Family, Photography and other misc news
There are some settings I apply to every photo, one of these is copyright information. So beginning of each year I create some new default presets, This one Default2025 is for copyright information, I then have one for the main cameras so an M10 preset and a Z preset for example.
A bit of work at the start of each year, a new 2025 folder. structure and we are set for another year.
I use Adobe as my main editor and I find myself using the shortcuts all the time together with presets I have created to do my editing.
Rather then review them here, if you want some quick shortcut tips have a look at Lightroom Kill Tips website and also Lightroom Queen.
If I have a problem that I cannot solve myself I find these two sites often better then Adobe’s to check first for a solution.
You have a camera, not the latest but still well capable. A selection of lens, flash, and more camera bags then you know what to do with, plus a few extra hidden in the back of a cupboard from your significant other.
What to buy next?
Well spend some money on trips out, flex those photographic muscles, maybe if your a wildlife photographer a trip to a local nature park, a holiday of a lifetime to somewhere you have dreamed off.
For the people photographers like me, get a mood board sorted with ideas, collect some cheap props.
I often take a bag of cheap sunglasses to the studio and let the model experiment.
Photography purchases to not have to be expensive. Just something that will get you out shooting.
If your looking at kit, then think about clothing if your into landscape or wildlife. Think about tripods and heads. For studio photographers investing in three C-Stands will enable lots of creativity and will last forever.
For me the list would be like this:
There is a lot you can invest in, to improve your photography before buying that new camera and lens. Also remember things like storage and backup for your files. I have a large NAS holding all my photography files, then a bunch of external drives holding backup copies. Then an external SSD for my Lightroom database, and backup jobs copying that database to two different computers and a cloud storage provider. But that’s a different post.
I have a couple of big shoots this month, so checking batteries, memory cards etc is on my mind. If you have a current camera then social media is quite good at notifying you if there is firmware update. Camera brands like Fuji got a good reputation with there continued support of older models and fresh firmware bringing fixes and new features where the hardware could support it. Its something that Nikon have been pushing as well with recent updates to the Z9 and Z8 but also the Zfc and ZF.
Its quite easy though to forget about your older generation cameras so do remember to check you manufactures website. I thought my Leica M10 was up to date but a quick check last week showed a new firmware. No real new features, then the M series are not built on there feature set, but there was a new firmware with support for lens profiles for new lens.
So do check. Its also worth checking your flashes but for some brands that can be difficult; that’s one thing I like about Profoto, turn on fire up the app and it will tell you if there is something new and its quick and easy to up date.
I was creating a new gallery for my more formal website when I noticed that once again Adobe Lightroom Classic Cloud Sync has stopped working.
As you can see above, I have blogged about this before and normally just going into to here, then relaunching Lightroom Classic is enough to fix it, but not today.
Luckily there is a hidden button to fix this.
If your on a Mac while in preferences and Lightroom Sync, hold down the Option Key (Alt on Windows) and a Rebuild Sync Data button appears, click on this and your Lightroom will restart and sync will be back working again.
When shooting film it took a lot of experience and skill with a light meter, to understand what the reading meant and how it would look in the in the final image.
Now with digital we get instant feed back. We can get it close with a light meter and then tweak by eye.
Slowly building the image light by light and seeing the results instantly.
Here we have me building the scene starting with the separation lights, first the stage left, then right and then both together. Finally bringing it all together to create the stunning image at the top.
With all modern cameras now being so good, having instant feed back, we can hone are skills quickly and easily and produce lovely photographs so much easier then in the past.
Lightroom import dialogue box can be confusing, there are two options, simple and advance. I have on occasion gotten my import wrong myself, generally importing files to the wrong location but its an easy fix.bad credit loans uk direct lenders
I can think of a couple of other ways of importing photographs but rarely use them. Recently on YouTube I saw this and thought it was a easy way to import if you struggle with the other methods.
The video shows you how but basically create a folder in Lightroom where you want the files to go and then when highlighting that folder select import to this folder.
Simple and easy.
I still use the normal import methods, I have presents that apply things like basic develop settings and metadata which is the advantage of the normal import methods. Creating import, development and location presets to get a lot of the leg work done in advance can really speed up your work flow.
Breaking out the soft box is what most people do in the studio, the larger the better.
If your after that soft romantic feel it is hard to beat. Sometimes though a harder light source can provide a more interesting light.
Here is a hard light shot with a little fill from a soft box and a hair light. The hard light from the beauty dish really sculpts the face. Many photographers would be but off with the shadow under the neck but this can be controlled with a soft box or reflector underneath. Sometimes a very large brolly on axis can also be used to control the shadows well.
This is basically the same image but with a soft box instead of the beauty dish, a much softer light but in some ways a more boring shot that does not suite the outfit or mood as much.
Knowing when to use a soft light and a hard light is half the battle.
Hard light from a magnum reflector.
Soft light from two very large Oct Soft boxes.
Think about the model, her look, the clothes, the mood and feel you want, then select the light modifier to enhance this look you are after.
Hard light is often considered a no no, and I have a post on hard and soft light coming. If your into hard light, then I can recommend a magnum reflector.
Here we have a Profoto B10Plus with a magnum reflector. The magnum reflector is not a modifier I call upon often but if you’re after very strong directional light, and a good stop of light boost to what your flash can produce its quite a useful device.
Here I am using it to mimic strong sunlight flooding onto the landing off to the right.
I was updating my portfolio site https://rbphotographic.co.uk and was unable to pull some photographs from an online Adobe Album.
Looking at my Lightroom classic I realised the sync arrows were all missing. My new album could not be selected to sync.
I restarted a few times, but the trick to get them back was to go into settings, Lightroom sync. Going in here restarted it.
