Graham

Nice one Korky, great pic :-)

Well done Paul.

Welcome to TIPF, The Inumerable Pauls Forum, Paul :-)

In Photoshop for a print, I use the crop tool set on the settings bar to the size of the print and at 300dpi. This creates a huge file but is really what the printers need to get the best quality. Obviously, this has to be done before the original is re sized at all.

Great choice Colin and congratulations Cuilin :-)

Amazing pictures, very thought provoking. That last very slow fade from the closeup fade to the praying hands is so powerful.

Welcome Jeff. An LRPS Distinction puts you many, many streets beyond me. Hope you enjoy the forum :-)

I couldn't get my head around it as it is billed more as a designers tool rather than photo editing. I know that Photosop is used for the same design artwork but they don't exactly push Affinity as a photo editor do they.

Hi Martin, welcome to the friendliest madhouse, sorry, photography forum there is. Don't be afraid to ask questions, no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers. Sadly, I cannot guarantee that you won't get any of them but it will only be in fun. Pull up a stool, set your tripod up and join in.

I know this can be done in Photoshop but it involves the software creating multiple layer masks to 'extract' the unsharp areas leaving the sharp bits merged together, very clever. I know Photoshop is a huge layout to buy, I couldn't afford to buy Lightroom and Photoshop so I subscribed to the Adobe Creative Cloud. Costs just over £8 a month but you get both Lightroom and Photoshop to download both of which update automatically if they do any changes. Still not cheap if used over a long time, I think the contract is 12 months but it helps the cash flow no end. Well worth it in my opinion to have them both.

Never had a TTL flash so I don't really know. However, are the triggers compatible with TTL? Mine are just straight triggers, they do not carry any information between the flash and camera. I assume the commander mode has its own way of triggering but not having used one, I am not sure. I find manual flash so much easier to measure and control lol.

No worries Korky, it is so easy to misinterpret my ramblings lol

I didn't say that converting colour to mono was the worst way of doing it, I said putting your camera to shoot mono was. As BP says, this camera is a totally different ball game to mono conversion. As one who, in the 80's spent just over £6000 on a Leica with three lenses, I know I would never do it again as I am not good enough to justify having one. I still think there is a possible market for a mono mirror less system at a 1/12 of the price though. I do think that when you do shoot with a Leica it is a bit special, it is different as it handles so well and it makes you feel good, I speak from experienc lol. That may sound shallow but what other reason would anyone buy a top end sports car? There is no practical reason for doing so.

I was reading a review on the Leica Monochrom camera last night. This amazingly crude looking old style Leica is full digital but can only shoot in mono. It has a minimum ISO of around 360 which must be a pain in bright sunlight. Oddly, the review of the camera was mixed, if not that good. However, the praise of the stunning shadow detail images took with it are just amazing. Think of it as a Leica that you can only load with Tri X At £6000 I will not be rushing out to buy one this morning but I have to admit, I am intrigued. I know that shooting with a colour camera in mono is not the best way to go, in fact it is the worst way of getting mono pictures. However, I do like the idea that if I select mono on my Nikon D3300 but shoot in RAW then I get a colour RAW image but the preview JPEG which you see on the rear screen is in black and white so you get a very rough idea of what you are getting. I would certainly look at a reasonably priced compact that was fitted with a mono only sensor but have the ability to use filters. Let's face it, mono camera apps are well received on iPhones as well demonstrated by Black Pearl. OK, I could just pick up a film camera but I am past all that processing stuff now. Does anyone else think there would be a potential market for such a camera? Surely, it would be a delight for street photographers.

I think, in reality, if you post pictures online they are not secure. Facebook especially is about sharing and it is the nature of the beast that any picture you post on there is fair game for anyone to use, rightly or wrongly. The only way to dissuade people from passing it on is to render it virtually worthless by using large and complex watermarks which will stop most people from spending the time and effort to clone them out. Also, the small size and low dpi will stop anyone from getting anything larger than a 6x4 print worth looking at. However, most people using other people's pictures none commercially will not print them anyway and at 1000 pixels and 72 dpi they are fine on screen as can be seen by pictures posted on here. Your only real protection against commercial theft, if finding one of your pictures used by someone else, is the ability to be able to prove ownership and the willingness to take action against the thief. Thief isn't too strong as, in all cases of copyright theft, it is theft simple as that. However, if you post a picture unprotected on a sharing website, even though you own the copyright, by implication you are giving people permission to share it unless you specifically set your privacy setting to prevent others from seeing them. Obviously, this negates the point of putting them on social media. It may be against what a lot of people think but, if I post a picture online then I really don't care what happens to it unless it is used inappropriately to bring my reputation into dispute. This has to be considered in light of I do not do any commercial photography other than for my employer. In that case I pass all publication rights, but not copyright, to my employer. In doing that, I do not have the right to publish them myself for the five years they hold those rights. So if they do appear somewhere else, it is my employer who would contest the usage not me.

