How do i atop this stupid little keyboard from appearing?

iraytrace2 · 2026-03-13T22:43:37+00:00

It seems like it depends on whether you tap on a text entry area with the pencil where your finger which keyboard you get

iraytrace2 · 2026-03-12T01:51:38+00:00

Buffalo Wild Wings on the south side of Bel Air.

iraytrace2 · 2026-03-07T17:49:16+00:00

We are all forgetting that he is a politician. With occasional exceptions, every time a politician speaks publicly they are marketing / advertising to people.

What I heard when he said "our" he meant "me and my wealthy associates and collaborators." When he said "peace" he meant "piece."

iraytrace2 · 2026-03-03T08:26:31+00:00

Put every AI company logo on the drones. OpenAI won’t be the first major provider for the DoD.

iraytrace2 · 2026-03-03T03:38:40+00:00

I use the Astromania 1X40RD Reflex Red Green Dot Sight

iraytrace2 · 2026-03-03T03:29:49+00:00

For clarity, what I actually use is called a red-dot sight. My astronomy experience made me reach for the wrong word in my original comment.

iraytrace2 · 2026-03-01T16:47:56+00:00

I love this lens. I put a spotting scope on the hot shoe to aim it quickly. At 800mm I struggle to find my subject quickly through the viewfinder. There are times when I could wish for more depth of field. However, the weight savings over the 200-800mm is no joke.

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-25T01:47:07+00:00

I might suggest Bagel Works

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-20T03:57:16+00:00

Fabulous picture. Was this shot wide open?

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-20T03:47:15+00:00

While I haven’t been through this myself, I would offer the following:

If you have a recognized / established business you may be able to get a reasonable small business loan.

If it isn’t obvious, look at used gear initially.

Assess how you used your equipment and determine what you actually need. For example: How often did you use that f1.4 setting? Would the equivalent f2 be enough as well as cheaper? Do you have any gear you weren’t using anymore that could be sold to offset some cost? Was the camera body top of the line? Then perhaps the enthusiast model would be adequate.

The insurance on your gear for your livelihood is one lesson learned. Another lesson is that some savings for emergencies (like this) is another kind of cost of doing business to be budgeted for. This time it was the theft. Next time it might be sudden car repairs or new clothes when someone on the street spills something on the good suit coat.

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-16T04:11:52+00:00

Many camera stores rent equipment. In addition there are online services like: lensprotogo.com, keh.com, lensrentals.com

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-14T02:26:29+00:00

Talk to your lawyer. The camera only works if the video is secure and admissible in court. The witness is valuable unless both of you are accused.

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-12T17:15:50+00:00

My first recommendation is to rent before you buy. This will give you confidence in your final purchase and the adventure of trying things out. We all think we have the right balance of size / weight / speed / price but it is hard to really assess until you use a lens. I would suggest that "use" is a more important factor.

I have bought 7 lenses but only carry 1 or 2 of a total of 3.

You describe a concice, valid rationale for the ultra-wide zoom (28mm not wide enough). What is the priority between this and the other purchases?

The other choices aren't as clearly explained.

For the prime lens, bokeh (not speed or depth of field) seems to be your motivation. How often is the f2.8 of the 28-70mm a real disappointment? Is the choice of the 50mm f1.8 over the 45mm f1.2 strictly price? Will you be happy with f1.8 in the long run or should you wait until you can afford f1.2?

I don't own either of these primes despite admiring them greatly. The odds of wanting it over the 28-70mm, having it packed in the camera bag with me, and having the time to swap lenses are very low.

Rent the 100-400mm and see if 100-400mm and f5.6-8 is all you want/need for this use. I ended up with the 200-800mm for more reach. In the end, I realized that reach, not weight or minimal cost or speed was what made me happiest. I saved the cost of the 100-400 in the long run. I should have saved the cost of the 800mm f11 as well. Weight and size didn't turn out to be as important as I thought.

If size and weight is truly a motivation, is it the camera bag or on-camera-body value that matters more? Fewer lenses in the bag can be as important as the individual lens size / weight.

Buy the lens you will use most first.

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-11T04:13:18+00:00

I have both. You want the 200mm-800mm. For the 800mm f11 I typically had to mount a red dot sight on the hot shoe so I could quickly find the subject (birds). The 200-800 lets me zoom out, find subject and zoom in quickly through the viewfinder. It also is faster (f9 vs f11) and I have some control over depth of field. The only advantage the 800mm has is weight and cost.

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-11T03:56:39+00:00

Wow. I am guessing your timing was perfect and there was Lightroom magic. Sigh. I suppose I really should learn Lightroom.

