john_n._wall
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Posts posted by john_n._wall
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<p>The important thing about traveling -- especially when you are traveling with a group and are not really in control of your time -- is to accept that regardless of what lenses you take you will always miss shots because the lens on your camera is not the one for the shot you want to make.<br>
This will be true regardless of whether the lens you want is at home or in the bag and impossible to get to before the moment is past.<br>
Therefore, you should take the shot you CAN take with the lens you have on the camera at the moment you recognize the opportunity. Better to get the shots you can get rather than lamenting the shots you can't get.<br>
That said, I believe in traveling light. When I am in a city, I have a full-frame dSLR over my shoulder with a 24 mm f/2.8 and I carry in a small bag a 50 mm f/1.8 and 85 mm f/1.8.<br>
I used this set-up in extensive European travel a few years ago with a film body and I love the shots I got. There are infinitely many other images I could have made, but that's life.</p>
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<p>In theory, the price to ask is the price that people are willing to pay for your work. The challenge is to determine what that number is. Obviously, you will have a better idea as you gain experience with sales.</p>
<p>Generally people recommend that you start low, then move your prices up as you sell work and get a feel for what the market is for your work.</p>
<p>It is harder to reduce prices than it is to raise them, in part because if you lower prices you will annoy your most precious assets -- those who have actually bought work from you -- because you reduce the value of their purchases.</p>
<p>There is a rule of thumb among some folks who sell at craft venues, which is that your asking price should be 5 or 6 times your materials cost.</p>
<p>Perhaps a better approach is to visit the places in your area where people show art and see what they are asking for their work. Identify work that is as close as possible to the work you want to sell.</p>
<p>Even better would be to see how much work actually SELLS at the price producers of work are asking. Just because someone offers work for sale at a certain price does not mean that people are actually paying that for it.</p>
<p>Making sales starts with having quality work to offer. Beyond that, its marketing. There are some good books out there about marketing art work that are worth at least a look, including, for example, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Prosper-Artist-5th/dp/0805068007/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245862671&sr=8-1">How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist, </a> by Caroll Michels.<br /> <br>
The guru of photo marketing is Mary Virginia Swanson, who also has a book on the subject. You might want to check out her website at<br /> <br>
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<p>Thanks to the encouragement offered here, I ordered one. It looks good so far, except for one thing. Those of you who have one, does yours smell a little funny?</p>
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<p>David, which bludomain template did you start with? I like your site very much but i can't match it to the bludomain options.</p>
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<p>I think "Nikonian" is a terrible made-up word, but to the folks over here:<br>
it means a user of Nikon camera gear.<br>
Its a pretty good website (though not as good as photo.net) but awful name for "Nikon shooter."</p>
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<p>I would like to enter a juried show with digital submissions.<br>
The rules call for images that are 1500 pixels in the longest dimension and are no larger than 3000 pixels. <br>
I am accustomed to resizing in PhotoShop starting with resolution and then setting image size.<br>
I can't find a combination of resolution and image size that yields both 1500 pixels in the long dimension and an image size under 3 MB.<br>
what am I doing wrong?</p>
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<p>I have a D700 and a mint DR-4 right angle viewfinder left over from my film camera days. I know the D700 calls for a DR-5 right angle viewfinder.<br>
Does anyone know if Nikon sells an adapter to enable the DR-4 to work on the D3/x/D700 bodies?<br>
I can't find anything on the Nikon USA website to tell me.</p>
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<p>Yes, see, I knew it was a stupid question.</p>
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<p>I'm sure there is a very simple answer to this question, but I can't find it in the usual books on PhotoShop. I want to match the color on one part of an image to the color in another part of the same image.<br>
I have tried "Match Color" but the best I can tell that's about matching color in two idfferent images.<br>
How do I do this?</p>
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<p>B&H had the silver version of the LX3 in stock because I ordered one on Friday. Their website says they still have them in stock as of today.</p>
