Sony Lounge Thread MKIII (All Sony cameras welcome)

TRhoads wrote in post #18493342
I personally am not a fan of over processed skin in portraits, it looks like a mannequin to me...i am ok with removing blemishes that are not permanent features, but i dont overly process portraits...

I think of skin corrections like make-up on women. It looks best when it doesn't look like anything was done at all. We know all women wear makeup, but most of us do not find it attractive when women wear excessive amounts of makeup and it looks fake. Same with skin corrections IMO.

David Arbogast wrote in post #18493356
Chattahoochee Bend State Park with CV 65mm:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/D9yz​iJ Chattahoochee Bend SP-02425 by David Arbogast, on Flickr

I love the way those fall colors contrast against that deep blue sky.

mystik610 wrote in post #18493371
I love the way those fall colors contrast against that deep blue sky.

Thanks Carlo. I didn't do the scene justice. The last light of the day was on those trees and it was a wonderful thing to experience in person.

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An evening stroll on the Chattahoochee Riverwalk in Columbus, Georgia:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Gr8W​ma

David Arbogast wrote in post #18493385
Thanks Carlo. I didn't do the scene justice. The last light of the day was on those trees and it was a wonderful thing to experience in person.

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An evening stroll on the Chattahoochee Riverwalk in Columbus, Georgia:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Gr8W​ma A Late Night River Stroll by David Arbogast, on Flickr

Should have added the light rays in post lol

Decided to cancel my preorders for the a7rIII and the 24-105 for the time being. Couldn’t get a definitive answer as to the ship date, China is already getting there’s but the latest I keep on hearing is 11/30, which leaves me little to no room because I leave for Disney on 12/2. Couldn’t risk having $4,500 worth of equipment sitting on my desk at work. Really though the rIII plus 24-105 would give the wiggle room to just roam around WDW with that one combo but decided to just rent the RX1RII for the trip and live with the limitations of the 35mm f/2. Realistically I think it’ll be good for 95% of my shots and the 5% that I wished for a wide shot or a telephoto lens I’ll just make do with the results. Just being like a tourist with a camera around the neck and a small, lightweight backpack will be liberating and allow me to enjoy the sights and sounds without having to analyze which lens to use or which focal length to use.

About Macphum/Skylum, here is a not-great scene I used to test their Aurora HDR 2018 software. It's a 5-bracket result. As you can painfully see, Aurora HDR 2018 does an absolutely horrendous job of tonemapping. The halos around the cables are awful. By contrast, Photomatix Pro 6 makes easy work of the tonemapping, and greatly suppresses the halos.

I used each application's "Realistic" preset to make the test as much of an apples:apples test as possible. I also experimented with all the sliders, but nothing would make those awful halos go away. Photomatix is not only suppressing the halos, but it's even recovering more shadow detail.

TMaG82 wrote in post #18493394
Decided to cancel my preorders for the a7rIII and the 24-105 for the time being. Couldn’t get a definitive answer as to the ship date, China is already getting there’s but the latest I keep on hearing is 11/30, which leaves me little to no room because I leave for Disney on 12/2. Couldn’t risk having $4,500 worth of equipment sitting on my desk at work. Really though the rIII plus 24-105 would give the wiggle room to just roam around WDW with that one combo but decided to just rent the RX1RII for the trip and live with the limitations of the 35mm f/2. Realistically I think it’ll be good for 95% of my shots and the 5% that I wished for a wide shot or a telephoto lens I’ll just make do with the results. Just being like a tourist with a camera around the neck and a small, lightweight backpack will be liberating and allow me to enjoy the sights and sounds without having to analyze which lens to use or which focal length to use.

if you want to consider the A7rii again, I picked up a body for lens authority for 1400, seems too good to be true... still have some for 1600-1700 last I checked. Add choice of lens, maybe the 24-70f4

David Arbogast wrote in post #18493413
About Macphum/Skylum, here is a not-great scene I used to test their Aurora HDR 2018 software. It's a 5-bracket result. As you can painfully see, Aurora HDR 2018 does an absolutely horrendous job of tonemapping. The halos around the cables are awful. By contrast, Photomatix Pro 6 makes easy work of the tonemapping, and greatly suppresses the halos.

