IanOliver

I'm looking for either; 1) a good (and affordable) lighted vanity mirror to go over the sink in the half bath in our studio or 2) a mirror and side strip lights for the same spot. (we'll also have a small portable MUA station but it seems people still like having a good option in the powder room.) A lot of MUA's carry lights from Glamcor and TML. Glamcor has this vanity that is kind of my current default though I'd prefer something slightly larger. TML have this but it's not yet available and their currently available option is only 12x12. Given their reputation I'm fairly confident that both of these are good quality glass (no tint, waviness, etc.) and good quality light. TML's is 96+ CRI including good R7.

FWIW, I'm in the process of switching to Capture One + Affinity. Both are perpetual license. I found good skin tones better or easier to achieve in C1P than LR or PS. I'm actually quite poor at editing so not a good person to rely on but so far for myself I'm much happier. I'm still paying the $10/mo but hope to be comfortable enough in my new world to cancel it in Jan or Feb.

For me the overwhelming weakest part of Buff mono's is the Balcor mount. They are unreliable, get worse with age and are just about useless w/ heavier accessories. So I'm debating switching from Buff. I love the overall quality for the price but the weak mounts are becoming a major problem and possibly a safety issue if something fell off and hit someone (I also wish they had smaller speedlights that work with the same radio system but that's minor). Is anyone aware of a way to successfully convert Einsteins and Digibees to Bowens? I've got a couple of different adapters but they suffer the same problems or worse since they still rely on the quite poor Balcor mount on the strobe and both adapters are poorly machined so are very tough to fit accessories on. Thank you,

Pulling the batteries for a bit and re-inserting seems to have done the trick. I should have thought about that. Hopefully it follows in Shun's path and doesn't reappear. Thanks everyone! BTW, though it seems, so far, to have not been the memory card, I'm curious how that could do it?

My D850 won't turn off. It hasn't been dropped or banged around at all. Just noticed this yesterday but it could have been happening for a while as I never really check to see if it's actually off when turned off. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thank you all. I do have some Sorel boots so hopefully good there. The Northface McMurdo has too small of a hood so it presses down on my head and I feel like my head is carrying some of the weight of the jacket. Otherwise a great parka. In doing some more research others seem to be having the same problem and it appears to be a this year model issue. So it goes back. Canada Goose and Arcterx are so far the winners. I sat outside in each for about 40 minutes in about 6 degree f temps and both did OK. One issue with these is that they are effectively a mid (warmth) layer and shell layer all in one. If you're getting warm/hot you can't easily remove a layer without removing a lot of layer. You can unzip but that won't help overheating/sweaty arms and there are no arm vents. OTOH, they are quite warm and comfy. For cameras I'll have a D850 and D3 along with 2 spare batteries each so the bodies s/b good. Still debating a tripod. I like to keep travel simple so rarely take a tripod along. It'd come in handy for the northern lights though so may invest in something. I'd like to to an RRS carbon but they're pricey.

I'll be in Helsinki FI next week and I think planning to add a week in far north Lapland. What cold weather clothing would you recommend for this environment for shooting? I've typically just worn my standard cold stuff (turtleneck+sweater+ski jacket, long underwear + jeans + rain/wind pants, mitts or gloves, wool socks, boots, wool hat. This works OK but not great when standing around shooting and not being active. I've thought several times I should bite the bullet and invest in better cold weather stuff. I've over dressed and sweated and underdressed and froze (and missed shots) so I want to make sure I've got the right stuff. Canada Goose expedition sounds great but costly: Canada Goose Expedition Parka Review Northface McMurdo might be a better deal: The North Face McMurdo Parka III Review Some of the other parkas like the Camosun don't have as many pockets as I'd like. Other recommendations? Thank you

"Compositing and masking is best done digitally, then printed. Use of Adobe Photoshop in this regard is well presented in the eponymous book, "Photoshop Compositing and Masking" by Katrin Eismann. This is directly comparable to using overlapped negatives to make a print." Not necessarily. Using photoshop is the same, or at least produces similar results, as overlapping negatives in an enlarger. Multi layer or multi pass printing with ink can be quite different though. The sheen and texture can change with each layer as can the edges where a later layer overlays a previous layer. I don't know how this would work with the Pro-100 but the results can be very dramatic with presses and screen printing. BTW, agree about good calibration. I've currently an older Spyder that does a fair job but should upgrade to an I1. Even so this is a rather new area for me and I'm guessing I'll be experimenting with different things for a while.

It'd be cheaper to buy another printer and 50 sheets of paper for $69. But then that'd leave me having to dispose of the extra printer and I'm not sure we need more waste in our landfills. :-)

Thanks Sandy. I'd thought about that but the options for corrections are too vast. Better I think to print, make adjustments, print again, make adjustments, etc. Hopefully I'll eventually get to where I can come close to nailing it on the first try but I think I'm a ways from being there. I think many overlay creations can be done in PS or Affinity but some rely on the ink actually being physically overlayed for the desired effect. Years ago I did an overlay where we'd print an image and then fix some paper over a portion and print another image that was partially on the new paper and partially overlaying the first print and then repeated this a couple of more times. The end result was interesting. I'll have to find a slide (yes, this was before digital) of it to post. My concern with just trying it is that I don't want it to mess up the head in any way. I don't think it would but I'd hate to have to buy a new head from trying to save a few bucks on paper.

Can I print test images in different locations on the same page multiple times with a Canon Pro-100? IOW, I'd print one test image, evaluate, and then print a modified version in a different location but on the same sheet? Later rinse, repeat. Just trying to save on the costs of paper. Thanks all

I'm not so sure about this and I've struggled with it a bit. Many models, male and female, act very differently based on who is present. Higher end professional models not so much but even they can be a bit different. Sometimes having others present isn't a problem but sometimes models are a lot less self conscious and do a much better job when it is just they and photog. Sometimes a MUA or similar can do a good enough job of disappearing in to the background to not be a problem but too often that's not the case. One exception is a husband+wife I know who do boudoir together. They work well together and together make their clients/models feel very comfortable. Though even with them they'll say that sometimes one or the other will disappear for a bit. This seems to largely be a U.S. thing and not such a big deal in Europe. I'm not sure what the solution is. More than a few have talked about installing security cameras to record sessions but I'm not sure if that's a good solution or not. I don't think I'd want to do it without clients/models knowing but then their knowing can make them uncomfortable.