Or maybe a photo of my daughter petting a deer. One of the many perks of letting the local zoo use my photos…free membership, and I get to go inside some of the habitats. They let me and my daughter in with the deer, one of which was quite friendly and not shy about sniffing crotches.
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August 09 2014 012 by Edward Durbin, on Flickr
What is your PP software of choice? The fidelity of your pictures is incredible.
I prefer Paint Shop Pro X2. I’ve been using PSP since around version 4 I think, and I’ve liked it ever since. It does the same thing as Photoshop, not as in-depth for some stuff but close enough. Plus it has features that Photoshop can’t touch, like being able to modify the workspace. You can add or remove buttons, so the tools you use the most can be just a click away. With Photoshop you’re either using keyboard shortcuts, which slows you down, or you’re searching through menus, which slows you down. I still use Photoshop, but only when I want to really go nuts with a photo. I have a lot of different software for editing, Lightroom, PSPX2 and X5, Elements, Photoshop, etc.. I use them all but prefer PSPX2 because it’s streamlined and fast.
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June 29 2014 004 by Edward Durbin, on Flickr
AHA!!! Here we go, the best photo around. Me in the garage. What an absolute ugly f**ker, I should put a bag over my face!! Garage doesn’t look like that anymore though, maybe it’s time for a new photo…
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Me by Edward Durbin, on Flickr
So photography is the hobby, and you’re a craftsman of some sort? Most DIY guys don’t have a wall of batteries. I’m a private contractor and I recognise a shop full of tools when I see one. ;D
Crap, I forgot I was supposed to make a video of me using my favorite tool. Guess I gotta get on top of that. Here’s a shot of a folding stool/table I made for my office a while back. Folds up and slides under the couch, and makes a great footrest or table for munching while watching movies.
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Fold-away Table 002 by Edward Durbin, on Flickr
Photography is a hobby that is somewhat of a profession…I’ve made plenty of money doing it, and have been published all over the world, but it’s not paying my bills. Craftsman…I don’t know about that. I just like to do stuff. I love working on stuff, building things, etc., and you can’t do that without a few tools here and there.
Kato wrote:
2 minutes ago, Kato said:Crap, I forgot I was supposed to make a video of me using my favorite tool. Guess I gotta get on top of that. Here’s a shot of a folding stool/table I made for my office a while back. Folds up and slides under the couch, and makes a great footrest or table for munching while watching movies.
Going for function over fashion I see, nifty little stand, great idea.
And awesome pictures, as always; I watch this thread with anticipation
I definitely am not a DIY’er, I’ve been a maintenance mechanic my whole life. I was helping my dad work on bowling machines when I was 11 and 12 years old. I’ve worked on heavy machinery and have done building maintenance for so long that I’m basically a Jack of all trades, pretty close to master of most of them. I do electrical, carpentry, hvac, plumbing, etc.. So far there hasn’t been anything I couldn’t learn and couldn’t fix. Not certifications but so far I haven’t needed any, most of the jobs I’ve worked didn’t require them
I sure wish I had your editing skills. And your camera. And lenses. And garage. I’ve taken a few photos that I was stoked about that don’t hold a candle to your work.
One of my grandmasters told me this a long time ago, and it sticks to a lot of walks of life: “When you look down on someone else, you are only looking down on yourself. Everyone starts as a White Belt, and there is no shame in having a beginning. The shame comes from never starting.”. He was trying to explain that when you’re at the top, it’s not good to look down. You shouldn’t look at those “beneath” you, instead you should only look at who you were before you got there.
I say it’s the shit we trudge through every day that makes us who we are. I’m thankful for the bullshit I go through, instead of letting it defeat me I defeat it, and it makes me that much stronger.
It holds true in the opposite regard…you can’t put yourself down because you think someone is better. If you do you don’t give yourself the chance to learn. The only difference is this: When you’re at the bottom, the only thing you can do is look up.
My skills in the things I do have developed over the years, and over a lot of hard work and learning. If I didn’t obsess, if I didn’t push, I wouldn’t have the skills or knowledge that I have.
Oh, and editing skills are easy, just go to the photography thread and ask questions. I’m eager to teach and good at it.
