It is a subscription plan that lets you get access to some of the best photography tutorials, tips, and tools out there. You are getting access to the “Trey Ratcliff” items from the Stuck in Customs store.
Here is what you get with your subscription.
The Content
Video Streaming of Trey’s Best Tutorials – Note that this is Streamed. If you want to get the downloaded content, you still need to purchase separately.
Download Specialty Presets Packs
Download all of Trey’s eBooks
Exclusive Tips & Tutorials
Trey’s RAW files for select images
Special discounts and access
Discounts on Photo Adventures & Workshops
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Early Access to New Tutorials
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No Advertising on StuckinCustoms.com – Since you actually sign into stuck in customs they have removed all the advertising that you would normally see so you can get the best experience of the content and just the content.
And you are helping a good cause.
If you have been to Trey’s site recently you know that he and his wife are supporting a foundation by the Dr who treated Trey’s wife’s cancer. 10% of all proceeds go to The Healing NET Foundation charity.
No only do you get access to great content and extras, but you can feel good about supporting a good cause.
There are two options when signing up. There is a yearly subscription that saves you 20% over the other option, a monthly subscription plan. All the details and how to sign up can be found via the link below.
Trey Ratcliff has released a completely new updated HDR Video tutorial.
The Complete HDR Tutorial Version 3.0
This all new HDR Tutorial featuring Lisa Bettany along with Trey. Trey not only gives you his post-processing techniques, but you get some pre-shot tips when he and Lisa discuss artistic inspirations and challenges, how they compose a shot, their camera settings and much more.
Your purchase includes downloads of:
6+ hours of instruction that you download for offline viewing
You can also get access to this tutorial as streamed content via the Stuck in Customs
As of the time of this post, Stuck in Customs has this tutorial on sale. I’m not sure how long it will be, so if you are looking to get the tutorial now is the time.
With the latest release, Luminar now supports the TouchBar on MacBooks
With the addition of the TouchBar support, you can now select many of the menu functions right from the TouchBar. When you have selected a filter or other adjustment, you no longer have to use the touchpad on your MacBook, you can use the slider on the TouchBar and make more accurate adjustments. See the various TouchBar views here.
Current uses of Luminar will need to get the latest update. Click Here to learn how to get the update for your version of Luminar.
Macphun has announced plans for a version of Luminar for Windows that is coming in 2017 but no actual ship date has been announced yet. If you want to compare Luminar’s existing features and the coming soon features versus Apple’s Aperture and Adobe’s Lightroom, check out the comparison checklist here
There are many more features coming to Luminar in the upcoming weeks. As soon as I find out about the new or pending features I’ll be sure to let you know.any
Get it at the launch pricing for a limited time of $59 for new customers and $49 for existing Macphun customers. That’s a $10 savings off of the retail prices
So give it a try as I’m sure you will realize this is the best photo editor for the Mac for beginner to Advanced users.
Once you download and install Luminar, you will get access to a series of 26 videos showing you how to make the most of Luminar’s features and options.
Here is my first photo edited with Luminar and one of the first I took with my Fujifilm X-T2
My trusty Nikon 80 is starting to show its age. It has served me well and will continue to do so as my backup camera. But I have been looking for a new camera for some time now. I checking out upgrading to another cropped sensor Nikon and even the Full Frame Nikons. Then I started seeing more and more folks including my photography friends using mirrorless cameras so I started to check those out as well. I finally narrowed down my choices to a Nikon D7200 as the full frame Nikons are just out of my budget right now. And even though I really wanted a full Frame Sony mirrorless camera, again it was out of the budget. So I decided to get the FujiFilm X-T1, but then they announced the X-T2 model but it was just on the edge of my budget range for a new camera.
