Disqus - Latest Comments for iffles

Re: How I clean my lenses

iffles — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:36:16 -0000

The 10-22 is, indeed, an EF-S lens.

I don't use UV filters on my lenses. I did when I first got my camera, but eventually decided not to. My reasons were that if I have a filter on there that gets dirty, then I'd just have to clean that instead of the lens, so there would still be some cleaning going in. In addition, I was always afraid of it compromising my image quality. Especially with my L lenses, maybe if I had the top-of-the-line filters it wouldn't be a compromise, but I still don't know. Those lenses were designed to be the best, and just like a chain is only as strong as the weakest link, if my image has to pass through a filter before it hits my L lens, well... that better be a damn good filter.

I've also heard people say that filters protect you from shattering your lens, but filters break much easier than the lenses do, and that can actually be dangerous for your lens. If you dropped your lens, it might survive on its own (I've done this, so I know it's true!), but if you had a filter on it, and the filter shatters, it could actually damage the lens itself.

I think there are appropriate uses for protective filters - perhaps you've seen this? http://www.diyphotography.n... ... if I was doing that, I think I'd invest in a filter :)

Btw, I think this is one of those things that people on either side feel strongly about, so I'm sure you can find any number of people to argue the opposite point of me, and I think it's one of those things that you just have to do whatever you feel more comfortable with. I just happen to be more comfortable without the filters.

Re: Using G’MIC to Create Vignettes

iffles — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:18:34 -0000

Under Toolbox in the FX-Foundry suite there's "Lasm's Channel Extract", it will convert the photo to b&w in a crap-ton different ways. then I just play around with them. Sometimes I like one of them as-is, sometimes I pick one and adjust the levels, and sometimes I pick two and put one of the other set to Overlay

Re: A Quick Project Idea: Day50

iffles — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:11:17 -0000

Hey Saul, I was being lazy and didn't feel like maintaining another flickr group, but if YOU want to set one up, I'll add a link to it in my reminder post that's going to go up Friday :)

Re: 26 Quick Photography Tips

iffles — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:46:16 -0000

Great question... one that I didn't know the answer to, so I had to go pull one of my wraps off the wall - and yes, they do, I'm not sure how much because the wrap has a backing that ends up covering it up. I will say, though, that I ordered my wraps from mpix.com and they show you which parts of the photo will still be visible.

Re: The Best of Monthly Theme: Shoes

iffles — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:16:38 -0000

That's something that's built into wordpress, actually.

Re: Where to Start with Photo Editing

iffles — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:38:48 -0000

I haven't found anything yet :( But hopefully it's out there, and someone knows about it, and that someone reads your comment and responds!

Re: Why I Think You Should Go on the Third Annual Worldwide Photo Walk

iffles — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:49:57 -0000

oh my gosh, I totally agree. I did the exact same thing - a bag with multiple lenses, and I'm going with just one lens and no bag this year. When the time gets closer, I'm planning on writing a "what you should (and should not) bring with you on the photowalk, so if you have any more experience to share from last year, let me know!

Re: Adding a Watermark in Gimp (via a Script)

iffles — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:34:12 -0000

I've never used Aedix, so I'm not sure I can troubleshoot with that program... but I can say I had the same problem in Vista with notepad - and the weird thing was sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't - much like you seem to be describing.

In order to fix it, I went into my scripts folder in Windows Explorer and went to Organize --> Folder and Search Options, then on the View tab, I unchecked the box for "Hide extensions for known file types", and then I could see that it was called watermark-it.scm.txt Then I could just click on the file name to change it, and it allowed me to remove the .txt part.

I hope that helps!

Re: Weekend Links – two weeks in one!

iffles — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:18:48 -0000

I will probably never remember that - but you are the first person to describe it in a way I actually understand - so, to that I say: hooray!

Re: Gimp Script Showcase: 300 Movie

iffles — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:27:44 -0000

Oh cool, that one was already next on the list! So it's good to know you and DM|ZE both like it. Hopefully that means other people will, too.

Re: What You Asked For

iffles — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:00:58 -0000

I found a couple different ways to post rss feeds to facebook pages, but I really wanted to avoid posting my entire rss feed. If I ever get around to creating a summary-only rss feed, I might take advantage of it, though! Thanks!

Re: What You Asked For

iffles — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:57:58 -0000

The documentation says it doesn't work for fan pages, so I don't think I can use it. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

Re: Faking HDR in Gimp

iffles — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:25:38 -0000

I'm afraid covering that would be far outside of my expertise or the point of this entry. Though, you're right, I probably should have included a link to a good explanation. If I find one, I'll post it.

Re: Faking HDR in Gimp

iffles — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:24:28 -0000

Great tips, thanks!

Re: Faking HDR in Gimp

iffles — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:23:54 -0000

That's a really good idea, to run them through Photomatrix. Of course, I'll probably never DO it for various reasons, but it IS a good idea :)

Re: Faking HDR in Gimp

iffles — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:22:26 -0000

Thanks, I hadn't seen that one, I'll be sure to check it out!

Re: Adding a Vignette (or Blurry Dark Edges) to a Photo in Gimp

iffles — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:54:13 -0000

Hey Jayms - sorry you had so many problems! I'll try to answer your questions:

- At the point where I mentioned that if you paint black on a layer mask, I hadn't actually done anything yet, I was just trying to give a quick recap of the layers lesson from the previous tutorial. On the truck photo, I added a white layer mask and then used the gradient to paint the black part on.

