Listening to the Voices in My Head

A few weeks ago, I got a Sigma 150-600 Sports.  Unfortunately, circumstances kept me from giving this lens the test run I wanted.  Well, today, I got to mount it on my 7DmkII.

First off; the Sigma 150-600 is a beast of a lens. It’s heavy. And unless you’re used to curling 20lb dumbbells on a daily basis, you will need to use a monopod when using it it to photograph birds or anything else you will be walking around to do.  If you’re going to be standing in one spot, you will need a tripod.

Onto image quality.  Wow… just wow.

The lens is very quick to focus, and the images are sharp, without any distortion, even when shooting multiple subjects.

This Sigma is a great piece of glass. I wouldn’t use it every day, but for specific birding or sporting events, it’s a winner.

Last week, Wing and I headed out on a photography trip. To be honest, I wasn't sure I would be up for it, as there was some hiking involved.

Thursday. First stop was Sugar Loaf Rock, one of the most photographed rock formations in Western Australia. I looked at the ‘overlook’ area and was started the slow climb up. Yay! Made it!

Everyone takes a photo of the formation with the water and waves all around it durning sunrises or sunsets, and they’re lovely, but I wanted to do something a bit different.

Sunset at Sugar Loaf Rock.

 

Also had a Nankeen Kestrel keeping watch over our activities.

 

Friday: Next stop was the Albany Wind Farm. Due to some misinformation, I was told the person I was looking for to return a lens was at the very top of the trail.  I managed to go almost to the very top, only to find out the person I was looking for was at the bottom  

Also revisited the Canal Rocks, and first time visit to The Reflecting Pool.

 

 

Saturday: We went back to the Albany Wind Farm at Dark O’Clock to get some shots of the Milkyway over the wind farm. Then we headed to “The Gap and Natural Bridge” later in the day for some sunshet shots. And also got a great shot of the “Albany Brig” with almost perfectly still water reflecting.

 

Sunday: We got up again, at O’Dark O’Clock to get some Astrophotography at The Gap and Natural Bridge.

 

After sunrise, we got some photos of the harbor, the shipping port and other local points of interest.

 

And then it was time to head home. Took a while to get all the photos culled and processed.  

It was a great road trip.   Here’s hoping the next one is just as much fun.

  Here’s hoping the next one is just as much fun.

I got an email from DxO about how they've re-released a "New and Improved" version of NIK software. Well, I downloaded the demo and tried it out.

If you already have the free version that Google put out, or even the older paid version before Google appropriated it, and it's working, don't bother paying for this one. I installed it to Adobe products, and even installed in in Corel PaintShop Pro. I saw NO difference between this new one (which says it's $49 USD but when you add it to your 'cart', it goes to $69 USD) .

Now I have read that certain Mac systems, after an OS update, NIK no longer functioned, and this new version has rectified that, but if you're running a Windows PC, this isn't an issue.

Unless they make all the NIK tools work in other than just Adobe, if yours is working, you can skip this one.

Easier way to use On1PhotoRaw 2018 with Photoshop CS5.

Yes, still install trial version of CC, but don't subscribe , and leave it on  your system, as the TOS says nothing about removing it if you aren't going to use it. (I know, I read the entire boring thing) Install On1PhotoRaw 2018. It won’t install the plugins to CS5, so you have to copy all the plugins from CC plugins directory to the CS5 plugins directory..


Don't even bother with Adobe Bridge. This way you will avoid the "can't open javascript missing" error I posted about earlier, thereby using all the On1 Plugins. Use On1PhotoRaw only. If you really want to use Bridge, open it by using a short cut. But you won't really need to.

Instead, using On1PhotoRaw as you would bridge. It will open on Browse module. Go into the develop, do whatever you want or need to do, then go to the bottom right corner of On1 and select EXPORT. It will automatically default to the folder/directory the RAW image was opened. Don't bother with any of the presets at this time, with the exception of may not having it open the directory it was saved to. Export it as a full sized, high res JPG.

Go back to the BROWSE module. Right click on your JPG, select SEND TO OTHER APPLICATION, and navigate to the CS5 Photoshop.exe file. Do this once, and CS5 will be listed in the drop down menu. Then when you click on Photoshop CS5 12, select ORIGINAL image, because you've already done all the edits. It will open in CS5, and you can use all your familiar Photoshop tools and plugins, and use all the new On1photoRaw plugins too, although I do have a problem when I try to use the RESIZE plugin in CS5.

So, your CS5 Bridge might not be able to read the newer Camera Raw formats, but On1PhotoRaw can.

And show the results as to WHY, there are always Mansplainers.

With the upcoming Blue Supermoon Eclipse, I gave detailed instructions on how to use a freeware astronomy program called "Registax". It didn't take long for the usual Mansplainers to tell me THEIR way was better, or using a single focus image isn't any good, or how I was just wrong, or it was nothing but HDR, yadda yadda yadda. Even when I posted an example.

Every time I patiently explained why, the same mansplainers would com up with a different reason I was wrong. Then I tried "momsplaining".

On left is a single focused image of the almost full moon. The one on the right, is 20+ jpgs processed in Registax.



One would think that showing this would stop their arguments and derision, but no. Now, I just roll my eyes and ignore them.