Replacing Adobe...

I have been looking for alternatives to Adobe software for a few years. I’m not a fan of their subscription service and their plans to stop further development of the standalone versions of Photoshop and Lightroom.

Last year I discovered Affinity Photo. Originally it was on the Mac platform only. But last year they released a Windows version and an iPad version. The Windows version costs $49.99 and the iPad version costs $19.99. The iPad version is not a limited version, it has all the features of the desktop version. So long Photoshop.

I recently discovered Alien Skin Exposure X3. It’s very similar to Lightroom but without the catalog and some of the other modules that most people never use.

If you’re looking for a Lightroom replacement, Alien Skin’s Exposure X3 may be for you.

Exposure X3 is a non-destructive RAW editor. You can download a free 30 day trial. It’s not cheap, but in my afternoon of working with it, I think it might be worth the price.

Alien Skin Exposure X3

Exposure X# Bundle

• Exposure X3 non-destructive RAW photo editor
• Integrated Snap Art natural media
• Integrated Blow Up high-quality photo enlargement
• Exposure X3, Snap Art, and Blow Up plug-ins for Lightroom and Photoshop
• Fast technical support
• 30-day money back guarantee
• No subscription required

$199 (Upgrade $119)

Exposure X3

• Exposure X3 non-destructive RAW photo editor
• Exposure X3 plug-in for Lightroom and Photoshop
• Fast technical support
• 30-day money back guarantee
• No subscription required

$149 (Upgrade $99)

Here’s their web site link:  https://www.alienskin.com/

It looks a lot like Lightroom but is not based on a catalog like Lightroom. You can bookmark your folders full of images that are stored either on your local hard drive or external hard drive. I think I’m going to like this application. Download the trial, watch the tutorials, and try it out.

Pictured above is a screen shot of the interface. On the left are the folders I’ve bookmarked and below that are the presets that ship with the product. I am amazed at the number of presets. Endless possibilities.

Above is a screen shot of an image I was processing using one of the presets that ship with the product.

And here are some of the images I processed with Alien Skin Exposure X3.

Although sometimes you can go too far with presets.

Tri-X, f/8, and be there

Sometimes It’s Just Plain Luck...

So I had my camera and 100-400 lens sitting next to my computer as I downloaded some images from the SD card. When I was finished, I picked up the camera, zoomed out to 400mm and pointed it out the window, the part of the window with the screen. And this is what I saw.

It’s been a rather wet, cold, gloomy two days here. Going outside to shoot wouldn’t be much fun at all. So getting this photograph by just sitting inside was pure luck.

“It’s a good day to shoot.”

Camera, huh, yeah...

Camera, huh, yeah

What is it good for

Absolutely everything. 

(With apologies to Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong who wrote the song “War.”

War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, why'all)

When the Nikon D500 was announced two of the many new features were highlighted by reviewers. Those features were:

• 153 point AF module with 99 cross-type points
• 10 fps shooting for up to 200 shots (lossless compressed 14-bit Raw to XQD card)

Because of these two features in particular, the reviewers stated that this camera would be great for action, sports, and wildlife. YouTube videos featured the D500 shooting those very subjects. So whenever you read a forum post, visited and photography blog, or a YouTube channel that’s all the folks talked about; action, sports, and wildlife photography.

As a result forum posts started showing up like these two recent ones:

1. “I’ve read online that the dynamic range on the D500 is really impressive and that it doesn’t struggle with high ISO. I also do a lot of sports photography but I’d love to know if this camera is a good all rounder as well. I eventually would love to dabble in weddings so I’d love to hear anyone’s experience with portraits and weddings with this bad boy.”
2. “I know the D500 is touted as a sports/wildlife camera, but I would like to lighten my load a bit for hiking and was looking for some input on landscape use for this camera. Everyone who reviews this camera mentions outstanding image quality, so why wouldn't it be good for landscape use? Full frame is great, but my D810 w/24-70 f2.8 is a monster.”

I didn’t respond to either of these posts, but if I had my snarky response would have been 1) No, you cannot shoot portraits, weddings, or landscapes with this camera. On page 639 of the User Manual it states that shooting portraits, weddings, or landscapes will void your warranty.

Just because a certain camera body has certain features that make it excellent for a specific subject, does not mean that it cannot be used for other subjects. Where this myth came from? Marketing departments of the camera manufacturers? YouTube videos? Photography web sites?

Has what passes for photographic knowledge today sunk so far from reality that these kind of questions are popping up? (And I’m just getting started on what I see passes for photographic knowledge today. After all I am a Grumpy Old Photographer. “Get that tripod off my lawn punk!”)

Look, you can shoot anything with the D500. You can shoot anything with any modern DSLR or Mirroless camera. The belief that certain features make a camera suitable for certain subject and not for other subjects is bunk.

I’ll leave you with some photographs I took with one of my DSLRs. All images were taken with the same camera.

The Boring 50...

I read a dpreview forum post recently that stated:

Most boring focal length

What focal length that you find most boring (specially on modern Nikon cameras)?

For me its 50 mm.

Well of course I had to respond, as did many others. “There are no boring lenses only boring photographs taken by boring photographers.”

I mean really, the 50mm lens is boring? I guess you’d feel that way if you have no imagination. 

I went through the archives and pulled out a few photographs shot using my 50mm lens. I don’t think these are boring at all.

A New Blog...

I decided to create a new blog with grumpyoldphotographer in the URL rather then my previous ctqphotography.

Not to worry, I'll still have the same helpful advice for you. In addition, I'll still take a cynical look at what's going on in photography today.

So be sure to bookmark grumpyoldphotographer.blogspot.com/

Grumpy Old Photographer as a Grumpy Young Photographer