Manual Focus = Not for Myopics

I tried my hand at manual focus yesterday. I put my dad's 50mm f/1.4 lens on my D40x and figured I'd play with it and see how it went.
Verdict: People with poor eyesight should not use manual focus.
In general I trust the camera's focusing over my own eyes, so manual focus was tough. Also, I kept the aperture down to 1.4 most of the time, so it was really hard to find my focus area. I found that if I set the focus ring all the way to...I don't know what it's called, but it's the not-infinity end, where you're focusing at the closest range. So I set the ring there, and then moved my head forward and back until my subject was in focus...or until something was in focus.
And the when I pulled it all up in Photoshop this morning..I'm surprised by what was in or out of focus.

Is This Called Workflow?

A lot of blogs I read have special camera and photography related posts on Saturdays. Let's not delude ourselves into thinking that I will keep up any kind of regular posting on any regular topics, or that this will actually get published on Saturday, but for now, let's talk photography.

Today's topic: workflow

I think this is the term for the process a photographer goes through to take images from camera to final edited form.

As I am still fairly new to photography I am still trying to figure out a workflow that works for me. Right now, it looks like this (and by right now, I mean as of today where I have been shooting in RAW for four days now):

1. Copy NEF (RAW) files to the hard drive.
2. Run them through a converter to change them to DNG (digital negative) files. A converter is necessary since I am using a D40x camera with an older version (4) of Photoshop Elements.
3. Import all the DNG files into the Photoshop Elements Organizer
4. Delete all the clutter photos, the junk, the unfocused, the stuff that will never be worth looking at and is just taking up hard drive space.
5. Select the photo(s) I want to edit and open in the Photoshop Editor.
6. Edit using Adobe Camera RAW editor. Here is where I just move the sliders around until the colors look the way I want them.
7. Open in the Standard Editor. Crop. Sit and wonder what else to do since I fixed all the color and stuff in the RAW editor.
8. Save as a psd file or a jpeg. I save psd when I think I may want to go back and edit differently at another time. Jpeg if I'm just done.
9. Groan because it will take me ten times longer with RAW to edit the hundreds of photos I take in a week.
   
10. Drop the photo(s) into the Flickr Uploader.
11. Get a snack.

I have a few thoughts and questions for the other photographers out there:

• If I shoot in RAW, not only is the file huge to begin with, but now I am saving up to four files of the same image (NEF, DNG, PSD, JPEG) Do you other photographers have all this? Do you sell your photos just to buy hard drive space? Do you ever delete the NEF or do you hold onto it in case you would want to go back and re-edit from the beginning? Maybe only for the "good" photos?
  
• I have now taken over 12,000 photos with my camera, so my file numbers have started to repeat. Since 10,000, I've been changing all the file names to a word + date + number. What do you all do?

A Few New Edits

So, I've been really enjoying all of the comments I've been getting on some of my Portfolio photos. There have been some really helpful suggestions. It's also really nice to know what kinds of things you like (or don't like). Here are a couple of the new edits of some old images. All the new ones have been cropped to 11 x 14, so the ratio is a little different from the original.





The only one I'm not sure about is this last one, the photo of the church. Following some suggestions to lighten up the bricks a bit, now that I look at it I may have gone too far. I'll have to play with it some more later.

Early Morning Photos (and an Old Favorite)

I happened to be awake pretty early this morning and figured I'd take the opportunity to get some dewy first light shots. I took the tripod outside this time, but between its cumbersome operation and the fact that most of my subjects are low to the ground, I didn't use it a whole lot. Sadly, the empty lot next to us was just mowed and all the weeds I like to look at were cut down. But I did find a pretty little patch of buttercups:



Click for more pretty Monday Morning shots for Best Shot Monday at Mother May I.


(If you've clicked over for Best Shot Monday, I need your help! I'm looking to put together a collection of my photos to show a small artsy shop owner who sells local artist's work. I would like some fresh perspectives on my photos: I blogged about it here, and you can find my working portfolio set here, and my Flickr stream here.)

One of the best things about having photo bloggy friends is the incredible input I am getting on my photos. I am finding especially helpful any suggestions for editing. I think I'm going to go through and re-edit most, if not all, of the images since I know more about Photoshop now and I have some great suggestions to follow.

Couple of things:
1. I think I will print these 11 x 14 to show the shop owner. I plan to mat them and present them so that they are ready for sale the day I meet with him if he agrees to have them in his shop.
I think 8 x 10 is too small and besides, I don't like how 8 x 10 is almost square, but not. I like the more rectangle-y 11 x 14. If I were to buy a photo for my wall, I would probably buy at least 11 x 14, I think.
What do you guys think?

2. Right now I plan on printing from Shutterfly since I have always been happy with the way their color has come out. I've like my local Costco at times, but their color can be inconsistent. A quick Google search didn't turn up a whole lot in the way of professional labs in my area. A bunch of Ritz and a couple of small "1 hour" places. I may try one of the local places since it says they do wedding photos, so they must be able to do professional looking printing.
If you bought a gorgeous print from a small artsy shop would you be disappointed if you flipped the photo over and saw it was printed at Shutterfly? (Maybe I can turn off the backprinting, I'll have to see).

Also, here's the first of my go-back-and-edits:

NEW EDIT:
cropped to 11 x 14, unsharp mask, screen layer at 100% opacity


ORIGINAL EDIT:
photo ratio (like 4 x 6), probably a contrast bump

Best Shot Ever

Do you ever take a photo and when you pull it up onto the computer screen you can almost hear angels singing? You start grinning and jumping out of your chair because you have taken what very well may be your best photo ever? That happened to me today. Because a dragonfly flew into my flower bed and I laid in the mulch and shot over and over again squinting in the bright sun, hoping my hands weren't shaking the camera too much.

And I got the best photo ever.



(IMHO)

Back Into Best Shots

I have been shooting for the last couple of days with a 50 mm 1.4 lens. It is in fact the most delicious, depthy, coolest lens I have ever used. The wide open aperture has allowed me to take indoor photos with no flash and have them actually come out! The problem with my experimentation is that for the lens to auto-focus I am using my dad's D80. The D80 is a wonderful piece of equipment, but it makes me feel like I am right back at the beginning of my photography education with all the buttons and cryptic symbols. With my own, D40x, I can very quickly switch ISO speed, white balance setting, or focus area with the click of just a few buttons. If something doesn't come out right in the first shot, I can adjust my settings and keep on shooting. So, I'm working on learning the camera almost more than the lens! I don't think the lens would need any help...it just about takes incredibly deep photos on its own.

Best Shot Monday is at Mother May I. Click over to see more.

40x: More Than 40 X the Fun!

I did it. I bought my new camera yesterday. I bought a Nikon D40x and I love it! Just the auto settings take great pictures and the 2 basic lenses it came with seem to do pretty well.

Here's what I've been playing around with this morning: