chadlatta

<p>I have a small camera collection ranging from TLR's to rangefinders. Nothing fancy, just your run of the mill ebay treasures.</p>

<p>I have been thinking about selling some off and purchasing an older Mamiya. I would like to shoot more and as it is I have too many cameras sitting around with unused film in them, so I want to wittle it down to just a few that I use more.</p>

<p>I would like to spend around $150 to get up and going, then maybe invest in more accesories in the future if I stick with it. Also, I might possibly want to purchase a polaroid back or a digital back eventually.</p>

<p>What should I be looking for? Which model, lens..etc.</p>

<p>Thanks for your suggestions.</p>

<p>Chad</p>

<p>Thanks for the response.....I think I am starting to get it. Its just a lot to wrap your head around, at least for me...its just confuses me!</p>

<p>So, I am assuming shutter speed doesn't come into play here at all, other than exposure?</p>

<p>@Alan Marcus: The light meter works properly and I adjusted it to work with a new, higher voltage battery. I ran a test roll through it shooting only in auto and everything work just fine. The problem with shooting in auto is that I have to focus with the rangefinder. Its not that bad and with a little practice it may not be an issue, but its tough to get it done quickly.</p>

<p>I shoot with a D80 right now and have a blast. But I love film. I started with a Nikon FE2 and then went to to digital recently. The thing I like the most is that I cant obsess about a shot because I dont know exactly what I got until I develop it! With digital, I am always chimping and shooting and chimping....etc. I dont have an excuse if I miss a shot. With film, I just shoot and get what I get. Its relaxing.<br>

I have about 4 rangefinders, 3 or 4 TLR's and a few different polaroids. I love shooting with all of them. Collecting, cleaning and fixing them is pretty addicting. I have had to stay away from ebay for a while because I have too many to shoot with now!</p>

<p>I just picked up a Canonet QL17 GIII, cleaned it up and ran a roll of film through it. I love it, its a blast but......</p>

<p>I have a hard time focusing, especially on the fly. I am trying to figure out what settings I need to "preset" the focus so that I can shoot on the fly without using the rangefinder. But, I am really confused.</p>

<p>I found this chart http://www.squit.co.uk/photo/files/DofTablesRF_QuarterPage.pdf that list the different setting and DOF in meters for those settings. Am I correct in saying that, according to this chart, if I shoot at f/8 with my focus set to 5 meters, everything from 2.87 meters away to 19.5 meters away will be in focus? and so on with the other settings in the chart.<br>

When shooting manual, I have to consider the sunny 16 rule as well as all this so this chart, if its accurate, is a life saver....</p>

<p>Thanks for your help.<br>

Chad</p>

<p>I have had a pixelpost photoblog for a while but havent really updated it and have been looking around for website Ideas. I like the idea of a photoblog so that people can follow my work and also have updated content over time.</p>

<p>I just dont know how much I would realistically update it. So I was thinking of just putting together a simple "about page" with a gallery, and then having a link to the blog. So its kind of a two fold site...blog + gallery.</p>

<p>I am just stuck on exactely how to do this! I would like to use wordpress, but havent coded anything for that. The templates out there are really generic.</p>

<p>I was wondering if you knew of a site you really admire, or had some suggestions or ideas on how exactely I should format this?</p>

<p>Thanks,<br>

Chad</p>

Thanks for the feedback. I don't feel pressured to do or be anything simply because it's popular. I just was comparing my

photos and realize I am all over the board! I will keep at it and see what develops.

 

Also, by fair I meant art fair. A fairly respectable one at that. I was just thinking that maybe I should limit my prints to a specific category or style, like landscaped, flowers etc. In order to better impress buyers.

I posted a question only to have it deleted. I am assuming because I included a link to a photo, but I felt it was relevant to my question,

not self promotion. As I didn't recieve any feedback as to why it was deleted, I'll assume it was becuase of the link. Anyhow.

 

Lately I have noticed many of the photographers I admire have a style. Their work is all mostly in that style. I, however, don't. So with that

said, should I hve a style?

 

I shoot what I like and enjoy it, that is most important, but I find myself wanting to sell some prints (at a local fair here soon) and worry that

my broad range will limit me. I'm not trying to be the next best photog, I just want to earn some extra cash to fuel

my habit! Does anyone have any examples of photogrpahers with a broad range of styles that have been successful? Maybe it's all in the

presentation, so in other words, I can exhibit mostly landscape shots or black and white, etc. and give the impression I hve a style!

