Jolly Ollie Advent Calendar, 2020

usern4cr

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Jolly Ollie Advent Calendar
Thursday Dec. 17, 2020


"As gatekeeper to Ollie's Yard,
I hereby announce the tolls for entry:
* Cats: 1 plump mouse.
* People: 1 can of tuna.
* Dogs: Ain't gonna' happen! "


A01_3070_1_4.5k90%.jpg

Canon R5 with RF 100-500 f4.5-7.1L lens.
400mm, f5.6, 1/180", ISO 1600
 
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usern4cr

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So cute. I love your cat.
I'm sure Ollie thanks you - (especially if you come bringing tuna! :ROFLMAO: )

But seriously, thanks for the kind words. I'm glad to start posting some photos from the new lenses. These were among the first ones taken and I'm getting used to what speeds & ISOs to use - even shutter types and FPS settings. So I may post some less-than-ideal combinations before I knew they could be improved. But anyway, it's the content of the photo that really makes or breaks it, so you just have to get out and take them and see what you get. ;)
 
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zim

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Oct 18, 2011
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Jolly Ollie Advent Calendar
Thursday Dec. 17, 2020


"As gatekeeper to Ollie's Yard,
I hereby announce the tolls for entry:
Cats: 1 plump mouse.
People: 1 can of tuna.
Dogs: Ain't gonna' happen! "


View attachment 194595

Canon R5 with RF 100-500 f4.5-7.1L lens.
400mm, f5.6, 1/180", ISO 1600
Woof ;)

:love:
 
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usern4cr

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Jolly Ollie Advent Calendar
Friday Dec. 18, 2020


"Look into my eyes ... my eyeees ... my eyeeeeees ...
You are getting sleepy ... sleeeepy ... sleeeeeepy ...
You are opening a can of tuna ... tuuuna ... tuuuuuuna! "


PB292346_1_4.5k90%.jpg

Olympus EM1_II with 300mm f4 lens.
300mm, f4, 1/250", ISO 400
 
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usern4cr

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Jolly Ollie Advent Calendar
Saturday Dec. 19, 2020


"Officer! - I know someone unrolled all the toilet paper and Tee-Pee'd the whole house! ...
But it wasn't me! - It was the one-armed cat! "


A01_3151_1_4.5k90%.jpg

(inspired by "The Fugitive": "It wasn't me, it was the one-armed man!")
Canon R5 with RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1L lens.
300mm, f5.6, 1/1000", ISO 3200
 
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zim

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Jolly Ollie Advent Calendar
Monday Dec. 21, 2020



(borrowing a quote from Ben)
"I'm chillin' like Bob Dylan
on a pound of penicillin! "


View attachment 194705

Canon R5 with RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1L lens.
300mm, f5.6, 1/1500", ISO 3200
Gorgeous boy, love the colours, how much processing do you do?
 
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usern4cr

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That's a beautiful portrait. Well done!
Thank you, Click. I was torn between this picture and others, since I've only a few days left. But there was something about this one I loved, and the surface he was laying on made me think of how he was "chillin' ", and I remembered the saying and the concrete he was laying on looked like penicillin, and I knew I just had to choose this picture. :)
 
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usern4cr

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Gorgeous boy, love the colours, how much processing do you do?
Thanks, Zim!

I use DXO PhotoLab4. After I rank the images and delete those I don't want to keep, I assign a standard lens correction profile plus deep prime noise reduction to all of them. I then re-rank them to decide which ones to work further on and for them I make a duplicate to work on. For those, I adjust the overall exposure if it's needed. I always use daylight temp when I take the photo, so if the color cast is off (not often) I adjust it as needed. If there's unusual things needing fixing, like horizon or perspective(in the Elite version), I do that. Then I usually up the shadows if needed, and lower the highlights if needed. Usually the mid tones stay the same unless they need adjusting, too. Then I adjust the contrast as needed to make it look good to me. Then if there is a single point of interest (like Ollie's face) I use a single local adjustment circle, with the size of the full-ish power circle around the area of interest and increase the micro-contrast and sometimes up the shadows if that area is too dark. If the eyes are too dark, I add another local adjustment circle for the dark eye(s) and up the shadows and maybe add microcontrast to them. On rare occasions I make a local adjustment mask that follows the shape of an unusual subject to work on. Note that I don't add micro contrast to the whole image as I try to have blurred backgrounds and they look better with no (or negative) micro contrast. Then I adjust the saturation a little if needed, then a final re-adjust of contrast to look good. Then I decide what kind of crop to use, which is often square (I just like those) or unconstrained to frame the image as desired. I output that as 99% jpg (saving a little space). If I'm posting to CanonRumors, I output three 90% jpgs with 4.5K, 4K, and 3.5K pixels longest side and upload the largest version that CanonRumors allows.

