Sony Lounge Thread MKIII (All Sony cameras welcome)

Bianchi wrote in post #19048996
Dan Hughes recently did several webinar's on DXO Nik . He worked from 2009 to 2014 with Google Nik . He teaches at RIT in Rochester NY

The two below will explain the difference between Vivexa and Color Effects

Viveza controls light and color ..
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=H5AcrViWKxQ&​t=409s

Color Efex
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=TNqlfsVT880

All his webniar's on DXO
https://www.youtube.co​m/user/NikSoftwareLess​ons

Another authority on Nik is Robin Whalley
https://www.youtube.co​m …/UCYMWL3WXU9QMe​OUhD3lOpEw

Dan is a nice guy. I did some collaboration with him back when he still worked for NIK when it was new. He used a couple of my images in a presentation.

Bianchi wrote in post #19049000
You may want to take note of volume change when you go to and leaving from LR at beginning of editing and when your finished editing in LR .

Yep, not sure what happened to my audio levels this time, the screen capture session was too low and I had to max it out in mixing to get it to the level it was. Gotta go back and figure out what happened. I fixed it as best I could for this one.

I like using the patch tool for a lot of my content-aware fill work too. It selects an area like the lasso tool and then I drag the selection to a similar area nearby for it to match.

Hard to believe how eerie quiet this place gets....... The time outdoors is much needed. Practicing social distancing is very easy while observing the beautiful view of our City.

My Hawthorne bushes are beginning to flower now.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2iRU​qUc

navydoc wrote in post #19049095
My Hawthorne bushes are beginning to flower now.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2iRU​qUc Hawthorne flowers by Gene, on Flickr

Great sig as always.
I'm sure you look for to this flowering each year.
I look forward to the pears, the apples, the redbuds and the dogwoods...in that order

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #19049099
Great sig as always.
I'm sure you look for to this flowering each year.
I look forward to the pears, the apples, the redbuds and the dogwoods...in that order

Yes, I sure do. My neighbor has a lemon tree and I'm beginning to smell the blossoms. Hopefully, I'll get a photo or two of the lemon tree blossoms soon.

It's beginning to feel, and smell, like Spring around here. There's a 20% chance of rain tomorrow but after that, we should hit 90° by Wednesday.

navydoc wrote in post #19049095
My Hawthorne bushes are beginning to flower now.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2iRU​qUc Hawthorne flowers by Gene, on Flickr

Very beautiful flowers. Nice capture.

digital_AM wrote in post #19048599
Nice waterfalls in GSMNP.

Loxia 85

IMAGE LINK: https://www.alfredomor​aphoto.com …oads/n-mNp4Hr/i-JH2hf4R/A

This is lovely Alfredo.

I’d like to make a little suggestion. In my experience shooting in a forest really messes with the color balance and everything gets a green cast which can rob the image of color depth. I like to “correct” the white balance using the blur average tool on a copied layer and then color corrected with the middle gray color picker in curves/levels. Autocolor might work as well, but I prefer the average/curves method.

I just suspect there’s more hue depth and richness lurking in your image that’s currently concealed under a film of green. Just guessing...maybe you’ve already corrected it, so I’m just throwing it out there just in case you haven’t looked into that yet.

AlanU wrote in post #19048746
I used my Sigma 24 f/1.4 Art prime. I have a sweet spot in the 24mm FL. When I've compared the GM24 to the Sigma 24 f/1.4 ART the image quality is virtually identical for my style and application. I'm not justifying such claims because I own the Sigma. I've been on the fence for a while now in buying the GM24mm. There are reasons I really want the GM24mm. I want smaller form factor, customized button. The AF on the Sigma bothered me but now...... it's extremely responsive with no hint of "man I wish it would focus faster".

Bokeh on this lens is fantastic. The lens heavier than Sony but not a deal breaker. The Sony is still a better lens but if I'm going to spend 1899 (2126 incl tax) I'd rather spend it on a Canon R5 projected to be around $4500 CDN. I'll be able to use my Canon 24L f/1.4 mk2 (and all of my Canon L glass). The Canon 24Lmk2 is another lens I love a lot. I do feel my Sigma 24mm has better bokeh than my Canon 24Lmk2.

