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Npm98 — Dark Storms
Published: 2014-06-24 15:00:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 451; Favourites: 27; Downloads: 7
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE-xpE…Tomorrow's gone. It's a new day.
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Comments: 33
This looks good, everything has detail, color, and smoothness.
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Thank you! I wish I still had the original files to do an updated version of it, but it was still a great experience to be out under the storms like that and not having to worry about soaking my camera
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I want to photograph storms, but it's been difficult trying to figure out how to make it work. I can capture rainfall, or clouds, or the scenery, but not all at the same time. Then the colors get all thrown off due to the sky color, so I'm left wondering like "was it really this yellow outside?" and stuff like that. It really makes me wonder how camera crew for news stations can record videos during hurricanes and have it all look so real. But they are shooting video, which captures the rainfall easily.
I've seen suggestions on how to keep the camera safe. Some use clear plastic bags and rubber bands to create a camera poncho that allows you to still operate the camera fairly easy. Another thing I saw was someone that uses an umbrella in a custom made holder that attaches to the camera. To prevent the rain from shaking the camera, he just shoots with one hand by removing the umbrella and holding it in his other hand.
Pentax has all-weather DSLRs, but I'm not going to buy a new camera just for rain resistances, I can't do it financially. I got my camera this Christmas, it's the most expensive gift I've ever received. Plus I think Canon still has better photo quality, although it looks tempting when looking at the ISO speeds the Pentax K-70 can achieve.
My biggest problem so far is the lens fogging up. I'm thinking I could buy a UV filter and treating it with Rain-X or something. I keep forgetting to look up about the lens fog, so I'll look it up before anything. I'm too poor to go experimenting on lens, so filter only. I wish I found some place that sells used lens in bad condition so they're dirt cheap, just so I can have a bunch of lens to mess around with.
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I would love to start shooting storms a bit more, but I'm afraid of ruining my camera 
The best way to keep your gear from fogging up is to leave it somewhere warm for a short while before going out somewhere hot to shoot, like the trunk of your car or somewhere away from the air conditioning, and somewhere cool before you shoot in the cold. Obviously you don't want to put your camera in the freezer, but you get the point 
Ebay has a bunch of cheap, crappy lenses that are probably in "working enough" condition to do some experimenting on. I've found 6,000+ listings under $100 just by searching Canon Lens and setting my criteria to used, $0-$100. Just make sure you don't buy any FD lenses unless they come with an FD to EF adapter (Which you can buy on Amazon for ~$30). They won't work on your camera, otherwise.
I think that if you shoot RAW, Digital Photo Pro can change the white balance of an image help make it appear more true to life instead of having a heavy yellow or blue color cast. I could be wrong about that seeing as I haven't used the program extensively, so I wouldn't quote me on that one.
I've always admired Pentax for weather proofing even their cheap cameras. The K-70 seems like a pretty nice camera, but Pentax has always come out to be the underdog. I saw some sample JPGs from the K-3 II when it first came out and I liked the way the files looked when processed by the camera; they have a lot of contrast and the saturation is just right, but after looking at some more in-depth work with them, the dynamic range and color reproduction in the raw files just doesn't keep up with the competition. The in-body image stabilization would help a lot for low-light shooting and video, and I also like all of the options available for exposure bracketing; you generally don't see that many options available for enthusiast-level dSLRs. However, don't let the high ISO abilities fool you - just because a camera has a ridiculously high ISO setting doesn't mean that images will necessarily come out cleaner at lower ISOs. ISO 3200+ will still probably come out looking like a grainy mess.
I haven't had much luck capturing rain in my photos. Clouds and scenery are the two things I can do, but seeing actual rain drops falling has been a challenge without Photoshop. They move pretty quick so you'd need a fast shutter speed to make them show up as anything more than little streaks or haze, but I think the secret is to use a longer focal length and a small aperture to really accentuate the rain. You won't get the entire landscape, but that's really the only way I could think of to get a good shot of the rain drops. 
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I should've checked ebay, they even have an option for "for parts or not working" and someone is selling a EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USMfor $1.25 just because of fungus. You should jump on that. Just look up how to disassemble a lens and get rubbing alcohol, maybe mixed with the purest water if needed.
One of the lens I want comes with the T6s, so if I ever find a job and get good at saving, maybe I can get that down the road. Rebel T6s is a huge improvement to the T5, but I'm in no rush for a better body. All I mainly want right now are two lens, a 24mm f/2.8 wide angle at $150 and a 50mm f/1.8 at $125. Wide for scenery, and the 50mm for something light and fast to get quick sharp photos when walking around.
I can change the colors to anything with RAW, it just gets confusing to remember the true colors of things. I use Digital Photo Professional 4, which came with my camera.
There are two ways for me to capture rain, as streaks or as drops. I'm looking more for streaks since it shows movement. I just change the focus until it looks like the rain shows up more. I wanted to try using my flash, but the built-in flash drops my ISO speed, so I'll need an external flash.
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Oh man, that's crazy. I don't do a whole lot of long telephoto work, so I'll take a pass on that one. I'm not the most handy or resourceful person anyway, so I'm not too confident I'd be able to take apart a lens, but for a couple bucks, I hope somebody gets some use out of that thing.
I assume the lens you're talking about is the 18-135mm IS STM. It seems like a nice enough lens with a pretty versatile focal length for the price. Haven't heard much about its image quality, but I can imagine that, at the very worst, it's better than what came with the T3i.
The 24mm f/2.8 was a a lens that I was really considering for a while, as I was starting to get into star trail photography, and the bright aperture paired with the wide angle focal length would help keep ISO speeds down. Plus it becomes a decent-ish portrait lens since our cameras have smaller sensors, thus making it approximately a 35mm lens. It's also a pancake lens, which makes storage easy and keeps the camera light. I own the second generation of the 50mm f/1.8 and I've shot some of my favorite portraits with it. Crazy good optics for the price, and the newest STM version of it even has a metal mount, as opposed to mine, which has a plastic mount. The bokeh does take on a strange shape when stopped down to f/2.8 and below, which is where my copy is sharpest, but it still blurs the background enough in most cases to where it doesn't become that much of an issue.
If you want to show some movement in the rain drops, use a slower shutter speed, I'd try about 1 stop slower, and make your aperture smaller to compensate for the brighter exposure. It'll make your image sharper and bring more of the image into focus.
It's strange that using your flash dictates your ISO - The only time I could ever imagine that happening is on auto ISO.
A strange thing I've noticed about external flashes is that off-brand flashes (YongNuo, Sunpak, etc) don't fire if you're using LiveView. You have to use your viewfinder to shoot with an off brand flash, and brand name flashes are super expensive. I'm not even entirely sure Canon flashes would work in LiveView - people are a bit indecisive about that on forums. That might not be that big of a deal to you, but I manually focus about 90% of my shots, and it's almost impossible to manually focus in the viewfinder, so it's a bit of a hassle for me.
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18-135mm must be so good for normal use. The lens alone is $600, so I'm assuming the quality is better than my 18-55m. My other lens is 75-300mm, same one as the ebay one. So my range goes from 18 to 55, then 75. I figure 135 is a nice maximum and that focal range down to 18 will make the lens perfect for me. It should be me more useful than both lens I currently have, replacing the kit one entirely, not that I'd sell the 18-55 of course. I'd keep it as back up.
So that's how I see it anyways. Really good looking lens with a really good body. $1050 is a lot, but that camera must be great. I think it's currently the best Rebel right now, so maybe in the future, the price will come down a little.
My camera came with its 75-300 and a camera bag, all for around $400. My mom found a website that had a six month payment program, which is why my T5 is the color red, it was a special of that website. But if you look at the price of both lens, it's around $435. So it's like getting my body for free. When my mom told me about the deal, I couldn't believe it at first. So that's when I chose it. It's actually a combination of Christmas and graduation, despite no graduating yet. But I will this term.
It feels a little wrong to think of a new camera already, especially since we're low on money. But the T5 is like a T3 in hardware, the processor is old. I look at the T6s and I just imagine it being far greater in low light situations. But I won't get a new camera anytime soon.
I bought a PowerShot ELPH 170 IS over a year ago just for a field trip, and even that has a better processor than my Rebel. It's strange to think about. If it's on a tripod, it can take some wonderful long exposures. That little thing even has 12x optical zoom, it's pretty cool for a pocket camera. I can barely use it now which is funny, I got so used to my Rebel already.
I never actually use my flash, but the external ones look useful, both hotshoe and radio. I think the ISO speed changes because the built-in flash isn't fast enough to sync properly, or maybe there isn't enough power to run both at the same time. I know high ISO speed uses more power, which is what causes a lot of the noise, it's from the sensor heating up and looking at its own interference. At least I think this is why, I could be wrong. It's hard to remember everything I read.
