bsphoto

<p>And my website person wants the Tux and Cap/Gown shots. Not to mention the schools require the Tux/gown shots for the yearbooks in this area atleast.</p>

<p>I have already done searches online to see if I could find the answer to the tux question. All i find are other photographers who do senior portraits with no insight to the tux issue. </p>

<p>I was asked by my website person to do her son's senior portrait. I already picked up the Cap and Gown for the shots and have the Bow Tie and Shirt, and just picked up a tux jacket. I seem to remember that when I had my senior shots done so many years ago, they didn't carry a wardrobe of all sized tux jackets but rather had it slit up the back...</p>

<p>Its been a while so I don't remember how it was all put together to be able to make it easy to do and not fall apart. I want to be able to use it should I get a request to shoot another senior port.</p>

<p>Think I should split it and pin them together? Sew them together? Any ideas are welcome.</p>

<p>Washington School of Photography offers alot of classes that the local colleges don't teach. They offer many classes that lend towards the business aspect of photography as opposed to just taking a quality photo. The Professional Program is also geared towards giving you an outlet for the photography, unlike most AA/BA/MA programs which just show you how to photograph/print etc...</p>

There's more then one person charging out there, come on... just because one person makes a post thats explains his charging doesn't mean the post is over no matter how well he displays it... Its his, not yours... i want to hear you because i've been told to look at what other photographers charge and base mine off that... just going by one or 2 isn't enough... i want to find out all...

Ok so why is this a immoral thing to do? How often do you actually see a snake sunning its self in the perfect spot with the lighting and its body posture? Or getting a picture of certain birds and animals? Some of us get good pictures of animals by going to the zoo or using hunting techniques like scents, treats or food, or even calls to attract in an animal (catch and release hunting)... We set up situations that lead to shot or even sometimes find the animals and place them where we want them to be to get the shots we need. What about those photographers who use infared trip beams to capture pictures of bats, lizards, birds and other fast moving animals??? He's going to sit there and trigger the shot himself, with his own hand and tell it exactly when to shoot... he'll most likely be focusing it himself and doing all the leg work just standing back a little bit to get the shot and using an attractant to lure them in. If he can get good shots like that then great... most likely they won't be great but you never know...

 

 

The other thing is that the underwater photographers are also using a telephoto macro lens like an 80mm usually... That allows them to be further away from the fish and still get the shots that they want... Nifty trick right?

Why not just buy a regular tripod... instead of extending one leg... extent all 3 just don't splay them out... you have the 3 point base while still having it be very close to being a 1 point base, the tripod head, not too much you can go wrong with there... plus you also have a tripod for those times where that stability is really needed... Only time i ever take a true monopod is to a place where i know i don't have space/weight issue or i know that there will be absolutely nothing that i need to do extremely long exposures on

There keeps coming up with the question of what to charge... alot of times the

answers come back as "look at what others are charging for similar work" and

thats on here where we are mostly photographers, alot being "professionals"... I

want to know what kind of work you do (weddings, portraits, pets, art, etc) as

well as what you charge and why/how you came to that...

if your still learning the camera... shoot slide... and keep track of the exposures your using... you can check it later on the slides to see how the camera is exposing...

"Yep. All you need to do to take good pictures is spend a lot of money."

 

I hate to say it but that seems to be the thinking nowadays... no skill anymore, just equipment. but thats a whole nother arguement..

 

With a budget of $1500, i would have been having a 300 f2.8 or better lens for my camera... for you, i'd say spend your money on a good body (i recommend Canon's AE-1 Program, 200 or so for an excelent body on keh, or even less w/ lenses on ebay but not always best quality) and then get the "essential" lenses, 50mm, a wide angle (24-28 is usually enough), and a mid telephoto around 105-135 is good. plus if your moving around and doing lots of things a normal-tele zoom is a nice addition say 70-210 or so. you may also want to invest in a GOOD spot/light meter for more accurate exposures... a good tripod will help you out alot too... last is nice padded bag or case for all this... i'd suggest a pelican but thats only for safety of the equipment... its hard to lug around and is noticed by thiefs as a big $$$ target in and of its self... next choice would be one of the photo backpacks... it keeps all your gear right on you and well you have less to worry about people stealing your gear. plus it keeps your hands free when your working w/ your subjects/camera.

