I got out and used my camera today...

[pierces]

What are you using to merge them? is it HDR?

 

I have an editor called Corel Paint Shop Pro X3 and I cannot HDR or merge any astrophotography images. Every time I try I lose the image of the planet or star.

 

 

I would really like to know a good program for merging astrophotography images.

 

I found a little utility called Startrails. I only performs a couple of tasks, but it does them very well. I was surprised that it worked so well and quickly even with the 24MP files from my Sony.

 

Link: http://startrails.de/html/software.html

 

Stupid easy to use! :D

 

Dave

[dileep]

It was a very busy year even though we did not take our annual 2-week cruise. I shot many photos and videos with my trusty Panasonic Lumix FZ 40 (or older FZ28). These videos were created with Windows Live Movie Maker. Enjoy

 

Dileep

aka Prince of Point & Shoot!

 

Mountains

 

Birds

 

Flowers

 

and my favorite Seattle Sunsets

[nmg222]

A trip to D.C. last week.

 

Edited January 8, 2012 by nmg222

[Victress2007]

A trip to D.C. last week.

 

 

I was in DC years ago and overheard a lady ask, "How do they get all the flags to fly in the same direction?"

[ballawana13]

 

Beautiful shots. Can you provide some color (literally) on the steps involved in getting to those results using Lightroom? thanks.

[ballawana13]

http://www.smartertravel.com/photo-galleries/editorial/readers-best-travel-photos-of-2011.html?id=118&photo=24514&max_photos=7

 

Patience and timing always pay off. Well done.

[dileep]

Beautiful shots. Can you provide some color (literally) on the steps involved in getting to those results using Lightroom? thanks.

 

This was my first attempt with Lightroom and I read Scott Kelby's book and played around with Exposure, Blacks, Fill Light, Recovery, Vibrance and Contrast Curve.

 

I also found some free presets that I have started to experiment with, but there are just a few that work for my landscapes.

 

If you have Lightroom, play with it. I export the Developed photes into a subfolder.

[NMCruzzin]

Finally! Clear and dark!

 

107 stacked 30s images

 

I'll try again tonight if the weather holds.

 

Dave

 

Wow!!...Very Cool, Davel!!!

Congrats dileep....your photo is beautiful!

Such great photos on this thread...I love to come see what your catching through your lens!

[Multi-Cruiser]

Here is one photo that I shot a couple months ago.

 

[electro]

Beautiful shots. Can you provide some color (literally) on the steps involved in getting to those results using Lightroom? thanks.

 

I have photoshop elements 9 and I am just starting to learn a bit of it.

It came with a free trial of Lightroom but I haven't installed it because I'm not quite sure what it does.

 

How does it differ from elements?

Should I learn elements first?

 

Lois

[pierces]

I have photoshop elements 9 and I am just starting to learn a bit of it.

It came with a free trial of Lightroom but I haven't installed it because I'm not quite sure what it does.

 

How does it differ from elements?

Should I learn elements first?

 

Lois

 

Lightroom is a image and workflow organizer/manager that allows you to manage importing you pictures from you camera(s), rename and organize them. You can also perform a wide variety of exposure/color corrections and light to medium edit work on them. If you need to edit more heavily, you can select the file and launch Elements from inside Lightroom. They work in unison, not one or the other.

 

I used Picasa for years and have just started converting my workflow to Lightroom. So far, so good!

 

Dave

Edited January 10, 2012 by pierces

[TheRoff]

Dave, I am glad to hear that it is "so far so good" with Lightroom. A beta version 4 is now out with a few tweaks.

 

So, on to photos. I didn't use my camera today, but a did a lot a week or so ago on our family Christmas cruise. A couple:

 

 

 

There were a lot of great sunsets on the trip. More are here

 

Larry

[Blueboss]

 

I finally got my new camera! This is one of the pics I took with it almost right out of the box. Not much to take pics of around the farm in winter. So far I'm really happy with this camera.

[pierces]

 

I finally got my new camera! This is one of the pics I took with it almost right out of the box. Not much to take pics of around the farm in winter. So far I'm really happy with this camera.

 

The D3100 is a fine camera! Congrats on the new tool!

 

Dave

[dileep]

As shot in Sunset mode:

 

After Lightroom enhancements:

[Blueboss]

Thanks Dave. Already looking for another lens and other things for it. DH is concerned with all the dust we have here (live on dirt road) and keeping it clean. I'm thinking about getting a Pelican 1504 camera box to store all camera gear at home and have a Lowpro bag for walking around. Any thoughts on that idea? DH knows the cost of the Pelican, but says it would be worth it compared to the few thousand dollars of equipment it will store.

[pierces]

Thanks Dave. Already looking for another lens and other things for it. DH is concerned with all the dust we have here (live on dirt road) and keeping it clean. I'm thinking about getting a Pelican 1504 camera box to store all camera gear at home and have a Lowpro bag for walking around. Any thoughts on that idea? DH knows the cost of the Pelican, but says it would be worth it compared to the few thousand dollars of equipment it will store.

 

I have a collection of bags built up over the years including a Pelican 1520. My walkabout bag is a LowePro Slingshot 200 AW and for travel, I take a LowePro FastPack 350 or the Pelican, depending on where I'm going.

 

Dave

[NJEMT65]

Thanks Dave. Already looking for another lens and other things for it. DH is concerned with all the dust we have here (live on dirt road) and keeping it clean. I'm thinking about getting a Pelican 1504 camera box to store all camera gear at home and have a Lowpro bag for walking around. Any thoughts on that idea? DH knows the cost of the Pelican, but says it would be worth it compared to the few thousand dollars of equipment it will store.

 

Biggest thing to avoid dust is to only change lenses out of a dusty environment. Also keep camera facing down when changing. Lastly make sure the power is off when changing lenses and don't actuate shutter without a lens in place as the sensor is energized during exposure and can attract additional dust!

[dileep]

[shootr]

Great day for a hike (or 2)! Did two trails in the Tonto forest and got a couple I like:

 

 

 

[Blueboss]

Biggest thing to avoid dust is to only change lenses out of a dusty environment. Also keep camera facing down when changing. Lastly make sure the power is off when changing lenses and don't actuate shutter without a lens in place as the sensor is energized during exposure and can attract additional dust!

 

Thanks for the tip. I read the same thing somewhere and kept it in mind. My dust problem is from living at the corner of 2 dirt roads with no trees or shrubs to catch any of it before it reaches the house. We have to use an air hose to blow the dust out of our cars once a month. It's a very fine powder that gets in everywhere. We have to put our dress clothes in dry cleaner bags before putting them in the closet. Will be so glad to move in a few years, but until then, was looking for a dust free case for the camera and lenses.

[dileep]

We had lots of rain, even snow, but a few sun breaks at the right time!

 

[Multi-Cruiser]

We had lots of rain, even snow, but a few sun breaks at the right time!

 

 

Beautiful capture!

[Turtles06]

I enjoy looking at birds (who doesn't?) but I've never tried to take pictures of birds in flight before (or, as I recently saw someone post on another thread: BIF :)). We were down at the water yesterday, windy and about 30 degrees F. I had my camera with me and the gulls were having a wonderful time, so I snapped away. I got some I like (here are a couple), and I would certainly appreciate any tips for getting good pics of BIF!

 

 

 

And I couldn't resist this guy who was taking a break:

 

[Multi-Cruiser]

Foul icebreakers