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Yeah, the 18-135mm does seem pretty nice. I agree that it's quite a nice lens aesthetically as well. It really sucks having to switch between lenses a lot, and it sounds like it offers good image quality with an extensive enough zoom range for a decent price. Sigma and Tamron have "Super zoom" offerings; Sigma has an 18-300, Tamron has a 16-300, and both brands have an 18-200. None of them offer really mindblowing IQ, but the prices are pretty cheap and as long as you're not printing, they should hold up for web use just fine if you make your files a bit smaller; maybe 2000 pixels on the large side.
The T6s is head and shoulders above any of Canon's other enthusiast based offerings. I've actually told my mother that she should consider buying one if she plans on making another DSLR purchase within the next 3 or 4 years, as I'm sure the technology in the camera will keep up just fine for casual/amateur use for a number of years, and I'm a complete snob when it comes to photography gear, so I think the fact that I'm actually recommending it to someone should speak volumes about its quality
Personally, my camera came with an 18-55, 55-250, bag, SD card, charger, and a couple other little accessories that I forget. Since it's the t3i, it was a bit more expensive; I think about $600 or $700. That's a really awesome deal for your T5. Congrats on finding that and taking advantage of it. My family isn't really the best off financially either, but we try to save up so we can spoil each other a little bit on things like birthdays and mother's day and father's day and all that. The t3 really isn't the greatest camera. Heck, even when it was released, it was pretty small potatoes, but it's worked for me so far, and I started using it like 3 years ago. Two years after it even came out. I thought it was some really top-end equipment at the time since I hadn't really done much research, but looking around now, I realize that my dream Nikon set up is gonna run me about $10,000 
My girlfriend got a Nikon point and shoot of some kind for Christmas this year. I started out on old compact Kodaks my mom had, but after using a DSLR for 3 years, I tried using hers it all felt so foreign. Some of the features are pretty handy, like the in-camera panoramas, and I think it's got a 20somethingx optical zoom. Not too sure about the processor, but I think it's a bit of an older camera to begin with, at least judging by its price for similar, more modern offerings. Could be wrong, I might do some research about it tomorrow if I get some time.
I don't use my external flash a whole lot, but I would recommend it over using the in-camera flash any day. I went through a phase before I realized my 50mm 1.8 had focusing issues where I used it indoors a lot to get pictures of some new kittens I adopted last year, but never really used it for anything serious. I think that if I were to get a studio strobe, I would begin to use it a lot more, primarily as a slave flash, but that's another $500+ for the light, umbrella, diffuser, and stand I'm looking at, and that's for pretty cheap equipment.
If you're trying to shoot with a flash at a shutter speed faster than 1/200th, it would make sense that your camera would try to change your settings. Most on-board flashes and even some of the lower end external flashes (flashes that don't have a high-speed sync) can't fire fully at a shutter speed faster than 1/200th, so it would change your ISO and exposure time accordingly to capture the entire flash and correct illumination.
As for why higher ISO numbers introduce more noise, I've truly forgotten the exact reason why. Something to do with amplifying the digital signal sent from the sensor to the processor, I think. I'm not too sure. The technical side of how all of the hardware works together has turned to mush in my mind and all that my brain can produce anymore is "High ISO = bad IQ", haha.
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Tamron and Sigma still look expensive. Sometimes I pay a little more for things if the cheaper version just isn't cheap enough. If I'm already putting in so much money already, than I may as well put in a little more to make it worth it. I can't think of any good examples right now, but sometimes it saves a lot to spend a little more. Just go all the way if you're already investing so much money into something.
Our first digital camera was a compact Kodak. I actually really enjoyed it, it produced sharp images for being such an old camera, at fast shutter speeds too. I'm surprised Kodak is no longer around for cameras. I think they had bad business ethics or something, so customers got angry. So I've been told something like that.
Then when it came around to buying my own first digital camera, I looked around at reviews and prices since Kodak was gone. I'm glad now I got the Canon. I heard compact cameras by Sony don't live up to all they claim to be. My ELPH doesn't look so great in description, but I've got some good photos out of it.
The last camera Kodak made was the AZ651, AZ for Astro Zoom. 65x optical zoom, or 24-1560mm. I kind of want it. It looks pretty cool for its price.
Built in flash just washes out details sometimes. I mainly want external just so I can bounce the light off ceilings and walls.
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It really depends on the lenses you're looking at from them. If you're looking at Sigma's Art series, you'll easily be looking at $850-1000 for some pretty simple primes, like 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm f/1.4s. Sigma's 18-200, which I believe to be the sharpest of the super zoom lenses, is $400, so it's still pretty reasonably priced. I completely understand what you mean about saving a lot by spending more. I was in the market for a 35mm lens a few months ago, as I was contacted by a family friend to do some portraits. After doing some research, I decided on the $200 Oshiro 35mm F/2 simply because there weren't many reviews, but the ones that did exist spoke pretty highly of such a cheap little lens. My other options were a YongNuo 35mm F/2 with Autofocus ($95) and a manual Samyang 35mm F/1.4 ($400).
Anyway, the Oshiro was fully manual, but that didn't bother me. Great focusing ring; buttery smooth with a super long focus throw for precise focusing, and built like an absolute monster - everything on it was metal. It was a great performer, especially for the price, but I found one single caveat that made me return it, and that was shooting into direct sunlight. Images got so hazy that they ended up being impossible to work with, and when you plan on doing a lot of backlit portraits for business, with a lot of really strong direct sunlight, that's a bit of an issue! So, a bit disappointed, I returned it and spent twice the cash on the Samyang. It's a bit bulkier, but I honestly regret even considering the Oshiro in the first place.
TL;DR: YongNuo was trash in every way, with poor Autofocus and terrible image quality, so I went with the Oshiro, which was a little bit over twice the price of the YN. Great performer with a quirk that I couldn't live with, but about 90% of people could. Replaced the Oshiro with the Samyang, which twice the price of the Oshiro, and I don't regret it for a second.
Yeah, Kodak was surprisingly good about putting some quality optics in their cameras. As long as you didn't push the ISO too high, images were clean and sharp as a tack for how far those lenses can zoom. They had good manual control for being point and shoots as well, which is pretty hard to find anymore. I'm not 100% clear on why they went under for cameras, but I think that if they tried to keep up with the dslr market, they could've kept on keeping on. And that AZ651 is super impressive. Maybe after I get a job I'll snatch one off of Ebay, haha. Seems like a fun little piece of kit.
The camera I shoot with was technically a mother's day gift for my mom (Though I use it the most and I've spent about $700, $900 if you count the lens I returned, between lenses and repairs for it. whoops.). It's a nice little camera, but I wish she would've done a touch more research about DSLRs before really setting her mind on the t3i. It's a nice enough camera, don't get me wrong, especially considering I didn't pay a cent for it, but Nikon's equivalent - the d5100, released just 2 months later, really blows the t3i's sensor out of the water. It doesn't quite have as many megapixels as the T3i (16 vs 18), but the dynamic range, low light capabilities, and color depth are pretty far above Canon's, for the exact same price. That seems to be a pretty common result, too. Nikon generally has the same, or better camera, for less money, at least as far as Landscape cameras go.
I feel like Canon is more of a portrait/action/videographer oriented brand (Generally, Canons have a higher FPS for shooting stills, get more accurate skin tones, and have more cameras that have articulating screens for video work) and Nikon is more of the landscaper's choice with wider dynamic range, more storage slots/options, and better color depth. Plus, Nikon has the 14-24mm F/2.8 zoom lens, whereas Canon's only 14mm F/2.8 is a prime... and more expensive... with lower IQ. Gud job, Canon! 
I always bounce my flash whenever I can. I'd like to get a Sto-fen so I can get the power of shooting with direct flash with the softness of bounced lighting, but I'm not sure they make them to fit my Sunpak 422d. Plus the strength selection switch is broken and stuck at full power, so it's sort of an indoor main light for me instead of an indoor/outdoor fill light like it should/could be. A bit of a bummer, but it was a hand-me-down from my grandfather and you can't beat the price I got it for, haha.
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I actually never use auto-focus. I just find it too much of a pain to try and get the camera to focus in on what I want it too. I also use the view finder instead of live view because I can see the focus better that way. The problem is the LCD display is right under the view finder, so I have to tilt my head to avoid my nose getting oil on the display. I must look dumb when taking photos, but oh well.
I've actually been drawing a picture on how I would make my own fixed display camera so the nose avoids the screen (unless you use left eye) and button rearrangement. Looking at that mode dial on my camera made me play around with other modes since I'm always on Manual. I kind of like the aperture priority mode. It automatically changes the shutter speed based on the exposure meter, so I'll try using it more to see how it goes. It might save me a lot of time when trying to take many photos.
I see that Nikon and Sony look amazing compared to Canon when looking at camera specifications, but when I compare photos, I see the opposite. Many Nikon photos I see just look weird, I don't know a quick way to explain it, but I just don't like the way most Nikon images look. There's just something weird about them. I've seen sample images come from really expensive Sony cameras that just look awful, even many Sony images here on dA just don't look worth the price of the camera. Panasonic photos on dA actually look real impressive. But I have seen good Nikon photos, so maybe it has something to do with default settings or lens. I certainly do miss Kodak.