 

my recomended package:

 

AE1----------200

 

24mm---------150

 

50mm---------150

 

105mm--------150

 

70-210-------200

 

Tripod-------080

 

Bag----------120

 

Meter--------350

 

Total-------apporox.US$1200

 

Im sure that you can find lenses cheaper then what i've estimated but i gave a mid to high range estimate for most. the tripods can get alot more expensive for the upper models ($400+ but you don't need that high a quality one yet as a student) same w/ meters... they can run you over 600 or more new...

 

Look on ebay for some of this stuff or go to keh.com and look through their used equipment. i would also check w/ your teacher for any suggestions they have... bare bones you can get a body and 50mm easily for $1500.

Some times the AE1s can be a little finicky... did the film release well when you opened the back and took it out? if its a yes there may be 1 of two problems... you put the film in too deep into the groove and it just got caught and the angle wasn't good for the rewind lever... or the rewind button released itsself before the end stopping any film from going back to the cartridge... ummm i would rewind the whole tab back into the cartridge just because you don't want to assume its an unshot roll and then run it through the camera again.

 

as for it ruining any shots by opening the back... as long as the film wasn't wound around the take up spool and you didn't pull out any more film from the cartridge then you should be ok because this is the same amount of film exposed when loading the film on anyway.

Currently for my 35mm film I have mine stored in a large upright

freezer in fishing tackle boxes. somewhere along the lines of Plano's

3600 and 3700 series interchangable boxes. they hold 3 rolls of 35 mm

film in container per row (6 per box) for most of them some hold 5/row

(3-4/box). and yet others will hold 12/row w/ 4 rows... now this is

all 35 mm film and can be divided well for the different films i use.

such as 100ASA B/W, 100ASA color print, Slide, etc... The tackle boxes

cost anywhere from $1.50(on sale at Bass Pro) to about $5 each and fit

into whats called a softsided tacklebox. they can hold usually 4 or 5

boxes (depending on how you slip them in to it) my current bag holds i

believe 8-10 of the smaller 3600/360 series but there are ones made to

hold 12 of the larger 3700/370 series boxes. Cost for the bags can be

anywhere from 15 or less (on sale or at flea markets/yardsales) to

about 100 or so from Bass Pro or Cabelas. I'm still trying to figure

out a system for my 120 and 220 film to organize it as well... they

don't fit as efficiently into the boxes as the 35 mm film does... its

annoying... if anyone has any suggestions please post them.

ok correct me if im wrong but most of those shots shown (with the exception of 2 or 3) look like daylight shots and/or digitally enhanced w/ photoshop images. the few w/ the landscape looking like daylight and the dark blue skies and very still stars just don't appeal to me as a nighttime shot.

 

I know that in videography the use of a blue filter to light enhances the thought and mindset of night. maybe using a blue filter at night would do the same?

 

I know this is all just my opinion but, well, its not the easiest to capture "night". Possible, yes, but not the easiest and those able to capture the feeling of night well have either emmense amounts of luck or have had enough failures to learn the best way to not screw the shot up...

A singer friend of mine asked me to do some headshots for an upcoming

audition she has. Now i've figured the cost of materials (55.55 for

the paper, film and shipping). Its all going to be B/W and im printing

it all my self. She is going to need about 50 or so copies i believe.

and its a slight rush (3 weeks from basically today, so needed by

oct. 1). How much should i charge for my time and everything else? I

was thinking 100 for the whole thing but the more i think about it i

keep seeing it may not be enough but i don't want to over charge her

since she is a friend and has been such a good friend. I've looked

around at different studios for their pricing but i keep getting

confused because noone charges the same way (packages vs # of prints,

etc...). Please help me...

I keep looking to get a few lenses for my mamiya 645j. on ebay there

are a few lenses im looking at as well as in the keh.com catalog but i

don't know if they would fit my camera... i thought mamiyas had a

standard man. foc. lens mount but i don't want to spend money on a

lens and find out it doesn't fit my camera. i know the mamiya/sekor C

mounts fit, because thats what my 80mm lens is but i keep seeing a

series E lens and i don't know if that would fit my camera or if its

ment for the 35mm mamiyas. please help...

like the others said... if it had #s on the film it most likely is your camera... and would be a shutter problem. the other possibility is that it never went through the camera... the film could have slipped if you were using an older camera that required you to slide the film into a slot... you said the one end was black so it shouldn't be a lab error atleast not chemical wise... if it was completely blank w/ no black on the end then it would be...