- I'm assuming you're talking about this part: "Now, in the Layer tray, click on the actual photo part of the layer with the mask. We’re going to darken it now, and we want to make sure we’re darkening the PHOTO part of that layer and not the MASK." ... I'm not sure how else to word that - I admit I'm bad at finding the right words to describe things sometimes. Let me try again: you should have two layers now - as you see in the screenshot right above that paragraph. One of those layers has a layer mask on it - that's the layer we want to work with (so NOT the background), but we want to make sure that anything we do at this point is to the actual photo on that layer, and not the layer mask itself, so you need to click there to select it.

- Yeah, in my picture with the line in it, that's actually a cropped version of my whole photo - which perhaps I shouldn't have done, because it does look like the gradient is covering my whole photo and not just the front of the truck, sorry about that. But yes, I just have the front of the truck covered by the gradient.

Once again, I'm sorry you had troubles, but I do appreciate the feedback - it's actually nice to know when someone struggles with a tutorial, that way I can make the next one better. I definitely learned a few lessons here! Thanks!

Re: Why I Think it’s OK to “Cheat” on Photography Projects (sometimes)…

iffles — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:35:26 -0000

I've gone out in light snow a few times - I either have hoods or filters on my lenses to protect them from most of the snow, and I wipe the camera off now and then. But goodness, it seems every time I'm free to actually go out and walk it's been snowing heavily. Grrr.

Re: Why I Think it’s OK to “Cheat” on Photography Projects (sometimes)…

iffles — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:32:22 -0000

No. And, well, yes. I have homeowner's insurance that my camera is covered under - so if someone stole my camera and equipment, I would be covered (but would have to pay a deductible - but the deductible is less than what what my most often-used lens alone is, so assuming someone stole my whole bag with my body, and the three lenses that are usually in there, it would cover a lot). However, I don't have the floater policies that some people talk about that would cover it should the camera break.

What about you? Do you have advice? I'm open to hear it, it's something I've thought about a lot but haven't even done much research on it.

Re: Why I Think it’s OK to “Cheat” on Photography Projects (sometimes)…

iffles — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:27:23 -0000

Thank you for the kind words!

I like the idea of Hard Goals and Soft Goals - so much that I'm saying I have a hard goal of 52 photowalks, and it was only a soft goal to do them once a week :)

Re: Why I Think it’s OK to “Cheat” on Photography Projects (sometimes)…

iffles — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:26:14 -0000

No! I completely forgot about it until 10:00 that night. I was really bummed - that was a really fun project last year. I'm debating just doing a 50 photos with my 50mm on some random day in the summer to make up for it.

I'm also thinking about doing 12 photos on 12/12 (one an hour), and maybe do those all with my wide angle... but that's a ways away, so I'm sure I'll forget by then, too!

If you have any other "fun day" ideas, let me know!

Re: Why You Should Print Your Photos

iffles — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:22:33 -0000

Yeah, that's a common problem, unfortunately. The best way to combat it is to crop all your images first before you print them - which is what I do. Both Picasa and Gimp have really ways to crop to standard formats (like 8x10), so if you use either of those pieces of software and want to know how to do it, let me know and I can point you in the right direction.

Also, I print all my photos from mpix.com (they print and ship surprisingly fast and I've always been happy with the quality) and if your photo doesn't exactly match the size you order, they'll show you how they're going to crop it, so you can see what will be cut off, and you can and the crop there on the site if you want - so that's another way of going about it.

Re: How I use Picasa

iffles — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:33:11 -0000

Gimp actually can't handle raw files on its own, so you're going to have to either edit the raw files yourself using some software (for instance, I'm assuming your camera came with some software that can edit raw files) and then convert them to a file that Gimp can recognize OR you can install UFRaw - http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/ - it's a plug-in for Gimp that allows you to open raw files - when you try opening a raw file in Gimp, it will pop up a window that will allow you to adjust the settings, when you click OK, it will open the image in Gimp, so you can continue to edit it.

I keep meaning to write an entry about UFRaw... but... well, I haven't yet! But someone did on DPS! You can check out that article here: http://digital-photography-...

Re: How I use Picasa

iffles — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:24:36 -0000

Oh yeah, also, do you know to turn the screenshot thing OFF? I use SnagIt for all my screenshots, which already allows me to do way more with them than Picasa can, and it really annoys me having Picasa grab it, too. I can't seem to find a preference for that anywhere, though!

Re: How I use Picasa

iffles — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:26:38 -0000

Ya know, it's funny. I never thought of it that way. I actually like the raw optimizing. Since I'm only using Picasa to browse and organize my photos, I've never really wanted to see the non-optimized version, since I'm actually looking for the potential of the photos and not what they looked like SOOC. It's an interesting point, though, because I can definitely see the flip side - not only do you make a valid point about exposure bracketing and not being able to see the differences - but also, I'm not learning as much about how well I'm doing or not if I'm only seeing my optimized photos. Maybe I'm doing a crappy job of exposing my photos, but I don't really know, because Picasa is optimizing it for me. Anyway, like I said - great point... I don't think I'll stop using Picasa.. but I DO think it's a valid point :)