danny_liao

Lighting! While posing and gesture is just as important, you could always just flip through fashion magazines for that. Although you could do the same with lighting, understanding the basic of light is still more important. For example, how far to put a light source (hard light, softbox, umbrella, etc) from subject? How high? What would happen if you put the light source close to the subject? What would happen if you put the light source far from the subject? All these you would have to practice to find out. No magazine or books will give you a better understanding until you do it physically. But you could learn "styles of lighting" by studying magazines, but you would have to do some grunt work to learn the important technical stuff.

 

Posing is a whole other ball game. There is so much to a simple pose or gesture. I don't know what kind of people photography you're doing, but besides family portraits, I find studying fashion photographs in Vogue or W Magazine perfect for learning poses. We read images from left to right so the first thing you should try to learn is how to pose your subject so that it will lead a viewer to read the image from left to right. Hahaha...this is too hard to explain. Hopefully you got the basic idea.

Although, I have the 8000, I find it better for you to install the software seperate from Photoshop. This way, if you have a powerful computer, you could scan and work on images at the same time. If you install Nikon Scan as a plugin, you will only be allowed to scan and Photoshop will be useless while scanning.

But why is it deliberate when it's his style? How is it "deliberately making his subject look bad" when it's his style? He shoots everyone the same way from presidents to actors and fashion models.

If it wasn't for Newton Rings, the Epson 4990 or the CanoScan 9950F would be great. I currently have the CanonSscan and it's driving me nuts. I get Newton Rings on almost all my 4x5 scans. If I were you, I go with the Artixscan 1800F and not worry about those damn rings. I will probably get rid of my Canon for the 1800F.

"Sometimes, its apparent that photographers are deliberately trying to make their subjects look bad"

 

OOOhhh...better know your photogs before you criticize his work. Platon is a photographer that's known for his wide angle shots. You CANNOT blame the photog if the publisher chose him to do the shoot. TIME wanted to portray Ann Coulter a certain way so they chose Platon. How is that the photographers fault? That is his style!! Anyway, it's not even a bad portrait. In my opinion, Ann Coulter blew everything out of proportion.

Have you guys heard of a CAMERA STORE?! HELLO...hahah!!1 Try Samy's in Santa Ana or Pro Photo Connection (http://www.prophotoconnection.com/). If that fails, there's alway B&H Photo for mail order.

Does anyone critique their own photos anymore? Does anyone know the

basics of photography anymore? What happened to understanding the

basic rules of photography? Rules of 3rds?? Composition? Self

education???? I'm seeing all these threads requesting for critiques

but none is worth the effort. I'm not trying to be mean spirited or

anything but a lot of the image requesting to be critiqued are not

worth the time. They lack EVERYTHING thats needed to make a decent

photograph. Sorry, but especially the wedding department. Maybe it's

just me.

YOU are overly sensitive. There is no "snottiness" in Ellis post at all. Ellis is right, a simple experiment could have answered your question. It's not like you'll be wasting film by experimenting.

I had this same problem but never figured out what was wrong with it. I switched over to Picture Project and everything works fine now.

I'm getting these vertical lines on my 4x5 neg scans. Is this what

you call "banding?" If so, how do I get rid of them? Is there a

problem with my scanner? Anyone else experiencing this? Here's a

sample image. I tweaked the levels to make the lines more revealing.

 

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/3650862-lg.jpg"></center>

If you have used strobes before, than you should know how to work it. If so, why are you using I-TTL? Put the camera on manual and sync it accordingly. The reason why you're getting dark/underexposed pictures is because you stopped down too much. Try opening your F-Stop 2 stops and see if that helps. Also, ditto on the light meter.

Here is how you clean out your holders. 1) Remove both dark slides. 2) Tap all sides of the holder to loosen up dust particles (the rail and up top where the dark slide goes in and out). 3) If you have compressed air, blow the dust that came loose and also blow through the top of the slots where the dark slide goes. Important if you are using compressed air from a air compressor. Make sure you set the air flow/power so it's not blowing too hard. Test the pressure by lightly blowing your palm. If the air is making a big indention on your palm, than it's blowing too hard. If it's barely making a slight dent, than that's perfect. This is important cause if you blow too hard, you might blow out the lining inside the holder that keeps lights out. Besides using compressed air, go pick up a nice fine-hair painter's brush 2-4 inches wide. These are great to pick up or brush away dust. However, they are pricey.