 

as for getting the pics... offer a reshoot at no extra cost because its not their fault something happened... it may not be yours either but it makes them feel better...

The color seems to actually be off in the green/cyan spectrum... more cyan then green though... there are several ways of correcting this but i like the idea of switching it to monochrome rather then messing w/ colors... and did you have the white balance set to auto? in mixed lighting the camera has a hard time adjusting and sometimes overcomps for one or the other lighting...

Is it any good? how does it compare to the standard B/W films aside

from it being a C-41 processing film. I keep seeing it on BH when im

looking for TMAX

I don't believe if you reflect light the temp changes. and if it does then its in amounts so minute that the film won't be able to recognize them. What i would use white poster board or something along those lines. Its cheap and very easily manipulated into what ever shapes you'd like..

what it looks like is a soft focus with either a stocking or very thin layer of vasiline over a UV filter. you also need the right lighting to get the colors to be that sense... my guess is its also been under exposed slightly. like maybe 1/3 or 1/2 stop or so...

for the past few years i've always used the umbrellas i got with my

strobe set when i bought it from a friend... well recently that set

just up and died on me forcing me to buy a new set. I went with a bit

higher model this time and when i went to go look at getting new

umbrellas to go with the set i was struck w/ a huge delema... how big,

what color and will my strobe be too overpowering for it.

 

The old Strobes were 100w/s and worked great with the size umbrellas

it had. i think 36" but not possitive on that one. they were white

in/out and worked great for solo shots of dogs and solo portraits that

i did. anything more they fell a little short on.

 

my new strobes are 300 w/s and i don't know if i should be using the

same umbrellas i was using for the old ones or if i should get new

ones, bigger ones.

 

i do alot of solo shots (pets and humans)but also have been doing

group shots too. should i go get a larger size then i've been using or

will the ones i have work fine?

 

Next question after i figure out size is what would be the best color

for the work i do or should i get more then one... i know that the

gold ones warm skin tones and give a bit more of an outdoor feel to

the image, what about the silver? i work in both b/w and color, film

and digital. should i just get them and experiment?

I know i do hand coloring sometimes and i know how hard it is with some papers to get the oils to dry. i also know how hard it is to reproduce handcoloring on some images... personally i would say get an 11x14 portfolio and put the 8x10's in to it along with the 11x14s... or just keep the 8x10s and 11x14's in seperate porfolios...

(i know its lighting but there wasn't a place for it)

 

Ok so you guys know the photo prop of a bucket of paint knocked over

and looking like it was just spilled... well i'm trying to make a

durable set for a photo shoot i have coming up in April and i can't

figure out whether they use a resin, put it in the paint bucket and

wait till its hardened a bit then knock it over and let it slowly pour

out and then paint it or what they do... if anyone knows or knows

someone who knows... please answer this... or if you know where i can

get a CHEAP set of them i would much appreciate it...

 

Also if anyone has any other prop ideas that they think would be

fairly easily made and would be safe for use w/ animals (mostly dogs,

some cats and ferrets or the occasional guinea pig) or things that are

easily stored and are CHEAP to obtain.

Recently i've been getting more people interested in me taking

portraits of their pets and other photography jobs. They ask how

much i charge and i have somewhat established prices but i keep

feeling like they are too low for making me profit but i'm afraid to

raise the rates for my sitting fee because i don't want to charge

too much that my "clients" won't want to pay for my services...

 

How do you guys determine what your fees are going to be and if they

are appropriate for the services?

There was a post about whether or not a photographer needed to get a

model release for certain pictures they had taken and wanted to

sell. I was wondering when should a model release be used? also i

work alot with dogs and am looking to sell some of the images, does

anyone know if i one need a model release for the dog and two if i

do need a model release for a dog/animal what needs to be included

thats different from say a human model release?