For my flash, I once made a reflector out of plastic and that metallic duct tape, but it didn't work to bounce light. I think that double bounce was too slow, or it just created a shadow effect. Maybe something in the camera syncs to a specific light from the flash. It just didn't work out.
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AF does get a bit picky sometimes, especially when you don't specify which point you want the camera to use. If I use all 9 focus points on my camera, what I want is almost always looked over and I'm focused 5-10 feet in front of or behind my subject, depending on where I'm trying to compose. Try limiting your camera to just 1 focus point and see if that helps you at all. It's not ideal doing it that way for fast moving subjects, but hey, what can you do?
I'm the complete opposite when I'm manually focusing. I can't see where I'm focused worth jack when I'm using the view finder, especially with faster lenses since the area where the frame is sharp is so razor thin. I'll use the view finder if I'm using my 18-55 or 55-250 since the focus is pretty accurate on both of those lenses, but I'll manually focus via live view with my 50/1.8 since it front focuses by a couple of inches and with my 35/1.4 since, well, it doesn't have auto focus, haha. There's a button that should zoom in 5x-10x at the top right on the back of your camera when you're using live view to help you really nail manual focus if you haven't given that a shot yet. It's a bit tricky to keep your composition correct at first when you use that little "cheat", but you get used to it eventually.
The nice thing about the txi cameras is that you can actually flip the screen 180 degrees so the plastic screen is hidden from pesky nose oil. I generally don't worry too much about pressing my nose up against the screen since I carry a microfiber cloth with me when I shoot, but I can understand why it would get bothersome otherwise
I thought the same thing for the longest time when I started looking into DSLRs. It seemed like photos from Nikon cameras had a yellow color cast and looked maybe a bit... rubbery? Plastic-y? I don't know, it was hard to put a finger on, but they didn't seem hold the same fidelity and depth as Canon. I think a lot of that had to do with looking at images posted from the company rather than going somewhere like 500px or Flickr to form an opinion. I follow photographers with all different types of gear, from iPhones to Canon t2s and 5DS-s, to Nikon d5300s and D810s, and even a couple Phase-One and Hasselblad users, and each file and camera holds up pretty well in the real world. A lot of the feeling an image has, at least as far as gear is concerned, comes from the lens and the post processing. Obviously the light and subject play a big part too, but you have less control over the latter two.
I think most, if not all of the Sony shooters I follow are portrait photographers who primarily use Canon glass. If I follow any landscape photogs that use Sony, I tend to skip past their images because they just don't excite me. I don't think Sony really has the glass to make for good landscape shots, and in my experience, the files react in kind of an odd fashion in post processing when you really start to push their limits for dynamic range. A bit of a letdown considering Sony's sensors boast some of the broadest dynamic range capabilities in the sub $10k market right now.
This guy in particular uses an A7r II with a Canon 135mm F/2L for his most recent portrait work, and shots older than 6 months were portraits taken with the first A7r and the same Canon lens, or a Zeiss 85mm f/1.8, and I think he gets brilliant results. 500px.com/robertchrenka Portrait photography isn't well known for pushing the light capturing ability of a camera, especially if you're working in a studio with meticulously controlled light or on location with a fill light of some kind, so I think that's why Sony does so well for high resolution portraits over landscapes. At least in my opinion. I can't say I've seen many panasonic photos, but I'd like to get the GH4 for documenting some of my travels in the future since it can shoot 4k. I know I just said 4k was a gimmick, but I'd scale down from 4k to 1080p in post for a sharper image, is all. One thing I can say with certainty is that dA is probably the worst place to view photos ever. The green-gray background kills so much contrast, so for any image to look particularly outstanding is an achievement to say the least. I'll definitely look into some Panasonic stills tonight.
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I think I'll get that screen protector pack. My screen is in perfect condition, but I have no idea what my oils can do in the long run. Even alcohol is said to yellow and harden LCD screens if you use it too much. The selling point for me is that they're anti-glare. Strong sunlight here is half the reason I use the view finder. Wish those screen protectors were anti-UV too, but it must help absorb some sun rays. Maybe it will be easier to review my photos during the day with those. I like that I can use the view finder and my sunglasses at the same time.
I made an ebay account. But they want my phone number, I feel like I start getting spam calls if I do. If I decide to buy something, then I suppose I must. The shipping costs though are too high. I saw a really cheap lens because it had fungus, but they wanted $28 for shipping. So I don't know about ebay, I'll think about it.
I should mention I have no bank account anymore because of bank fees. No bank is free anymore, so I closed my accounts. I bought a $25 prepaid visa card for Amazon. I bought this reversing ring www.amazon.com/Macro-Reverse-A… for under $7. It even has free shipping. I'm too low on money to spend over $10 for shipping on ebay. It's irritating to be so low on money right now, I would buy all those fungus lens and clean them myself.
So I'll just get the screen protectors since I didn't expect ebay's high shipping rates. The protectors might be really important.
So far for my camera, I bought two things. www.amazon.com/Ritz-Gear-Premi… and www.amazon.com/Vivitar-Profess…
The cleaning kit has been essential. The air blower got a piece of dust off my sensor. The brushes are great for lens dust. The spray-on lintless sheets works really well if you want to avoid alcohol, and you never know what hard particles might be in something you assume to be soft. Very fine microfiber sheets. After using the kit so often when outside with the camera, I really couldn't imagine not having it. Highly highly recommended you get a cleaning kit if you have not done so. $25 might sound high, but you're protecting stuff that costs fifty times more.
The Vivitar filters, I mainly bought it for the UV filter, everything else has just been to play around with and experiment. The macro lens are cool. The FLD is rather useless since I can remove green in the RAW editor, I think it was more designed for film cameras. I actually haven't used the CPL much, but a polarized filter sounds very useful. Filters can create a lens flare and that hood only works on my 75-300mm, so I'll have to be careful with how I angle myself against lights when using the UV filter. But the UV filter works good for outside. I never actually use the lens hood, I had to look up hoods on youtube just to find out what their purpose truly is. Some claim it's protective, so I'll think about it if I'm in a crowded place. The extra lens cap is nice to have, and the string came in handy once to catch it, which was odd since I never drop my caps.
Another thing was microfiber sheets from the dollar store, but they put a residue on my lens, so I only use the dollar store ones on my LCD screen and camera body. They've become my sweat collectors now. At least I can wash them now since they'll never make lens contact. Detergent worries me and the water here is not pure, best be safe. Someone also gave me a Targus TG-42TT tripod. It can be too weak and light for my camera, but it's all I got, besides some pocket tripod for my ELPH by Sunpak called PlatinumPlus mini-D tabletop tripod, foot high extended. Maybe I'll be at the store on the right day again to find the tripods on sale. They had sturdy ones with levels and lock grips.
I'm probably oversensitive about my gear, but it's highly fine glass of precision quality and worth a lot of money, I can't replace any of this should something happen.
I wish I knew how to use 3D software to make a patent. It's actually been on my mind. Aside from the body, I had something else in mind. I'm thinking of drawing it out for deviantArt. I could make something simple using the line tool on MSpaint. I took drafting in high school, but we never used AutoCAD, just pencil and paper, and all the other tools.
The Sony portraits still looked off. I think against any smooth area, it creates a very light amount of noise. So the skin and background had the faintest grain to it. The hair and clothes came out perfect. I don't know if you see the same. I have an Acer Aspire, which uses an odd screen. Do you see grain in the photos? It'd be nice if I could zoom in even more. Maybe my computer screen is playing tricks on me, but the backgrounds look weird.
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To be fully honest, I don't really think oils would damage the plastic a whole lot, even with constant exposure over a number of years. I haven't heard of anything like that happening and there were no relevant results when I looked on Google, but I think it's admirable that you're interested in protecting your gear so well. I know a couple people around here who are constantly bumping and banging up their gear and complaining about the cost to get it repaired, so it's worth the extra couple bucks to keep your gear safe. I actually just recently had to replace the plastic on my screen because it managed to get cracked somehow. I have literally no idea how. All I needed was to get the replacement plastic from of Ebay (~$7), a hair dryer to heat and soften the adhesive that held the old plastic in place, and you can either use an X-acto knife or a good suction cup to pull the plastic off. I actually used a regular paring knife and a suction cup since my suction cup was just barely strong enough to pull the plastic up far enough to get the knife under it, but it worked and now my screen is crack free, haha.
I bet they'll help a lot for looking at your photos during the day. I'm constantly blocking the sun with my hand to review my shots, and it gets a bit annoying. I wouldn't worry too much about UV rays. Unless your screen is going to be in constant, direct sunlight for more than 3-4 hours a day, the LCD panel should be fine and the plastic shouldn't suffer too much either. And even if either of those parts were to get damaged, they're cheap and easy enough to fix. A lot of people buy "For parts" cameras and sell the pieces that still work for reasonable prices. I've found LCD panels for our cameras for ~$20, and even for more expensive cameras, like the 5d Mark III, the panels will go for $30-$40, as opposed to the $300+ Canon would charge to repair it, and as mentioned earlier, the plastic is dirt cheap regardless of the camera.
