***DSLR/Photography MegaThread***

Okay... time for some advice.... for me that is.

What is the best way to deal with a workflow? Any software ideas? Tips, tricks? Something for dealing with large volumes of shots that I want to process a little quicker... Any way to get from RAW format to jpeg, with the corrections in between faster?

I have a copy of lightroom somewhere but have NO idea how to use it to process.
 
B,

You don't go from a fresh install of Lightroom to an efficient workflow overnight. It takes a couple days of using the software to get things down.

Install it, first.

And here are my tips:

Cull the rejects. Get rid of the images you know are horrible. Only work on the best 50% or so.

Group the pictures into similar exposure and white balance settings, then make those corrections in bulk by copying and pasting the settings from the first photo you work on to the remainder in the group. You can add sharpening and noise reduction to this step, as most will be about the same if you've shot the same ISO.

Go back through and fine-tune, then export to jpeg.

I've got a more detailed workflow that I wrote up for rinkrat when he first started using lightroom. I'll dig it out and send it to you.
 
B,

You don't go from a fresh install of Lightroom to an efficient workflow overnight. It takes a couple days of using the software to get things down.

Install it, first.

And here are my tips:

Cull the rejects. Get rid of the images you know are horrible. Only work on the best 50% or so.

Group the pictures into similar exposure and white balance settings, then make those corrections in bulk by copying and pasting the settings from the first photo you work on to the remainder in the group. You can add sharpening and noise reduction to this step, as most will be about the same if you've shot the same ISO.

Go back through and fine-tune, then export to jpeg.

I've got a more detailed workflow that I wrote up for rinkrat when he first started using lightroom. I'll dig it out and send it to you.

Glenn, send it to my gmail address... . Thanks!
 
Two new ones I did yesterday. Took a drive up to Calico and snapped a few off.

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Took a bit of a drive this Friday. Started in Chino and went to the Planes of Fame Museum. Then drove to Calico Ghost Town outside of Barstow. Then drove back to Pomona and took a look at the NHRA museum.

Calico:
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...and from the Planes of Fame Museum. I wasn't really pleased with how any of these really turned out. Too much different kinds of light and my tripod was giving me hell.

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Static airplanes are MUCH harder to take good pictures of than they'd seem...especially indoor ones because of poor lighting and being surrounded by LOTS of things that will end up distracting the viewer from the intended subject. My suggestion for next time would be to maybe forget trying to get the whole bird and go for interesting detail, close-up style.

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Like so.

It still says, "I'm an airplane," and can even be identified by the savvy enthusiast, but the extraneous BS in the background (that hangar was CLUTTERED) is left out.

I've been meaning to get out to POF Chino and take a look around. I haven't been there in AGES. Another GREAT one (if you want to drive the extra hour) is the Palm Springs Air Museum on the East end of the Palm Springs Airport.
 
Static airplanes are MUCH harder to take good pictures of than they'd seem...especially indoor ones because of poor lighting and being surrounded by LOTS of things that will end up distracting the viewer from the intended subject. My suggestion for next time would be to maybe forget trying to get the whole bird and go for interesting detail, close-up style.

2353786261_1c0b2a6631.jpg


Like so.

It still says, "I'm an airplane," and can even be identified by the savvy enthusiast, but the extraneous BS in the background (that hangar was CLUTTERED) is left out.

I've been meaning to get out to POF Chino and take a look around. I haven't been there in AGES. Another GREAT one (if you want to drive the extra hour) is the Palm Springs Air Museum on the East end of the Palm Springs Airport.
That's a good idea. I did some that were more "area specific" on the plane, but I was meh about them. I think the biggest problem for me was being there when the place had opened. They were getting ready it seemed like so the hangars were sort of opened, sort of closed so the sunlight was everywhere. Not to mention that the roped off areas made it somewhat difficult to get a decent angle sometimes.

I'll take all that in to consideration for the next time I head out to a hangar. My first time shooting subjects rather than landscapes too so it's a little bit of a transition for me.
 
I liked the way this one came out. Nothing PS'd or anything. Just came out this way. Looks a little like the watercolor filter in PS.
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Cool shots Mike. Did you get press credentials for this one too? I'm gonna guess yes considering the locations.

Yeah I got the first three songs in the photo pit. Festivals are cool because you can shoot about a dozen bands in a day. They said "No Flash" but the lighting was brutal so I snuck a few in, then a few more, and when nobody said anything I just flashed my brains out. The security was too busy with the crowd surfers to worry about a flash in the daytime.
 
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I dragged out my remote lights for a mod show last night. You can see them in the Suppressors singer's shades.
 
Shot this with the 500mm mirror lens just now...

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This thing is BITCHIN!!
 
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Went to the so-hot-my-balls-needed-deodorant Angels game today and spent most of the time walking around out of the sun.

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I'm looking at picking up a new lens too for a walkaround. Was thinking about [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-18-250mm-3-5-6-3-Canon-Digital/dp/B001PGXEH4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1251691919&sr=8-1"]this one here[/ame]. Seems to cover quite a lot of ground, and it's gotten some decent marks from what little I've been able to find on it. That's more or less the price range I'm looking at right now, so if you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them.
 
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