drjoder

When I travel with my wife, here is what I do...I get up WAY early and shoot pre-sunrise through sunrise with my tripod, heavy camera and lenses, then I get back to our lodging. I usually have either public transportation available or a rental car and I pre-plan where I want to go the day before so I don't get lost. I can usually crawl back in bed for an hour before she finally gets up. I get to shoot at the A.M. "Golden Hour", but I sacrifice a couple of hours of sleep to do it. During the day, as we walk around, I carry a smaller point-and-shoot, which is still very, very capable--the Sony RX100iv.

<p>Five minutes in Silver Efex Pro (and a slight crop)...</p><div></div>

<p>It sounds like you may already know this, but just in case...the DX format (crop factor) like the D7200 or D500 will effectively give you a 1.5x magnification factor. So, for example, if you use that new Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 lens (which gets good reviews, by the way), you have essentially a 300-750mm focal length available--pretty up and close for birds and wildlife...and wildlife on the football field, too. I seem to remember reading that Thom Hogan uses a D7200 for a lot of his wildlife shots--and he is pretty professional. Either camera would be a petty nice setup. Rodeo Joe has a good point about the D500--several of Nikon's recent camera releases have not been super smooth initially. Maybe wait for the bugs to get fixed, or just get the D7200.</p>

<p>I thought B&W would work best--but that's my personal bias. Ran it through about five minutes of work in Silver Efex Pro. Also cropped it a bit tighter. I briefly considered selective color on the three drawers, but then the boot would essentially disappear. Plus I'm not always convinced about selective color. Fun exercise. It's interesting to see the different visions.</p><div></div>

<p>I sometimes use that same filter on my Nikon D800 and get mixed results. Yes, I have to leave the lens hood off, so I shade the lens as best I can with a hat or whatever. That is probably causing the flare in your case. Some other stuff...I get weird banding and coloration if I try to get max darkness from the filter. I think it is probably best for just 6 stops or so--not 9 or whatever they advertise. Also, it does vignette on my 24-70 at wide angle settings. Finally, you will likely need to fix the color/white balance in your post-processing, but that's fairly obvious and you likely already know that. I have been mostly happy with it given those limitations. Just my experience. Maybe others can chime in on how to use it properly to help me out, too!</p>

<p>Paul,<br> My wife is from Barcelona so we spend quite a bit of time there. The subject matter I prefer probably won't match up exactly with what you are after, but here are a few suggestions...Sunrise/sunset anywhere along the beach, the Hotel W area and the area around The Forum/solar panel are especially interesting. Sunrise/sunset up at the three Gaudi crosses in Park Guell. Sunrise/sunset up by the fortress of Montjuic for city and sea views (walk around to the sea side and then walk the trail down toward the city. The street/people photography is great most anywhere, especially in the old city area of Barrio Chino/Barrio Viejo and along Las Ramblas (mostly tourists on the latter, though). The area up by the Olympic torch antenna can be interesting at sunrise/sunset. You can take a look at my Barcelona galleries on my blog/website (www.danieljoderphotography.com) and if you have any questions just fire away. As to pick pockets, yes I have witnessed folks getting their wallets lifted--although I have never personally had a problem even walking around the beaches, Montjuic, Park Guell, etc. with my Think Tank bag and tripod at sunrise/sunset. I prefer to do the heavy crowd/street and tourist photography during the day with a small machine like the Sony RX100s just for ease of carry and to not attract attention. So just be mindful of your surroundings and keep your very small wallet in your front pocket and you should be fine. It is really hard to go wrong, photographically, no matter where you go in Barcelona.</p>

<p>Ray, I bet you could get something very close to that look digitally with Google (formerly Nik) Silver Efex Pro. On the Silver Efex workspace area, start with maybe the Neutral or Fine Art Process preset on the left, then go to the right column and scroll down to the Color Filters. Here, you can experiment with applying different colored filters--with a slider to vary the strength. Just above that, on the right column, is a thing called Selective Adjustments. Here, you can work on adjusting local contrast, structure, brightness, etc. Also on this right column is a section where you can select a Film Type simulation and you can vary the grain using a slider. I think you could come pretty close to what you are after with this software. Overall, it's pretty intuitive and doesn't take too long to get the hang of how to "develop" your images with it.</p>

<p>Thanks, Kyle, that is indeed the building. Thanks, everyone!</p>

<p>Thanks, Laura, that's it! I appreciate your help! DanJ</p>

<p>Thanks for the crop, Donald--I should have done that. Yes, Yana, it was indeed from ground level. Since we were staying in the area of 9th Avenue and 46th Street (Hell's Kitchen, sort of) I thought it would be somewhere between there and Times Square/The Rock and the south end of Central Park because that was where I spent most of my walking time. But, I did notice that the images that immediately follow this one were taken down toward Wall Street and 9-11 area, so maybe this building is down that direction. Sorry to be so vague.</p>

<p>Apologies if this isn't the right place...We took a trip to NYC this summer/fall and I managed to keep track of the buildings I was photographing except for this one. Can you identify it, despite my geometric manipulation? (I can't seem to find the original single image.) I have it down as Building #99 but I'd prefer to give it its real name if possible. Thanks!<br> DanJ</p><div></div>

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<p>Thanks, William. I did see several articles and the handful of mixed reviews. After your post, I went back and found a few more via Mr. Google. It seems like a unique and interesting concept that could work for some photographers, depending on how they work and their personal goals. After investigating a bit more, though, I don't think it quite fits in with where I want to go. I just wondered if anyone on this site had any feedback from personal experience--either as artist or as customer.</p>

<p>Just wondering if anyone has worked with Turning Art out of Boston and, if so, what was your experience? It seems like an interesting concept and marketing/sales niche (I just read through all their FAQs for artists on their website). Commissions aren't huge, but you keep copyright and do little more than send them your image files--or so it seems. Opinions?<br> http://www.turningart.com/</p>

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<p>You may be right about a DSLR not being the only answer. My wife shoots with a Sony RX100ii (20mp) and I am always amazed at the quality of the JPEGs right out of the camera, even in fairly low light. They now have a version iii (3) out. She has a light tripod, too, for any specific studio-type work (maybe like your friend's antique close-ups or flowers). Just something to think about. Seems to me it has the advantages of light weight, ease of use, versatility, and good out-of-camera image quality. As to Nikon v. Canon DSLR, I think it's more a matter of how well your friend learns to use the camera than one being better than the other.</p>

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<p>Elsa, I know plenty of people with great talent who have gone exactly nowhere, whereas there are others with little apparent talent (at least initially) who have done great things. I am still not sure how much is "innate talent" and how much is "hard work". It varies for everyone, I'd guess. Maybe the only thing that changes is that your learning curve is shorter if you can do some things instinctively. Craig Tanner wrote a pretty nice essay on this subject, called "The Myth of Talent" that might be worth reading for some food for thought: http://www.tmelive.com/index.php/articles/view/28/24.html</p> <p> </p>

<p>Ooops. File too big. Try this:</p><div></div>