I've had an eBay account for a couple of years now and haven't once gotten a spam call or text. I know what you mean about shipping costs, and eBay sellers are usually somewhat famous for boning people with shipping, especially for international sales. I've sold a few of my photos to friends and had to take one to UPS to get it shipped. Even for a 12x16x1.5 canvas, it ended up being something like $35 just to go a ~250 miles in 5-7 days, a drive I could make in 7 hours round trip and get to visit a friend on top of it. Even when I ship directly from the photo lab I order through, they want $15 to ship to the continental US, but they get it there in 2 days, so I can justify the price a bit easier.
I've never had a problem with bank fees. I use U.S. Bank and the only way they ever really nickle and dime me is when they send me my physical statement, which costs $2.14 a month, which I can disable if I want and go paperless for free, or if I buy something internationally. I occasionally buy some video games from a site that's run from Poland, so there's an international processing fee for that, up to 3% of the purchase. I never use ATMs since I hardly ever buy with cash, or buy things in person at all for that matter, but those are free to use if I use one from U.S Bank. Otherwise it's a $3 fee per transaction. When I set up my accounts (I have checking and savings), they needed $25 in each account to open them, but it never technically left my pocket, which I was totally fine with. Overall pretty reasonable and possibly a place to look into if you have one near you.
Those reverse macro rings are pretty cool and I was really tempted to grab one for the longest time, but I didn't have a tabletop tripod or steady enough hands to pair it with. I got macro extension tubes a couple years later, but didn't start using them extensively until I got my 35/1.4 since macro needs so much light. With how close I needed to be to use the tubes with my 18-55, I ended up blocking a lot of the available light, so I needed to shoot at ISO 3200+, which required a lot of noise reduction during post processing, which destroys a lot of the beautiful details that you shoot super close up to capture in the first place.
I wish you the best of luck and many hours of fun with your reverse ring. I follow somebody here who uses that exact method and gets some fantastic shots of jumping spiders and individual snowflakes, and on top of that, gets some pretty awesome Nebraskan landscapes with a regularly mounted lens as well. framedbynature.deviantart.com/…
I know that feel with being poor; there's so many little bits and pieces of gear that would really help get me to the next level with my shooting, but I just can't justify buying anything other than the absolute necessities for now. I really need to start exhibiting my work to generate some sales, but for that I need prints, and for prints, I need money, for money, I need to sell prints, to sell prints, I need prints, to get prints, I need money, to get money... it's a tough cycle, especially when you don't have a job, and can't get a job without a car, and can't get a car without money, but can't get money without a job, and I can't get a job without a car... 
I get sort of picky about cleaning my lenses. I've heard that sprays and solutions can ruin the nano crystalline coating on lenses that reduce haze and flaring, but I've also heard that such coatings aren't applied to the outer glass elements of a lens, just a couple elements on the inside. I've heard that microfiber can scratch lenses, but I've also heard they're the safest, gentlest way to clean. There's one guy, who's honestly a bit of a conspiracy theorist, who strictly cleans his lenses and filters with purified water and Q-tips. I've tried his technique, but I could never get the amount of water just right. I always end up with smudges and water spots. I think the worst thing you could possibly ever do is breathe on your lenses to clean them. Your breath is a breeding ground for germs and microorganisms and I bet that the owners of all of those fungi'd lenses on Ebay were breather cleaners. Personally I use a blower to get rid of big dust particles, "dance" a microfiber cloth over the glass to get most of anything else, and once I'm confident that anything that could scratch my lens is gone, I start to apply some pressure with the microfiber and rub away any smudges, not that a scratch made by a dust particle would affect image quality at all.
I used a UV filter for protection when I first started shooting, but all it really did was degrade image quality, introduce absurd amounts of flaring, and mute the crap out of my colors, but it was an incredibly cheap filter as well - maybe only $5. UV and FLD filters in this day and age don't do any good to actually cut haze or protect your sensor. I firmly believe they're a sort of placebo to get people to spend more money. I totally understand using UV filters to protect your lenses, but they don't have any positive effects on image quality, especially if it's a cheap filter. CPLs are a lot of fun to use, and add a lot of drama to skies, cut haze (like UV filters used to in the days of film), and remove reflections from windows and water. I also use it with my 10 stop Neutral Density filter to add a bit deeper mood and get an even longer exposure, since even at a good CPL's lowest strength, it cuts 2 stops of light (E.G from 1/500th of a second to 1/125th at the same F stop and ISO speed, both very acceptable speeds for 'scapes). The best way to see if it's a good CPL or not is to hold it in front of your computer screen and turn it, and if it completely blocks the light from your screen without any yellow/blue color shifting at the strongest point, you've got yourself a winner. The only macro filter I've ever used was just a +1 or +2, so it wasn't very strong, but it was interesting to get that tiny bit closer. They seem to make the corners of the image a bit soft though, so I'd probably stick with a reversed lens or extension tubes, personally.
I hardly ever use a lens hood, and I thought they were a bit confusing at first too. Didn't really understand what they did, but I thought the tulip hoods looked nice, haha. If I'm doing star trails or time lapse photography from my bedroom, I get a bit of a reflection from my window frame, so I'll toss a lens hood on and that fixes it. I'll also use a hood with my 35/1.4 when I'm in public for protection or when I'm shooting macro with it, since I've noticed the extension tubes to cause some flaring as well.
I know I was pretty shocked when I started looking for my own tripod. I had one that my grandfather gave my family quite some years ago, but the metal plate that kept the legs from spreading too far had started to warp and even come off entirely on one of the legs, so it was unstable and I really didn't feel safe having my camera on it anymore. It got pretty tall and it was made out of metal and the 2 way head was easy to use, so I was disappointed that I had to buy a new one. I wish I could find the exact item that I bought, since I got it for a steal from Amazon, but I can't find it in my history anywhere. Manfrotto 290 "light" legs (Aluminium, 2 of the legs are padded, 3 sections, flip locks, another set of flip locks that let you set the legs farther apart) and 804rc2 3-way pan/tilt head with a bubble level for $110. It gets taller than I am, and I'm 6'4". I'd say it stands about 80" tall with the center column extended. A bit on the heavy side, but super sturdy because of the weight. I'd trust it to hold a much heavier camera/lens than I currently possess, so it was a bit of a of an unintentional future proof purchase. My only recommendation when looking for a tripod is to buy one with the fewest leg sections possible. More sections = more moving parts to potentially fail, and each section gets progressively smaller, ergo, progressively less stable. I would never buy a tripod with 3 or more flip locks per leg.
There's a 3D modelling program called Blender that is entirely free, and there's plenty of tutorials on youtube demonstrating how to use it effectively. I never really got much use out of it, but I think it could serve you well. A lot of people offer free materials and textures online to use with it as well. It may be worth looking into.
I think the noise you're seeing may be something the photographer added in post processing. It's pretty popular to add some noise in Photoshop when really manipulating colors and tones to help ensure there's no color banding, and a lot of people like the texture it adds, especially to skin. I happen to be part of the crowd that likes it. It may also be artifacts from sharpening the image as well. I see a slight noise in the background, but I really have to be looking to see it, definitely a problematic amount by any stretch. A lot of the odd background artifacts are simply from the combination of having a fast lens with a long focal length and a lot of small, complex things to blur out. The background blurring effect at, say, 35mm at F/3.5 is going to be very, very different than at 200mm at F/3.5. Try playing around with that concept; shoot something in front of a busy background at 55mm f/5.6, and then 300mm f/5.6 and try to keep the subject the same size in the frame. Observe how the background changes in both what is included and how blurry it is. It's quite fascinating and can really make you rethink how you shoot a subject depending on how intimate you want the shot to feel. You can see an example here: johncarnessali.com/wp-content/…
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I actually found a UV protector on sale for $8.88 here www.amazon.com/Digital-Premium… and it comes with three. But I also bought the other one too since it had six and way cheaper, so it's a cheap back up. I'm going to give a UV one and three of the others to my girlfriend. But I'll have to see if her Rebel has the same screen size as mine. I can easily spend the whole day taking photos outside, and South Florida's UV index is sometimes really high. I have no idea how many years my camera is supposed to last, but it just sounded like a good idea.
The hard shields had many reviews of them shattering. It's always good to look through all the reviews. Sometimes, low reviews are from people that buy the wrong product or they don't know how to use it. I've actually seen a review for a Rebel where someone called it too complicated and gave it a one. People just don't know how to give proper reviews.
I had that in my head too. Just clean up lens and resell them. I would totally start right now if I had the money to invest. I've never even heard of U.S. Bank before. I've been in that job situation for years. Places that appear promising require a driver's license, but I never had the time or money for it, especially not a car. But I might get my license this summer, it seems to be mandatory if I'm to find a job. Worse though is experience. I can't get experience because I have no experience. I had an interview at the dollar store and I can tell by the conversation that having no cash register experience caused me to not get it. It was a small location, so they had no stocking position, just a do-all position. This is why I'm in college, it might be the only hope I have, and it may not even help much. I'm on financial aid, so I get Pell Grant money to go to college, and receive left over money in a check. If you qualify for financial aid, I highly recommend you go to college. Mine is awesome. High school was all work, no learning, and horrible environment. College is the opposite.
