mark liddell

Some 5DmkII's are apparently only syncing clean at 1/160, yuck. Anyway, ND filters; I went with the awfully expensive singh ray viable ND filter after trying cheaper alternatives.

 

Here is a great article on strobist about ND filters and flash use: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2010/06/using-nd-filters-to-kill-depth-of-field.html

Photoshop heads from one frame to another, no one will ever know (or care probably). In larger groups the odds of everyone looking at the camera at the same time get worse and worse, people also get tired of group shots quickly so shooting until you get one where everyone is looking at the camera can just take too long.

Interesting the Nikon marketing says "ideal for the D700" while the 85 1.4 says ideal for D3, D3x so Nikon have aimed it at the 'prosumer' market (hate that word) but given it a +£1000 price tag.

 

If the performance wide open is excellent I will by this lens as it would make a great all around lens for outdoor weddings, the standard is usually the 24-70 which is great but 70mm is just too short for portrait type use on full frame. The faster glass can deal with formals and dark churches.

Good to see nikon *finally* addressing some gaping holes in their lens lineup relative to Canon, no competitor to the 24-105 f/4 and an ageing 85mm f/1.4 was not helping. Still required:

 

35mm f/1.4

180mm f/2.8

It is true that shallow dof is very much in fashion, just look at the most popular wedding pros like Jessica Claire, Jasmine Star et al who shoot 1.2 lenses wide open with natural light. Then again so is selective focus with TS lenses - yuck.

<p>Isn't it standard to require the full balance paid in full before the wedding date?</p>

The nanos are great for what they are (small, light, cheap) but I use them with speedlights for accent lights only or indoors - 6ft really isn't tall enough. The manfrotto 1052BAC is a favourite which is more solidly built and goes up to 8ft and that sees the most use with modifiers.

I would say the lighting is more critical than anything assuming your existing lenses can focus close enough.

It's annoying but what can you do, most leicas are probably bought by dentists and collectors rather than photographers and I'm sure many high end slrs have never seen anything but P mode. Rich amateurs have better equipment than some pros due to their high disposable income and less need for a purchase to pay for itself - the 'Uncle Bob' at many weddings.

 

I've met a guy that owned leicas, hassys, contax etc. and in his 20 years in photography I don't think I've seen a single photograph by him that was anything at all to look at.

 

Relating to the 85mm f/1.8, you can use it stopped down a bit?

This should help you: http://www.stepheneastwood.com/tutorials/Tutorials_beautydish.htm

Auto ISO is useful in manual mode as a workaround for nikon leaving out the 1/focal length option (with + and -). You can use the shutter speed as min shuter speed and change it quickly without diving into the menu. You just have to be sure you are going to be at > 200 or you will get overexposure.

Because there is a mirror in an slr

Bibble is very well written and fully utilises multicore systems: adobe’s efforts are very poor in comparison and NX2 is not even 64bit.

 

I wish the results could stack up to NX2 though :(

So you can shoot at wider apertures, f/16 is not always ideal of portraits and weddings.

 

From tests the loss in flash power is more than the reduction in ambient light in FP mode making ND filters a better alternative as you are still able to shoot at the flash sync speed.

Raise your prices

Take on only the clients you want to work with (for fun = less burnout)

Analyse your products offered and knock out the ones that take up a lot of time

Look at outsourcing some elements

Just like tilted pictures and selective colour in b&w before it, this looks like the latest fad. Aside from not really liking the results of using movements for effect, I'd prefer my clients albums can stand up to the test of time and not look dated in a couple of years.

 

As a LF user I have seen enough 'eyes just in focus' shots already before the bandwagon arrived. I'll save movements for for landscapes and architecture.

I don’t understand people that post things like this waxing lyrical about the old manual cameras.

 

My first camera was also an FM2 and I only bought a digital camera two years ago. I can use my D700 in exactly the same way with the same lenses as my old FM2 including using the aperture rings if I want (which I don’t). All the three most critical controls can still be easily adjusted without taking my eye off the VF. I’m really not seeing an issue here.

Outside of very bright light the CLS system works OK, triggering using a flash as commander does help in that you can angle the flash at another other. Another tip is to not use the 5th battery which can mess with the line of sight to the sensor.

 

Almost everyone that uses off camera flash reguklarly end up with radio triggers, even a Joe McNally (the nikon sponsered lighting guy) uses PWs in some of his DVDs. I'm hanging on with CLS until the Nikon PWs are released so I can still change flash power from the camera.

Shoot *without* any flash first until you get the ambient about how you want it, then add you flashes and adjust the power to suit (or use a meter). For lamps and light fixtures you will probably only need a little flash.

The shoot 'n burn photogs usually go for the lower end of the market and high volume, if this fits how you want to run you business then go for it.

I'm new myself but I'll comment anyway:

 

You have some nice work here though I don't think the strongest pictures are amongst the 'soonest' in your slideshow, it's better to have less work but of higher quality. Your decent site design is seriously let down by the font choice in your header and menu imo.

 

I have no idea what the going rate is in your area but I'm sure you could be charging much much more than you are! You might be new but you have a reasonable body of work now so I'm sure you can raise your prices.

It's also worth remembering that when shooting flash with ambient the ambient itself acts as fill so you often don't need much (if any) fill from a second flash unless you are seriously underexposing the ambient.

To me it is overlit because it looks unnatural, a look that only works for fashion etc. IMO. One thing to be aware of when shooting in the shade are bright backgrounds which are not in the shade which contributes to this so I would have found a darker background. The lighting is pretty flat, I would have used fill closer to the camera to fill shadows rather than that having it that far off axis because it’s acting almost like your main but on the other side of the subjects.

Good labs will offer film scanning for a long time on imacons etc. for a good while yet at better quality and cheaper than buying unsupported hardware. I don't understand why people always look at buying film scanners if they wantt o scan film unless they shoot film in high volume.

I would seriously consider the Sigma 70mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro. Don't be put off that it isn't nikon, SLRgear tested it and said it was one of the sharpest lenses they had tested at the time: http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/964/cat/30