How about some tools for the tool forum…
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Vortex Bit Set 001 by Edward Durbin, on Flickr
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Pass-Thru Set 001 by Edward Durbin, on Flickr
Well I’m just a starter when it comes to this kind of thing. I bought a new camera for a trip to Alaska and learned some stuff but didn’t get a lot of time to practice and learn the camera completely, and somehow had OIS turned off in my settings for the majority of the trip, which was a big disappointment since it would have helped a lot with such a extensive amount of zoom at hand. A lot of my pictures were at telephoto and handheld so they’re what I’d consider decent but lacking. I bet you could take my pictures and make them a whole lot better than they are, my editing skills extend to pushing the “magic” button that some software offers to auto calibrate the picture since I don’t have an eye for what is needed.
I picked my favorites from the trip, take a look I’d like your input. Nikon Coolpix P900 16MP CMOS 24-2000mm. Small sensor of course and lighting was not great most of the trip, it rained A LOT, but a very capable camera for the budget guy, lol.
The thing about editing is that if you’re a purist, all you want to do is make the photo look like it did in real life. Cameras are magical things, but they only see in the way that they want to see, it’s up to you to make the photo your own. If a subject has bright vibrant colors and the camera doesn’t quite show it, boost saturation. IF the photo is a little out of focus or “dull”, use unsharp mask to bring out details or “brighten” it.
Your photo look great, Hugh, nothing to be down about. Every photo can use some manipulation, mine don’t always come out good. I have a lot of clunkers, but luckily most of the time I get things the way I want them in-camera, so I don’t have to do a lot of editing. Sadly, sometimes things don’t work out so you have to do what you have to do in processing.
Hugh, I’m going to save a couple of your photos and edit them, and post the steps in the photography thread. If you don’t mind…
Where the “magic” happens…or attempts to happen. Command Central…
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Office Wall 002 by Edward Durbin, on Flickr
Kato wrote:
3 minutes ago, Kato said:Hugh, I’m going to save a couple of your photos and edit them, and post the steps in the photography thread. If you don’t mind…
Oh man that’s awesome. Thanks for taking the time to give me some pointers. Unfortunately my camera doesn’t shoot raw so I don’t have crazy expectation of epic photos, there are hardware limitations that will affect IQ which can’t be edited, but I’m interested to see what you can do with them. Thanks again.
You don’t need raw, trust me. 95% of my photos are shot in JPG, and so far I haven’t had any issues. Been published all over the world, have done work for many big companies, and can make prints up to 66″x44″…shooting raw or jpg doesn’t make a difference in you can get things right in-camera. For most stuff if you have a majority of control over lighting, shadow, etc., then you can shoot jpg with no problem. I only shoot raw when I need it, like if I’m gonna have a blown-out sky or difficult lighting outdoor.
What is your camera? 66″x44″ is huge.
This was a quick edit, boost fill light, clarity, saturation, etc.. Just to show you what can be done when you have a good photo to start with. Nothing wrong with the shot, looks good to be honest, but if you want “magic” then you have to throw a few tricks in. There’s going to be artifacting because it was a web save (and haloes due to the animation conversion), but you’ll get the general idea. I’ll compile the editing steps and post them in the photography thread…
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Canon 50D. Native print size for a large jpg is 66″x44″
If you want to send me the original photo of the eagle I can do a better step-by-step of the editing process. I’ll pm my email address to you
I see what you mean, lots of detail within the black body areas that can be brought back out. Impressive.
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Wow Kato. All those pictures are amazing. My jaw was pretty much open looking through those pictures. You live right down the street from and I have never seen an Eagle around here. Did you go up north and get those pictures? I find it amazing you can get your camera set up and still have enough time to take those action shots. Amazing.
Most of my eagle shots come from LeClaire Iowa on the Mississippi River. Lock&Dam #14 to be specific. Tons of photographers go out there each year. Used to be high numbers of eagles out there, but the numbers haven’t been as good in the past few years. The first year I went there was at least a hundred, I count around 60 on a Saturday out there. Great place to go, the eagles get really close sometimes, close enough to make you duck.
You can see eagles up and down the Fox between Carpentersville and Oswego, sometimes as many as 15 or so.
