned or improved.<br>

Adobe's website has a lot of info in the forums. Anyone can log on the site and register a name to learn from what we find there. What is learned can also be used with other software with similar features, like Gimp which is free, but much like Photoshop.</p>

 

<p>Ive worn glasses for years, but do not have a special or magnifying viewfinder on my D100. There is an adjustment on the viewfinder, which I use to adjust to my eye. I just move my glasses up on my head, and look thru the viewfinder and adjust it to my eye once. Once it is done, never have to change it. Though at times it has been a nuisance (glasses get dirty from my hair) it has worked for me on Nikon's since the 50's. <br>

Though I have some manual focus Nikon lenses, it works for me. If I remember correctly, the D200 viewfinder does not show all that's in the image anyway, so don't want to look through glasses, as then Id see less.</p>

<p>Got FREE software on Amazon to read Kindle Books on a PC or Laptop and read all the books you want, with a full screen. It works great on my 20" HP Laptop. Plus am getting to re-read Free, lots of classics that I read back in the 30's and 40's. Have some of the Photo books, and the print is larger than in the originals. </p>

<p>@Gary, you might try running a copy of "Advanced System Care" it is an amazing program. There are all kinds of problems in computers, caused by registry errors it will fix. It is less expensive than the majority of such programs and you can even use it free.... No time limit, free use just means it will not run automatically on a schedule. It has built in features of Spyware removal, Registry Fix, Privacy Sweep, Junk file cleaner, System Optimization, Security Defense, Disk De-fragment, Internet Turbo Boost and Security analyzer. Newest feature is a game module, and folder privacy protection if anyone needs them. <br>

Ive tried many pay programs and have not found one which is any better. My system and Internet speed improved noticeably and some program conflicts have disappeared.</p>

<p>Just a note about compatibility. If you have a program which is not compatible with W7, you can still us it. Right click on the icon, choose Properties, then Compatibility in the menu. Choose the version it was compatible with, save and go to work.</p>

<p>Anthony, It sounds as if you have Lightroom menu at the top closed. <br>

IF so, in the center of the screen is a control shaped like a triangle. <br>

Click on this, and it will open showing on the right side, "Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print, and Web." Then you can switch between the commands for each one as you desire...</p>