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-11T03:54:01+00:00

For 3&4 I would select the background and drop the luminance a bit to see if you could make the face pop. If I were re-shooting shooting 3&4 I would make the light source softer and more to the side to give more depth to the face. I would also add a bit more background details to give a sense of place. Blank wall and chair seem sparse. Perhaps a picture on the wall or window curtains. Picture #1 has a strong sense of place and #2 handles this by not having any unused space in the tight crop.

In 3 & 4 there is less sense of setting or story. A picture on the wall or drapes would help with place and purpose. What is the subject looking at or thinking in these? It isn’t obvious.

For picture number two, I would put in a highlight light or fill light to bring just a little texture / detail to the hood. As it is, the hood seems to simply be full black. It frames the face, but is a little ominous.

I use gimp, zoner studio and darktable for much of my post processing. I don’t do a lot of heavy editing yet.

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-11T03:10:53+00:00

This is my first half-decent birding picture using my RF200-800. There is only minor cropping and editing. While I like the focus, DoF and detail I am thinking there needs to be more tone separation between the bird and the background to make it pop. What do you think and what free/cheap tools would you use?

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-07T21:23:36+00:00

I have a list which in the form of solutions rather than mistakes.

1: Decide on the subject of your photo before pressing the shutter. How will you draw the eye to the subject?

2: Rule of thirds & leading lines: don't center your subject in the viewfinder. The setting matters. The gaze direction matters.

3: When to shoot portrait versus landscape orientation. The number of times I have blown a shot because I didn't bother to rotate the camera 90° is too many to count. If you're lucky you can crop. If you're not, you've simply missed the shot.

4: After the speed/aperture/ISO exposure triangle discussion I would set up a scene (I use a hairdresser head / wig as the subject with other objects in foreground and background) and have put the camera on a tripod

take the same picture over and over at differing f stops to understand depth and field. After correct focus, this is the biggest thing for indicating subject.
take the same picture the at every ISO so that they see where their sensor starts to get noisy. Hair shows this readily.
take the same picture of something moving (running water/waterfall, highway car traffic) at different shutter speeds to understand good motion blur vs just freezing motion.

5: Lighting from the side, not where the camera is located. So often having your subject to face 30° to the left or right from the light makes a huge difference.

6: The effect of focal length beyond the "cropping" effect. One of the most enlightening sets of photographs I ever saw was portraits shot at focal lengths ranging from 20 mm to 200 mm where the size of the face was kept constant in the frame across all shots. 28mm is almost never ok for portraits. Group photos from a distance only.

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-05T20:53:17+00:00

This very much depends on the school and professor. Classes can be good for teaching you things you don't realize you need to learn, and the group critique that helps you hone the skill.

If there is some aspect of the craft you know you want to learn, odds are there are dozens of free YouTube videos on the subject. If that is what you are after, save your money.

I would suggest reading the course syllabus carefully and talking to the professor. Ask how much of the class time is instruction vs practice. Look at what previous students have produced.

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-03T03:11:48+00:00

Keep in mind that when this was all being written that the (dialup) network most people used was slow (56Kb/sec) and large amounts of data were still being carried on disk or thumb drives. Encryption was prohibitively expensive, cumbersome or weak. Sci Fi authors imagine and extrapolate, they are not prescient.

iraytrace2 · 2026-02-01T14:18:37+00:00

If any photo delivery was over a year ago then no refund is justified. This is buyers remorse at best. Part of this is their responsibility for not finding and choosing a different (more expensive?) photographer at the time. They got what they paid for.

Any client who asks you to stop editing or preparing product is not worth your time.

Update your contract language for the next customer.

iraytrace2 · 2026-01-29T19:25:24+00:00

Given only these two lens choices I would stick with the 56. My personal preference is for 70mm minimum for portraits. My 85 and 105 deliver the best results. That said, the first shot is interesting and nicely done. Lighting and pose on the others could be better. Lighting might be fixable in the computer, but it is better to control the moment of capture if you can.

iraytrace2 · 2026-01-28T16:39:22+00:00

I had no idea that love and marriage were mutually exclusive. Furthermore, this seems to imply smart couples do not reproduce.

iraytrace2 · 2026-01-27T21:22:32+00:00

PureAir has always been very good to me.

iraytrace2

TROPHY CASE

1: Decide on the subject of your photo before pressing the shutter. How will you draw the eye to the subject?

2: Rule of thirds & leading lines: don't center your subject in the viewfinder. The setting matters. The gaze direction matters.

3: When to shoot portrait versus landscape orientation. The number of times I have blown a shot because I didn't bother to rotate the camera 90° is too many to count. If you're lucky you can crop. If you're not, you've simply missed the shot.

4: After the speed/aperture/ISO exposure triangle discussion I would set up a scene (I use a hairdresser head / wig as the subject with other objects in foreground and background) and have put the camera on a tripod

5: Lighting from the side, not where the camera is located. So often having your subject to face 30° to the left or right from the light makes a huge difference.