 

Anyway, I ask becuase I find myself looking at my flickr page and wondering if I should leave up all the old photo from way back when I

wasn't as good.

 

Any input would be great! Thanks.

 

Chad

Thank you both. I'll give it a try.

I use pixelpost and plan to have a porfolio up soon as well. I like the blog because there is some level of interaction.

 

Www.chadlatta.com

 

and

 

www.chadlatta.com/blog

 

neither are completely finished and the blog is not quite functional yet, I'm still finishing the template.

I have a Polaroid land 100 and supershooter I have been playing with and would like to get some up close shots (closer than 3 feet). I

thought about placing a hoya upclose filter in front of the lens but don't know how to calculate the focal distance.

 

Anyone know how I could do this? Thanks.

Chad

<p>one other quick question. While looking around, i notice a lot of flash setup photos show the flash while on. Is this because the flash was fired while taking the setup photo? or do some flashes act as a fill light and turn on 100% of the time? thanks...</p>

<p>Hello.<br>

I would like to do more flash photography but I have no experience or equipment. I am putting together a wish list of stuff I need to get and need some help. I currently have a d80 with a 18-135 and 50mm 1.8. I have a sunpak 555 and a nikon sb-50dx.<br>

Where should I start as far as equipment (flashes, reflectors, umbrellas). I am looking for a good beginner setup that I can put together relatively cheap and get the most use out of.<br>

Thanks<br>

Chad</p>

Thanks.

 

John - that us exactly what i was looking for. I drive by this tree a few times a week and i always felt I am

missing something. I wonder what others would do and how I could get an even better shot. I am not unhappy with my

current photos, i just wonder if there is something I am

missing.

 

I will try playing with light and angles a little more. There is a sign on the fence warning me i will be shot for tresspassing!

So maybe I will try talking with the owners to see If I can go onto their property.

 

As far as the crop, I never really noticed the tree no being completely in the frame. Something I should start paying more

attention to I guess!

 

Thanks everyone.

Chad

Thanks for the tips. I don't see myself targeting the high end market anytime soon. I feel I am just breaking into the

"amateur" category. My goal is to hopefully be able to sell some photos here and there, even if i only make 50 bucks a

month doing it. This, as a hobby, isn't cheap!

 

The reason I was asking about research was because I have seen some photos on stock sites that just don't look that

great. It's frustrating to be turned down by a site and then see images of lower quality selling on the same site. Thought

maybe I was missing something. I have heard in interviews about people having access to info that would clue them in to

information most wouldn't have access to. That enables them to focus on areas of the business that are underserved. They

know specific stock categories that haven't been update in a while for example, so they focus on that subject and do well.

 

No matter how much time I spend searching someone always seems to point me to a resource I probably never would have

found, that is why I was asking if anyone knew of a site or resource that could help me out.

 

Justin - I get the feeling your post was intended to be a little insulting. I re-read my post and nowhere did I ask someone

else to do the work for me. I was simply asking for a little direction from someone who may have experience in this area.

If someone wants to hand me a formula for success, I'll take it! But I never expected that.

 

I sometimes cringe when asking questions for fear of being treated like an idiot. Thankfully, most here a very helpful but

sadly i have run across more arrogant people in this business than anywhere else.

 

Meanwhile I am starting to suspect you are the person behind the counter at my local pro photo supply who snickers and

mocks me for asking what I should look for in a ball head and how to stretch my dollar. Some people are just to important

to be bothered by us amateurs.

<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I do need to shoot more. I tend to get discouraged because I feel like nothing really works, or I am struggling to be creative. But I guess more practice is what I need.</p>

<p>I have this image here and the same image here and I was wondering what I could possibly do differently with this image? Fall is coming and I would like to try something new, but cant really come up with anything.</p>

<p>Also, the processing on both those images really isn't that great. It is some of my earlier work which I am slowly improving on.</p>

<p>Thanks.<br>

Chad</p>

<p>Hello.<br>

I have a question regarding stock photography and popular trends regarding photos. I was wondering if there was a way, website or technique to research whats "hot" in photography right now. For example, if I wanted to start to build a stock photo library, I want to focus on areas that are up and coming and high demand subjects.</p>

