mike_godwin1

<p>Yea, and once you put an ad in there they never quit calling. I had one company call me 3-4 times a week till I told them I only do porn and asked them how much an ad in the local high school magazine would be.. ;-)</p>

<p>You might also check to see if your local Community College offers photography classes.</p>

<p>If you do buy one and then regret it, you can just ship it to my house. I know that would make you feel much better about the whole thing.</p>

<p>I don't really have an answer for you since the same thing happens to me. I also turned off ratings since they don't seem to mean anything. Do you leave comments and critiques on the work by others? That may help a little.</p>

<p>As for your photos, I think they look very nice. Kate's face is a little shinny and the shadow on her shoulders is a little distracting but I love the reflection in the eyes on Face. On Face 2 my eyes are more drawn to her chest but that may just be me ;-)</p>

<p>This is all just my $0.02 so take it for what it's worth.</p>

Nice snoot. I use a Cheerios box on my

Alien Bees. I don't think the Pringles

can would fit.

<p>It's usually printed in the contest rules that the photos may be used in this manner. The school I go to does this all the time. Mostly from projects students turn in from past classes. It is Fair use.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use">Fair Use</a></p>

<p>Thought I'd throw in another note. Here's a couple of befores and afters using mostly the default settings:<br>

<a href=" Before</a><br>

<a href=" After</a><br>

<a href=" Before</a><br>

<a href=" After</a></p>

<p> </p>

<p>I've used Portrait Professional for over a year now and I love it. Great time saver. My son never wanted to see it. He kept telling me he does everything in PS till he was in the studio one time and was watching me go through the photos after a shoot. He was impressed and that is a very rare with him. Now I think he wants to get a copy to play with in his studio.</p>

<p>I second getting a copy of "Light, Science and Magic". There are chapters that cover this issue.</p>

<p>Black board behind the glasses. Strobe behind the black board. White boards on each side. The white boards will reflect the flash for the white edge effect.</p>

<p>I also second picking up a copy of <em>Light, Science and Magic.</em></p>

<p>Here's some photos and setup from a lighting class I took a couple of years ago showing "Dark" and "Bright" field:<br>

<a href="../photodb/folder?folder_id=1024446">Lighting Class</a></p>

<p>I don't know if this will help you but I have people close their eyes and then open them on the count of 3. I shoot on 4. Seems to work with large groups photos where someone always has their eyes closed.</p>

 

<p>If you show people too many images they get overwhelm and have trouble choosing. I ran into this back when I started. I would post from 60-80 images and it would take forever for people to make their selections. I only post 12-18 from any portrait session now. Orders are a lot faster now.</p>

<p>Just my $0.02</p>

 

<p>I used to try and fix most of the shots but now I usually pick about 30 shots from a portrait shoot and star them in Bridge. My wife will then go through those and end up with about 15-20 that I double star. Those are the ones I do any touch ups such as Portrait Pro or any thing else. They are also the ones I upload to our site for our customer to choose from either through our site or from proofs I have printed.</p>

<p>For the "Spacepen" freaks -<br>

<a href="http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp">Spacepen</a></p>

<p>Canon introduces new 'flagship' PowerShot GX 1, Elphs</p>

<p><a href="http://gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/09/10073262-canon-introduces-new-flagship-powershot-gx-1-elphs">Link to MSNBC</a></p>

<p>Look into used equipment. KEH is a good company. I've bought 3 cameras and a few lenses from them. Saved me a bunch of cash.</p>

<p>Most photo editing programs have a way to stitch images together to make a panorama image. Here's a quick one I did. I took 5 images with the camera on my tripod. I think they were about 4 sec exposure each. If you look close, you can see where the 5 images were put together. I could clean it up a little more.<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/14937532-md.jpg" alt="" width="679" height="226" /></p>

<p>I sent my used 5D in to have it checked. They did the mirror, a cleaning, and adjusted everything that needed adjusting. No charge. Not even for the shipping.<br>

A very pleasant surprise and one very happy customer.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>This isn't really an answer to your question but, have you looked around to see if maybe you could rent a studio with a large cyc wall?</p>

<p>I don't think it's meant to keep the bulb cooler. I think it's like the fan in your computer. It keeps the electronics cooler by getting rid of the hot air. </p>

<p>I'll add another plus to the f/1.8. It's not that noisy and as for the "cheap" feel, it's a cheap lens. The only issue I ever had with mine for the past 4 years is the low light AF. But for $80 it was a great lens and I've used it for quite a few portraits. I love mine. I use it on an old 5D and a 30D.</p>

<p>My 5D stays in the studio and my 30D stays on the motorcycle. Both still work great and do what I need.</p>

<p>ps.. They are both paid for..</p>

<p>This is from a part timer so take it with a grain of salt.</p>

<p>I charge the same for all portrait shoots. The price I charge covers studio time and either a print package or a CD with high and low resolution images. The images are still posted online for sale. Sometimes family members will still buy the prints.</p>

<p>For biker event shoots I don't charge anything for the event but post images online and sell a few prints from there. I also write for a Biker Magazine and I use a few of my event photos for articles I write.</p>

<p> </p>

<blockquote>

<p>20 year old who uses film: Cool Hipster<br /> 50 year old who uses film: crotchety old fart who can't adapt to new technology.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Sounds like me..<br>

Some of my friends say the reason my son ended up in film school is 'cause I used to drag him into my darkroom 30 years ago.<br>

Then he dragged me into digital after that.<br>

Payback I guess</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I've dealt with problems like this for a long time. People trying to move things after they install things and messing everything else up.<br>

The best thing to do is use the defaults for the program install. Then put your data files on your other drive and tell your program where they are.<br>

If you can't afford to have someone help you with the install, use the defaults 'cause you'll never be able to afford to pay someone to fix the mess you're going to make.</p>

<p>Just my $0.02</p>