Just today, real sunny out, so I decided to take some photos of my parents car with the UV filter, expecting real nice photos. The quality loss was too much. I'm thinking I may have to stop using the UV filer and just use settings to work around the light. Like underexpose just a hair and do the rest with the RAW. I'll have to test the filters more and see what situations they are actually good for. Maybe photos with the sun in frame will benefit with the filter.
I have Blender, I'm just bad at using it. I find 3D software to be not user friendly at all. I do have more RAM now, so I should give it another shot. Someone talked me into getting RAM off Amazon, so I now have 16GB of top grade RAM, which has been real nice with the Canon software. But my processor is 1.5GHz and soldered into the motherboard, so my computer will never actually be fast. This computer was actually bought in my college bookstore for $400, all financial aid. 500GB HDD, Windows 7 64-bit, and SD slot. I got really lucky they happened to have this there, this model is somewhat popular due to the standard price being around $300. It's my very first personal computer, and only computer, so it's like vital organ to me.
When I use a filter, my bokeh looks weird. Does the Sony-Canon lens adapter have glass in it? Maybe it is just post processing. Some of my photos get smudgy. I'm getting better at fixing up photos, but sometimes there is not much I can do. All of my photos on dA are back from January. So as I move forward, they should hopefully start looking better. The spider was more recent, I skipped ahead for it.
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I think for the most part, how long your camera lasts depends on how well you take care of it, so it's good that you're interested in protecting your gear (And your girlfriend's) in any way possible. There's plenty of 30-40 year old cameras in near perfect condition, but in my experience, electronic components will likely last longer than mechanical parts. I've actually had to get my shutter replaced already, around 36k clicks 
Unless it just magically shattered one day, I guess it's a good thing that the hard shields broke and not the screen, right? I mean, most of those screen protectors ship in packs of 2 or 3, so at least it's easy and convenient to replace them, unlike replacing the entire screen.
I've seen people leave bad reviews on products that weren't even available yet, for instance, when the Wii U was available for pre-order, because they had just bought the original Wii and didn't anticipate the Wii U's arrival, and I've seen bad reviews on lenses because the image quality was "awful", when in actuality, the lens ships with film over the front and rear elements and they just forgot to remove it. They didn't even bother to edit their review after somebody pointed it out to them and the problem was resolved because "Well it's stupid that they do that in the first place!!!". The human race never ceases to amaze me. Despite the vast majority of useless bad reviews, I give valid bad comments priority over good comments. If there's something common between all of the bad reviews that sounds like something I can't live with, I don't buy it. I know what the majority of the good comments say because I've already done the research on the product and know its strong points, but you're not gonna see on Sigma's website that 3 out of every 5 of their 50mm F/1.4 ART lenses are gonna need focus calibration, another $60 on top of a $950 lens... I'm still buying that lens when I upgrade my gear though, God willing.
I hope you do manage to get your license this year. I get that experience struggle, but I'm sure there's somewhere you can go that isn't quite so ridiculous with their requirements in South FL. I would hope so, anyway. It seems far more populated down there than up here in the middle of nowhere Iowa
I'm not sure about College yet. Which one do you go to? It sounds like a great atmosphere. Ideally, Photography ends up being my cash cow and I don't need to spend thousands of dollars on a degree I never wanted, but I do have a couple of majors that I'd be interested in if I ever do decide to go, and financial aid is definitely something I'll look into. I've never actually heard of any financial aid covering that much, but it's great that your Pell grants cover your school costs.
Shame about the quality of your filter. I'm sure if you downsize your images, I'm sure the IQ will still be just fine. My philosophy is expose the best you can, use HDR if you have to, and leave the rest to post processing if you're just out and about. A number of pros carry around big square filter sets with all sorts of different variations in strength and purpose to really nail it in the camera, but a lot of the time it's just not justifiable when all you want to carry around with you is a camera and maybe a different lens.
3D programs are super hard to use, and pretty tough on your computer. I thought Photoshop was intimidating when I first opened it, but boy was I in for a shock when I opened Blender. To this day, I still don't even know how to create an object or anything like that, haha. That sounds like a pretty good deal for your laptop, and it's amazing that your financial aid paid for it
I wonder if your bokeh looks off due to a small aperture? I know that with my 50/1.8, it takes on a hexagonal shape around f/2.4 and smaller, so that might be what you're seeing. I don't think the Sony/canon adapter has glass, and even if it did, it better be top-notch optics for the $400 you pay for it. I'd say it's probably just processing. Everybody likes certain styles of editing, and certain styles they just can't stand. I'd assume the smudgy-ness of some of your photos comes from motion blur due to a slow shutter speed or having some crud on your lens that you didn't notice. It's hard to say without being able to see what's going on, but I'd check on those two things first. I'm excited to see your more recent work, I love to watch people progress
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I never assume modern electronics will last very long compared to older electronics, but it'd be nice if my camera lasts longer than a film camera. I've had basic electronics die on me too, like a small rice maker and small coffee maker. I took them apart to see what went wrong, but I didn't notice anything that stood out. I've had my current coffee maker for six years, but I paid a little high for something nicer. I remember my parents owning stuff way older than me, but now, nothing seems to last as long as it used to. I stopped going cheap on some things, just not worth it anymore.
I've read reviews that sound as though they aren't even describing the same product. It just leaves me wondering what they are even talking about.
For the longest time, I thought I would never go to college because the prices to me seemed stupidly high. But then only three years ago, someone told me about financial aid, which would allow me to go for free. I was in disbelief, but filed out my application form and registered to my college, then saw how it really covered everything. I didn't even know I would also get so much money back after each term too.
It's called FAFSA, for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. FAFSA dot gov, not dot com, make sure it's gov. You'll just need your parents tax information. I was like 25 when I found out, so I was at the age where I was considered financially independent. But I've been told you can be 18 now and still probably get the full money too. You also get more money for more classes you're in at once. My college has no minimum course requirement, so you can take one class a year if you really wanted. I go to Broward College, it has a few campuses and a ton of students, but it's said to be one of the best colleges. Then after getting my associates, I want to transfer to the University of Florida for my bachelors because UF is in state and a top university with geography as a strong point. Never start at a university, no reason to pay more and work harder when you can just transfer in from a college. My college doesn't require taking the SAT or ACT, you just have to take a placement test to find out if you're behind in English or math. NEVER use student loans. It's probably better to have no degree at all than have student loans. FAFSA is not a loan, it's all grants. I'm not sure what colleges are like in Iowa, but I'd imagine it's about the same. FAFSA also throws in other grants. For me, for this year, the Pell Grant gave me $5775, the Florida Student Assistant Grant gave me $1000, and the Federal Supplement Grant gave me $400. That's $7175, all to me for free. So I'm basically getting paid to get a degree.
If you have no job, then especially go to college. Grades matter here though, so try to be a perfectionist.
It also helps to watch a bunch of science documentaries and read up on a variety of subjects before going to college. My classmates and professors think I'm super intelligent, I just spend my free time on the internet.
I would suggested you chose a flexible major, but of course something you like. I like the outdoors and nature, so my major is geography, and I've looked into geography enough to see what I can do with it. So that's something I like and something I can get a job with. Don't pick something like marketing or art. I used to be really into art at one time too, but art is not something to major in. Also avoid competitive fields, like architecture and law, the pay is really high, but so is the unemployment rate. You'll just have to look into it. I'm personally okay with receiving less pay for a job that's more reliable and stable. I'm currently thinking or park service, but I have no real career goal. I'll worry about when I get to UF.
Last thing for me to mention is if you're good at math, then make use of it, because that's where the money is made. I know engineering is said to be a hard field for jobs, but sciences and mathematics is good. I'm terrible at algebra, so that's actually another reason I'm in geography, it's the only science with no big math requirements. I did good in statistics, and ended up taking an alternate class since I didn't need algebra.
But if you're recently out of high school, I would suggest you take a break from doing anything. Just enjoy having time to yourself and think over life.
I was on a notebook before this too that someone gave my dad. It had no battery, 516MB of RAM, 60GB HDD, and Windows XP. I honestly don't know how I managed to use the internet, play games, and use Photoshop on that thing. It was from something like 2004, but it must've been nice back then if it still ran fine enough. So to suddenly get this for free just by going to college was incredible. My life has improved tenfold since going to college, it's been wonderful.
I drew out something in MS Paint today, the camera idea blauessternwolf.deviantart.com… It looks better zoomed in 2x, but the orange text has typos. I just put the text there in case anyone sees it randomly. I added an aperture dial too, because I don't like having to hold that button so often to change it. I noticed some older Rebels include an ISO button near the shutter button. I have my flash button there and it just makes opening the flash difficult. The point of the drawing though is for it to be very similar to the T5. I have another fixed screen idea where it's tilted in, but I'll need to look up the inside of cameras to see if it would really work.