When I got my new camera at Christmas, I started thinking about what I wanted to carry on a daily basis. As arthritis invades other parts of my body, started in the knees and is now affecting my right shoulder, I never wanted to return to the huge kit bags I carried about in my film days. Thankfully, my modest camera kit is lightweight so all I wanted was a bag just large enough to hold the essentials but small enough so that I wasn't tempted to fit loads of extra unnecessary gear. I spotted this LowePro Event Messenger 150 bag in Argos. It is small but suits my needs perfectly It has a strong clip to hold the lid shut and two velcro tabs (with fold over silencing tabs) to help keep it closed without the clip. Obviously, this doesn't work if they are silenced. On the front is a zipped pocket and on each end is a small slightly expanding open topped pocket. The rear also has an open topped document style pocket, ideal for small reflector cards, grey cards etc. There is also a full width and depth pocket in the interior rear which will hold my iPad but I rarely take that with me. The interior is divided into three vertical sections which are adjustable and have 'shelves' in them all held by Velcro. I removed the shelf out of the right hand one to fit my flashgun in but left the other two to separate kit. I have the camera lens down, standard 18-55 kit lens, in the middle with the flash controller under the middle shelf. On the left my 55-200 kit lens is stored under the shelf, but easy to access, and my light meter slots down the left side of the shelf. The front pouch holds all the usual bits and bobs. And this is what is in it and what I carry with me all the time. It weighs in at 2.9 kilos loaded as seen which I find comfortable enough. Nikon D3300 with Kit lens Nikon 55-200 Nikon spare battery Nikon Remote (infrared) release. Sekonic L-308S Light (ambient and flash) meter Yongnuo YN560 Mk III manual flash gun, in its case which also has a mounting foot so it can be stood on a table etc Yongnuo YN560-TX wireless flash controller Remote shutter lead to be used with Yongnuo RF 630 N flash triggers (not in picture as they were on my Nikon D40 for taking these shots firing a screw in mains flash gun shooting through an umbrella style soft box) Spare set of Eneloop Pro batteries for flash Cokin Filter holder and grad grey filter Couple, or more, spare SD cards Small pack of business cards with my website and email address should I need to give info to people and a pencil to jot any further info on the back. Finally, a lipstick style lens brush. I also have a Joby Gorilla Pod with ball and socket head which I can stuff into one of the end pockets. I don't take the big tripod unless I am doing something specific where I know I will need it. The Joby is great as it holds a DSLR like I have with no trouble at all and can be 'wrapped' around posts or such to give me the height I need. As I said, a modest set of kit but it is fairly light and will do for me just nicely.

Great choice, nice one Cathy loved this picture from first sight.

Nice one! Well done :-)

Looks an interesting piece of kit, thanks for the heads up BP.

Foam board is two sheets of white card with a foam, or other material, core. It is available from arts and craft type stores usually in 2ft by 3ft sheets through to huge things. The smaller sheets I find very handy as flags or reflectors and are quite inexpensive. You could get a can of Matt black spray paint and do one side black. They do get dinged and scratched but that does not affect the way they work.

Move back away from background if you can and feather lights even more. Move them further to the side and position so that only the light from the rearmost edge of the light falls on the side of the subject. However, this depends on what the light is. If it is an opaque umbrella or soft box this will work. A shoot through umbrella will not be as effective as a lot of light goes through and bounces around the room. You could also try flagging the light with paper or foam board sheets to stop light hitting where you don't want it, same as using barn doors on video lights etc. Great picture by the way.

I don't find manual flash hard to use. I grew up using film cameras and manual flash, there was no such thing as TTL flash back then. I personally would not pay nearly as much for a flash gun as a camera body just for TTL. Manual flash is like anything else, just a matter of getting used to your gear. For the same reason, I now mainly use manual exposure too. Only time I don't is in a snapshot situation, like a party or such where I set the camera into 'P' mode just so I don't have to think about it. As always, there is no right or wrong, manual is just my choice.

I opted to go manual with flash from the offset. I use a Yongnuo with power settings from full to 1/128th. You have to think about it more but at under £50 they are powerful and come with built in radio trigger. I have a pair of triggers and an on camera controller from which I can control the zoom and power of the flash unit without having to go to wherever the flash is.

Nice one Kev :-)

I have taken lots of pictures in one cemetery in Peterborough. The only issue I had was when I was approached by a couple of hi vis council workers. They asked what I was doing and I stated the obvious, the DSLR was a bit of a giveaway. They then asked me to be careful around the walled edges of the cemetery as part of their task there was to collect discarded needles and they wouldn't like me to step on one they may have missed!