David Anderson
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Nice shot, I like the flat light & reflection, but it does look a little bit dark on my screens (1/3 of a stop maybe ?).
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Good point, the cameras I’ve tried with more subtle AA filters cause moire problems on fabric and can be too sharp to get good skin.
(IMHO)
All the medium forma stuff I’ve tried was horrid for head & shoulder shots.They are better for landscape stuff maybe, but I would rather not have to get rid of moire then do a bit of sharpening.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
A lot of the best big softboxes, like the elinchrom Octalight as an example, are really just big umbrellas with a diffusion cover or two.
The concept of umbrellas and softboxes are totally different. If you mean the structure of the “backside” of the softboxes resembling umbrellas that might be true. However, if you mean the effect are similar… that’s misleading. IMHO. Diffusion distance and size of the diffusion can form a lot of variations that unbrellas never can achieve. Well, this is just my personal opinions.
You’re right, I was being over simple, but big softboxes like the Octalight where the flash fires backwards into the umbrella then out through a diffuser have the same wrap-around look of large umbrellas and give softer gradations from highlights to shadow than traditional soft boxes where the flash fires out through a layer or two of diffusion.
Personally I like big lights like the Octa or Recta lights for main lighting and regular softboxes for hair lights or product stuff.
The point I was making is that you can get some great lighting with the humble white umbrella if you don’t have the money for softboxes.
Here’s a shot done with the Octa up close.
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A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Hi Nathan,
I’m not 100 % up on US camera prices, but I do know where you can get some great reviews on DSLR’s –
And here’s another site with loads of good articles and info.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
I gave up the band scene (for profit) a long time ago – they seem to be the only people with less money than photographers.
I gave up the ‘for profit’ part of music photography as well, though still try to make a living at it.. ;D
It’s still fun and there’s a little money around so I wont complain.(much ;))..Shanon, ‘Skyports’ are Elinchroms version of the Pocket Wizard, though IMHO havng used both, the Skyports are a lot better – for one they cost much less and you can raise and lower the power on the pack from the camera.
They’re also very compact and the kit comes with two receivers and a transmitter and a real nice little hard case.
(I got two kits here for the price of 1 pocket Wizard set)Nice shots Chad, I also like the knife shot, the highlights are very well done.
Your band shot is also cool for it’s simplicity and feel – something missing in a lot of what’s around in the magazines.www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Stuff bad down there too? I’m interested in whether our overseas friends are on the same point on the curve that we are.
Zach
We’re just getting started here in Australia with unemployment rising and retail sales are hitting the skids, though I think it’s going to get a lot worse.
(Australia normally follows the US economically )Our new PM KRudd (Kevin Rudd) tells us we’re going to just get winged by the world wide slump because we’re selling so much coal and iron to china at such high prices, but with China slowing the mines here have just started lay-offs and commodities prices are coming down as well.
The economy here has been on a major resources boom for many years, with huge money being paid to workers and big tax revenue generated.
This week the PM is handing out 10 Billion dollars to pensioners and lower income families and telling them to spend it to help save the economy.
They claim it will create 75,000 jobs.www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Cameron, I would shoot everything in raw.
I have on a couple of occasions shot Jpegs at big shoots and regretted it later.
The slowest element of shooting (IMHO) is the editing and whatever you shoot there’s no getting out of it.
So what I would do is shoot raw, do a tight edit and then balance up the final shots, even if you only make a tweek here & there and do a blanket contrast/sharpen/color adjustment you’re going to get much better shots then shooting Jpegs and as stated above you wont risk blown white dresses and dodgy skin-tone thats very slow to fix after the fact.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
I always wanted an Olympus kit with the OM4 T bodies – they’re such a beautiful compact camera and the lenses are awesome.
I also think it’s going to be a breeze to carry that stuff around compared to the big fat AF lenses that we have now.
Nice kit..
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Shoooowwwww, so how do you guys practice??? Do you set yourself task and goals and then work on them till you get it right?????
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
The fixed zoom would be a good idea, I bet it’s sharper then the zoom and finds focus better for having a larger aperture..
Make sure you post some samples..
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
I’ve not shot the Olympus before or used that lens, but at the long end it would be nearly equv. of a 300mm on a full frame camera and that’s getting very long for hand held photography.
Getting high quality pictures with long lenses is hit & miss and you need to take care to get the focus right.
