Have done a lot of photography in my time, but with my wedding coming up, I’ve been tasked with designing our Save the Dates, invitations, and table markers. I wanted to pay homage to the famed WPA National Parks posters, and found a tutorial for creating a vintage poster out of a photo. Did this for the save the dates, and then decided to do vintage style postcards for table numbers (our venue is by a lake so we leaned in to the lake theme and all the tables will reference a different lake)
The postcard and Save the Dates have led me down a journey of what other photos could look cool and as posters and now have created this to hang in the front hallway:
While I’ll probably never get rid of my DSLR and x100, the new iPhone pro continues the progression of not needing them in 95% of daily use cases (as a non-professional).
These are unedited jpegs straight from the phone. Could quibble over the DOF in a couple of detail spots compared to what I was trying to do that would be easy to adjust for on a “real” camera, but overall, pretty pretty good.
Curious for this group’s perspective. I’m currently getting hammered with targeted ads for specialty lens filters, like the Tiffen black pro mist, for example. Practically, is there any upside to a physical filter as opposed to trying to create similar effects in Lightroom?
I dont know what the black pro mist is supposed to accomplish, but i do know that its practically impossible to get an effect of a polarizer in post. Its somewhat doable, but not great. I love having a CPL on for a majority of my outdoor shooting, especially when sky/water is involved. But you have to make sure you are rotating it to get the effect you are looking for.
To me they’re a tool and not a permanent solution. I currently have the polar pro everyday filter (a promist and CPL in one) for a few lenses and I’ve used the moment cinebloom before. I’ve always purchased the lowest “power” available. I’m still so so on the effect. You can add it in post to a degree (it’s more or less similar to lowering clarity in light room).
Personally I’m using them less and less because sometimes it can be too powerful, and also I feel like the effect is getting really overplayed lately.
I think it really comes down to the “why”. What is it giving you that you need and can’t create in another way. I will say I’ll slap one on for video on my GM lenses because I’m filming half with those and half with vintage lenses from the 70’s so it makes things match a little better.
Here’s some examples that I was using it and you can see where it “blooms” those highlights. The last to me is the example of where it’s too much. And that was on a normal day, not a lot of atmosphere, and yet Marcus looks like he’s in a 2000’s prom photo haha. Again a lot of these effects you can achieve in LR and PS with luminosity and radial masks.
Thanks, to you and @alightpainter, that makes total sense. The context is helpful, and makes me feel like I didn’t totally miss something. And awesome pictures. I especially like the second one.
Yeah. I mean if there is a time to buy them it would be Black Friday. I’m happy I have them in my kit, so they’re not a total waste. I just feel like at first they lived in my camera, now I only use them when I specifically want that look. And I probably prefer the moment version the most of all of them, it feels like the least impact but still just takes off that edge. The polar pro is like nothing or completely overblown, and again that’s with the least powerful version lol. Might be how it interacts with the CPL as well.
Also an example of how you can get the same effect without a pro mist in light room. This is just a radial mask, clarity lowered, highlights pushed. I’d say on most of my presets I work off now I have it set to start at -20 clarity since these new lenses are so insanely sharp.
I’d love to get a real camera to take on trips and ditch the phone bs. I was told by a local shop a used 24mp full sensor camera a few years old at most is the move to save some serious cash.
I’ve bought plenty of used gear. If there is an opportunity to buy it through a place that gives a warranty or guarantee, then perfect. So sites like KEH, MBP, B&H, Adorama all have used gear and its pretty accurate. I’d avoid buying used stuff off ebay unless it’s from a real brick and mortar store. there are some fakes out there. But i’ve also ought plenty of stuff off FB Marketplace, that’s where i found my A9ii and got a good deal on it.
Full frame is great but it comes with a price tag, the cameras are more, the glass is more, etc. So depending on what you actually want to shoot it may not matter and you can save some money getting an APS-C camera. Also if you’re just posting on IG and socials, never printing, and don’t feel like you need to crop in ever, you can get away with 12mp lol. Butttt don’t get me wrong, the added megapixels are great to have, but not necessary for most people.
Holler if you need to. Cameras are a buy once, cry once kind of hobby. But you can buy cameras for 5-10 years ago and in reality they’re still great with a few short comings. And if it’s not your job, don’t chase the little features you think you’ll need, you don’t need them haha. Photos from my old D750 still hold up compared to my A7rv. I bet you can get a d750 for a few hundred bucks, even though its a hefty boy of a camera.
. Great shots!
