I haven't been able to get out and do any real photo shoots over the past couple weeks.  I'd planned a couple but on my days off from work, it was either way to hot or pouring rain.  I was able to photograph some of the flowers in my yard but that was pretty much it.

I did use my free time to catch up on a few different things that I'd been putting off for a while which I'll discuss below.

Computer Maintenance

I do all of my photo editing on a 2017 27" model iMac.  I've been waiting patiently for Apple to release the 27" with their new M1 chip.  I've been dealing with major performance issues for sometime and was able to do some updates to my system to buy me some time until Apple releases the model that I want.

I had isolated my issues to the internal hard drive.  It finally dawned on me that I could replace the internal with an external SSD drive for about $100 which I did.

Problem solved!  I won't say that the performance is now amazing, but it is certainly usable.  It also buys me some time until Apple releases the computer that I want.

My production iMac is on the left.  Trying to keep it going until I can replace it with a new iMac with the Apple processor

Added some Plug in's to Photoshop

Historically, I was never a big user of plug ins as part of my workflow.  However, over the past several months, I've added a few that really improve my workflow.  About 6 months ago, I added Topaz DeNoise and Sharpen.  These two both do an incredible job and are dramatically better than what PS & LR do natively.

I've just added The Nik Collection to my workflow.  The two plugins from Nik that I'm primarily using are Color Efex and Viveza.  
Over the past couple weeks, I've taken a few on-line classes to learn how to best use these.  With any on-line trainings, there is a ton available.  Some better than others.  It's always a challenge to find which are best.

I've been a member of an organization called KelbyOne for several years.  They offer training in pretty much every type of photography, Photoshop, Lightroom, etc you can think of.  I pay about $100 a year to be a member and it's truly the best money I spend on improving my photography.  You may want to check them out at www.KelbyOne.com.

Nik Color efex pro that I just added to my editing workflow

New Gear

if you are an avid photographer, you certainly know about GAS.  Not that kind of Gas but Gear Acquisition Syndrome.  This is the belief that if you just buy that new camera or latest lens, you will of a sudden start taking the most incredible photos.

Truth be told, having good photography skills is way more important than the camera / lens that you're using.

While I'm not quick to buy the latest and greatest piece of equipment, I am always looking at what's new and evaluating whether it would be a good addition to my camera bag.

With that said, I just added a Canon RF 24-240 lens.  This is the first native mirrorless lens that I've purchased.  It is a very versatile lens giving me both a wide angle at  24 mm to and a good telephoto length at 240 mm.

My latest addition, a Canon  R 24-240 lens

Website Updates

I also took the time to update my website, jaxpropix.com.  This is always one of those tasks that seems to always need to be done.  I've added a bunch of new content.  If you,re interested in seeing it, check out my website at www.jaxpropix.com

My recently updated website, www.jaxpropix.com

Looking Forward

Hopefully, the weather cooperates in the days and weeks ahead.  I've got a bunch of different photo shoots that I want to do.  There's a couple local gardens that I haven't been to this year for flowers.  I also want to get down to the Jersey Shore one night to do some boardwalk night shots and look forward to getting back into New York City for the first time since the pandemic.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can leave them below of shoot me an email at jaxpropix@yahoo.com.