 

To check if there is a light leak. 1) Remove the dark slide. 2) Point the slot opening toward a single light source. Most effective in a dark room with one light source. 3) Look through the slot from the bottom. See if the light comes through. Check the corners cause that's where most light leaks start from.

 

I hope I explained it well.

You could use clear plexi glass, a trick from the 80's. I don't do this but learned it in school. The plexi will give a nice shine/reflection on any color seemless you lay it on. Of course this is easy with a 9' seamless. You could also do it on the 12' but a whole sheet of plexi could be expensive. Unfortunately, there is nothing much you could do about the background except trying different lighting. Check this guy out. He was my lighting instructor. Most of his stuff is done on seamless.

www.petemcarthur.com.

I love my RZ. I hope it's not true either. But does this mean the ZD is ready for shipment????

Click on the action tab. After you do that, click on the arrow button to the right of it. It will drop down a menu. Click on Load Actions than select desktop. It should than show any file that's an Action file on your desktop. Select the file you want and click Load. Hope that helps.

I'm on a Mac so it might be different. For me, I go to the Imageprint folder in my HD under Application. In there, there is a folder call COLOR. I drag the profile on my desktop into that folder. I would imagine it to be kind of the same on a PC platform. Hope that helps. I'm from LA but since we are using different platforms, I don't know if I could be much of a help. Email me if everything fails.

Stephen,

 

Can you pass over the POON-TANG to me when you're done?=)

I've been printing 11x17 Innova Softexture 315gm paper through the main top slot. I don't like using the rear cause it throws off my margins. Also, I'm too lazy to learn how to set them. Anyway, the top slot is not meant to take heavy paper but it will work if you help feed it into the printer. I just lightly push the paper down into the printer when the rollers starts spinning. Once the rollers catch on and starts taking in the paper, you are good to go.

Okay, you already done the swapping thing so I guess it could be operator error. How are you loading it? It looks like the center is not getting processed which means the roller is not making FULL contact in that area. Do you have a hard time pulling out the polaroid? Where is the strip of paper that you pull for the polaroid to come out? Is it coming out the same slot your polaroid comes out from (which is odd if it does) or is it coming out of a different slot right next to it (the right way)?

I think the best thing you could do is go buy a new pack of polaroids. If it doesn't happen with the new one, than you could probably send in the old pack and get your money back from Polaroid. Make sure to include a letter with description and a sample when you send it in.

I doubt that you will be shooting anything major that will require you the performance of the D2X. If you are thinking "hey...might as well get something nice so I don't have to get it later." Well, that might work with film cameras but not digital. Cause by the time you get out and start shooting professionally, your D2x will be old news. 5K to do homework assignments just doesn't sound to be the right choice. But it's your money. I would go with the D70 and with the money left over, pick up a medium format camera or 4x5. Film camera is truely the only way to learn photography, even in this digital age.

I think the 4800 will be perfect but be prepare to invest lots of money and time. As much as we would like it, we just can't get a high quality print just by plugging in the printer to a computer and hit print. 4800 is a high end printer so that means after market software will be expensive. You don't neccessarily need these software, but to achieve beautiful prints, in my opinion, it's a must.

I'm assuming this is a "beginning" photography class. If so, I recommend what ever camera you use, make sure you learn it in manual mode. This is the best way to learn photography. I started out photography with a 35mm auto focus/auto "everything" camera. It wasn't until I picked up a Hasselblad and a light meter that I learned everything I know now. By shooting manual mode, you'll shoot slower and you'll be physically setting the shutter & aperture therefore learning and remembering more of what you are doing or did. anyway, just a suggestion.

If you could get a kit like that for the price listed above, 600-800, I would get it. BUT most likely the prices is too low. You are looking more like 1000+ for the kit. The body alone is going for 750.

 

Anyway, LF is fun but it's a slow shooting camera. But if you like sharp images and likes to print big, than I think you'll love the camera. The Toyo A is a great camera to start with. I have the Toyo AII and it's build like a tank so I could imagine the A is just the same.

1000, you could get a pretty damn good printer for that price. The first printer that pops into my head is the Epson R2400. I have the 2200 and love it so I could imagine the 2400 being even better. Or you could pick up two 2200 and set one to color and one to black and white. Keep in mind that often, the printer itself won't get you great prints. Take into consideration that you might need to get a RIP software to make the image look GREAT. I, and many others, use Imageprint with great success. It's pricey but well worth the money.