Disqus - Latest Comments for picmax

Re: Looking to the Future of Discussion

picmax — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:30:34 -0000

Interesting. The integration between WP and DISQUS is pretty good. I am curious to see how well ID integrates with self-hosted WP. I can imagine the wordpress.com hosted blogs can benefit from this.

Max

Re: Enjoy the photos without the clutter

picmax — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 00:57:03 -0000

Andrew, it seems that only black background is available.

Paul, snap sounds like a very cool software. I will try that once I figure out the problem with the site. I cannot seem to be able to download it. Many images on that site do not load at all.

Thanks guys, for the first two comments on my blog.

Max

Re: Macro photography without dedicated ($$$) macro lenses

picmax — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:02:54 -0000

Another DPReview user DavidVogt posted some great photos taken using the reverse ring setup after being inspired by the original poster, MARK.

Re: 15 Best Virtual Makeover Tutorials for Photoshop

picmax — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 02:19:13 -0000

You are welcome. Nice collection. ;-)

Re: Dusts on the Sensor

picmax — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 10:30:00 -0000

Thanks for the comment.

- Some anti-dust systems are better than others. Although they cannot completely eliminate the dust problem but some do help reducing it.

- I meant avoiding the dusty environment. Dust is indeed everywhere.

- Live with the dust. Recognize there is a dust issue and learn to work with it. That means identify the dust and clean it. I will be working on a second post on sensor cleaning methods.

Thanks again for commenting.I still look forward to receiving your reply on my previous email though. ;-)

Re: Rain Covers for Shooting in the Rain

picmax — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:17:33 -0000

Indeed. Mobility requirement and weather conditions (especilly wind) will likely determine what the best option is.

Thanks.

Max

Re: Understanding the Flash Sync Speed

picmax — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:46:23 -0000

David,

I really appreciate your kind words. Thanks!

Max

Re: Over-exposed Flash Shots with Tamron AF 17-50 F/2.8 XR Di II

picmax — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 21:49:29 -0000

Tom,

Thank your for commenting. It is not difficult to find people who love all of the three lenses. If you can afford one, the Nikon 17-55mm is probably the best. The Tamron is 1mm wider than Sigma.So the best suggestion is to test all of them and choose the one you like the most.

Max

Re: How to Create LOMO Effect in Nikon Capture NX

picmax — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:51:33 -0000

magullo,

Thank you for the suggestion. I thought about it. However I realized that the settings file will not work properly if the photo has different dimensions or orientations. The reason is the selection gradients, which are not global but localized. I could try to create a set for every Nikon RAW photo sizes and landscape and portrait orientations but I don't have all different Raw files.

Although the tutorial is quite lengthy, the process is actually quite easy. If readers can follow along, they will have a settings file at the end.

Thanks.

Max

Re: How to Create LOMO Effect in Nikon Capture NX

picmax — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:09:23 -0000

magullo,

I am happy it worked out for you. I cannot read Italian but I got some help from babelfish . ;-)

Thanks.

Max

Re: Capture NX: Recover Shadow Details with D-Lighting

picmax — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:47:56 -0000

Pete,

Thanks for the comment. I would not want to work for Nikon though. That would limit what I can say on my blog. ;-)

Max

Re: Save Draft Post from Flickr “BLOGTHIS” Button to Wordpress Blogs

picmax — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:50:03 -0000

Marc,

I am glad this tip is helpful to you.

Max

Re: How to Create LOMO Effect in Nikon Capture NX

picmax — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:27:43 -0000

I saw this post mentioned on an Italian website.

Re: Canon EOS 40D vs. Nikon D200

picmax — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:33:50 -0000

Bruce,

Thanks for commenting.

I think it is very clear from the post that Canon 40D was in catch up mode for many features compared to D200. The Nikon D200 and Canon 40D were the best in DX format before D300 came out so it is very natural to compare them. In fact, I got tons of search hits from people who are comparing them.

Many people think image quality is the ultimate gauge of a camera. However this really depends on what people are using the camera for and how they are going to use it. I think Nikon excel at making cameras a better tool to help users to get the shots. This probably is the result of Nikon's deeper root in film photography.