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<p>My thanks to all for very good and timely advice. I made it to LACMA and to the Getty. I agree about the Getty -- fascinating architecture, strong collection of work, and a spectacular setting.<br>
Only one photography gallery was open because a major new show was being installed -- opens March 31. But the portrait show that was on offer was strong and engaging.<br>
I also enjoyed LACMA very much, especially the European painting collection and the Serra sculptures in the Contemporary wing.<br>
I especially enjoyed seeing the photography at the two ACE galleries that I stumbled onto while traveling to LACMA. Also got to eat at the restaurant CRAFT, which was a joy.<br>
One of the good reasons for being a part of Photo.net is the generosity of its members with their time and knowledge. Many thanks!</p>
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<p>Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I will have Thursday (tomorrow) afternoon free, and as much of Friday as I want to use.</p>
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<p>Sorry, the hotel where I am staying is the Intercontinential, <a title="InterContinental Los Angeles" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','res','1','AFQjCNG9wK2sm545UY6bU77GFaZv-_WUMQ','&sig2=lbUR9RST4Ey-a4DLN4naNA')" href="http://www.intercontinental.com/" title="InterContinental Los Angeles" ><em></em> </a> <cite></cite> 2151 Avenue of the Stars. I have no idea where that is, vis a vis the LACMA or the Contemporary Art Museum or any galleries tha show Fine Art Photography, or interesting camera shops. Advice would be appreciated.</p>
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<p>I will be attending a professional meeting in Los Angeles (staying at the International Hotel) later this week. I will have a few hours for visiting sites of interest to me as a photographer.<br>
Suggestions, please, for museums with photography exhibits, camera stores worth seeking out, etc.<br>
I see that Los Angeles has a City museum and a Contemporary Art museum. If I could only get to one, which one should I not miss? Also, I see there is a photogrpahy museum in San Diego. How hardwould it be to get there via public transportation?<br>
In general, how does one get around LA without a car? Many thanks for your advice.</p>
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<p>I will soon be traveling with my D700. I would like to be able to download images from the flashcards. I have a card reader. The question is, what should I download images to. I do not want to depend on carrying around a laptop.<br>
I thought I might buy one of the stand-alone external hard drives I see advertised for around $100. Then, I plug the card reader into the hard drive and download away.<br>
My question is, what powers the external hard drive? Will it run off the camera's power supply or do these things have external power cords? In general, how do these external hard drives work, exactly? What should look for in such a unit? What are reliable brands of these things?</p>
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There are two questions being asked here, and the answer to one conflicts with the answer to the other.
One is, what is the best kit for travel when traveling light. The other is, what gear for Africa, and, in Africa, for safari.
I agree for general travel photography when traveling light take one body and prime lenses, perhaps (in film or FX terms) a 24, a 50, and an 85. Or maybe just the 24 and the 85. Or maybe a short zoom, maybe 24-85, but make it fast and light as possible. I have shot all over Europe, Japan, Mexico, and the USA with the 24/85 kit and got shots I really like.
You just have to understand that whatever kit you carry you will miss some shots. My advice is forget the ones that you can't take and concentrate on making the best shots you can with the gear you take. If the gear you take is heavy and hard to use, you won't use it and you will spend more time frustrated than enjoying your photography.
The second question is about kit for Africa and safari. That is a different matter all together. I've never done it but my understanding that safari photographers take long, long lenses and heavy tripods, car-mount tripods, lots of gear. This is where the 400mm, 500mm, 600mm lenses pay off for the pros.
The challenge is that the animals you want to photograph will not come in close for you to shoot with short lenses. Or, you really don't want to get close enough to wild game to get good shots with short lenses. There are books on the subject that deserve to be carefully studied. Google the subject to see what advice you can find.
Not sure how to solve your dilemma, but I'm not at all sure that slow zooms in the 200mm range are going to give you the length you need for this kind of photography.
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I'm about to order a D700. I have practically no experience with digital cameras. I'm accustomed to scanning film
and saving the scans as tiff files for work in Photoshop. I'm confused about how to handle the files that I will
get from my digital SLR.
I'm sure these questions have been asked and answered before but I don't know the vocabulary well enough to
search for the answers. Please indulge me for three questions.
