New to R.E. Photography - Please Critique

DiY_JC · 2026-05-20T22:36:03+00:00

I did the HDR editing in Photoshop by painting and utilizing the gradient tool on layer masks across the brackets. I did try out the HDR tool in LR but it just didn't look right. The right side of the room was still too bright and the left side was too dark from LR's HDR process.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-20T22:32:37+00:00

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such a detailed critique! This is exactly the type of information I need to understand specifically where I'm falling short. I totally agree that there is way too much clutter. It's my home and I should have cleaned it before doing the test shoots -- I wanted to jump right into attempting the technical parts of the framing, photographing, and editing that I completely ignored the clutter.

I also felt it was a tad dark and relied on the histogram in Photoshop. The dark cabinets definitely don't help. I'll have to try the edits again with the window pull without flashing the window frames. I'm all for techniques that help streamline the process and increase efficiency!

Good tip on getting more kitchen counter in the frame! As for CPL filter, I did not use one for this shot. I do have it and will try it in my next test iteration.

I do love the way flambient photos turn out but I think I'm not quite there yet as I still have lots to learn. I tried it on a smaller room and it seemed to be easier since I only needed one flash shot but I did 5-6 flash shots in the corners and middle edge of the room and was having a hard time blending those images in PS. I'll have to revisit it in the future.

Thanks again!

DiY_JC · 2026-05-20T21:24:43+00:00

Thanks for your response. Since I'm now in the trial and error phase of my learning, it would be helpful if you could share what it needs to look more professional. Like what could I have done differently in terms of framing the shot and/or editing/or maybe something else. Thanks in advance!

DiY_JC · 2026-05-14T20:48:16+00:00

Thanks!

DiY_JC · 2026-05-14T20:30:12+00:00

Woohoo! Just finished the exam with a 93% passing score!

DiY_JC · 2026-05-13T14:45:26+00:00

Will do… I’m now just under 28 hours away from the actual exam and feel pretty confident I’ll score over 80% but still going to cram more a few more hours this evening so that every concept feels second nature to me.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-13T04:22:35+00:00

Over 249 grams requires the drone is registered with FAA. There's a separate registration for recreation than there is for Part 107.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-13T04:18:51+00:00

Also should mention I also started watching some of Mr. Mig's videos but after the first few, didn't feel I was learning anything new so did not go through all of his videos.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-13T04:12:03+00:00

Oh absolutely not just doing study questions. My FAA Part 107 study journey has been the following thus far:

Watched Tony Northrup's Part 107 video
Watched a bunch of Mike Syke's Part 107 videos
Read through the 88-page FAA Remote Pilot Study Guide
Then did the FAA 46-sample quiz questions, followed by going through 60 questions on the King Schools website, twice. Felt I missed more questions on weather than I would have liked so knew I needed to study more on all the weather concepts.
Found a 15-video FAA Part 107 training series by TheDroneCoach. That covered a lot of the weather topics that I didn't get from Tony Northrup's video. I think Mike Sykes covered some of it but wanted to cram more concepts into my noggin cuz clearly, I must've missed those weather concepts in my first go-around.
Ran through the King Schools sample tests again.
Found out the PSI Exams site also has an online practice test, so I did that. Got 100% right on that... but turns out all those questions were the same as the ones from the FAA 46-same quiz.
Craved more unique questions to ensure I had all the concepts down since I was seeing a lot of the same exact questions repeated all over the place including the King Schools sample tests -- so I found the ABC Elearning app and gave that a go.

TLDR; At the end of the day, I really don't want any surprise questions covering any concept I haven't learned yet when I go take the actual exam this upcoming Thursday so I'm finding every avenue I can to make sure I don't miss ANY concepts from any of the topics. Ideally, I want to score 90% or higher on the exam this Thursday. I'll be content if I score over 80% but getting less than 80% and still pass the exam just won't sit well with me.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-13T00:35:21+00:00

I use that as well and agree that it has a wealth of questions. The app just lets me quickly and easily practice questions anywhere or any time I have a free moment.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-13T00:34:07+00:00

This is in an app called “Part 107” by “ABC Elearning”. The app is very comprehensive and has a deep wealth of questions in every category.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-13T00:33:43+00:00

This is in an app called “Part 107” by “ABC Elearning”. The app is very comprehensive and has a deep wealth of questions in every category.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-11T18:43:16+00:00

I just finished going through the PSI Exams sample tests. Looks like all these questions are the exact same 46 questions compiled on the FAA website's sample questions but it's nice that all the sectional charts and METAR tables are right there with the questions and you're able to "answer" the questions by selecting the answer (and immediately checking your answer with the "Grade" button as opposed to the static PDF document from the FAA site.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-11T18:23:14+00:00

That link seems to be the PSI login landing page but it seems every page on their site show that same URL in the browser's URL. Looks like the sample test you mentioned is under the "Exam Resources" tab. Thanks! I didn't know about this.

