UKH

It strikes me that the Covid-19 lockdown is a perfect opportunity to work on photography and skills. For me getting fully to grips with photo software; I’m really impressed with Affinity Photo for iPad and will probably sell and uninstall my CD version of Lightroom 6. Taking my camera out with just one prime lens at once to really get to grips with its characteristics and performance.  Looking for interesting subjects within my local area.

What are others’ thoughts?

In reply to kevin stephens:

That is a great idea. In fact, I`ve mostly used fixed primes (full manual) for a long time. Makes you work harder, but you might get some interesting photos that way.

Luckily for me, I just recieved my Sirui 50mm 1.33x anamorphic lens. Will try to head out tomorrow for some video and stills... should be fun. After which I’ll have a good test run on Darktable to see how it fares (planning on swithing to it from LR5).

In reply to kevin stephens:

I’m thinking much the same, in fact I went out with the prime last night

I’m trying to put together a list of stuff I can do.

*Sort my Lightroom catalog and files/backups

* try focus stitching in photoshop

*play with the primes

* give the computer a good spring clean

*learn some more video editing

*write a couple of articles

*print and frame some pictures

any other ideas?

In reply to kevin stephens:

As in the thread asking for advice, I'm taking the opportunity to clean the sensor on my 6D.  There comes a point when you tire of editing out dust dots from the sky.  I'm also giving everything else a damn good clean and will get to grips with using some 4/3rds lenses on a micro 4/3rds camera.

And with spring arriving, there's always plenty to photograph.

T.

In reply to jethro kiernan:

Asses what else is out there to replace Lightroom (for catalog/asset side, editors there are more than enough).... so I won't have to .

In reply to HeMa:

I just downloaded Darktable the other day, but them discovered that my new laptop doesn't have a card reader and thus didn't get any further.

In reply to kevin stephens:

Keyword your photos...

Star rate them...

Retouch older photos if you've learned a bit...

Try some photo themes/projects e.g. self-isolation...

Teach yourself more advanced retouching skills...

Buy gear...............

In reply to kevin stephens:

I've a stack of film to develop and scan. 

I've a lot of images to go through and plan which ones I want to print.

I've had a long term plan to produce for our running club a short piece on the local XC races I've been shooting for the past 4 years. I think I probably have enough decent images now to make something interesting.

I've also a lot of family photos that need tagging, sorting, then some printing for the walls of the house.

In reply to greg_may_:

Yes upto date family  photo album, I’m going to download one of the online book builders  I know the printers might be on hold but if it’s done it’s just a case of send and pay come the other side.

In reply to kevin stephens:

Hmm, been saving this for a 'rainy day' but need some help...

I've been wanting to explore CUDA programming for a while and now would be a good time, but I need a photography or climbing (probably the former!) project to base it round. The best I have at the moment is to re-implement some Richardson-Lucy code I wrote last year to correct spatially-dependent lens aberration (e.g., astigmatism & coma - mainly for astrophotography). It's very slow - takes about an hour to come up with some results - so a speed up would be nice. But I'd rather have something new to aim for, so really need a new target project. Ideas?

In reply to kevin stephens:

PSA 

https://m.dpreview.com/news/9935972902/ppa-offering-free-access-1100-classe...

In reply to kevin stephens:

First few scans; 10 year out of date PanF50 on Iona two years ago!

https://flic.kr/p/2iFgEb8

https://flic.kr/p/2iGhxSy

https://flic.kr/p/2iGhjiz

In reply to kevin stephens:

I'll still be at work in a lab but with us shifting to 3 days on/6 days off it might finally be the time for me to learn how to fiddle with all the RAW files I've got sitting on my hard drive. 

In reply to kevin stephens:

Might be considered advertising, sorry if so, but I run a landscape photography  magazine with a load of free content on it. 

https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/issues/

Anything with a green flag is free, anything with a gold flag is free if you register you email address (for free)

We also have a youtube channel where we have free recordings of many top landscape photographers talking about their work and lots of Lightroom and Capture One videos.

https://www.youtube.com/user/onlandscape1

We're carrying on producing fresh content for the foreseeable future and we'll be out and about in our local area starting a few projects. 

Tim

 

In reply to kevin stephens:

Hi Kevin,

I'm new here and this comment is my first one.

I can't stop myself to engage with your post. Yes, it might be a good idea during Covid 19 lockdown photography is a good idea.

But I'm thinking of spending as much time as possible with all of my family members. Because you don't know if you have time or not. Because if someone gets infected by the coronavirus no one from his/her family can get closer till he/she recovered from the infection.

So, I will prefer to do photography with my family members, and give as much time as possible.

I'm sorry if I said anything heartbreaking.