Just in case anyone is trying to get this to work, these are the steps I followed. These steps assume you have a rough idea of what you are trying to accomplish and how to get there; this is not a detailed step-by-step guide. I’m using Windows 11 with a 6700XT and the 23.11.1 drivers.
I’ve created a ChatGPT ‘GPT’ to assist in adding borders to images. The general purpose was to add a border to emulate a matte so the end result could be framed in cheap off-the-shelf frames of standard sizes.
You can ask the tool to ‘add a white border of 20 pixels to the image’ or ‘Please add borders to this image to allow for framing in a landscape 11×14 inch frame’ as examples.
Sometimes it does take a couple attempts to get where you need. The more detail you can specify up front about the required output (dimensions for example, or state the output is simply for web, or if the end result should be portrait or landscape) will assist.
The tool can be found here ( FrameFit GPT, and you should be able to provide feedback from within it.
I made a video and put it up on YouTube; it’s an example of a typical edit from a RAW photo. It’s nothing fancy at all – I typically only do very basic modifications to a photo. As I’ve often been interested to see how others edit their photos, I thought I would share this simple example. The steps would be similar in Lightroom or DxO or Rawtherapee etc.
Obviously, if the result is any better that the original is personal preference. I was pretty pleased with how this turned out.
It casts an awful color on the long exposure, but is marketed for use into a final black and white image, so I can’t fault it for that. Original on the left, final result after some edits on the right.
This is an image that I applied more edits to than possibly any other. I am usually loathe to do much more than crop / straighten, and moderate tweaks to exposure / levels etc.
This one, I cropped really tight at the top. There wasn’t much of interest up there besides the land on the right, and I wanted to crop out the lumpy bit at the upper right land mass.
I removed lots of little dirt bits in the sand; I usually would not do so, but I really think the end result here is better. This is more of an artistic shot than I usually take.
There was a spot left that didn’t look quite right (where I removed a bit of seaweed by the second last foot) but it looks like something natural, so I left it. I’m second guessing that now that I look at it again. I don’t recall it looking so prominent before.
Recently, my son purchased a 35mm camera – a Pentax K1000. He took a couple rolls worth of film; we developed it here and his shots turned out pretty well.
Seemed like the next logical step was to buy an enlarger. We seem to have missed the timing on this by a bit. It was a little difficult to find one, and cost more than I expected (Just over $200 in Canadian dollars on eBay). We missed the “this is trash throw it out” timing and caught the start (or well in the middle of?) of “hey this stuff is hard to find and only going to get harder” stage.
So we recently purchased an enlarger – a Durst F60. It accepts 35mm and 6×6 negatives, and came with both 50mm and 75mm lens/condenser sets.
Bought some trays and enough developer/stop/fix/paper/tongs etc to print a few things. See how it goes.
First round was pretty successful, for a first attempt.
First test prints on Durst F60
The upper left is the best of the bunch. I need to work on my timing mostly. Lots of reading to do still.
I’ve been taking pictures for a long time. I remember a relative buying me a tiny plastic toy film camera from a local convenience store at a very young age. I didn’t understand how the film worked, so I wasn’t nearly careful enough with it. My first photos were mostly ruined as the film had been overexposed. But I was instantly hooked by the idea of capturing small portions of what I was seeing in a way that might be pleasing. I did manage to hold on to one of those pictures for a long time, but I have long since lost it. It was a blurry picture of a poplar tree, and the image was also overexposed on one side.
My first decent camera purchase as an adult was a Canon Powershot A40. It was a 2mp camera, and had a tiny screen on the back. It was all I could afford at the time – and I did use it a lot. The autofocus slowly got worse and worse, and the shutter would fail to trigger. I remember the fact that it ran on regular AA batteries was a big deal for me at the time, as most rechargeable devices at the time were terrible. Here is the first picture I took with it:
First photo I took with my Canon Powershot A40.
I got a lucky break at that point – I won an HP Photosmart R927. It was arguably a step up, with a glorious (for the time) 3 inch LCD on the back, and 8.2mp. It did in-camera panoramic stitching, and that feature was really well implemented to my recollection. This prize also included a nice portable photo printer. I seem to recall the model being HP Photosmart A627.
Sadly, my experience with that camera was not great – inconsistent results, focus hunting, and near the end an almost constant refusal to take an image when pressing the release. The printer – like all in-jets I’ve used, is now in the trash where ink-jet printers belong, and the camera is (I believe) long gone to the recycling center.
I’ve never really mastered the art of using flashes and try to avoid them. I do have the excellent Rocky Nook ‘Mastering Canon EOS Flash Photography by NK Guy – it is a fantastic book (I only have the first edition; the link is to a newer edition than mine).
I don’t have much other gear at all – a LensPen, a small handful of sdcards, a couple filters that I’ve carried forever and never used.
My typical style of photography is to capture what is happening without interfering. I prefer a picture that is captured as outside the moment.
My workflow is simple:
take a ton of photos
instantly delete the bad ones on camera
copy them to the PC when I am able, sorted YYYY_MM_DD
again review quickly and delete anything that didn’t get deleted in the field
quick rough crops and edits may be done if I think I have something good, or know I want to crop something away