I’ve been very impressed with the Sigma 24 rendering I’ve been seeing in your shots. I like it better than the GM. That being said, if I do ever get a 24mm prime, I think I’ll go GM purely for the size/weight. It, of course, is absolutely fantastic even if I do prefer the color/rendering of the 24 Art.

I’ve owned the Sigma 20mm Art and shot it a lot on my a7R II...one of my all time favorite lenses. Sold it cause it was big, heavy and non-native (Canon-mount).

I've had a little trouble setting up my new monitor due to conflicts with my display port. Everything seems to be working now so I now have a monitor a bit more capable for editing.

Here are my new specs.

Miranda1 wrote in post #19048789
Hi Everyone, I have a quick question for the forum.

I have been a long time Aperture user but when Apple stop Aperture support I stopped using it as my DAM software and relied exclusively on managing my image collection within a image master folder on a separate image drive using MAC OS. I picked up a copy of Capture One Pro and I'm in the process of figuring out how I want to manage my image collection, specifically whether I should use referenced files mode or simplify the setup and import the actual RAWs into Capture One database.

The concept of imputing the RAWs directly into the Capture One database appeals to me for it's simplicity it's how I used Aperture but l would still maintain a separate hard drive with all my images stored outside of the database just to be sure.
Reference files are an attractive alternative, it would keep the database significantly smaller but the logistics of moving image files or folder worries me.

If you use Capture One I would appreciate any guidance/tips you could share in respect to which is better and also what your experience has been with the software, I know the raw converter in Capture is fantastic but I'm not sure how the DAM features compare to other asset management applications out there.

I started using Capture One end of last year, having used LR for years.
I had and still have an issue of should I use catalogs or sessions, at present I make a catalog, for when I have a lot of photos from one day, and keep the C1 setup files in the directory with the RAW. As when I used LR with one catalog for the whole year, it ended up slowing down as there was a large number of photos to manage, and RAW images from the A7Rii dont help. I found a video on youtube that advises to make a Util session and you can use this to look through folders on your hard drive to find the photo you want, without importinting them in to C1.
There are a lot of youtube videos on how to use C1, and most of these are made by C1. So you usually find an answer to what you want to do.

I dont think C1 is as good as LR for managing photos, but that maybe the way I'm using it. Once you have processed the image, the output tool has some nice features, so you can save a big JPG for printing, a small version for the web in one go and save them to different folders.
If you have rated the images, the filtering of the images works well.

This is my view, best is to down load the demo and have a look.

TRhoads wrote in post #19048994
Hey Eddie, Thanks for the watch and great notes...I am glad you got that much out of it. I am going to respond in line to your quote in red, since I don't think the forum will let me have that many quotes in one post...


"Hey Travis, watched the video just now after the kids were in bed, really like it. I took some notes for things I wanted to ask etc

In no particular order -

The red circle when you click things - Is that a function within lightroom or is that part of the screen record software?
That is the screen recording software. The feedback here was that the click sounds sucked, and I figured out how to turn that off, but still wanted the cursor to be picked up when it clicks.
Red stood out better than the other color options in the software.

Texture slider - I have never seen that on lightroom before. I checked there and its there so god knows how ive missed it
It was farily new maybe a year or so ago, I can't remember, it makes for a nice sharpening of some of the details a bit, can't go nuts with it, but I like it in small doses.

"Visualise Spots" button - Never noticed that before either, ill be using that going forward
Like I said in the video, I am so surprised to hear about how many people don't know about that one feature, but it is a really good one to use.

Virtual copies - Ive never thought of doing this before from a single frame but it seems so obvious now that I have seen it. Will definitely be exploring that method
This is how I double and triple edit RAW files all the time. So much better than any other method.

Color Efex - I saw you like the slider to see before and after. Any reason you prefer that to the "compare" toggle? (I use the compare button so just curious)
I use the compare toggle a lot too, but that slider lets you see half the image as it was and half as it is now, I like it for comparison to make sure I have not gone too far. I think it is also good for seeing how things were changed...maybe I just like sliders like that!

