• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

What I'm doing - the progression

hhmoore

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I'm setting this up as a record of what I'm doing with my camera in various shoots...and hopefully I will learn something from it. All pics posted will be exactly as they come out of the camera, except for resizing.

For this group, I set up a piece of white posterboard on the kitchen island. There is a small light suspended approx 3 ft above the surface. It's a crappy set up, but I broke down my old photo box because I needed the space & I wasn't really happy with the lighting I had for it.
Since the lighting is insufficient, I set up two 18" fluorescent fixtures with natural white bulbs - one on each side of, and approx 8 inches above, the photo area. Talk about a cob job, lol.
Shooting with my Nikon D90, 18-55mm lens. These shots were taken in manual mode, with no other setting changes. (I tried starting in Auto - but the surrounding lights prevented the flash from firing, and the pics were too dark.) The first shot - the firefly - was taken from behind, almost between, the fluorescents. It gave the best light, but was a tough angle to shoot from (leaning over the sink, from the side); so I didn't bother with it for the rest of the shots. The remainder were from the "front" of the set up - and are still disappointingly dark, with lots of shadow.
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I probably won't do more pics until I put my photo/light box up again, and (hopefully) get the lighting more to my satisfaction. I'll see how the initial shots turn out, then decide what to mess with first (thinking it will probably be aperture, unless I nail the lighting).
 
Harald, I would suggest getting familiar with your camera and look over the users manual to start. The main problem I'm seeing is you need to correct your white balance. There's several different methods but I will not recommend one of the cameras presets but I will recommend setting a custom white balance.

Here's the method I'm currently using to set my custom white balance.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290978
 
I did set the white balance previously (Yes - I know I have to do it again, but this was a very temporary set up, so I didn't bother). Honestly, I was less than thrilled with the results last time, as there were more important things that needed fixing.

I purchased a separate book for this camera shortly after getting it, as it was my first venture into using a DSLR. I only got about halfway through it, when life started taking precedent. I barely have time to take pictures right now, so I definitely don't have time to go wading into the book, lol. I know it needs to be done, but I also know that there are some fairly simple set up changes that will help a lot. Just have to make them happen. Either that, or go back to a point n shoot - which isn't sounding like such a bad idea.

I saw your other thread, and I was looking it over this morning before I posted this thread. I'll look forward to your suggestions as I work on things, Steve. (It will be a slow process, at least for a while, as pics just aren't a priority)
 
I did set the white balance previously (Yes - I know I have to do it again, but this was a very temporary set up, so I didn't bother). Honestly, I was less than thrilled with the results last time, as there were more important things that needed fixing.

I purchased a separate book for this camera shortly after getting it, as it was my first venture into using a DSLR. I only got about halfway through it, when life started taking precedent. I barely have time to take pictures right now, so I definitely don't have time to go wading into the book, lol. I know it needs to be done, but I also know that there are some fairly simple set up changes that will help a lot. Just have to make them happen. Either that, or go back to a point n shoot - which isn't sounding like such a bad idea.

I saw your other thread, and I was looking it over this morning before I posted this thread. I'll look forward to your suggestions as I work on things, Steve. (It will be a slow process, at least for a while, as pics just aren't a priority)

Did you set your white balance manually/custom with a grey card or using one of the cameras presets. If you set a custom white balance for the lighting condition you shoot under you'll have much better pics.
 
I set it manually, according to the instructions in the book.
 
No, I did not use the presets. I used a white card.
 
No, I did not use the presets. I used a white card.


Every time the lighting source changes you need to set-up a custom white balance to match the lighting. For me most of my shots are in my light tent with the same lighting.

Can you send me some of your pics with the EXIF and metadata still embedded and also are you noticing a color shift of your pictures when you post them on the web?

You do know that your pictures have a heavy pink/purple cast...right?
 
Yes, I know I have to redo my white balance - yes, I know the pics are a mess...as I said, this was a very temporary set up - the intent was just to get a few pics taken as quickly as possible.
Again, I know there are issues with these pics - they aren't going to get fixed. I posted this thread so I could see how things change as I correct the problems that I know exist....and then to hopefully find out how to improve on things after that. I DO appreciate that you are trying to help; but can we wait until I fix what I already know is broken, lol?

Let me get myself set up again, and I'll post some new pics.
 
They're good shots. Other than the WB, only thing I would do differently is to diffuse your lights somehow. Maybe tape some white tissue paper in front of the lamps to soften the shadows some more.

Keep it up, you have some beautiful animals
 
Okay, I finally took a few minutes to do some more pics. I'm still not happy with the set up, but it's better. Admittedly, while I had the camera in manual, I initially forgot to check what my settings were, lol.

These 3 are fairly close, but not quite right. (The picture control was on VIVID, for these, because I didn't think to reset it until later)
 

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These were the second three pics I took....and I didn't check the images until after the second one from this grouping. I noticed he was way too yellow, and backed the picture control off to STANDARD. The third is closer, but still not quite right. For giggles, I flipped on my flash, because things looked a little dark in a few of the pics, and it totally wiped him out, lol - just a tiny flash of yellow.
Probably won't revisit this for a month or so, but who knows.
 

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That is one of the coolest balls I have ever seen!

I really like him, too.
Here is an outside picture of him
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and the closest from that group
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The snake's real look is actually somewhere between the two pics. He's not quite as subtle as the outside shot, but not as yellow as even the toned down shot from tonight
 
I dont mess with WB to much. I will change the in camera settings. To the preset WB setting needed for where Im shooing. I edit in Lightroom 4, so white balance isnt to big of an issue. I shoot raw, and get it as close as possible in camera. Then I tweak it in LR later if needed. Shooting raw, and having a good program to edit the raw file with. Makes it a little easier. And you dont have to worry so much about WB.
 
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