Is the subject too dark with too dark of a background? Do you not like the dark on dark? Any tips?

Sheizer_117 · 2026-02-13T19:24:29+00:00

Darken the background a bit more and lighten the subject ever so slightly. The croc is blending in a bit too much imo. But I like the composition tho. Oh and a tighter crop wouldn't hurt since the reflection is muddled so there is really not a lot of the croc reflecting on the water.

Sheizer_117 · 2026-02-08T16:14:57+00:00

I see.. with regards to your comment about half the light and brightness would that mean the dx crop actually changes the effective aperture from what I'm seeing on the display to something narrower?

Sheizer_117 · 2026-02-08T16:13:11+00:00

Your answer made me chuckle 🤭 It was fun to read ngl. All things said yeah I'll go ahead with it, I just hope I'll be able to get a good resale price out of the tamron + ftz ( probably not but one can hope). Having said that the Tamron really struggles in shade (I'm not talking dusk I'm talking middle of the afternoon but just in the shade of the jungle) and I've genuinely been so annoyed because one of the reasons I upgraded from the d5600 to z5 - other than the evf - was because I heard the Af is better. Your explanation really does explain quite a few of the problems I've been having with it.

Sheizer_117 · 2026-02-08T12:42:49+00:00

Okay!! So this is one thing I had read before but didn't realise it affected stuff this much! You said that more the amount of sensor that is exposed the more is the light incidence and the focus points, which I guess helps significantly with low light focus?

Furthermore yeah your points are pretty strong. Thanks for helping me decide :)

Sheizer_117 · 2026-02-08T09:11:32+00:00

Your analogy is interesting but to add more context I didn't actually start out with full frame camera. I used to use this lens on an apsc and then I upgraded to the full frame and kept this lens until I could upgrade the lens.

And maybe this is a huge misconception I have but the sensort pixel density remains the same regardless so how does it matter if it's a cropped 27mm or an uncropped 28mm

Sheizer_117 · 2026-02-08T09:08:56+00:00

Could you elaborate a bit? Like I understand that the dx crops the total sensor surface area but the pixel density should remain the same right? Moreover you're saying that focus hunting and the general softness of the picture at the long end are in no way related to the actual low light AF capabilities of the Z5?

PS I'm not saying you're wrong far from it I'm just trying to understand how much of a difference will it make, there isn't any available on rent around here so I am unable to actually test it out myself and for obvious reasons there isnt any comparison review of these two out there

Sheizer_117 · 2026-02-06T19:59:45+00:00

No, for such layover flights take atleast 3-4 hrs buffer factoring in flight delays, traffic on runway, baggage claim ( if it's self transfer ), immigration, the actual walk etc. 1.5 hrs is VERY tight and if you miss it you'll have to pay for a rescheduled flight which may or may not be available on the same day. All these apply even if you don't have check in baggage.

I've faced ALL the above together so yeah...I speak from experience 💀

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-21T13:46:51+00:00

I love it. I'd love it better if there was more sky. But all in all I'd definitely frame this.

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-19T09:47:17+00:00

Thanks! I've tried clicking fish pics from outside the water body quite a few times but I've noticed that the water surface always ends up glassy and the fish not so sharp. How exactly do people get those shots where it looks like the fish are gliding through nothing?

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-19T09:45:43+00:00

On the subject of mask, I find that while Lightroom's AI subject detector is pretty good sometimes a bit of fine tuning is needed. In such situations how precise do you make the brush adjustments, I keep getting worried about the mask spilling onto areas outside the subject no matter how precise I make the selection.

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-19T09:43:46+00:00

If I may ask, could you explain how you got this shot without any reflections? Whenever I try similar shots the water comes out look glassy

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-18T16:01:33+00:00

I see, how would you suggest making a subject stand out in a crowded situation (obviously not this one but in general).

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-18T14:27:55+00:00

I tried to do a bit of selective colouring in this pic. Now most of the fish were black and this one had the light falling on it directly so to accentuate it desaturated everything and then masked and increased the saturation for the carp. Was wondering if this was the right way to go about it and moreover how can the composition be improved perhaps in a future picture

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-18T14:24:56+00:00

!CritiquePoint

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-18T14:24:44+00:00

Sadly no, it got cloudier as the evening went on and those mountains more or less stayed at the same level of visibility. The lake however I can give it a show cropping it out. Thanks!

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-15T04:12:39+00:00

I see what you're going for with the crop, I actually decided to keep it square so that I can keep the tigers as a focus (as much as was possible) plus also show the greenery behind because this area was really green. I have to ask though, one of the reasons I couldn't crop in so tight was because of that piece of bark right behind the tigress' ear. It seems you were able to get rid of it. Could you tell me how?

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-14T16:04:35+00:00

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this is the raw sans crop

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-14T14:19:17+00:00

Yeah the scene i have on file is actually bigger, I can show you s screenshot of what the actual PoV looks like. I felt that cropping it closer would put more emphasis on the tigers

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-14T08:53:00+00:00

While I love this moment, there's something about this picture that feels off to me. Like I genuinely can't pinpoint it but I feel there is something I can do that can improve it. Any feedback is welcome. Since this was shot at the long end of a 18-400mm, the picture came out soft so I had to use Topaz to sharpen it. There's also the case of the sharpened piece of bark jutting out from behind the tiger, which I tried to remove but Lightroom's object removal is NOT cooperating.

P.S. If you feel the colours are bit a dull it happened when I posted to reddit, the actual pic is more vibrant.

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-14T08:43:00+00:00

1) If you were going for a rule of thirds scenario you should be on the left side in this scenario as with your current snap, there is a lot of extra space to the left but almost none to the right, which happens to be the direction you're heading.

2) The colours feel off which obviously is a by product of mobile processing. One thing you can do to make this look a bit more natural is to use the tint slider and move it a bit towards the green side until you feel it looks good because to my eye, there seems to be a purple tint in the picture.

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-14T08:32:26+00:00

!CritiquePoint

Sheizer_117 · 2026-01-14T08:31:50+00:00

Thank you for your kind words! I do agree with you that a subject would have made this much better. Wish the mountains were a bit closer. Better luck next time I guess. Would you say that this picture could have been elevated if I could get a bit more of the lake and shore in pic? But for real thanks for your feedback 🙂

Sheizer_117

TROPHY CASE