The image quality from D200 is also very respectable by all means and the difference is minuscule. Most noted the high iso noise performance. However ISO noise performance is not equal to image quality because people use the camera at all kinds of situations. If you consider the better white balance and better flash photography from Nikon, which has been the case traditionally, the image qualify from D200 is not always worse than 40D.

Thanks.

Max

Re: Upload Photos Directly to Flickr from Nikon Capture NX

picmax — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:43:31 -0000

magullo,

Sorry, I am not. ;-) The open with or export to flick uploader trick has been known among many users. I made the tutorial for the benefit of many people who don't know it.

Thanks.

Max

Re: High Pass Sharpening using Nikon Capture NX

picmax — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:51:18 -0000

Pete,

Thank you for your comment. You may find some more Capture NX tips and tutorials by following this link:

http://dptnt.com/tag/capture-nx/

Max

Re: The Most Famous Photoshop Fakes

picmax — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:35:48 -0000

Pete,

I saw that one too. It is a common practice in the entertainment industry to PS the photos. It is hilarious in that case but it could be a lossy job rather than intentional fake.

Max

Re: Over-exposed Flash Shots with Tamron AF 17-50 F/2.8 XR Di II

picmax — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:42:20 -0000

I have the Nikkor 18-70mm from the D70 package a while ago. It is a very good value. I was curious why Nikon was no able to squeeze out a f/2.8 DX lens since both Tamron and Sigma also have the same 67mm filter thread size. However I found f/2.8 to be very valuable especially for low light situations.

Re: Over-exposed Flash Shots with Tamron AF 17-50 F/2.8 XR Di II

picmax — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:28:53 -0000

Ed,

Thanks for reminding me! Hopefully I will have time during the holidays to work on it.

Max

Re: Create The Orton Effect Using Nikon Capture NX

picmax — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 22:39:14 -0000

Richard,

Thank you for your comment. I use Capture NX on Windows computers. The program stores the settings file in a folder like this on Vista:

C:\Users\Max\Documents\Capture NX\Settings Files

If you store the settings file in the default locations, you don't have to browse to find them. Other than that, it should be ok to store it anywhere you'd like.

Max

Re: Nikon Capture NX Promotion Sale

picmax — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:22:28 -0000

Jeff,

Thanks for the information.

The offer from Nikon is just for a software key to unlock the software after the evaluation period since the software itself can be downloaded. The amazon offer is actually a boxed product.

Max

Re: Capture NX Tips and Tricks from Nikon

picmax — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:44:36 -0000

Chintan,

Color management is a very complex topic. I'd recommend the following websites for a better resources of information.

http://www.normankoren.com/color_management.html

http://www.outbackphoto.com/color_management/

And for Nikon Capture NX specific, read this one:

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/nikon-...

Max

Re: Retouching Portraits with Capture NX

picmax — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:35:26 -0000

Chris,

I am working on it. In summary, use colorize and Gaussian blur to reduce dark circles and use LCH to change colors. In both cases, use the selection brush to selectively apply the effect. It works best with a pen tablet such as Wacom Intous 3.

Max

Re: Retouching Portraits with Capture NX, Part I - Changing Eye Color

picmax — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:44:10 -0000

Andriy,

Typically when you click on the plus, the previously applied adjustment is totally gone. Unless you accidentally clicked on the minus first, you will need to use the fill/remove tool to remove them completely because clicking on the plus selection brush will not clear out the effect for you in this case.

Max

Re: Capture NX: Recover Shadow Details with D-Lighting

picmax — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:08:36 -0000

Randy,

Thanks for your comment and the great tip. More tutorials (and likely a book) will be coming. ;-)

Max

Re: Retouching Portraits with Capture NX, Part II - Reducing Dark Circles

picmax — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:49:11 -0000

Chris,

Thanks for the comment. This is a stock photo that may or may not be a photo from Nikon camera or lens.

Max

Re: Retouching Portraits with Capture NX, Part I - Changing Eye Color

picmax — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 01:39:03 -0000

Jeff,

There are some differences between them. The color control point is nice because it allows you to select the exact color. The downside of it is that user does not have good control on the areas it will affect. If you turn on "Show selection", you will find that it affects the black and white areas of the eye. Not big deal, just some extra paint job with the selection brush.