I’m always looking for the best deals to get the best bang for my buck, so when I started looking for my final choice of a Fujifilm X-T2 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 18-55mm F2.8-4.0 R LM OIS Lens as my camera replacement I wasn’t finding anything below full retail. This was expected since the camera was just released a little over a month ago. I resigned myself to sit and wait awhile to see if the price came down
In my hunt for the best price on the recent printer purchase, I stumbled upon an Amazon price-watching site called camelcamelcamel.com. I did my amazon search for the X-T2 with lens and didn’t see anything at the time that was discounted, so I added a price watch on camelcamelcamel.com. Initially, it was just giving me the same pricing that I found myself, but then one day it showed me on for $230 less so I clicked on the link immediately. I was sent to the Amazon Warehouse listing that showed this was for a “used” classification sale of the camera. I had never heard of Amazon Warehouse so I started checking out the terms etc and when I was about to buy the camera, the listing was gone all in less that 15 mins. I was upset with myself for procrastinating, but I did my due diligence and checked out the service and terms so I was ready if it ever came up again.
Well a few days later another listing popped up and I jump right on it. That order is the camera that arrived today. It was listed as Used: no cosmetic issues with the camera and tested and confirmed working but only a damaged box. After opening the Amazon box and finding the X-T2 box inside I took everything out and inspected everything. The only thing I could find wrong was the LCD screen was a little smudged, which was easily cleaned with a lint free cloth. The box hardly had a mark on it other than fresh tape.
It is obvious to me this was an Amazon returned product and they sold it via Amazon Warehouse at a discount. Don’t know why anyone would want to return such a great camera. I’m not complaining one bit as I feel I’ve gotten a new camera for several hundred dollars less than the current going price and it looks brand new. Now I’ve got some money to go out and get an additional lens, of which I wouldn’t have been able to do if I purchased it brand new.
So if you don’t mind purchasing a returned unit, I would recommend setting up a price watch with camelcamelcamel.com or your favorite price watcher so you can get notified of the reduced prices from folks like Amazon Warehouse. And make sure your service notifies you as from my experience, the Fujifilm XT-2’s do not last long.
One last note: if the price is way lower than the regular price, definitely check it out first. I was notified of one listing for this product being $600, but after checking things out it was obviously a scam.
Now the only thing to do it take my new camera out for a spin this weekend to hopefully get some great fall colors pictures.
Got up early to meet up with a friend at a recommended spot at Centennial Park. For someone that is usually not up before sunrise since I work the later shift in my office, getting up before the sun does is out of the ordinary for me. But I did it and it was well worth it I think.
Didn’t get to meet up with my friend since he had gotten a new phone and forgot to set his alarms, but he picked a great spot for a sunrise. We caught up later at another spot which I’ll post photos from later on.
The Sunrise
The water was fairly still so I was able to get a great reflection of the sunrise and the trees. Aurora HDR 2017 did a great job processing this 3 bracket shot.
Folks out enjoying the park in the early morning.
A peacefull morning out in a canoe in Centennial Lake in Columbia.Taking a break from running to take a picture of the view
Click the image below to learn more and you can enter your email address to stay up to date about the Luminar news from the great folks at Macphun. They make the best photo software for the Mac and I’m sure it will be another great addition to their product line.
Luminar pre-order starts on the 2nd of November. And the launch is scheduled for November 17. If you own a Macphun app for Mac, you’ll pay only $49 to get Luminar & exclusive bonuses. For new users (who don’t own any product by Macphun) the price will be very compelling as well – just $59.
You’ll love the bonuses. Everyone, who pre-orders Luminar will get the Macphun exclusive video series, called “Photography Essentials”, as well as the Marketing Guide for Photographers from Will Burrard-Lucas, award-winning wildlife photographer.
Check back here in a few weeks as I will have more details and a demo of this new product.
Another year another calendar month that features my photo
Humbled again to have two of my pictures publish in the JHFCU 2017 calendar. This year I ended up as the main photo for the month of August and in October as a side photo. No matter where I am I’m always grateful for the exposure, so be sure to get your copy and look for my photos.
The image selected for the Month of August.
United States Lightship Chesapeake
The United States Lightship Chesapeake in the Inner Harbor Baltimore during the City Light Festival in 2016
New Customer Price $99 – Save 10% with coupon code MDPDEAL
Current Users of Aurora HDR Pro Upgrade Price: $59Save 10%with coupon code MDPDEAL
Current Users of Aurora HDR Upgrade Price: $79Save 10%with coupon code MDPDEAL
Continue reading to get more into the nuts and bolts of the program including system requirements, and comparison of the different versions of Aurora are below.
