John Bennett
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Mike I have both the 400 5.6 and the 500 f4
Both are simply fantastic, each has its strengths and having both allows me to pick which one to take/use on any given day depending on various things.
As for the 500.Its a beast
But worth it
Mind you the 400s no slouch either.
Both have uses beyond wildlife
400 and 500 on the water, can you tell which was taken with which?
Another option is the 100-400 L. Not as fast focusing as the above, not quite as sharp nor does it take TCs as well, but thats such a small thing, given its versatility.
Nathan, there are only so many ways you can show fish.
As a general rule.
Shoot at eye level. So if your fish is in the water or just out of it, try to be there with it. Try to fill more of the frame, unless there are BG elements you want included.Angles.
Just my own personal preference but I tend to shy away from shots where the fish is perpindicular to the lens. Truthfully thats an understatement, I really don’t like them.To me anyways, it makes the fish appear flat and lifeless. We’re tryin to show 3D things, in a 2D medium, even just a little angling adds some perspective and a sense of depth, wether your DoF is shallow or deep.
Damn AO.
Your definately hosting me one day and we’re kicking some tires, once the dust of life settles a bit 🙂
Great Stuff guys.
Im really enjoying the gang buster threads where a few guys post their stories of the same trip.
J
Its really difficult for guys like us Aaron. Exposure doesnt pay the gas, the gas you need to go get the pictures. Yet, somehow you need to be able to “get your foot in the door”.
Im constantly evaluating my pictures against “Pros” and Im constantly seeing how much I need to improve. But you know what, most of them are doing the same thing. Your never going to be “good enough” or at the top of the game…Only the exceptionally few get to that point.
How do you start getting paid?
Wish I had answer for that. Did I get lucky or did I earn what I have through being able to produce photos that are “good enough” and then working at it. By that I mean working, not getting better shots. Weve discussed here numerous times what types of photos get bought.
Its not always the *best* photo, its the photo that fits the article/style/publication. Understand your ‘clients” needs, their content, their “seasonal requirements”..A simple example might be does publication A tend to publish cold water more than warm water?
If you get in with A focus on what they do.Best peice of advice I got was to stop thinking about “this” as a hobby with Gravy and start thinking about it as a business. People who stick with the former will eventually fail and fall by the wayside. People who treat it as a Profession will earn some measure of success.
When I start feeling down or frustrated (and trust me, I feel that alot) I think about how far Ive come in 1 year. Im listed as a “photog” for a major pub, have some others wanting my submissions, a couple covers and very shortly something alot of pros work a liftime for and never acheive. When I look at it like that, Im happy and realise how fortunate I am.
Look at where you were 1 year ago, look at wher you are today. I remember your photos when you first started and Im telling you Aaron your photos today are great, and that you have everything you need to succeed at some level.
Networking/Contacts and yes exposure are what you need now. Get something and build on that.
Thats what Insurance is for 🙂
I guess it depends on who your shooting for. Probably my worst day yet was a Turkey Hunt I did last year. I accepted the assignment, set a date to meet the writer who happened to live 2hrs away. So I get paid at that point no matter what.
3am arrived it was cold
4:30 am arrived we entered the field. Dark and Cold
By 6am it started to rain, freezing rain.
We didnt see the sun until the we started packing up at 10am, nor did we see 1 single Tom.They still got a couple dozen useable images, 2 of which made it to print. I suppose I could have called it off but how much more work do you think Id get from them?
The point I was trying to make is that its critical you deliver no matter what. Tibor Nemeth I’m sure could postpone a shoot for a day, or be a day late with a deadline.
People trying to get started don’t have that luxory. If you not wiling or able to do it, theres always someone else who is and that applies to “exposure” as well. Thats just a reality.
Every Professional photographer I’ve talked to in the business has said part of the battle is getting the work, so is keeping it.
/Raise your hand if you you have or would like to be “Featured” by Midcurrent. I could be wrong but Im guessing thats done for “Exposure”.
No?
All very good points David and in large part it’s what I meant by if not done carefully it can lead to abuse.
Everytime a publication gets images gratis, they are less inclined to pay you or someone else. Or, once people know you do it Gratis for others they are less inclined to pay you themselves. And yeah, e-zines are a concern.
However, for people starting out you need 3 things imo and this includes myself
1) Ability, the ability to produce consistantly and the ability to produce on demand. Meaning if your asked to get a shot of X and its piss pouring rain on the day, you still need to deliver useable images2) Exposure. One it gets your name out there but more importantly I think it lends legitamcy to you. This is related to 1) in so much as it becomes alot easy to gain acceptance and thus paychecks at “Fly by Night” when they know and see that “Fly by the seat of Pants” is using your work, even if FSP is an e-zine. I can tell you first hand now that Im a regular with A, quite a number of doors have opened.