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I remember being fascinated when I was younger when something broke down and trying to take it apart to figure out why. I was disappointed when I never found anything obvious, but there was the odd electronic something or other that just had a wire loose that needed to be soldered back into place every now and again. Anymore my toys are getting too expensive to risk ruining them by trying to investigate the failures myself, so I send them to get repaired professionally. I costs a couple extra bucks, but it's better than having to replace the entire item 99% of the time.
Believe it or not, it's not really the prices I'm worried about with college. My parents have told me that I'm allowed to stay at home as long as I need to, so that's a big financial obligation cleared up. Plus, there's several places ~25 minutes from where I live that hire at $14/hour for pretty common jobs, like stocking shelves or working a cash register, so I feel like I would be fairly well covered financially, but that's not to say I wouldn't sign up for financial aid if I still qualified
So far my current plans are to take 6 months to a year or so off and in that time, learn a little bit about how to run a business, build a small group of clients, get my mental stability worked out, possibly start medication and an exercise routine, learn how to drive and get my license, and use whatever spare cash that comes my way to make up some prints and exhibit my work in the area to get my name around. Once that time is up, I'm gonna be looking for a day job. Anything past that is up in the wind, but I know I want to save up and travel the country, maybe even the world, and hopefully be able to live comfortably off of photography profits before I hit my mid 30s. I have what is currently known to me as a lifetime to make that happen, so I'm hoping for that to be ample time to reach my current set of goals.
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$14 an hour for stocking shelves? Man, I have to leave Florida.
I'm very introvert, but I don't find college to be socially stressful. I just try to not think about it and don't get attached. Feels easy for me to just stick to my own courses and do my work. I actually think the social interaction of occasionally talking to classmates and professors is a really good experience for me.
But if you do qualify for financial aid, then take advantage of it. You're entitled to that money for classes if you qualify for it, it'd be like letting it go to waste.
Running a business sounds hard, you'll need a lot of people skills, but I think you can do it if you really study hard at it. When I had my interview, I was looking up the company, looking up interview clothes, and watching videos about interviews. Running a business is bound to have many guides online.
I thought of culinary myself as well, not really sure why the interest faded.
Photography professor sounds good for you, and photography in general. But I'm not really sure how much money you would get as a photographer, so a professor of photography sounds better. But you will have to take many classes you think you won't need. I found all my classes to be pretty useful.
My order on the screen protectors got cancelled, so I'm guessing both sellers weren't American like my prepaid visa requires. I'll have to browse around Amazon again for a new seller, if I even find anything worth getting. I was already looking at the two best products, so time to look some more.
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Yeah, one of the places that hires at that pay is Costco Wholesale, the other one is Aldi. There's a few of each around south FL, so look into them and see if they're in your area. My brother works for Costco doing night merch and he really enjoys it, especially for the pay. I think I would get a bit anxious at a store as big as Costco, even if I were just working on a single department, so I'll probably be looking into Aldi, but I'll take either for twice the pay of minimum wage, haha.
I'm glad to hear that you don't find it very stressful socially. That definitely gives me hope, haha. I don't mind social interaction in general, but small talk gets mentally draining quickly. It's a lot easier for me to talk at length. It seems kind of backwards, but I'm sure it won't be a problem. I might even grow out of that quirk if I were put into more social situations. Who knows?
I think the biggest thing I'm concerned about when it comes to running a business is keeping track of all of the legalities and expenses/income and making sure it all gets handled appropriately, like with tax refunds and whatnot. People skills will come in time. I manage my time well, I know what counts as fair compensation for my work and how to figure out how much I need to support myself financially without pricing myself out of the local market, and I've had some practice with marketing/advertising already since I've taken care of some of that for my band. I can sound professional in an email but still be fun and engaging in a social media post, and my custom business card/flier designs stand head and shoulders above 99% of the other photographers around here, who just use modified templates, haha. I'll definitely be looking up plenty of guides for running a business, since I'm sure there's many many many things I haven't even thought of that will need much consideration.
You'd be surprised how much money you can make from photography, especially if you publish a book or video lessons on how you retouch your images, sell presets, or lead workshops. You don't necessarily have to be working for National Geographic to make a decent living from it, though I'd be lying if I said that wasn't my goal. You don't even have to be really good to make a livable amount of money from it. You just need to know how to market yourself. In fact, judging by the local portrait photographers, I'd say marketing is more important than skills if you're gonna stick with a local clientele. As for becoming a professor, I'll have to ask around to see what it takes. In a perfect world, I'll just be taking a bunch of art-related classes and maybe some English, maybe some literature; things that will be relevant to what I'm teaching. You wouldn't teach a math professor extensively about color theory and artistic composition just as you wouldn't teach a liberal arts major extensively about string theory, right?
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Costco is far from me and Aldi is even further. But there is a place nearby called BJs which is similar to Costco and Sam's Club. I've never been in one, but I could try there. There is a Walmart Grocery store opening near here, which is a waste of space since it's down the street from Publix, but that's another place I could try. I should try Publix too. Lately, I've just been cleaning, doing laundry, and getting ready for my class this week. My class meets once a month, so this term has been so easy, I even finished all the homework for the whole term. So I'm starting to get more time.
I get how it feels to be drained. Too much interaction can leave me stressed. Just makes me want to go home and listen to music to get all the people out of mind.
I really don't know anything about photography as a profession aside from wedding photographers and National Geographic. I actually have a National Geographic magazine called 100 best pictures, from 2002. It's really nice to look through and see what classic photos were like back then. It's funny because I found a documentary on youtube on the same exact magazine, interviews with photographers and a bit about behind the photos. It's a pretty good video www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAXjQA… as they discuss the difficulties of their journeys. Another neat thing I have is huge map of America printed out from satellite images, for National Geographic. The whole name on it says Portrait U.S.A., The First Color Photomosaic of the 48 Contiguous United States, Produced by the National Geographic Society with the LandSAT Imagery of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, through the Photographic and Mosaic Facilities of the General Electric Company, Beltsville Photographic Engineering Laboratory, Washington, D.C., July 1976. On the other side is a road map using the same scale and location. Astronomy was my first major, and I've always had an interest in aviation, so to have something from 1976 from NASA and National Geographic is pretty cool.
I've always found the magazines to be neat as a kid, but now that I've been getting more into science and photography in recent years, I'm starting to think more of National Geographic.
Back to professional photography though, I really don't know how to make money from photography. I always heard it's very competitive because of how many photographers are out there. I did see a very good wedding photography video of some guy explaining how it's good to create your own style so you have something to show that other photographers don't. Which did make sense, how different can wedding photographers be? You'll need to specialize in a unique way.
I've thought of books, but never a book on photography. I think that's a little beyond my skill level. I've only had my first DSLR for half a year. I'm getting better but I'm not ready to call myself good. There is so much more for me to learn.
If I had more lens, maybe I would be able to do some general purpose photography. I know you made that thread about prints, but I've never sold a print. I took graphic design in high school which included photography, but it didn't cover marketing of prints. There are so many websites out there where people can upload any photo they want and print it themselves, from paper and canvas, to mugs and blankets. Making money off photos sounds very difficult.
So that's how I see professional photography at the moment. I think of it more of a reporter type thing since I couldn't imagine art selling very well. Some books need photos, and I've seen shutterstock used in a textbook, so maybe that might be something to look into. You can try looking that up, like if someone needs a photo of a corn field for a book or website. Maybe there is a book agent out there I can ask. I never really think of photography as a profession, so that's I can think of right now.
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This is my third time having to retype this. Here goes...
It's a shame about the distance, but it sounds like you have at least two other options at similar places. I personally want to stay as far away from Walmart as possible, but it all comes down to availability in the end.
I'll have to watch that video when I have a bit more time to just sit around and rot, but it sounds really interesting! 
My dad was in the Air Force for a few years before I was born, so I've always been at least a little bit interested in aviation. I put a lot more effort into learning about it when I was a bit younger, but I'd still like to take some time to read more about it. Some of my favorite games when I was growing up were in the Ace Combat series, so maybe I'll play a few of those again and it'll spark some interest in educating myself.
I didn't really read too far into the nat geo articles when I was a kid, but I loved lo look at all of the pictures. It's the complete opposite anymore, and I kind of wish I still had all of the old magazines that I didn't quite appreciate so much so I could go back and read them. Maybe I can find them online somewhere
I think the reason why professional photography is such a difficult and competitive market as far as weddings and general portraiture are concerned, is due to the vast majority of consumers not being very well educated about art. They have no understanding of composition or color theory, so they opt for the low-budget, low-education amateurs who picked up a DSLR because they're so ridiculously cheap these days, whose results are "good enough", instead of spending an extra couple hundred bucks on a better photographer to get the shots that really go above and beyond, thus, taking away from the profits and advertisement for the professionals. Then, once you're a professional, you are your own niche market, and that goes for any genre of photography. There's so many tiny variables between each photographer that will result in a thousand different images from the same subjects under the same conditions, and even more variables once you start to process your images... The people who care about fine art photography and have the budget to match either like your specific style or move on to the next guy who actually gives a damn about quality over quantity. That's how I see it, anyway.