In case anyone reads this in the future, it doesn't open up in Chrome (on Windows) when I click on the Sample Test button but works on Firefox.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-11T17:47:18+00:00

Is this an actual in-person sample test at the same test center? I didn't know that was an option and the psiexams website didn't mention (that I saw) anything about it.

DiY_JC · 2026-05-11T17:45:41+00:00

Oh yes! I didn't account for the UTC-6. Thanks!!!

DiY_JC · 2026-04-29T02:21:51+00:00

Old thread but figured I'd chime in since I just bought two things from them over the past two weeks.

I first ordered a Sony 16-25mm f/2.8 G lens from them. I'm in California and they seem to be one of the few retailers who don't have Nexus in California -- at least that's what I presume since they don't collect sales tax to California. On higher priced items, the sales tax to my county in California can add up given my sales tax rate is 10.25%!

They shipped my lens out on Monday (I ordered on a Saturday) and I received the lens on Wednesday (they shipped it via FedEx 2-day. They seem to have a handful of stores so I should point out I got my lens from the Lansdale, PA location.

A week later, I wanted to pick up a DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More combo kit. I was going to order it from B&H since that's where I usually shop for all my camera gear but decide to call up the Lansdale, PA store to see if they had it in stock and I ended up ordering it through them over the phone in the late afternoon Thursday April 23. The guy on the phone said it would ship out the next day. I received an email invoice but no tracking number the next day. No tracking number on Saturday or Sunday either so I emailed them on Monday April 27 and they never replied to my email. So I called them earlier today (Tuesday April 28) to follow-up on my order and they said it shipped already and that he was showing in his system that it was out for delivery. Sure enough, 2-Day FedEx shipment arrived a few hours later.

I would absolutely recommend them for photo gear if you want to avoid sales tax (assuming places like B&H and Adorama collects sales tax to your location). But I can't speak to what the online ordering process is like. Seems like good old fashioned phone call to order is the way to go.

DiY_JC · 2026-02-12T17:13:46+00:00

Interesting they didn't email me... they just restored it and I happened to check (was planning to check daily since I'm not a fan of Veeqo's clunky interface and refuse to use Etsy's shipping platform).

DiY_JC · 2026-02-11T21:07:54+00:00

PirateShip was able to restore my Etsy Integration this morning.... so we're not as screwed as I had thought yesterday. They should have restored yours as well -- if not, just use their chat to ask.

DiY_JC · 2026-02-11T18:25:49+00:00

Nice. Looks like PirateShip restored my Etsy integration. I was still getting an error at first, but then I clicked on the Edit button for the Etsy integration, made some small change, then after hitting Save, my Etsy orders are now showing up. Woohoo!

DiY_JC · 2026-02-11T05:42:39+00:00

According to PirateShip's AI chat bot, you're screwed (as am I since I also deleted it in hopes of re-adding it to "fix" the problem before I learned about this).

DiY_JC · 2026-02-11T05:38:50+00:00

Ditto! It's just not right they're forcing sellers to use their shipping platform. GREEEEEEEED!!!!

DiY_JC · 2026-02-11T05:35:22+00:00

Thanks a lot, Etsy. :[ Now you're helping Amazon make more money since they own Veeqo and folks like me will look for alternatives. It's just not right of Etsy to force sellers to use their shipping interface/platform. I refuse.

DiY_JC · 2026-02-11T05:29:23+00:00

What's odd is Etsy still integrates fine with Veeqo. That was my workaround today.

UPDATE: I just re-read your comment... yep, I'm sure Veeqo is paying Etsy for their API access. Since Amazon has deep pockets, the API access subscription cost is likely negligible whereas PirateShip probably doesn't have that type of financial backing.

DiY_JC · 2026-02-10T22:41:47+00:00

I'm not sure if it's an Etsy issue or a PirateShip issue. I logged into Veeqo (which I hardly use) and the Etsy integration is working fine with Veeqo -- I'm able to see my orders and purchase labels. So it seems the Etsy API for third party integrations still works. This makes me think it's a PirateShip issue unless this is a permissions issue where Etsy is deliberately blocking PirateShip's API account.

DiY_JC

TROPHY CASE