So you are thinking about night photography and not sure if your camera can do it or what the settings you might use.
Most modern DSLR’s and Mirrorless cameras can take great pictures at night and of the stars, but I would recommend doing some testing before you go out on your first night of night photography shooting. The intent is to
Let you know if your camera is suitable for night photography and
To give you a starting point on the settings to use to get the best shot of the night sky or other night shot.
The steps used do not only apply to taking pictures of the sky but any night photography situation you are thinking about such as taking pictures of the city at night.
Night sky photography (AKA Astrophotography) is something that I’ve always wanted to and I needed to find out if my current camera was up to the job. On a recent night where there were no clouds in the sky I decided it was time to test my old trusty Nikon D80 to see if it was up to the job. So I headed outside with my tripod (A must if you are doing any low light photography), my Nikon D80 with the Nikkor 18-135 lens, and my wireless remote. The remote is not required, but it does make things a little faster to do. If you don’t have a remote trigger device be it wired or wireless, you can still get your night shots, but you will have to use the camera’s built-in timer function or you will get camera shake when you press down the shutter release button.
For my testing, I put my camera in manual mode, set the aperture (f-stop) as wide as my lens would let me at f3.5 with the lens at its widest setting of 18mm and set the exposure time to 30 secs, which is the longest my camera will go before switching to bulb mode. For the testing, you want the exposure time and f-stop fixed as you will be only adjusting the ISO setting for each shot. You will need to focus your camera to near infinity in order for the stars/night sky to be in focus. Do this manually by turning your focus ring all the way until it stops at infinity and turning it back just a little, or find a distant light and let your autofocus focus on that. After you have set your focus, you must turn off the autofocus feature of your lens or as soon as you go to click your shutter release your camera will just get stuck trying to focus and most likely never focus. On my Nikkor lens, I can turn off the autofocus on the lens. Your camera/lens will vary on how you turn auto focus off. It is your option whether or not to use the long exposure noise reduction option that your camera has. For my testing, I did use my camera’s long exposure noise reduction option. If you are not sure, take a series of pictures with it off, then another series with it on and compare.
Start out at the lowest ISO your camera has, in my case that was 100 and with each picture you take, increase the ISO by one setting stop until you get to the highest your camera can do. For my old trusty Nikon D80 that meant ISO’s of: 100, 125, 160, 200 250 320, 400, 500, 640, 800, 1000, 1250, 1600, HI 0.3, HI 0.7, HI 1.0. When it is all said and done, you should have a range of shots that vary just by the ISO. So I ended up with 16 shots.
This 5 of the images spread across the full 16 image range of images that I got during this test.
Click on each image to see the full version
At ISO 100
At ISO 250
At ISO 640
At ISO 1600
At ISO Hi 1.0 Equivalent to 3200
After looking at my test shots it tells me a few things
Due to light pollution and the low sensitivity of my sensor I”m not able to get the Milky Way with this camera. By today’s camera standards, my Nikon D80 has a very low sensitivity as its highest native setting was 1600. Most camera’s today got to at least 25,600.
To get a decent amount of stars I need to use the higher ISO’s of my camera. At least 1600 if not the digitally enhanced HI settings.
Even at the higher ISO’s my camera still cannot capture enough light for the faint stars. And even with noise reduction turned on, the pictures are still too noisy.
Just because I cannot capture the stars with my camera I did not give up on night photography as you may have seen in my previous posts from Light City Baltimore.
I’ve been able to get some great night shots in the city with my Nikon D80. This is because the light it much brighter than the faint stars and my camera’s sensor is sensitive enough to get the light at this level.
Just keep in mind that you are doing this testing just as a starting point and to determine what is possible at the max aperture and timed exposure. Once you know this base, if it worked out for you, you can make adjustments when you change the exposure time and aperture. I won’t go into the formula here, but I’m sure you can find it on the internet.
For now, get out there and try some night photography shooting, I’m sure you will get some great pictures.
as my camera replacement I wasn’t finding anything below full retail. This was expected since the camera was just released a little over a month ago. I resigned myself to sit and wait awhile to see if the price came down
