whitworth photography

He's not using a Walmart type lab, but I'm not sure the lab could be considered a professional lab either.

 

Thanks for all of your responses.

I've got a friend who keeps saying that he doesn't like the large (16x20 and

larger) prints he gets back from online printers because they roll it up for

shipping and even when framed he can tell the picture was rolled up.

 

Is anyone else having this problem? Is my friend just too picky, or is there

something he needs to do to get the print to flatten out before he frames it?

 

As I'm getting into doing portraits and eventually weddings I'd like to be able

to offer large prints as one of my services, but I want to know that people

will be happy with the results.

 

Whenever I'd had prints done for myself I have them mount the print on foam-

core and that looks just fine to me.

 

Thanks,

 

Kirk

Allen's experience is pretty much what mine has been.

 

To make the process of contacting models easier/quicker, I've got a Word doc I use that has a lot of basic information spelled out - who, what where, when, how and why. As you're looking through portfolios, the better models will typically spell out all the information they want to see in the initial email. 90% of the doc I use stays the same and I just modify it to coincide with what my goals are for the shoot I'm emailing the model about.

I thought I'd post a follow-up because I just discovered a cheap alternative that would still have a professional look to it.

 

I'm still doing some experimenting, but I'm going to try out some 10 lb weight-lifter ankle weights I bought from Walmart. About $20 for the pair. My only concern is that 10 pounds per leg may not be enough. I'm sure if I was using my lights on location on a windy day 10 lbs per leg definitely wouldn't cut it, but I really don't take my lights on location so I'm thinking this might work out pretty well.

For straigt up examples, here is something you might want to look into:

 

<a href="http://photographytips.com/page.cfm/5858"> Posing Guide </a>

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Alternatively, you can go to the grocery store and pick up some fashion magazines and check out the poses they use.

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For instruction on how to pose models - ie theory - I have read and like this book:

 

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1584281340/qid=1133890773/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-5477882-0547135?s=books&v=glance&n=283155"> Posing for Portrait Photography: A Head-to-Toe Guide </a>

Personally I wouldn't get the Alien Bees boom if that's the one you were planning on getting. I bought one, but don't consider it to be very sturdy and am afraid that it'll conk somebody in the head if I use it for portraits. For other uses, like still life, and when the height of the subject isn't quite so high I think it does the job. To answer your question about room height, I think you'll be cutting it close. As an alternative, you might want to consider using the honeycomb grids that come with that kit because they are smaller and (in my opinion) work well for a hair light.

 

If you're shooting digital I'm not sure that a lightmeter is absolutely necessary, but it does make it easier. The main thing I use my lightmeter for is balancing the two lights I used as background lights when I'm doing full-body shots so I get an evenly lit background. To use a handheld lightmeter with this kit you just plug the sync cord that would normally plug into your camera into the light meter and it will trip whatever lights you have hooked up and record the amount of light produced.

 

You're looking at the same basic kit I bought (except I dropped the light stand carrying bag and upgraded the 10' stand to a 3rd 13' stand). For my purposes, I have found this to be a very good kit. I've had it for over two years now.

If it were me I'd email Canon and see if they can help.

Can you respond with which Ebay seller you bought from? If that's not allowed, please email me off-list.

 

Thanks,

 

Kirk

I've got the 420EX and have found that to work well for most situations, however if I were to do it again I'd buy the 580EX for the extra power and the ability to attach an external battery. If you're in a dark room (such as a party) I've found that even with new batteries, the 420EX takes longer than I'd like to charge the flash.

For everything else I've done (which is mostly outside in shady areas) I have found the 420EX to perform really well.

 

I belive the 430EX replaced the 420EX, but I'm not sure what the pros/cons are.

Anybody have a favorite brand of sand bag, or another type of weight

they use on their light stands? Maybe it doesn't matter, but they

offer a few different brands at B&H, so I figured I'd ask.

 

Also, for each stand, how many legs do you guys typically put

sandbags on? It's probably worth noting that from time to time I

will be doing child portraits for children of various ages. I was

thinking one sand bag per stand would be sufficient, but I'd rather

spend an extra few bucks on a sand bag than have to replace a strobe

head and/or hurt someone's child.

 

Thanks,

 

Kirk

I'm not familiar with Sekonic, but I've got a Minolta V that I find very easy to use.

I want to start by saying that I've taken a few thousand shots using

my Rebel XT with my 420EX on a flash bracket that puts the flash

mount 4-6 inches above the camera hot-show mount. Also, I am using

the OCSC-2. 95% of them were taken outside and came out in perfect,

or at least acceptably good focus. I just want to establish that

neither I nor the camera have any focus problems under good lighting

conditions.

 

Having said that, I took some pictures at a party this past week in

a very dark room and quite a few of the pictures were not in good

focus.

 

I used the center focus point and had the AF mode set to "One

Shot". I also noticed the "infrared" cross-hatch a couple times

which leads me to believe that was coming on and working correctly

through the 420EX. All of the shots I took were at F2.8 and I did

do some focus/recompose.