1. memory cards. I gather there are small cards and big cards and I understand the bigger ones are more expensive
but hold more images, but there is a chance of card failure and loss of images. Looks like there should be a
sweet spot between size, cost, and risk that I ought to shoot for when buying cards. What do people use and how
risky is the technology?
2. downloading images. I have a card reader in my main computer which should be easy to use with these cards. But
what about being away from home on a trip? Is it good to download images to a laptop? How does one do that with a
digital SLR (my point-and-shoot has a cable that connects the camera to a USB port)? Does one need a card reader
to attach a card to a laptop? Are there portable external hard drives to which one can download images in case
one does not want to carry a laptop?
3. file handling. I plan to shoot RAW files and I understand these need to be converted into tiff or other files
for processing in Photoshop. Is there a RAW converter in Photoshop or Lightroom? How good is it? Do I need Nikon
Capture instead? Or in addition to the software I now have? What are the benefits/liabilities of using Nikon
Capture for RAW conversion if I will then open the files in Photoshop?
Again, many thanks for help, and my apologies in advance in case I have asked questions to which there are
obvious answers.
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I am planning to purchase a D700 body. I'm having trouble deciding which flash unit to get with it. Seems my
choices are the SB-600, the SB-800, and now the SB-900. I am not a major flash user, generally shooting under
natural light, only using flash for fill, for portraits, for interior shots with flash bounced off the ceiling.
What will the 800 do that the 600 will not? What will the 900 do that the 800 will not?
I'm moving up from a film body (F4) and accustomed to the SB 24, 25, 26 series of flash units. Grateful for advice!
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That's a really cool effect! Figure out how to get it on demandm, market it as a plug-in, and the world will beat a path to your door.
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On a film camera, a 24 mm or 85 mm lens. I carry one body with one of these lenses and a fanny pack with film and the other lens. I look for an interesting background, then wait for something to happen. If things are working with one lens, I stick with it; otherwise I try the other. Sometimes its good to switch just to help me stay on my toes.
You can see some of what happened if you go to the Street Gallery on my website here: <a href="http://jnwallphoto.com/gallery_68452.html"> http://jnwallphoto.com/gallery_68452.html </a>
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How to pick a good third party lens? As others suggest, buy a Tokina. Do not buy a Sigma. Buy the occasional Tamron, for example the 90 mm macro, but only after careful research on the WWW regarding the specific lens you are interested in.
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Ok, the results are in. Or, at least the B&W results are in. Got back today the film and contact sheets for my B&W film that was in my luggage under the plane for two plane flights.
And (drum roll!) the news is GOOD. I can't see a sign of damage to the film I've gotten back so far. Everything looks perfectly normal, perfectly fine. I think I dodged a bullet. I would not deliberately put film under a plane now (still going as a rule with hand-carrying film) but I'm deeply relieved. I get the color film back tomorrow, but I see no reason why the results should be any different.
Thanks again for your support and advice! It is good to be part of this photographic community.
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OK they are all being processed; results come in tomorrow. I decided that those of you who said if its worth shooting its worth developing were right. If I threw them away I would never know what I had. Worth the price of processing to find out.
I also went to some of the more dire websites and saw some of the possible effects. My thought was, even if I have a mess, maybe it will be a fortuitous mess; maybe it will turn out with some weird alternative process type effect and I will love it in the end. After all, I sometimes shoot with a Holga; why not treat this as a kind of Holga experiment.
Will let everyone know. And thanks for your support and advice.
File Storage
in The Digital Darkroom: Process, Technique & Printing
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<p>I've recently switched to digital capture and realized that the 250 GB hard drive in my computer will soon fill up. </p>
<p>So I'm thinking of buying an external hard drive to store/archive files I download from my memory cards, then import into my computer only the individual files I want to work with further.</p>
<p>I also am aware of the need for backup, especially if I'm trusting this external hard drive to have my images on it after I have reformatted the memory cards.</p>
<p>One solution would seem to be to have TWO external hard drives and copy files to both drives. If one crashes, the other is there with my files.</p>
<p>But I've also seen setups that have two hard drives in one unit, configured with software so that the second hard drive automatically mirrors the first.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on drawbacks to this approach? What are the generally-used solutions to the problem of what to do with large numbers of image files?</p>