bob_bill

Tim, the guys at the local cell phone store said one of the big killers of cell phones is water... in the toilet. I doubt if that applies to dslrs.

Sandy, you are absolutely right. The one-lens-drill really can force you out of your comfort zone/habit. Every once in a while I'll go a week or two only using a 35 or 50 on FF. My typical 2 mile beach walk/walk about bag includes a FF d700 with a 35 2.0 mounted (kind of in keeping with the one lens drill but also forthe look it produces) an 85 1.4 and a 135 2.0 for some length just in case plus a speed light with velcroed trigger. That's a nice 50 mm spacing. I generally photo people, so it is tailored in that direction as I don't go much below 35 with people unless I pull out all the stops and go to an 8mm circular fish. As McNally said tongue in cheek, I haven't seen a landscape yet I can't improve if I put a person in it (and light him- my addition).

Joe, I agree, video wasn't even on my list. It is on my d500 and I haven't even checked how to use it in 3 weeks. But the live view/ tilt screen, really helpful when I don't want to lie in the sand or water to get low or hold over my vertically challenged head when no apple box or ladder available. I have been waiting for years for the 810 replacement and as Illka describes, I will wait another 6 months after release for any bugs to be worked out and for possible price drop. If it has 8 fps instead of the d500 10, good Iso at 1600 or 2000 that is allowing 1/1000 shutter speeds that negates my lack of vr on the 135 and 400 I can dump the d500. I like the 100 optimized iso also and can drop it to 50 to help knock down light. r I am down 2 stops from my d700 and will lessen the amount of vari nd I need to dial in making focus and composing easier when knocking down ambient with flash out doors.

Gup, I too had a problem Monday morning with the site just flashing on and off. I just waited a bit and it worked later. Sometimes using Firefox seems to help. I had a tech work on a new computer and he tweaked this one and the problem which was constant on google chrome is now gone except the occasional issue. Hang in there.

Rain drops keep falling on my head.

You can eliminate most of the small ones with the spot healing brush in a minute or two. The larger might require the clone stamp. Blemish removal is usually the first thing done in my work flow after straightening and cropping. Then wrinkles. In Lightroom, just drag the healing brush along one at a time. That completely eliminates them so pull back the opacity slider to bring them back to taste. Then you can do some skin softening but leave in the skin texture.

Spot healing brush in light room will do the trick. Go to photoshop and use the spot healing brush there and it is just click, gone, click, gone. Don't just blur the skin, it removes all pores/texture and makes it look plastic. If you have a faster lens, it could help localizing what is in focus to the frontal planes of the face as well as give you some isolation of the subject from the blurry background. Shoot from the shadow side and have the shadow pretty dark. That will leave only the frontal plane to edit.

Wood stork. New computer not calibrated yet so not sure how this is coming through.

After stretching tight the muslim, a hand steamer used over a couple of days will remove most wrinkles. On the floor, an inexpensive possibility is white tile board from home depot. It comes in 4x8 sheets. It has a gloss so also grounds the subjects with a shadow. You can over lap the front over the back second sheet and that results in a minimal amount of work to remove in post. Personally, I prefer a white roll of white seamless.over the muslim but if you can leave it up, steaming and tweaking muslim over days or weeks will work. Keep your subjects 8-10 feet from the back and use a wider aperture and that will help with the wrinkles. The tile board will extend the life of the white seamless and can be stacked against the wall between the stands if you roll up the seamless between shoots. Personally, I have a white and thunder gray on chain drives and with the white down most of the time, can just roll the gray ahead of it for up to 3/4 length. I am able to control spill on all modifiers so not only will the thunder gray go pure black giving a tonal range from pure white to inky black, both can be gelled to any color.

Had a problem posting yesterday. Thought I would post my last flower shot since a member who shoots flowers will be showing her work next friday at Kelby's gallery in Oldsmar, FL not far from here. Anyone else from pnet going?

Sandy, how'd you get your camera in? The last rodeo I wanted to shoot they wouldn't allow in what they considered "professional cameras." That especially included any long lenses. Great shots. Even if I am intending to use my shots as b&w, I shoot in color. Your can't go back from b&w and I have been using Nik's Silver efex for b&w conversion and the incredible flexibility it has in editing b&w. Unfortunately, I purchased it and the rest of the plugins when they first came out about 10 years ago at about $100 each for the 5 or 6. Now the price is right for the entire package. Free. A problem with cowboy hats is they put the face in shadow. Placing a control point on the face and reducing the circle it effects toonly the face, it selects the color, I do that with the Viveza plug-in part of the package before converting, and changes like brightness, contrast, detail can all be worked precisely on the face without making a selection. If you haven't tried it, it is really a wonderful tool. It has been the gold standard for b&w conversions for years.

Wouter, mine just keeps on tickin. Picked up a d500 w battery pack, thanks shun for the sale notice, and haven't tested by running the clipping range test on my sekonic meter, but it sure seems to have more dynamic range because shots I expect to have to trade off clipping at one end after years with the d700 falls within the histogram on the d500. So, yes, I will say it, when the darn replacement for the d700 comes out, I will upgrade for more mp and more latitude . Also, the improved high iso response blows me away. There have been improvements in 6 or 7 years. Do I need more mp especially in the 40 range, probably not. But if it shoots crop at 20 mp and gets say 8 frames per second, I'll sell the d500 which has been nice for the crop and burst for sports and wild life. As for a portrait lens, rick the 135 dc 2.0 will have to be pried from my cold dead fingers. Had to upgrade photoshop and get light room because my old ps 5 isn't supported for the new raw, so will be curious how well LR handles the ca. But, since I usually shoot it at 3.2 to 4 ca is minimal or non existent.