I used each application's "Realistic" preset to make the test as much of an apples:apples test as possible. I also experimented with all the sliders, but nothing would make those awful halos go away. Photomatix is not only suppressing the halos, but it's even recovering more shadow detail.

David, this matches my own experience with Aurora HDR. Not good at all. I was also getting color artifacts when stacking other adjustments. Hope you get your long overdue refund!

David Arbogast wrote in post #18493413
About Macphum/Skylum, here is a not-great scene I used to test their Aurora HDR 2018 software. It's a 5-bracket result. As you can painfully see, Aurora HDR 2018 does an absolutely horrendous job of tonemapping. The halos around the cables are awful. By contrast, Photomatix Pro 6 makes easy work of the tonemapping, and greatly suppresses the halos.

I used each application's "Realistic" preset to make the test as much of an apples:apples test as possible. I also experimented with all the sliders, but nothing would make those awful halos go away. Photomatix is not only suppressing the halos, but it's even recovering more shadow detail.

Wow that's really bad. Light sabre cables

David Arbogast wrote in post #18493413
About Macphum/Skylum, here is a not-great scene I used to test their Aurora HDR 2018 software. It's a 5-bracket result. As you can painfully see, Aurora HDR 2018 does an absolutely horrendous job of tonemapping. The halos around the cables are awful. By contrast, Photomatix Pro 6 makes easy work of the tonemapping, and greatly suppresses the halos.

I used each application's "Realistic" preset to make the test as much of an apples:apples test as possible. I also experimented with all the sliders, but nothing would make those awful halos go away. Photomatix is not only suppressing the halos, but it's even recovering more shadow detail.

wow...that is fugly...the top one...good grief, and they are hassling you about getting your money back...

TRhoads wrote in post #18493431
wow...that is fugly...the top one...good grief, and they are hassling you about getting your money back...

Their last email to me asked me to send them the raw brackets and they’d proceed with my refund “right after that”. So, I sent them the raw brackets and haven’t heard from them since. Every day now I send them a request for my refund and they have just stopped replying.

They’re being shortsighted because while they may have got MY money in the short term, I can help prevent them from defrauding others by sharing my terrible experience with them here on POTN, FM, and their Facebook page. Terrible customer service and terrible software.

David Arbogast wrote in post #18493439
Their last email to me asked me to send them the raw brackets and they’d proceed with my refund “right after that”. So, I sent them the raw brackets and haven’t heard from them since. Every day now I send them a request for my refund and they have just stopped replying.

They’re being shortsighted because while they may have got MY money in the short term, I can help prevent them from defrauding others by sharing my terrible experience with them here on POTN, FM, and their Facebook page. Terrible customer service and terrible software.

I don't blame you...did they have a trial version...I learned the hard way a few years ago, just buying some software outright and then figuring out I didn't like it...now I won't test it if they don't offer a trial version.

Anyone have some tips on how to remove glare from a window? I shot this glass walkway last Monday and the sun was coming in from the right side where it created reflections and strong highlights in the glass. I will likely reshoot the scene but it's cloudy for the next few days. Thank you.

digital_AM wrote in post #18493487
Anyone have some tips on how to remove glare from a window? I shot this glass walkway last Monday and the sun was coming in from the right side where it created reflections and strong highlights in the glass. I will likely reshoot the scene but it's cloudy for the next few days. Thank you.

Can you post a clip of it...I have a similar issue on a couple of images...glass top table...

TRhoads wrote in post #18493493
Can you post a clip of it...I have a similar issue on a couple of images...glass top table...

Unfortunately, it's on my home PC and I can't access it right now. I'm getting off work in an hour so I'll just swing by the site to retake that image. I see some patches of blue in the sky. Photography makes you into a weather man real quick.