There's actually a lot of books on the subject, especially on how to use your camera. There's a good number of books about how to process your images as well, but those vary a lot from each different photographer, and I feel those are better left to online courses or video training. I actually own a single photography book, and I recommend it to everybody who wants to learn more about how to use their gear. It has advice starting basically from the first time you pick up your camera, all the way up to advanced shooting techniques and tips. It has video lessons if you're more of a visual learner, suggestions on how to practice the techniques you've learned in each chapter, and even a free Ebook version that's updated fairly regularly, so you'll never go without knowing the newest something or other. Even 2 years after getting it, I still find myself picking it up and learning something new from it. Take a look at it if you've got the extra dosh to toss around. It's well worth the $18, in my opinion. www.amazon.com/Tony-Northrups-…
...Of course, the guy's rich enough as it is, so if you just want me to send you the Ebook version, let me know.
Marketing prints is surprisingly easy, but I was a bit backwards from most other people. Generally speaking, most people get a good pricing model in mind quickly and their pitfall is advertising. I'm the complete opposite. My first 4 sales were dangerously underpriced, and my wallet is still feeling the side effects. Advertising has never been difficult for me, since I have a knack for making anything sound like a clickbait article. Don't believe me? Keep reading, you won't believe your eyes!
...See?
I think the biggest shock when it comes to selling prints is that it's so hard to do it online. There's a huge market for just about anything online... except art. Sure, there's places like Society6, Redbubble, and even Etsy, but good luck generating sales if you're not some award-winning, international selling artist. People want to see the product before buying it, not some lackluster digital representation of what they "might" be buying. They want to make sure it really puts their jaw on the floor before spending hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars, and that's totally fair. High quality prints are a thing of beauty, digital files are a dime a dozen. In short, the best way to sell is to show your work in person, but that means you need prints. To get prints, you need money. I'm sure you remember this cycle.
Not all printing services are created equal. There's only a select few online labs that I would trust to create a product worth selling. I use CGProPrints for my canvas, and WHCC for everything else. Once my budget is a bit higher, I'd like to switch to ProDPI for everything. 99% of other online labs were conceived with the people that just need 200 quick 4x6s for their yearly Christmas card in mind. I could probably find a good lab nearby, but I order online for now seeing as I don't have a car, haha.
Stock photographers are in pretty high demand, but for that, you generally need a studio and hundreds of thousands of images. It's not the kind of photographer I want to be, but you can make a pretty penny shooting stock. Photojournalists are in pretty high demand as well from what I hear, but I'm not really the documentary type. The nice thing with photojournalism is that you get to travel for work, but I don't know. I'd rather go where I want to go and shoot what I like to shoot instead of being somewhere on assignment.
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Making prints before selling them is quite an investment. There is also flea markets and garage sales though, but people might expect really cheap prices, so be sure to call it an art sale.
I've never read a book on photography before, I usually just look up articles and videos. Does the book really have information I can't find anywhere else?
I played AC4, AC5, and AC0, but the whole 99 missile thing always bothered me, and the in game dialogue was a little corny, but the missions were good. I liked Lethal Skies II more, another PS2 game. AC0 was pretty interesting with the retreating enemies. I grew up with Warbirds, a PC game with WWII aircraft. Then Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator. WarThunder was the last aerial combat game I played, really good, free online play too. My current internet can't handle the bandwidth use now, so it's like an hour of gameplay before things become unbearably slow. I've been wanting to play more of a simulator with fighter jets for a long time, but I never got around to it. Sci-fi games can be cool too.
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Yeah, there's a couple local flea markets I was hoping to jump into this year, but the money was just never available to make the prints and make my way down there :L I live out in the country, 2 miles from any paved surface roads, so garage sales are a bit out of the question.
I wouldn't say the book has any truly exclusive information, but it's convenient to have so much knowledge of the subject that's clearly and accurately explained with picture examples and video tutorials in one place, or two places if you put it on your phone. I found the things that I read on the internet to only be semi-reliable at best. A lot of the sites only briefly touched on a subject or explained it incorrectly. Some of the most commonly incorrect explanations were about depth of field and some advanced techniques like HDR and ETTR. None of the information was so incredibly wrong that I couldn't figure out my problem by myself, but all of the info that I've come across in that book was 100% accurate, and it's nice not having that moment of confusion when something you just spent an hour studying is backwards in practice from what you read online. Maybe I was just looking at the wrong websites
Like I said, I can send you the ebook version if you want, just note me your email or something
I can definitely agree with the ammo capacities and the dialogue, but I was only 6-ish years old at the time I started playing, so cheesy characters and ridiculous ammo capacity didn't bother me all that much. It is kind of disappointing when I go back and play the games now, but they're still a lot of fun. I vaguely remember playing Warbirds too; what a nostalgia trip looking through google images for that one haha. I never played Combat Flight Simulator.. in fact, I've never heard of that until now, but I did have Flight Simulator 2004 and Flight Simulator X and those were always lots of fun. Never heard of WarThunder, but it looks pretty good. I might have to check that one out. I understand that whole painfully slow internet thing, so I can't honestly say I'm expecting it to work too well. Aerial combat simulators sound like a lot of fun, but I don't really have the time to do real-time gaming like that anymore. I love cars and car games, so I recently got Project CARS, but I just didn't have the time for a 10 minute practice, two seperate qualifying rounds, and then a 30 minute race. I can always pause, but it takes away from the realism that simulators are supposed to offer. It's ended up being a weekend indulgence, but even then, I've been spending most of my time either taking or processing photos. Being an adult sucks - I want to be a kid again
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I remember someone I knew got really into Gran Turismo 3 and there were endurance races with a hundred laps or something crazy. He was racing all day. I don't know how I used to have so much time for games, I feel like my days go by so quickly now even if I don't do anything.
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On pCARS, you can do the entire 24 hour Le Mans race. A staggering amount of players actually do it, and livestream it too. And they play it online, so it's not like they can even pause the game. It's ridiculous. I wish I still had that sort of time, but growing up can actually really suck despite how much we glorified it when we were kids. I'd do anything to get back all of the free time that I spent bored so I could spend it doing something fun, or doing something even remotely productive. Better yet, all of the hours I've lost due to depression and anxiety. I'd be made of time.
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A 24-hour unpausable race sounds extreme, I want to try that.
I've lost a lot of time to depression. Everything seemed more hopeful as a kid, then I get older and more stress gets put onto social situations. But most people change and I was stuck with everyone's negativity and stuff. I no longer talk to most people I knew, I just find their personalities gross now. It's hard just trying to find people I can have a conversation with.
But now I've been focusing more on things that interest me instead of worrying about people with no interest in me. It makes my time feel more productive. I still have memories of people or situations come into my head though.
Lately, I've been sick from going through old stuff, too much dust. So I've lost a lot of time just sleeping.
I decided to try and see if I could make a game. I looked up Java and game making on youtube, but I need more back knowledge on Java before proceeding. I want to try and make a strategy RPG. Like Stratego mixed with Super Robot Taizen and Ghost Recon.
I drew out some mech suit designs and weapons. Then I have simple game mechanics in mind for the combat system. Each group gets a certain amount of mech suits, there might be up to eight different factions, but I might do less. Then the units fall under light, medium, heavy, support, and commander. I'm going to use an equal amount of stat points for each faction, but rearranged so each has their own strategy style. Then some units may vary, like instead of light mech units, I might give a desert faction some dune buggy scouts instead. Or one faction may get helicopter support units. I need each one to be different, but balanced, so the game can have a fair variety every time.
Some factions might be better against other factions, so long as it's a cycle where no one is better than most. Not even a single weapon type will be the best because units have armor, energy barriers, and avoid. So beam weapons while best, have less use than physical weapons, and can be blocked by barriers. But barriers run out quickly after taking hits. Physical weapons are unaffected by barriers, but easier blocked by armor. Barriers also detonate missiles ahead of time, greatly reducing their damage. So missiles and beam weapons don't automatically reign supreme, yet still have advantages over cannons and machine guns.
I was thinking about money the other day and how some people on kickstarter get an absurd amount of donations just for anime visual novels or whatever. Some basic games sold on phones or console online libraries are only made by one to two people. These games sometimes become huge. It got me thinking, that I might actually be able to make a simple game a publish it. I have no idea if I will ever figure out Java, but I can make sprites, drawings, game mechanics, and even music via some program.
I have no idea how far I will get with this new project. But if I can make a simple to play game that people can play each other online, something where you can have a new experience using strategy every game and enjoy it, then it could become popular. There would have to be a story mode and one-player mode. People need a game that can be enjoyed offline and online, and story modes speak to people more. Sell it for like $1 or $2, see how it goes.
I'm not looking to earn a lot for a first game. Just enough to be helpful side money. Some people earn good money off of cheap phone apps, so I should attempt to make a game.
