david king
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http://www.stunningnikon.com/ check it out!
I have a LL 8’9″ 3 weight and have cast the 8’6″ 4 weight ZXL. I would say it is a similar action. I want to try a 9′ 4 weight and 5 weight. They are beautiful rods.
I’ve used Zeiss on Hasselblad and Contax cameras my entire career and they are awesome sharp and very smooth tonally. The only lenses that might compare are Leica lenses. I don’t know anything about the particular lens you ordered but Zeiss has a great reputation.
Check this out, there is a lot of info on this site. http://www.westcoastimaging.com/wci/page/info/photoshoptip/tip12.html
Dots Per Inch and Pixel Per Inch are the same, most printers work best at 300 dpi. If you think of your common print sizes 8X10 = 2400X3000 pixels, 4×6 =1600X2400 at 300 dpi etc. You can resize your images in many ways in PS. The first thing I would do is convert my camera files if they were at 72 dpi to 300 dpi with resampling turned off in the image size dialog. This will give you the size of you camera files at the printer resolution. Then you can up sample them as necessary. I re-sample in 10% increments till I get near the size I want then I use the crop tool set a specific size and crop the image exactly as I want. The aspect ratio of most image sensors dosen’t match most common print sizes perfectly and a lot of pictures need a little cropping.
If your picture is good and sharp you can upscale 200 to 300 percent or more depending on what you feel is acceptable.The Nikon D40 or D40X would be a good entry level DSLR. I think a D40 can be bought for 500 or 600 dollars. Check B&H Photo.
Richards right, if you want something to build on you can’t beat Nikon or Canon. The only thing that you might want to consider is form factor. With a DSLR you not going to be able to tuck the camera in you shirt pocket, you pretty much locked into some kind of case. The other thing I hate about point and shoot cameras is shutter lag and slow storage. If they would just drop the price on the Leica M8 down to about 1500.00 with the 50mm lens. Its the perfect size for a light small camera that delivers high quality.
I have to agree with everything you say about Gierach. He is one of the few authors that can make me laugh out loud. On the threshold of geezerhood myself I can identify with much of his perspective. I will look for the new book. I wouldn’t mind having a copy myself and maybe one for my son for Xmas.
David King
Interesting point you make in regard to the Zone System and Ansel Adams. I learned the Zone System from a couple of Ansel Adams assistants Bradley Burns and Alan Ross. Fred Picker had an excellent book which really made the Zone System much easier to understand. HDR is like giving the exposure necessary to hold the shadow and using shortened or special development or using a compensating developer to control the highlights in Black and White. This works but in a lot of cases it looks out of key, like HDR.
Ansel has a famous picture called Black Sun where the sun actually reversed and solarized. I quit giving minus developments but I used plus development to enhance contrast and texture. The effect of plus development is really transparent in my opinion.
I haven’t seen anything that has originated as a digital capture that rivals medium or large format film in Black and White artistically. If you grew up on digital try film if you can its pretty cool. Film compels you to concentrate and focus on the subject. No chimping.
The turkey picture does add to the Holiday theme. I hope we see some stripers below the Dams soon. I have a 8 weight I want to try out.
Do some test shots varying the F-stop and conditions with the polarizer on and off and see what you get. The scratch will probably be most evident in high flare conditions like backlighting etc. Look at the upside though at least you didn’t scratch your lens.
How about a windless October day catching big fat rainbows on the North Platte River on dry flies with my son!
I’ve used Photo Matrix to shoot interiors and it really helped me compress a very wide dynamic range and was useful in that way. Artistically I think its a failure though it has a quality that is profoundly banal. So many photographs are technical exercises and its good that we do them. With a little luck and some hard work the day might come when something wonderful will happen and maybe you will get a really great shot. Something that is well seen that transcends technique on digital or film.
Given that the alternative to grass was probably dirt I wouldn’t worry to much. The average Joe would probably think you had a nice place and wouldn’t be put off at all. When your landscaping is better shoot another picture or hire a good pro to shoot it and put it in your brochure when you reprint. I do a lot of image manipulation and some is transparent and some is the lesser of 2 evils. Not everyone is a Photoshop maven that would notice the cloning and color.
Object lust is hard to rationalize so I don’t try. I’ve got several Abel click and pawl Creek reels a Lamson and a couple of Sage reels. I really like the new Hatch reels they look good, I can’t wait to check one out in person. Who wouldn’t like to have a Tibor with their name on it! You might as well own what you want and feel good about it! I think the question is really how much reel do you need? If I fished for Tarpon or Bonefish or Permit often I would have to have a Tibor. It seems to be the reel that the top saltwater anglers use. I wouldn’t mind having a nice cane rod with a Peerless reel for trout but thats really a lot of money. Some things are just a pleasure to own and use. Fine guns and great cameras like the Leica or Hasselblad have a quality that transcends cost. Otherwise no one would buy them or cane rods and classy reels.