Sunny day produced a white background/water surface.

I think you are referring to selfies, often on a selfie stick. Those folks aren't photographers. A camera a couple feet from a persons face produces an enlarged nose, something I have never had anyone ask for, so many of those photos start out unflattering. Yes, a camera position above the eyes is common. In my photo it is only slightly above eye level. See any double chin there? A half inch up or down can make a difference. Shadows hide as well so placement of the main light has a bearing as well. A higher camera angle opens the eyes when looking up slightly and can make them look bigger. Taken too far, it can look like they were just startled. Tilting the head back and looking down at the camera can reduce the size of the eyes. If you saw a head shot taken from well above eye level doesn't mean the person who took it knew what he was doing. Could just be a gwc. However, camera positions above a person for full body can be dramatic because of an unusual angle so I would wonder what he was trying to accomplish. I have shot nearly straight down on a lady who had paid $5,000 for some plastic surgery she wanted to show off. It also may help with a heavier body making it appear smaller and the head larger. Having the body fall out of focus with shallow depth of field can help too. Your shot should start with an analysis of the persons face and body and your lens/aperture, camera height/distance, lighting should flow from that. There are no rules, just guidelines and they can be broken.

Ducklings.

Shooting in a scrum is an experience. There were a dozen of us shooting a person 15 ' ahead of us. Suddenly, a photographer sat down 3 feet from the subject blocking all our shots. A good friend, a former teacher, knew how to deal with that, he left the dozen of us and stood in front of the sitter and made believe he was shooting. I don't think the guy got the message but we loved it.

A long lens does the opposite, moves camera further from the person and makes the background smaller, less important. larger, more

A longer lens compresses a scene. By making the background appear relatively larger, it can be made to dwarf and seem more important than the foreground object. Imagine a person in foreground and a building in the background. A wide angle lens, moving closer to the subject, makes the person larger, more important, dominant in the image than the background. Think the classic interesting foreground object/low camera angle/ wa lens landscape shot. A long lens does the opposite, moves camera further from the person and makes the background smaller, less important. A long lens is for more than just reaching out. The perspective is set with your feet, not a zoom ring so it is one of the things to take into consideration before establishing the camera position as well as background, light angle and all should fit the vision for the shot, what you are trying to say.

Invaluable in portraiture for compression. 135-150 shortens the nose yet isn't that obvious. It allows the camera to be back about 8 to 12 feet, still close enough to communicate with the subject.

Shaken, not stirred.

Thanks, Shun.

With the release of the D7500 earlier this month, can we expect to see the D7200 price coming down soon?

For rectangular soft boxes, I use mine in a 3x4, a collapsible speed ring flattens the box and instantly pops it open. Unfortunately, I have not found one for octas. This type of brollie was good enough for Annie Leibovitz. When it comes to my 7' Octa, it is a bear to tear down, set up, tear down set up. So it stays in studio and a 6' AB parabolic with diffuser does just fine on location.

I have determined that logging in on Firefox works without the issues with google chrome. Logging in daily is an inconvenience. Seems like a drop in number of posts. Posters are asked to check to see if question has been asked before so I wonder how many unanswered questions are left after 10 or 15 years. But I can't help but notice the lack of participation of a number of folks who's thoughts I respected that don't seem to be here any longer. Has the initial interest in digital photography peaked and now is declining? I don't join myself, preferring to sponsor a new, novice but see few newbies now. Like so many photo groups locally, it seems like it is primary pursued by older gray haired white guys like me. Yes a smattering of 20 somethings thinking they can make a career out of it for a year or so, but for the most part, older folks. Also, I have noticed folks who thought moving up to better gear would improve their photos and when it didn't were disappointed and bailed on photography. Just some things that I have been wondering about over the last few years.

Charles, not taken as arguing. Me either, I wanted to pass some things on to the op so he doesn't have to learn them by experience. I use Einsteins for their 6 pops per second. Einsteins also have a 250 not 150 watt modeling light that I like on the main so I can see the shadows but they also probably throw off more heat. I regularly burst at 6 fps and things heat up. In my west coast studio it was completely blacked out and only lit by modeling lights so I tended to leave them on at higher power. I tend to use strips for kickers/hair lights and those clamps are great for attaching cinefoil to the sides of them to help keep light from contaminating the bg. I think I have the clamps you recommended, about the size of a small A clamp but lighter weight. I like them to partially roll my seamless around a small pvc pipe to keep the roll taut and straight without adding too much weight. Joe have some bull dog clips but the ones that are really handy are connected by a rod and both can pivot. It will clamp to a 7" reflector at one end and the other to a cinefoil flag. Allows 2 flagged lights with only 2 stands to evenly light a bg and yet keep spill off the subject. Can use 2.5" long flags just stiffened by folding over the long edge a couple of times.