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Yeah, it's definitely pretty crazy, but I would love to try it if I ever got the time. Of course, that's coming from the person who can hardly stay up past midnight anymore, haha.
I definitely miss the innocence and hope that came with being young, but I've always been a realist, and part of me prefers being able to see the world and its inhabitants, for better or worse, for what they are. Some of the cousins that I used to enjoy spending time with grew up manipulative and just generally toxic, so the few that I ever got close to ended up needing to be cut out anyway. It sucks at the time, but eventually you realize it to be for the best and you move on to make better friends. I've always been a bit of a loner, and I get grumpy if I go too long without my hobbies, so keeping a small circle of like-minded friends was always best for me anyway, but I also enjoy a calm debate about my passions now and again as well. I guess that's the critical thinker in me.
That game sounds really awesome. I have no idea how to do anything in the way of coding. I struggle making .bat files, and even trying to read Java makes my head spin. The idea of making a video game and all of the effort required baffles me, so it's great that you're thinking about making your own, and it sounds pretty fresh and entertaining - I admire all of the thought that you've put into it. The gameplay sounds like it'd be a bit like Command and Conquer, except with more variation in the classes. I'd definitely throw a couple bucks at it once it gets released. It sounds like it'd be a lot of fun. I think that with proper advertising, you could get a lot of people to back and support your efforts, and I could (possibly) help throw together some music - or at least help demo it. Music has always been a big thing for me and I've had a lot of free time lately, so if you want some help with that, give me a shout.
Apologies for taking so long to get back to this, I've been recovering from my weekend, haha.
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I came across some guy on youtube that makes Java look easy because he's doing all the work pretty much. You have to download Java Development Kit, Java Runtime Environment, and Eclipse IDE. Eclipse is where you write the code in, mine is also called Eclipse Neon. But when I typed out the exact same things as the guy in the video, not everything worked the same. Then looking up more Java information was too much for me.
I'm really bad at coding actually. The most I ever did was very simple HTML. Using computers my whole life, I think I can get a feel for programs a little quickly, such as finding shortcuts and stuff. But that's it for me. Everything else just doesn't work well in my head.
Long ago, I was even really bad at trying to use Game Maker, but maybe I should try again. I downloaded the trial version of RPG Maker MV, but it's a little too simple, or I don't know how to fully use it.
The most I've ever done for a game was making custom maps in StarCraft, which was useful to see the way how their trigger system works. It was like coding in a way. But I was reversing what others had made, which might be what I need to get me started. I need to find someone's full game code for me to look at, then I can start to see what it means.
I'm trying to keep the game simple, something like Advanced Wars and Fire Emblem. But huge maps, no building units, and short length battles. Like Fire Emblem mixed with Zeonic Front is what I'm going for. But different teams have their strengths and weaknesses, so every battle can be consistently fresh feeling. I want unpredictable battles, something to test strategy differently. Not sure how unpredictable a simple game can be, hopefully it has high variation like Chess. Even Chess can quickly get boring to me unless there are many players around.
I don't even know if I'll even be able to finish this project. I was thinking of uploading some basic drawings I've been making with MS Paint onto deviantArt. I currently have three factions drawn out, with a fourth coming along. Front views of units, their weapons, and relative stats to go with them. I say relative because they aren't real game data, just a place holder to get my thoughts down. Bar chart from 0 to 10. I do have some game mechanic ideas on how the stats interact. I also have a list written out on which units use what, to keep things basic. So games can be quickly started and the weapons selection is more of a balanced mix. The weapons themselves have stat variety, but allowing equipment to be changed might throw off balance in online play, such as equipping everyone with the same stuff or something. It can quickly ruin the game by having some meta super team used by everyone.
So for now, I have a set equipment load out for three light units, fours medium units, one heavy unit, the commander unit, and support unit. Or one team. But it was originally going to be like three to four times that amount, but that's about thirty-six units, which might be too much for an online turn based game. So it's like an option, one to four teams. Each faction has a theme and color, but no names yet.
Rate of Fire is in the form of rounds per an attack. I want accuracy to be calculated for each individual round, not just one attack, but I'll see if this is possible. I know I really want smoke to create battlefield blinds spots and reduce accuracy.
I should just get around to making an uploadable image to explain it better. I'm constantly making changes, but I think it's coming together.
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I actually had all of those things downloaded at one time; I was trying to make my own private server for a game using the source and launcher from other people. I couldn't even figure out how to do that, haha. Looking up how to do it just made my head spin even faster, so I gave up. I don't know much about coding, nor do I particularly care to. I don't have a reason to learn how to do it. I think it might be interesting learning the inner workings of all the things I do on my computer, but I could better spend my time working on something productive instead of learning something that just makes me go, "Oh, neat." I can type at 110+ words per minute and I'm something of a power user when it comes to my regular programs like Photoshop and Lightroom, but most of that comes from common sense and critical thinking rather than being able to quickly pick up on how things work.
I've never heard of Game Maker, but it looks pretty interesting. Far better than RPG maker, anyway. My girlfriend went through a phase where she was obsessed with RPG Maker games, but I couldn't see the appeal. They all seemed so stagnant - like they started at point A and never progressed, unlike some of the classics that I'll still play every now and again that will introduce greater challenges as you progress through the game.
I tried making some custom maps for Command and Conquer, but I was never too good at it. I did like you did and sort of reverse engineered maps that other people had made just to see how it all functions, but I never made much from what I learned. Of course, I was 6 or 7 years old at the time, so all I cared about was the super weapons and setting them all off at once, haha. I could imagine that looking at the code for a game that's already been made would be really helpful, but I don't think it'll be very easy finding an open source game that has functions similar to what you're looking to make. I could be entirely wrong though.
I like how dynamic the gameplay sounds. I don't play strategy games very much, but I get bored if every round is essentially the exact same, which seems to be something of a trend in the games I find. It gets discouraging when I'm trying to find something refreshing and challenging, but the things you're planning for this game give me hope for something that'll keep me and many others entertained for a long time.
I'd really love to see what you've got as far as designs go - I'm always a sucker for concept art
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I'm almost ready to upload what I have, just have a few units to draw. I've been going back over my stuff a few times. Then I'm trying to start my homework now too because I don't want to push it off too far.
It's taking me so long just doing these simple sprites that are more like diagrams than actual game sprites. Then considering all the actions each unit can take, multiplied by the number of units. I might have a legion of sprites to make. I was originally going to half twelve playable factions, each with five units, but I might stick to four for now.
This whole thing is going to be bigger than I thought, and this is keeping it simple. I can see why sprites are losing their use compared to 3D models. But maybe from one sprite, the others will be much quicker to make. It's still a ton of sprites though.
I haven't even continued looking into Java yet. I'll probably make a full sprite sheet of some unit first to use as a test for Java. I would team up with someone into coding but I'm worried of them just taking my ideas and sprites to finish the game without me. It might not happen, but I never know strangers. Might be something I must do if the project is too difficult, sure some coder out there is bored and wouldn't mind working on something that could pay. Code builds the game, which might not even take long for someone that knows Java. So if that's 25% of the work, then I'd give 25% of the pay.
If you like concept art then I can upload some paper and pencil sketches. I design my mech suits from the inside out, or at least try to imagine what parts would fit where. I actually some sketches and ideas that makes me believe it would be entirely possibly for a fully functional mech suit to exist because I use hydraulic pistons for joints, not some sci-fi electric motor that has a magical ton of power. My inspiration came one day when thinking of excavators and other construction vehicles. But my designs have smoother movement through more powerful diesel-electric motors. The hip movement for walking is created by a wheel that attaches to the leg in an offset way, this creates a fluid walking motion in sync to leg controls. The other joints are mainly pistons that push inside of a wheel, and there is two pairs of wheels in the elbow and knees. This double joint system with short pistons will create speed and mobility. I once did a ton of work years back on coming up with how a mech suit could be possible, I just based my stuff off battle tanks and construction vehicles.
The most unfortunate thing though is boosters used in mecha series for jumping. This is something I can't get to work because of how heavy these units are. It takes the space shuttle that whole main tank of fuel just to lift it's own weight to a relative weight of zero before the twin solid rocket boosters kick in to fly the rest of the way. Sure my mech suits aren't trying to break Earth's gravity, but that should illustrate enough on how much energy we're talking here. Then there is the acceleration factor, meaning if the boosters did work, it would be very slow. Then just one jump would consume all your fuel. Jet engines are no better for power and have much slower acceleration than rockets. Some people in the past have thought of using explosives for flight, I'd have to look into the physics to see if it would work on something like this. I forget the weight I had written down for a mech suit, but it's basically like two battle tanks and two construction vehicles. I could use less armor, but a big walking target needs to be stronger than a jet.
I actually started on one idea before and never got around to finishing, it mainly rants about controls but I figured out how to make the controls as simple as possible while providing full movement. In a real vehicle, it would probably be twice as many controls, just like the average tank or jet. But I'm thinking that many control keyboards and panels can be left in a hidden state, like behind display monitors. blauessternwolf.deviantart.com…
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