Stercorarius, don’t blame me if you spent money on that. Have fun playing with it though, editing photos is fun. Unless you’re doing it for a client and they’re being a pain in the ass…
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[emoji23] They like to hang out at work on the pivot spans and power lines. This guy almost landed on my loader while I was driving.
Kato wrote:
3 hours ago, Kato said:Most of my eagle shots come from LeClaire Iowa on the Mississippi River. Lock&Dam #14 to be specific. Tons of photographers go out there each year. Used to be high numbers of eagles out there, but the numbers haven’t been as good in the past few years. The first year I went there was at least a hundred, I count around 60 on a Saturday out there. Great place to go, the eagles get really close sometimes, close enough to make you duck.
You can see eagles up and down the Fox between Carpentersville and Oswego, sometimes as many as 15 or so.
I have heard people talking about seeing them on the Fox, but I haven’t seen any. The only times I ever see them is when I am in Wisconsin. Thanks for sharing those pictures, they are awesome.
Been there, done that. It’s nice to make money but it doesn’t pay the bills. Way too many potographers that are way better than me out there. I’m just a little fish in a big pond. I’ve been published all over the world, Japan, Australia, etc., and it’s nice to brag about, but if it’s making me a millionaire someone needs to let me know…I don’t see any buckets of money around here anywhere…
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Eric, I do appreciate the kind words, it’s nice to know that my photos can please people.
Eagles on the Fox have been growing in numbers, slowly but still better than nothing. If you go up towards the Carpentersville Dam, by Otto, you’ll see eagles. It has to be the right part of the year to see any decent numbers, but there’s eagles out there for sure. Here’s a set from a few years back.
My favorite photographer is Peter Lik, wonder if you’re familiar with him. Not only does he take unbelievable photographs but the paper used to print his work is special…seeing it in person nearly dislocated my jaw when I accidently walked into his photo gallery in Key West. I spent over an hour just looking at photo’s (and I’m that guy that laughs at art galleries, not a connoisseur of the arts by any means) The luminosity of the prints make them look like they’re lit from behind, it’s spectacular.
If I were rich tomorrow I’d be headed down there to place my order on some of his work for sure. They’re not cheap but probably the only prints that I’d pay big money for.
PROTOOLNUT wrote:
1 hour ago, PROTOOLNUT said:
Yes, I think Kato should become a photographer legend. He could totally sell and show his photo’s at art studios. And who knows, maybe one day he will become popular, because he’s good and deserves it. I think its awesome that you had the time to view his pictures Eric, you are awesome man. 🙂
Your right he does deserve it. Awesome pictures.
Kato wrote:
1 hour ago, Kato said:Eagles on the Fox have been growing in numbers, slowly but still better than nothing. If you go up towards the Carpentersville Dam, by Otto, you’ll see eagles. It has to be the right part of the year to see any decent numbers, but there’s eagles out there for sure. Here’s a set from a few years back.
I will never look at the Fox River the same after those pictures. You make it look so beautiful. I was checking out your flickr account. Awesome pictures. Did you take this picture around here? If so do you know what kind of spider that is?
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That and about 5 others were inside the black-crowned night heron habitat at Cosley Zoo. It’s a common garden spider, argiope, don’t ask me which one. There’s about 6 bajillion different types. They were all around or slightly over 2 inches leg tip-to-tip.
Spiders are okay, I don’t mind them as long as they do what they’re told.
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August 02 2014 011 by Edward Durbin, on Flickr
Kato wrote:
21 hours ago, Kato said:That and about 5 others were inside the black-crowned night heron habitat at Cosley Zoo. It’s a common garden spider, argiope, don’t ask me which one. There’s about 6 bajillion different types. They were all around or slightly over 2 inches leg tip-to-tip.
Ok thanks. I saw one last year and it freaked me out. I hate spiders. Never saw something like that around here before. I can’t say it was that exact spider, but looked pretty darn close from what i remember.
I’m neither here nor there about spiders, of course they can be creepy sometimes but the bottom line is that most of the are more scared of us than we are of them. Most of the time they won’t do anything, but when provoked they might lunge, it’s a defense mechanism. Plus, you would be surprised at the stats for how many spiders you swallow while sleeping, and how many spider bites you get and don’t know it.
Now that’s some scary stuff…
I’m bird, here’s a board…
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IMG_0887 by Edward Durbin, on Flickr