<p>Also, say I wanted some recognition on flickr (don't kill me for saying this!), other than taking an amazing photo, is there a way to know whats hot? if I wanted to gain popularity for the sake of furthering my exposure, it would make sense to post, tag and share a few photos that go along with the "popular trend". how or is there a way to research this?</p>

<p>Thanks<br>

Chad</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help. I know drives dont cost much, but then again, I dont make much. I am not really near capacity, but with my current setup I can see my disk space dropping rapidly. I guess for now, I will keep the DNG files and save the best as tiffs, and everything else as jpegs. I dont really have much to lose by going with JPEG and keeping the DNG's (no clients or anything) so maybe I will do that. But, all could change when I get more disk space.</p>

<p>I just didnt want to make a huge mistake by saving as jpeg's and it sounds like im not.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the input, it helped greatly!<br>

-Chad-</p>

<p>I understand the difference between TIFF and JPEG and up till now have been saving my final output images to a TIFF file. But I am starting to notice that the large file sizes could start to eat up my space and was wondering if there would be anything wrong with saving a final image as a JPEG. Assuming I am not going to be doing anymore editing and knowing that I have the DNG still, would this be the wrong thing to do? I am not going to be printing any poster size prints anytime soon, just the usual stuff. Will JPEG still be adequate?</p>

<p>Thanks<br>

-Chad-</p>

<p>I have been shooting for a little while now and am starting to get comfortable with my camera and techniques, to the point where I have shot some real "keepers". But a friend was looking at my photos the other day and made the comment that I had some good shots and wide range. I initially took this as a compliment but started wondering if a "wdie range" was really what I was going for.</p>

<p>I shoot photos that look good and I am happy with that. But I feel like my photos are lacking depth and meaning, and that I dont really have a niche or a style. This may not be entirely bad, but I would hate to look back on my portfolio in 5 years and see nothing but pleasing images. I want to discover something and have some meaning in my work.</p>

<p>So, this brings me to my question. How do I do this? I know thats pretty broad and there probably isnt a real concrete answer. I may have to figure this out myself....but, what can I do to start the process. The process of adding meaning or depth to my work and maybe developing a style.</p>

<p>I have some projects in the works, I have never really done that. It may be a start....but maybe some of all your wisdom can point me in the right direction!</p>

<p>Thanks<br>

-Chad-</p>

<p>thank you for the responses. It makes much more sense now.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help. I thought about using bridge as well but im trying to simplify things as much as possible. The reason I am bringing it all up is that I can see my collection growing over time, most of which I will probaly never edit or use, but I dont feel right deleting it forever. So I would like to have the option to catalog it and then thin it out over time, but still be able to bring it back later if need be.</p>

<p>If I export as a catalog, then it would probably be best to put it in a collection first and then export it. Like create a collection of "archive" or whatever and then just move junk files to that, then export accordingly right?</p>

<p>the only real data I want to keep is the key words.</p>

<p>Thanks..</p>

 

<p>So that I understand this better, if I were to import a batch of photos into LR, then apply keywords and maybe make a few adjustments and then right click and save metadata....will that info be available later to LR even if it is removed from the library and reimported?</p>

<p>Im not sure I want to keep all my photos in LR as my machine currently isnt the greatest, but I would like the option to edit and then remove them, but bring them back in later with all the same info.</p>

<p>Also, would that keyword info be available in bridge or maybe expression media?</p>

<p>Thanks<br>

-Chad-</p>

<p>thanks for the tips. i was looking at the maxtor drive and thought they were reasonable. ill give it a shot.</p>

<p>one other quick question. if its not typical to import a finished file back into LR, how do photographers catalog the file? I can image as your finished files grow, you would need to catalog them somehow.</p>

<p>I have expression media and have played around with it, but figured it would be overkill using both LR and epression media.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>There are many people who have stopped doing this with the growing popularity and poer of programs like LR and APerture. They just bring in the raw, adjust them, and are done with it, outputting when desired. oull have o decide what route to go. In any case if you output a tiff and work on it in PS, you wouldn't typically bring it back into LR. You could if you wanted, just to catalog it, or conceivablr for even more editing, but that's not generally the idea.<br>

Hope that helps</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Thanks, that does help. I guess the reason I would want to bring it back into LR would be to catalog it. I could save it to a "final" folder within the folder containing the RAW files and import it as a final image. that way i can keep track of it.</p>