The Hue adjustment in LCH does not affect neutral colors so black/gray/white remains black/gray/white.

On the other question: I am not sure what effect you are looking for in batch processing portraits. If you can point me to an example PS processing, I will see if I can come up with something similar in Capture NX.

Thanks.

Max

Re: High Pass Sharpening using Nikon Capture NX

picmax — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:05:30 -0000

John,

The blending mode determines how the resulting adjustment is superimposed on the image before the adjustment. In this case, I used the overlay mode and applied the overlay blending only to the luminance channel to avoid affecting colors and creating color halos around the edges.

Max

Re: How to Create LOMO Effect in Nikon Capture NX

picmax — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:29:34 -0000

Q, Please see my response #2 above. The settings file will not work if the image has different dimension or orientation. This is due to the limitation of Capture NX. That's why it is not shared. Thanks.

Max

Re: Quick and Easy Landscape Workflow with Capture NX

picmax — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 10:23:49 -0000

Tom,

Absolutely. Capture NX is very easy to use once you have a good understanding of its concepts and it consistently brings out great results with minimal efforts.

Max

Re: Red Eye Removal in Capture NX

picmax — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:19:50 -0000

John,

Thanks for your comment. This tutorial explains the use of the selection brush and linked adjustments, which are two very useful tools available in Capture NX.

Max

Re: High Pass Sharpening using Nikon Capture NX

picmax — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:41:14 -0000

Bernard,

Did you change the blending mode to overlay? You may also need to zoom in a little bit.

Max

Re: High Pass Sharpening using Nikon Capture NX

picmax — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:53:14 -0000

Bernard,

It depends on the photo. They work differently and one of them may be more effective for a given photo. I'd suggest you try both and evaluate the results to see which works out better.

Max

Re: Quick and Easy Landscape Workflow with Capture NX

picmax — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:19:08 -0000

Doug,

Thanks for your comment. Capture NX can simply get the result without tedious tweaking.

The base of the mountain is not a horizon. The horizon line can be seen slightly below center line on the right.

Thanks.

Max

Re: Canon EOS 40D vs. Nikon D200

picmax — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:08:46 -0000

Johnny,

People at the sporting events with white lenses are probably not using the 40D but the professional models such as 1D Mark II N, or Mark III, etc. Nikon recently released the D3 and many high caliber lenses with AFS-VR. Even through they are still black, I am sure they can compete with Canon's.

Max

Re: Quick and Easy Landscape Workflow with Capture NX

picmax — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:19:20 -0000

Bruce,

USM works pretty well if used properly. High-pass sharpening is another popular method but it doesn't offer the range of sharpening you can get from USM. You can find the high-pass sharpening tutorial in the most popular list of this page.

Typically I leave sharpening on in camera so it is easier to judge the focus accuracy. You can always turn it off in Capture NX base adjustment and apply your own sharpening at the end. For casual prints or web postings there is hardly any visible difference.

I am sure 20x30 will be reasonably sharp but perhaps not at close examination distance. I found 12x18 is excellent and that's the largest size I have tried.

Max

Re: Canon Sweepstakes: Win Maria’s Diamonds

picmax — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:11:15 -0000

You cannot just buy one yet. You have to be extremely lucky to win one of them.

Max

Re: POTD: Redfish Lake

picmax — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:42:30 -0000

Scott,

I will definitely try to share more photos with my visitors and bring more up-to-date news on the digital imaging industry.

Thank you for commenting.

Max

Re: Thumbs Up from Luminous Landscape’s Sony A900 Field Report

picmax — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:10:38 -0000

It is a good news. People now starts to question how Canon could charge $8000 for EOS-1Ds Mark III.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?foru...

Perhaps $2000 is too much for the difference between D700 and D3?

Max

Re: Digital Photography Links: September 17, 2008

picmax — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:00:03 -0000

Andres,

You are welcome. Have you tried any yet? Which one do you like the most?

Thanks.

Max

Re: 100 +1 Best Photography Blogs, Websites, Podcasts, and Magazines of 2008

picmax — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 12:52:21 -0000

Great list and thank you very much for including us.

Max (DPTnT)