3) Contacts/Networking.
You never know whats around the corner and who you meet today, might open doors for you in the future.
Pro Bono
Will it pay off? Who knows but offering to take the picture for them and the father Gratis, when their camera was awol got me names and contacts my work in front them, and my foot in the door.
Hey DD.
Ive got the specs for both up in front of me.
PnSs Im really not up to speed on but here are some things I would look at in making my decisions.Sensor size is the same at 1/2.3.
So all else being equal I would expect the WP to have more noise at higher ISOs as its squishing more pixels on the smaller sensors. For what you want to do, 10MP is more than enough. Point fo rthe OLY imo.LCD size. The oly is slightly larger. Point for there as well
FPS: The oly is higher at 4.9 fps (surprised its that high) another point for the OLY
Focal length equiv. Both basially the same, slightly more “zoom” on the pentax
Both have IS (image stabalization)
Max aperture: F3.5 for both
MFD (minimum focas for macro) Not 100% sure but looks like.
OLY 3.9 inches
Pentax .33 feet or basically 4 inches.Picture quality: Both should be about the same with the excption of the noise possiby, which is true of any PnS really.
Try to go to henrys and see if handling one or the other seems more intuitive. Squishy little buttons under big fingers can be awkward. if one feels better to handle I might go that route. The again alot of guys really like the WP series, its a popular series which might make it a safer buy.
All else being equal and having looked at the specs while nothing really jumps out at me as bein deal breakers one way or the other the OLY did score a couple points.
Ive spent the last few days talking with James Pistilli, just emailed him in fact, immediately before coming here and reading your reply. He was at the yak tourney, is one of WFNs bloggers (see his entry tomorrow about the tourney btw…shameless plug 🙂 ) and has a tie with and had mentioed the new show to me.
Small world indeed.
Not working with, thats far,far to ambitous a term but to answer your question, yes it’s Rapid Media which happens to be out of Canada.
I happened to contact the publisher after reading something of his as he is uniquely qualified to help me with something, and a by product of that discussion led to discussing Freelancing.
With my interest of fishing, hunting, canoeing, camping etc, etc its a perfect and natural fit for me. So now at this point between the pubs I already do stuff for (fishing/hunting) and with Rapid, I have outlets for all my interest and probably as much as I can handle.
Oddly enough a number of guys at that yak tourney I did, know them and had already told him (the publisher) they had a photog coming out 🙂 when talking about media coverage. But that small world stuff, shouldnt really come as a surprise, especially here in Canada.
Who knows what next year or two will bring, rome wasn’t built in a day.
Something I always seem t wondering about.
My daughter recently sent my external flying off the desk. The shell survived, the drive didnt…Lost all my back up data on it. Ran to the store and 30 minutes later I was backing everything up on a new TB Maxtor.
Question for those of you using 13inch Mac books, which I seem to reading more and more often. How on earth do you process your files on a screen that small?
I’ve pretty much decided that when this machine ( quad core, ram up the ying yang, smoking hot, sexy box,……….when new) starts to go Im switching to the dark side.
Vistas a freeking nightmare, I’m running registry mechanic weekly, scans every 3 days, constantly trying to clean start up, and still the things slowing down more and more, crashes occur with bridge daily, and on and on.
Makes me wondwer how MS stays in business.
Thanks for the words Will. I really do think it can be in my future ( sort of storytelling, photo essay type stuff) but I do really need to take some coarses first.
Seriously.
One day we should hook up and do Lake of the Woods/ Kenora. You write it, I’ll shoot it and between us we can shoot the sh** 🙂
Kendal, have you seen my spelling, typos and grammar in threads 🙂
Photographically speaking I’m actually doing quite well.
Im now “credited” as a photographer along with their writers (as opposed to nothing but photo credits) for Ontario Out of Doors, Canadas largest pub by distribution. Have more stuff coming, shoot assignments etc. And have a few other pubs where my work is more than welcome.An interview/expose tomorrow with a biggie and am hopefully about to embark on a relationship with the publisher of 4 kayaking/canoeing/paddling mags.
Things are really starting to take off.
If I could learn to write and I plan to, things only bode better.
Check this out Kendal, it might be the type of coarse your looking for. Im a member of the Outdoor Writers of Canada and will be joining the Outdoor Writers of America soon as well. People in both have gone this routeIt’s one of the “coarses” I’ll be taking. Best of all now that Im “for real” its a tax write off 🙂
