d_gillespie

What kind of cleaning does your sensor require? Dirt, dust, hair, fungus??? This may not be the answer you are looking for but I would take it to a professional. Another tip I have used is changing lenses in a lint free changing bag. I just have a hard time using a the equivalent of 3 cent Q-tip on a 2K camera.

I am not sure how serious this question may be. If you need to ask an anonymous forum if its a good idea to strike out on your own with admittedly weak business skills and poor marketing ability. Maybe a few months reading posts here and you will come to your own conclusion.

This question has been asked a few different ways before, the folks here seem to agree that taking the card out of the camera is safer than connecting the camera to the PC. I have read a few posts with stories of problems. One was a power surge during transfer that caused a problem with the camera that was connected via cable to the PC. I am no computer specialists and I don't know if a USB cable can fail this way, or if this is an urban legend. I take the card out, if nothing else I don't use the cameras batteries during transfer. 2 cents

http://www.seanet.com/~bradford/bluscrn.html

 

Google is a beautiful thing. There are tons of sites this was the first one that looked to have some of the answers you seek.

I know this will sound obvious but run your own test. Apply the neatimage on multiple copies of the same image and decide for your self which is more pleasing. Each persons workflow is individual to their skill, ability, and resources. You are the first and only judge of its success.

Steve,

 

I think having command of more than one language will be a real asset to any career, PJ for sure. My wife is comfortable with five languages, (I am happy with my one) and her psychology degrees are from Poland and the US.

Nice collection but as mentioned without copyright information its a bit like a Google search.

The rub comes in are we referring to what the photographer saw through the camera or with unaided eyes? I would think the answer is in your question. "What the photographer saw". To me this means filters are a no-no following the court of law requirement. The color of the perps jacket can be altered with a filter so it has to be out. Since PN is only the court of public opinion I would post with a note describing what filters were used if you choose not to post in a manipulated image forum.

The philosophical flux capacitor. Winston Churchill had a pretty good saying about how a man's outlook may be changed over their lifespan. Heck this morning I was a Republican and just after coffee I was a Libertarian. Chaos is a comfy place.

Stick with XP, Vista has a few months, er many months before the application software can catch up. What apps are you planning, a quick visit to their site should reveal their plans for Vista upgrades - if any. Most folks stay away from OS releases with any 1.x extensions.

I think you might consider supporting a persons efforts. As explained in his description he clearly defined HIS test parameters, not yours. I appreciate his effort regardless of what I think of the results. It seems you go out of your way to smack the work of amateurs. Too bad, I hope it doesn't discourage others. Thanks Elliot.

Online photo album, coffee table photo album, mail to relatives as gifts. Or select a frame in a favorite spot and exchange the photos in the frame every so often and create your own picture of the month.

Its it the contract they want you to sign. If you can post that we can help. If it does not stipulate then the local laws were you are working would govern. Here in the US our laws won't mean zip for your situation.

Not trying to sound like a wise acre but they look very much like snapshots, not sports photography. You may want to grab a few sports magazines and take a look at some of their basketball shots. Many of them are very tight on the athletes, others are long shots that give context to the action. Many shoot from various angles that well below or well above the action to heighten the sense of vertical. Also background is very important on many of the shots. Finding the right spot for the action and the background takes practice. Get out of the stands, get some knee pads and prepare to get some sneakers in your ear and sweat in your gear. Given the limitations you mentioned in your post I'm not sure what else you could have expected.

I bet you realize the number of prints is a function of the amount of ink used. Really difficult to gauge what is average. Are you shooting B/W, saturated color, washed out color, full edge to edge prints, or bordered? As to which inks gets used up the fastest, the answer is the same it depends on your shots. 50 shots of dense green forests will probably wipe out the green(or yellow & blue). Sorry for being a smart A$% but its really a silly question.

Time, really as your skin continually replenishes itself with old cells giving way to new ones the stained cells will rub themselves off. Most of the solvent based stain removers may be a whole lot worse for your skin than the ink that is now coloring your dermis. If anyone asks tell them its a rare but not fatal tropical skin fungus, then ask them if they want a bite of your half eaten sandwich...LOL

Relax, it will wear off eventually.

Short answer: Money - as in buying more paper, longer if not more successful method, flat black spray paint. And lastly a huge sign requiring everyone who even thinks of getting on the paper wear socks, not bare feet, oil, etc. but socks. This is one of those questions with as many answers as causes. Great photo example by the way.

I hope you will be able to keep the energy up, blogging starts easily enough, the real test to to stay at it with enthusiasm. I like what I have seen, I will check back once in a while. So far so good.

 

Cheers

Ditto, ditto. You made the choice to purchase the D200, don't be SOLD on extras. Battery and a few cards sure, but you are the master here.

Definitely a light leak. Good advice to have the camera checked.

Sounds like a familiar song. Who wouldn't love to be sent across the world taking pictures and having someone else write the checks. Just as you must have done with your current position in the IT world, its all about hard work, experience, training, luck and being very persistent. Most regard a PJ degree as a basic necessity, but there are those cases where sheer talent can overcome the formalized training those schools provide. Many careers have been launched from fairly humble beginnings, such as local newspapers, free ad papers, etc. demonstrating you ability.

 

Not to say that you won't be filling your passport with foreign country stamps and your portfolio with amazing shots of sunrise over the Giza plateau in the next year, but small steps are more realistic. Find local PJs and take a few to lunch, bring along your portfolio and see what sort of reaction the pros give you. Then take their advise.

Track it as a business trip, but consider the value of your time outside the normal shooting, or 8 hour work day. I am sure you probably work more than 8 hours on some days, so make sure thats in there as well. Door to door while and as the poster above after the shooting you are simple a tourist. Also toss in a few bucks for trip and equipment insurance as well as other incidentals you may not have thought of.

Nice work on the Flickr site, great images. There are tons of opinions here and the value of these free opinions is what you might expect (exactly what you are paying for it). I would suggest that the hardware selection may be the starting point. Next would be where your experience lies and then what equipment preferences you may have. IF you are staying Mac will you be dual booting the PC to run Windows as well? What do you have in your software library, and of course is there a budget?

Since you didn't mention what software platform you are using some of the advice will be more generic than might be helpful. You also didn't mention what the make/ model of the new monitor you are considering. Also you didn't mention if the new monitor was digital or analog. So with that said, you should (no guarantees) be able to upgrade your current PC if the graphics card will support the higher resolution using the monitor manufacturer's provided drivers. That being said...Many people moving to wide screen monitors also take the opportunity to upgrade with a matching graphics card that has on board memory. Since we don't know your PC configuration or how much ram you currently have it might make sense to take the unit to a local shop and work with them to create the best possible combination based on what you have in the box, not su much based on what I/ we might say on a forum.

Do you mean contact sheets or contact prints of the negatives? Strips of photos from which they chose the final shots for printing?

 

If that is what you mean I have seen only a few books like that and not the work of "Masters". More the work of instructors trying to express some point or another about setup, lighting, cropping, retouching or composition.