Well, yeah I know, I’m being too slack. I think since I have started working on YouTube it is so much easier to just talk.
Having said I have posted three more videos since my last post. I think I have, I guess we will find out.
Before we get to the videos I have a request.
Need your help
Software for processing
Recently I had an email from someone who wanted me to recommend some software to use. They have been using a fairly old version of Photoshop and want to upgrade.
Normally I can give advice about this, but it has been a while since I used any other software other than Photoshop, so I am hoping some of you can help.
So if you are using some software that you love, please leave a comment. Tell us why you love it and what it is.
I would really appreciate your help.
Taking photos
I have been getting out a lot more, well more in the last month than I have been in the last year. I didn’t think I would miss it so much, but it seems I did. It has been so good getting out. I think the camera is great too.
I borrowed the Fujifilm X-S10 from Fujifilm Australia. It was so sad when it went back that I have now purchased my own. I am loving it. It is so good. It is small enough that it is easy to carry around but has enough grunt for it to do what I need.
The other thing is that when I’m doing my long exposures with my X-T3 then I can be playing around doing video with the X-S10.
I think I’ve been wondering if I should do more videos that are aimed more in the photography direction. It is something that I would also like feedback on. The idea would be to do some video when I’m out that will explain what I’m doing and why, or something along those lines. You will also be able to see where I take photos and that sort of thing. Let me know if you would like that.
The garden
The garden is going well, but I can see it is winding down for winter. I have planted some seeds for the winter garden.
Clearing more space and making room for more beds has been important. The first video has some information about that.
The videos
So the first video is about the garden. The second one is my visit to Healesville Sanctuary. It is part of Melbourne Zoos, but this one is full of Australian animals. The last video is of Alowyn Gardens. It is one of my favourite places to go and do macro photography. Autumn is coming early this year and Alowyn Gardens looked so colourful.
Gradient, style, icons, colours – sublime mate
Thank you.
You got amazing pictures and videos here. Thanks for this nice post!
Thank you so much and you’re welcome.
I primarily use Lightroom for editing. I tried PS but it was way to complicated for me to try and learn on my own. LR is more intuitive to me
It can be complicated, I’ve been using it for years so I find it okay. Thank you for sharing that Nora.
I use Affinity Photo (https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/) instead of Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.
Why?
1) Affinity Photo is dirt cheap by comparison — $25 for Mac, $25 for Windows, $10 for iPad. That’s not per month or per year — that’s for the entire package, for as long as you want to use it. Will they eventually charge more money again at some point? Yes, all updates are free until they reach the next full version level, but at that price point I’m happy to pay for the next upgrade. You can read all the details here: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/full-feature-list/
2) Affinity Photo doesn’t kill the recipes for your finished images; unlike Photoshop and Lightroom, which are subscription-based. If you stop paying the monthly or annual Photoshop subscription, you are just left with your original images files — RAW or JPG — and you lose all of the edits that you made to create finished images. Sure, you can save both the original image and the final image prior to the subscription ending, but you still lose all of the steps, the “recipe”, that created those finished images.
3) Affinity Photo does quite a bit that Photoshop does. Is it an exact match, feature for feature? No. But it does the bulk of what I was doing with Photoshop, enough for me to make the transition and not look back.
4) Affinity Photo requires some learning and readjusting, compared to how you do things in Photoshop, but I still think that it’s worth it.
I had used Photoshop since Version 3, and I had used Lightroom since it first came out, but Adobe lost me as a customer due to their insistence of the subscription model.
Thank you for all that information, I’m sure the person is interested, and others will find it great.
Hey! Just wondering if your plants are getting enough phosphorus? The dahlias look wonderful but the marigolds have lots of green foliage but not an over abundance of flowers, I thought. And you mentioned the strawberries weren’t abundant either, right? I know you mentioned some of your gardens will need more work next year and perhaps that is what I was seeing in this video.
Keep up the good work. Gardening is a lot of work. I enjoy your videos on your gardens. I love flowers too. 😊
Or and around here were can have the soil analyzed which might be some help. Send me some soil and I’ll have it analyzed! Just kidding. 🤣
There are quite a few problems with some parts of my garden. I have a soil testing kit and will look at it during winter I think. At the moment I’m just letting it all go so I can start preparing for winter and then spring. I did fix the strawberries, I added a lot of compost and manure and that helped heaps.
It is a lot of work, but so good for us I think. That is good to hear that you like those videos, I will still do some, but maybe not every week. I love flowers too.
Haha, you had me for a minute, thank you Lena.
Hi Leanne! I loved seeing the animals. Congratulations on your new camera. 🙂
Thank you Pam, the animals were great to see again. I am loving the new camera.
Those pictures are so close up and clear! I’ve never owned a big camera before, just the one in my phone, which doesn’t take pictures like this. That’s amazing!
Ang | https://loseweightwithang.com
Thank you, I love macro photography, and having lenses that you can do it with is fantastic.
There are lenses you can get to attach to your phone that help with macro photography, I have some Struman ones.
I’ve seen those before! They’re pretty cool
They are pretty cheap way of doing it.
What an exquisite rose!
Thank you Dorothy.
Leanne, your videos are beautiful, but maybe a bit too long. I am missing your still photography. Regarding software, I’m still not using Photoshop except for the spot healing brush and sky replacement. I do like NIK software and Topaz sharperner and de-noise. Lightroom is my main processing program. Take care!
Yeah, I’m starting to see that people would like to see more photography from me, I’ve been doing quite a bit of macro, but not sharing a lot of it.
Thanks for sharing what software you use.
I can recommend On1 as a Lightroom Photoshop substitute. It is less expensive, just as powerful, and has good tech support and more.
Videos explaining your photography process would be great.
Love.
Thank you for that Sherry, I’m the person would like to hear that.
Okay, I think it would be good to some videos like that as well. Thanks.
I use Corel PaintShop Pro 2021. It is easy and has more features than I use. The tutorials and Discovery Centre (help) are great.
Thank you for sharing that Bushboy.