 

I've read through the EOS Flash Bible and done some searches on

photo.net, but couldn't really find anything that seemed to help.

If you guys have any guidance it would be much appreciated. I'm

sure focus/recompose didn't do me any favors, and that was worsened

by shooting at F2.8, but should I have just used a different focus

point on the top edge? Maybe it's that simple, but I'd like to hear

what other thoughts you guys might have.

 

Thanks,

 

Kirk

I've shot a few thousand pictures with my Rebel XT in both JPG and RAW modes (however I don't use JPG+RAW) and haven't lost any images that I know of. I definitely haven't had any problems with corruption.

 

I don't do this on purpose, but after thinking about Mark's comment, I typically don't look at most pictures in the camera after I take them, so if you're checking shots a lot on the LCD you might have a different experience than I do.

Another vote for Alien Bees. Been using mine for over 2 years now and had a great experience thus far.

I think renting is a really good idea if that option is available.

 

Personally I'm using Alien Bees which I have found to be good for my needs. I bought this package:

 

http://www.alienbees.com/busy.html

 

These have worked really well for me for over two years now.

I've completed the first 2 lessons and most of the third and fourth. I think overall it's a good course from what I've seen. My instructor has had good feedback on the pictures I sent him. I also liked that he took it upon himself to check out my website and use pictures from my website to help further illustrate objectives from one of the lessons.

 

Unless they've changed their marketing strategy, you can save a couple hundred bucks by getting on their mailing list and waiting until they try to win you over with a lower price. Somebody here on photo.net told me about this and it worked for me. After about four weeks of being on their mailing list they will send you a better offer to encourage you to sign up. I paid for the course all up front and it only cost me $650.

Assuming the flash logic on a Rebel 2000 works similar to other Canon cameras, putting the camera in Av, Tv or Manual mode should do it.

 

The "green box" and the P mode tell the camera to assume the flash is the only source of light. Using Av/Tv/Manual mode tells the camera to assume another main source of light is available and to use the flash only for fill.

 

Easiest thing would probably be to take a couple test shots of the same subject using the P mode and then the Av/Tv modes and see if that does the trick.

I used a D60 for 3 years and am now using a Rebel XT and haven't had a need to clean the sensors on either yet. Granted I don't go into a lot of dusty environments, but I do a good bit of work on location and in my studio.

 

One thing that just ocurred to me, it's pretty humid most of the time here in Atlanta, so that might be part of the reason I haven't had any problems.

My guess would be he's trying to lessen the shadows under the subject's eyes.

I have had good luck with my Alien Bees lights. My wife and I have each knocked over one of the lights and both of them still work just fine. The 2 year warranty ran out this month, so here's to wishing for more good luck :).

 

I have also had great customer service from their service center. I had an issue with my wired flash control and sent it back to them under warranty. Within a week I had it back and they replaced the entire circuit board.

At my day job we've got an office in the general part of Florida where I believe OMP is hosted which is right in the middle of where Wilma hit. They are predicting that our office won't have power for another 2 weeks, so I would expect OMP is in a similar situation and won't back up anytime soon either.

What's even weirder to me is that their website says MicroSync can sync up to 1/350th of a second with leaf shutter cameras. I know in general leaf shutter can sync with a flash at a higher rate, but I don't see why a remote strobe trigger would care whether you've got a leaf or a focal plane shutter. Maybe I'm missing something here...

This past weekend I tried to use my Rebel XT with a set of Novatron

strobes on a power pack owned by another photographer.

 

I use a Wein safe sync as a hot-shoe adapter, so initially I tried

connecting up that way. I wasn't able to fire his strobes and was

told that some of the Wein syncs aren't compatible with Novatron

power packs.

 

I then used a standard hot-shoe adapter, but still was not able to

fire his strobes.

 

Also worth noting, I have my own set of strobes which are Alien Bees

and was also using a 420 EX that day. I didn't have any problems

with either of those setups which were used after I tried using the

Novatrons.

 

I did some searches and found a post where somebody was having

troubles with Novatron strobes pre-firing due to the 10D E-TTL pre-

flash. The XT has E-TTL II and I was thinking maybe the Rebel XT

flash system may be incompatible with the Novatron power pack?

 

Also worth noting, I had the camera in manual mode fixed at 1/125 and

F8.

 

Thanks for any guidance you guys can provide.

 

Kirk

I'm left-handed, but prefer cameras to stay the way they are. I don't mind supporting the camera using my right hand, and can more easily support the lens by holding it with my left hand which allows me to use my left hand to control zoom and move the camera around for composition. All my right hand does is provide a little support and "push the button". So even though technically I guess my camera would be considered right-handed, to me I'm doing what's important with my left hand.

Mike, that was my first thought too when he told me, but yes he knew better than that :)

 

Craig, I'll run that idea past him. It's definitely worth a try.

 

Thanks.