Color Efex - You use similar values in Pro Contrast to me but I like your method of raising the shadows slider on landscapes
I just like that look for certain images, not all...but I do like it, and that slider seems to make it very consistent, it lets me assign a numeric value to it which is good for repetition if it is a set of images.

Viveza - Never used that before as didnt really understand what it was for but it looks brilliant for selective edits!
It is also really good for more than I used it for in this edit, I often make global adjustments with it...but the control points are the real key benefit to that one for me.

Content aware fill - This is a great method with the lasso tool and new to me so I will be using that going forward. I always use spot healing tool for those sorts of things but it doesnt work as smoothly as that did
Funny story about that...I had done this edit already, clearly, I had posted it yesterday. But when I went to do the screen capture and recording, it wasn't working AT ALL...it kept making the sky look like the rocks. I had to redo and re-record that section over and over again until I figured out a work around. I am not sure why it freaked out this time, but it sure drove me nutz. It is not a perfect method, and usually needs some clean up, but for skies like that, it usually does a great job.

Layer Masks - You may know this already so apologies if I am stating the obvious but I saw you used the paint bucket tool to invert the mask from white to black. Do you know you can select the mask and press Ctrl + I (Invert) ?
I was trying to make it really easy, and, I have reprogrammed some of my quick keys, and that no longer works on my installation, and actually I have F2 assigned for "make layer mask and fill black" in one key...because I use that a lot, so I got tired of the stock quick key.

Key Words - I see you were manually adding lens and body key words on lightroom. Again apologies if you know this but on the library module in grid view you can click attributes at the top and search by lens and body from the exif data. Might save you some input time. Doesnt catch"waterfall" keywords and the like but might help speed things up
Yeah, I know lightroom keeps all the gear data pretty easy to find, but it is all the other keywords, so I am trying to make myself do it all. I also like all of that to be loaded onto anything I post to Flickr or my website and the on board doesn't always come across as keywords, it is built in EXIF data. Keywords are seen differently on the internet.

Hope you dont mind all the questions!!
I don't mind at all...love the feedback and discussion. I am glad it was a helpful episode for you! Thanks for checking it out.

Thanks for coming back and answering Travis . I should have said in my first post I actually like that red circle on clicks so was wondering if I could add it myself at times

navydoc wrote in post #19049128
I've had a little trouble setting up my new monitor due to conflicts with my display port. Everything seems to be working now so I now have a monitor a bit more capable for editing.

Here are my new specs.

Hosted photo: posted by navydoc in
./showthread.php?p=190​49128&i=i217300651
forum: Sony Digital Cameras

I just checked mine for comparison since the same monitor and realised I’m at 8 bit bit depth. I wonder why that is? Maybe due to having a different video card? I’m using a Radeon RX 580 Series

Edit - I found 10 bit in the Radeon software but it wont let me select it. I wonder if its because I am connected by mini-display port? I wonder if I should switch to HDMI and select 10 bit. I thought I had read that display port has a faster through put or something so thats why I used that cable. I may have misread on that. I assume you are connected via HDMI?

Edit 2 - Found this on the BenQ site so looks like I need to get to the bottom of this - https://www.benq.eu …t-color-depth-matter.html

Edit 3 - Tried HDMI and it then removes the 10 bit option completely. Switch back to displayport and 10bit is there but when I select it the screen goes black for a second, comes back on again but is still at 8bit.

Any ideas Gene? I am using the supplied displayport (PC end) to mini-displayport (monitor end) cable

Bianchi wrote in post #19049000
You may want to take note of volume change when you go to and leaving from LR at beginning of editing and when your finished editing in LR .

I'm not sure about in Premiere but I know for Audition you can select all the separate audio files then right click and select "Match Loudness" which you can have them all sync to the same level (-17LUTS is what I use IIRC).

TRhoads wrote in post #19048750
Episode 02 is up now! It is a little longer than Episode 01, but this one covers my Post PRoduction workflow from start to finish on a single image. So it takes a little longer. Grab a glass of your favorite drink of choice, maybe a bowl of popcorn and enjoy!

Another great video! If you want to get some lighting gear for the part of you editing, I would recommend the Yongnuo YN360 III. They are fairly inexpensive and work well too!