[jmg]

Originally Posted by dcstep

jmg, if you replace an image on Flickr, the URL changes and the link gets broken. You need to Edit here and put in the new link.

Dave

Yup, sorry about that. Bimmerpost went into maintenance mode right when I tried to edit the old post. DB was down.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by jmg

Yup, sorry about that. Bimmerpost went into maintenance mode right when I tried to edit the old post. DB was down.

Looks good now. I like sunstars and waves. Great perspective.

[dcstep]

I'm a little surprised at how many and how much people seem to like this picture of a great blue heron feeding its chicks:

Ever Wonder What Heron Chicks Eat? by David Stephens, on Flickr

[Itsed65]

Originally Posted by dcstep

I'm a little surprised at how many and how much people seem to like this picture of a great blue heron feeding its chicks:

Who doesn't like sushi?

[Itsed65]

In viticulture (grape-growing), veraison is the onset of ripening.


Central Valley Verasion by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[dcstep]

Nice grapes, Ed. I'd shoot more of those, if we had them around here.

[Itsed65]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Nice grapes, Ed. I'd shoot more of those, if we had them around here.

Thanks Dave. They are everywhere around here. This particular vineyard is actually just south of Stockton. Most likely these grapes will end up in a jug or a box at a grocery store

[metrickid]

Random photo from last weekends MotoGP race at Sachsenring, Germany.

[Itsed65]

Osprey Squadron by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[jmg]

One more porsche:

Porsche Carrera by JMG, on Flickr

[dcstep]

Goldfinch On Thistle

Goldfinch On Thistle by David Stephens, on Flickr

[dcstep]

The voting thread for the latest contest is up at:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1283365

[Zing]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Nice grapes, Ed. I'd shoot more of those, if we had them around here.

Throw some in a glass like I did and shoot away.

[dcstep]

Nice lighting and BG on the grapes-in-glass shot. Makes me want a grape.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Nice lighting and BG on the grapes-in-glass shot. Makes me want a grape.

Nicely done.

[Itsed65]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Nice lighting and BG on the grapes-in-glass shot. Makes me want a grape.

Agreed, great shot. Makes me want a glass of wine

[dcstep]

Bumblebee On Mullein

Bumble Bee On Mullein by David Stephens, on Flickr

[M_Six]

^^^^Beauty, DC. 500mm macro. Sweet.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by M_Six

^^^^Beauty, DC. 500mm macro. Sweet.

Thanks Mark. A huge crop helped.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Thanks. Used the code and saved $10. Still, they ripped me a new one on the shipping cost.

I should follow up. We were talking about Fracture, a company that mounts prints directly to the back of glass. I ordered a "Large" print and the shipping was just under $25. I must say that the packaging is the very best that I've ever seen. There's lot of extra space around the glass and print and it's suspended within the outer post with a custom packing system. No cost was spared in that regard. Given that, I think that the shipping cost was reasonable.

Now that I'm talking about them, I wasn't happy with the print itself. I chose a print with lots of color depth in blues, greens and browns. I've printed it before, myself and also had My Publisher put it in a vanity book of a trip we took. The processing was done on a calibrated monitor and all the other prints look like my screen, but the Fracture was kind of toned down and looked almost like it was drawn with pastels. I didn't go back and forth with them to try to fix it, because I decided to simply do my on prints and mount them in Plexiglas wall mounts. As they requested, I used sRGB colorspace, but that isn't any excuse. The sample below is sRGB.

The image was taken through a window screen, so there's a bit of softness caused by that, but Fracture further softened and homogenized it. Here it is:

View from our window at Westward Sudeley B&B by David Stephens, on Flickr

Just looked at the print again. It's not even close to what you see here.

[justanotherdude]

Originally Posted by dcstep

I should follow up. We were talking about Fracture, a company that mounts prints directly to the back of glass. I ordered a "Large" print and the shipping was just under $25. I must say that the packaging is the very best that I've ever seen. There's lot of extra space around the glass and print and it's suspended within the outer post with a custom packing system. No cost was spared in that regard. Given that, I think that the shipping cost was reasonable.

Now that I'm talking about them, I wasn't happy with the print itself. I chose a print with lots of color depth in blues, greens and browns. I've printed it before, myself and also had My Publisher put it in a vanity book of a trip we took. The processing was done on a calibrated monitor and all the other prints look like my screen, but the Fracture was kind of toned down and looked almost like it was drawn with pastels. I didn't go back and forth with them to try to fix it, because I decided to simply do my on prints and mount them in Plexiglas wall mounts. As they requested, I used sRGB colorspace, but that isn't any excuse. The sample below is sRGB.

The image was taken through a window screen, so there's a bit of softness caused by that, but Fracture further softened and homogenized it. Here it is:

View from our window at Westward Sudeley B&B by David Stephens, on Flickr

Just looked at the print again. It's not even close to what you see here.

Hmmm, that's unfortunate and I'm sorry to hear that.

Don't know what to say though, my print looks exactly like what's on my computer. :/

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by onlyabloke

Hmmm, that's unfortunate and I'm sorry to hear that.

Don't know what to say though, my print looks exactly like what's on my computer. :/

Thanks for your concern, but I've tried enough online printing to know that it's always a bit of a crap-shoot. That's part of the reason that I bought my own pro-level printer. That's also the reason I ordered only one test. Now, I just wish that I'd tested in the smallest size. I had a brain fart and over-optimism all at once.

For large prints, I'm extremely lucky to have a world class printer just 15-minutes away. He knows me and what I expect and we're on the same wavelength without even trying.

The fact that Fracture wanted sRGB tells me that they're aiming at the uninformed market. Still, Bay Photo goes to great length to get colors right, but it can take some effort to iron things out, even with them.

Since I didn't try to resolve my issue with Fracture, I feel that my review may be slightly unfair. Maybe their customer service is excellent and they would have made it "right." I just took the path of least resistance and greatest control by printing my own.

BTW, until you've printed a few yourself and critically worked with test images to get you computer/printer calibration in sync, you may not appreciate that color matching is NOT an easy thing. With test images going back and forth, there's no way to guarantee success on one try.

BTW, looking at my image above in Chrome browser, it is VERY close to my RGB version in LR or DxO . Fracture is way off.