marcofrancardi

Tom.. I feel really stupid laughing all alone here. I love your comments, but... please, then explain to us y u are in this forum. what in this world is less "palpable" or serious than "philosophy of Photography"? ;-)

I think that turnig objects into subjects (if I will be ever able to) is what makes me keeping on shooting.

Keep on commenting though. I like it too much!!

Hi all.

I don't make a living out of it, and that puts a stain on my comment. But don't forget that this world, with a very little ethics left, can make of any job a crime (ruthless doctors, filthy engineers.. you name it). Now, the movie is obviously an exageration, but I think that many paparazzis have lost much of respect for other people's privacy.

In my humble amateur activity, when I shoot a portrait too close for confort, I always ask permission. I know you can't always do that, but please... there is a way for everything.

Hi all. Don't have answer here (too few data supplied), but I liked the attitudes here, and I just wanted to tell you guys that one of the reasons why I joined the club, other than being useful, was Vivek's 'acid' replies :-)

So, well done Jeffrey... and well replied Ted!

Let's keep up the good sarcasm.

Nobody says manipulation is bad. it is just another (powerful) instrument. As such, can be put to good use or not.

A picture comes with a feeling embedded by the author. I don't think there is a way out of this. There should be an explanation by the author on some "not so evident" pictures, so to understand and keep in mind the intentions, mood or whatever element would be deemed useful by the author. The "naming" option is a good start, sometimes not sufficient if it is too "cryptic". Some other elements embedded in that picture are not explicable because they form part of the personal history. that's why couples in love have "their own" love songs. To other people those songs would be just another love song.

Hi all. Last week's POW (the cloned boats) had nothing to do with a camera. Reverse bgd, cloned fgd, some touch up. I don't even think a camera was involved in the process (at least at the composition stage). that's graphic art. not photography. I'm not saying it's an inferior art, noway. Just a different discipline.

I grew up in the sixties being told and instructed that way. I wanted to think that way. My doctrine was that of IDENTICAL beings. but I've always been confronted with realities diverging from it. sometimes positively, somestimes not. Finally somebody has the guts to speak up and say that nobody is identical nor inferior to nobody. Simply different, and what's much more, complementary.

I really have no preconcepts, I simply see what's around me. Take it for what it is: a simple male opinion.

Sticking to photos, I love to learn from others work, and when is from a woman's, I can "feel" the different approach to it.

I might be wrong, but that's the way I feel it now.

Hi Trevor. Please, try to be more open minded and give a second look at the scientific and statistic data being released every second day by now. It will make life much easier for all of us to accept our limits, enphasize our abilities and optimize our complementarities. As I said, its is not a rule that applies to every one of us, but surely the majority. And if it's not being discussed freely and with serenity, it's just beacuse of rock-hard, conservative positions like yours. photography would produce much better work with 4 hands!

100% Olivier!

Yeah!! Thanks. Am I really shootin' that much? ;-)

Jeff? Where are you? Hasn't this issue been beaten to death?

Cheers everyone.

Jeff: if it were silly, why has it been beaten to death? I think the posting photographs rules of this site are a perfectly acceptable, practical, ethic compromise on what we are discussing: up to cropping, contrast correction and so on is a photograph, bejond that, it ranges from "manipulated" to "graphic art", often with a photograph as a starting point.

hi Hugh. Allow me to argue that I'm sure there are many famed Poets who express themselves with "in your face, frontal" verses. But that isn't necessarily trash poetry. "Art" is a very subjective definition. the reasons why you create 'art' are not! Once again, if you create nudity images just to "earn" easy money, to please the market, not People, than it might be porn. In almost all other cases, we may discuss forever.

don't know about View, but Picture Project and Capture are the slowest and memory hungriest programs I've ever used. especially if you think they were created taking into account NEF frames. Not user friendly and half a potentiality CS has. Nikon? great cameras, but let the computer Sw professionals do their job.

to cut a long story short, market is the answer. what or who is your target? I don't mean any harm, but if it is low class audience, than it's called porn, and don't need any particular attention to the tecniques. If it is higher educated class, than it is called artisc nudity and you need to work on it and add a touch of... something that will make it palatable to them. (no offence to the anybody, but IMHO that's the way it goes nowadays).

look at it this way: tha fact that you engaged the rear dial whitout noticing means that is situated in the most ergonomic spot. Right where you will need it when you'll be on the run, shooting sports or wildlife. just mind your thumb for the first shots. you will find very easy to work with it at a later stage.

about printing, many software packages allow you to resize,zoom in, zoom out with no loss (within certain limits) or compromise whatsoever . I don't see the problem.

Nikon's firmware is not defective. it's "conservative". It's much better to find yourserlf surprised with an extra shot left than with a chance shot not taken because of "optimistic" estimates. And I like to decide myself, during post production, when and where to compress and loose details. More over, having recently switched to digital, I'm overwhelmed by the storage capabilities of a single, reltively cheap CF card (at least compared to film).

some of your points are not correct, but the whole picture is. PP is really not user friendly and falls short of basic functions. Besides, when you delete a pic from a "collection", it will not delete it phisically, so you will have to do it yourself manually... lots of work to do by the software dept at Nikon.

not sure, but... that blinking light sounds like some sort of memory reading/writing problem. Did you try with a new/working CF card?

Yes, do get that free plug in for PS and enjoy not only the quality, but also the "freedom" of RAWs!

i'm not quite shure, but if I well remember, I think that if you never reset the naming options in your D70, you should get something like "DSCxxxx.nef or .jpg" where xxxx stands for the number of clicks your camera has taken. during your the next download, pay attention to the screen.

body language is not only one to one, but often one to many.

I'll try to summarize

the first guy's posture indicates... but this has not a lot to do with photography, or has it?

Anyway, he is obviously engaged in something that is interfering with his communication's skills. So, very little to say.

The second guy, he is sending out something like "hey, everyday's life is great, and I don't want to miss anything out even if I'm just going from one place to another". His attitude, I would bet, is quite outgoing and he is a "listener".

Third pic: his walking posture means: "I'm in control of the situation". His comms attitude is "Up to down". He likes to initiate a one by one relation with an advantage point.

now the last two:

first one is a "consolidated relationship": his hands on her face means "I care and I want you to be sure about it" more than his kiss. the second relationship is just being initiated: he wants to get closer and "confidential" (whispering into her hear) but showing respect for her keeping his hands well out of the way. they don't want to get too far too soon.

Great food for thoughts... but I'm willing, and mostly do, to think as a child and looking positively at artistic works and enjoy paintings, photographs, music.. whatever Art it is as long as money don't come in. that's when I get suspicious.

That's why I love the Net and this wes site!

I learnt that, often, not always, artistic career is a matter of liasons and public relations and... well, you know what I mean.

that does not mean that "Arts" are not worth the effort and the "Effort" is not worth the art.

on th tech side, I agree with Kelly: internet has a much, much wider reach broadband has.

on the psy side I say yes, let's sit back and enjoy observing a picture (Doisneau's "Les beisiers" is a perfect exemple). that way I lead the game. with videos, as Csab says, I'm led by it. And I'm tired of being led by modern tv's (that's video on the internet).

And for the good as long as internet is concerned, I would never have dreamed to be here, exchanging opinions with top of the line professional photographers, plumbers, psichiatrists, engineers, teachers, CEOs, electricians, PRs...... I love you all!!!

I really wish it would be different, but I also believe that our enlightened modern mind is influenced and somewhat inevitably obscured by ancient basic instincts. therefore, we should just try to make work those insticts for the best. that is: yes, profit and restrain on general interest photos is bad, but inevitable to keep you motivated to produce more enlighened pictures.