While I have used ClearViewPlus in the past, I find that it can muck up the image and that I can usually do a much better job by doing the process (above) myself.

It really goes pretty quickly once you get the hang of it. Hope this helps. If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them as I'm not an expert on using DPL and there's a lot more it can do that I haven't bothered to learn.
 
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zim

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Oct 18, 2011
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Thanks, Zim!

I use DXO PhotoLab4. After I rank the images and delete those I don't want to keep, I assign a standard lens correction profile plus deep prime noise reduction to all of them. I then re-rank them to decide which ones to work further on and for them I make a duplicate to work on. For those, I adjust the overall exposure if it's needed. I always use daylight temp when I take the photo, so if the color cast is off (not often) I adjust it as needed. If there's unusual things needing fixing, like horizon or perspective(in the Elite version), I do that. Then I usually up the shadows if needed, and lower the highlights if needed. Usually the mid tones stay the same unless they need adjusting, too. Then I adjust the contrast as needed to make it look good to me. Then if there is a single point of interest (like Ollie's face) I use a single local adjustment circle, with the size of the full-ish power circle around the area of interest and increase the micro-contrast and sometimes up the shadows if that area is too dark. If the eyes are too dark, I add another local adjustment circle for the dark eye(s) and up the shadows and maybe add microcontrast to them. On rare occasions I make a local adjustment mask that follows the shape of an unusual subject to work on. Note that I don't add micro contrast to the whole image as I try to have blurred backgrounds and they look better with no (or negative) micro contrast. Then I adjust the saturation a little if needed, then a final re-adjust of contrast to look good. Then I decide what kind of crop to use, which is often square (I just like those) or unconstrained to frame the image as desired. I output that as 99% jpg (saving a little space). If I'm posting to CanonRumors, I output three 90% jpgs with 4.5K, 4K, and 3.5K pixels longest side and upload the largest version that CanonRumors allows.

While I have used ClearViewPlus in the past, I find that it can muck up the image and that I can usually do a much better job by doing the process (above) myself.

It really goes pretty quickly once you get the hang of it. Hope this helps. If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them as I'm not an expert on using DPL and there's a lot more it can do that I haven't bothered to learn.
Wow wasn't expecting such a comprehensive reply, cheers! (y)
Your workflow isn't all that different from mine actually i also use PL4 and our global adjustments are the same. We differ in that I don't tend to spend much time doing local adjustments in DXO, tend to stick with globals (then batch) and do the local stuff in Affinity Photo. The only 'advice' I'd give is don't stop what you're doing I think you're getting lovely colour and just the right amount of sharpness, not over doing either. Really enjoying jolly Ollie's advent adventures!

All the best and have a happy and safe holidays
 
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usern4cr

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Wow wasn't expecting such a comprehensive reply, cheers! (y)
Your workflow isn't all that different from mine actually i also use PL4 and our global adjustments are the same. We differ in that I don't tend to spend much time doing local adjustments in DXO, tend to stick with globals (then batch) and do the local stuff in Affinity Photo. The only 'advice' I'd give is don't stop what you're doing I think you're getting lovely colour and just the right amount of sharpness, not over doing either. Really enjoying jolly Ollie's advent adventures!

All the best and have a happy and safe holidays
Thanks again, Zim! I also have Affinity Photo, but tend to use it sparingly - after stitching a pano resulting in a huge file, or doing some detail work I don't know if PL4 can do (or how to do it if possible). I think AP is really great, reliable & affordable, but I just haven't had enough time to master it (and don't need it much, so I'm not forced to master it). I used to overdo the contrast & saturation a bit but I'm getting better at using just enough to look good but (hopefully) not "burning out" the image anymore. It's really amazing how much better PL4 can make an image from an R5 and especially from a M43 EM1_II (with less dynamic range & more noise), and all with a minimum of effort or expertise (well, for me at least! :ROFLMAO: )

I'm glad you like Ollie's adventures. I'm having fun making up rhymes (been a long time since I did that). :)
All the best to you, too, and have a happy & safe holiday to you & your family.
 
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usern4cr

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Does he always wear the vest? and what purpose is it for?

Beautiful cat and pictures.
Thanks, ethanz, for your kind words.

We got Ollie the vest so that we could use a harness and keep him under control (from running away) when we first let him outside (to avoid being hit on our street mainly). On trips we use it so he doesn't run away, and even if off the leash when he wears it he behaves better and isn't as tempted to just run off exploring. Now we let him out at home without it most of the daytime, so he hardly ever wears it now. We also bought a "cat backpack" where we can put him in it and take hikes and then let him out to wander when we find nice spots to hang out. He got used to it quickly and likes to explore with us (like in the picture at Red River Gorge).
 
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