You also need much higher shutter speeds to get sharp pix out of one.
As a rule of thumb on full frames you need twice or more the length of the lens in shutter speed to freeze lens shake.
So a 300 would really need to be shot at over 500th of a second or even a 1000th to work well.
(everyone is different in how slow they can shoot – personally I drink to much coffee and need the high speeds. ;))With longer lenses you also get much shallower depth of field or the amount of focus depth, for example a 300mm F4 lens shooting a full length shot of an angler might only have 2 inches of sharp focus from front to back.
(God, I hate expaining depth of field ! – anyone please feel free to help or tell me to shut up if you know this stuff !www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
What camera and lens are you using Mike ?
I agree with everyone above, but would like to add that sharpening should be done shot by shot depending on use of the photo.
For example, web post shots can get a big smack of the stuff where large prints look better IMHO with less.
Over sharpening and punching too much contrast are very common mistakes I see in peoples digital photos and I think you will get much better shots if you learn to do them on a shot by shot basis.Most raw converters have a default setting and most raws need a bit to bring out proper detail.
I like you shots BTW..
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
I know I’m getting a LL Bean self illuminating field watch for christmas and my birthday this year because I had to pay for and order it myself..
😉www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Matt, with that kind of budget you could get a second hand monobloc from Profoto, Bron or Elinchrom and a large umbrella and maybe even a white/silver reflector.
With that kit you could shoot a lot of stuff from people to product.
400-600 Watt Seconds power is a good starting range, though 1000 will give you some more grunt.
A couple of sync leads will be more then enough.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Shannon, Elinchrom is cheaper then Profoto here in Australia by about 30 % (ish) and at least half of what Broncolor stuff costs.. 😮
When I was looking at getting new lights I asked around at a couple of the big studio hire places and they both said Profoto gear is very tough & reliable, and Broncolor is the best lighting.
I found both brands had great gear and gave me years of good service , but having a kit of each was getting to be a pain with using Brons infra red triggers and pocket Wizards for the Profoto’sRecently I switched everything to Elichrom, they won me over for being good value and having really good light shaping accessories, as a bonus the distributor here (Kayell) is a really good company and great to deal with compared to the people that do Profoto.
I should have added to my first post that when it comes to triggering lights a couple of sync leads is great and more than good enough for most uses, the Skyports, pocket Wizards and USB triggering is all good as well, but can be a pain and costs plenty of money.
I use the Skyports, but always have a sync lead hanging off every pack just in case..www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Well mate,. I reckon May and June are Pheasant hunting months!!!
Especially the way the Taupo fishery is these days!!!
Sincere congrats on the new addition… good to know you’re not only shooting digital these days! ;D 😀 ;D
Thanks Clark, we decided to have a recession baby – or least get one more out while the government still has enough money for the baby bonus..
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
You’re a funny guy Clark !
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A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Yep, that’s them ..
There’s a biggish river on the western edge of Sydney called the Napean and on hot summer nights we take our float boats (Abel Travel craft) and fish for the bass there and every night on dark thousands of them fly up the river from wherever to wherever – it’s quite a sight !
I’ll try to get some shots no that it’s getting to bass time again..
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
A lot of the best big softboxes, like the elinchrom Octalight as an example, are really just big umbrellas with a diffusion cover or two.
A friend of mine used to use one old Bowens 1000 mono block and a big white umbrella for all his magazine work.
(people stuff)
It was just a question of him finding the best working distance for the umbrella and sticking with it.
I think the brolly is from lastolite.His pictures are great and prove that you don’t need to spend a lot of money on lighting to get published and also that second hand gear is worth a look..
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Umbrellas are a good place to start with lighting, they’re very forgiving.
Use the silver for shooting things like flies to give them some edge and white for people stuff for soft transition to shadows.
You can experiment with distance and angle though to the side and slightly higher then the subject is a good place to start.
If you get lights that aren’t very powerful a small softbox that can be placed close to the subject is best – anything large needs lights with grunt to work well.
(under 2 feet a side)I use Elinchrom’s now and I’m very happy.
Not sure how much the kits are in the US, but here they cost a bit more then the unknown brands or cheap chinese stuff, but cost less then things like Broncolor or Profoto and having owned all three over the years I can’t see much difference in quality of light.
Elichrom also make the best softboxes IMHO.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
