todd_phillips4

<p>I guess I will be first.<br>

Shot details below the photo</p><div></div>

<p>First time I posted in the Wed pic thread.<br>

This was taken on a Nikon D200 with the 18-70 Kit Lens. Did a boat tour of Isla Espirito Santo (sp???) in the Sea of Cortez near La Paz.<br>

One of my favorite pics on from my trip</p>

<p>Todd</p><div></div>

<p>I use Miller's Lab to print.<br>

I am sitting about 10' from a 30x40 metallic print. The original shot was taken in RAW on my Nikon D200 (10.2 MP) edited and saved as TIFF. I donot remember if I had to convert to JPG to upload it to miller's or not.</p>

<p>The picture looks great.</p>

<p>I use Miller's Lab to print.<br>

I am sitting about 10' from a 30x40 metallic print. The original shot was taken in RAW on my Nikon D200 (10.2 MP) edited and saved as TIFF. I donot remember if I had to convert to JPG to upload it to miller's or not.</p>

<p>The picture looks great.</p>

<p>Thank you everyone for the great responses.</p>

<p>They want to usethe lighting system for student and teacher portraits, for student photographic projects, teaching studio work, and they would like some portability for events off campus events. The school is a performing arts school and they will be looking to setup the lights at some off campus events.<br>

Is a Profoto system upgradeable? Meaning: Can a monolight setup be combined with another monolight setup purchase during their next school years budget? Would they sync?<br>

I own a reef store and have plenty of extra hotlights that can be used. 150 and 250 W Metal Halides. Also Reptile Heat reflectors that will hold up to 250W Standard Incadescent bulbs.<br>

I got involved with this school because of familty and friends who attend or teach there. I hope I have been able to contribute to the students learning, and believe I have. I have definitely learned alot with each event I have been a part of. I haven't used studio lighting since college so any advice here is greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>I can bring it up. I am not sure where their budget is at on this. I assumed - Sub $1000 but I donot know for sure</p>

<p>I am leaning on Profoto as my recommendation but I donot think they will be willing to spend that much. This program just picked up it;s first DSLR as an upgrade for their D Point and Shoot cameras they had.</p>

<p>Alien Bees looks to be economical on a mono light system and easy to upgrade.</p>

<p>I have been asked to help a Local Jr High and High School Photography program purchase a photo Studio lighting setup.</p>

<p>They are looking for a<br>

3-4 light system with tripods,<br>

umbrellas,<br>

soft box's,<br>

background.<br>

They would like a green screen for digital background manipulation, and possibly a wireless sync system.</p>

<p>This is a charter school and I was not told a budget for them. They will probably need to end up getting a system that can slowly upgrade with them as their school photography program grows.</p>

<p>I am not a studio lighting photographer and do not have alot of experience with ths. I told my friend at the school that I would try to help out with the photography program where I could. This is getting above my knowledge and experience level, so I am posting here for some of the great photo.net advice.</p>

<p>The school is located in Southern California.</p>

<p>thank you in advance</p>

Thanks Scott.

I agree about the exposure and color. I edit on a laptop and it's a PITA.... lol Too variable. I print really close to what I see and have sent my landscape work to be printed at Miller's Lab with great results.

I noticed a slight "pattern" in the sand where I removed the footprints. I will get that cleaned up. Thanks again for everyone for the advice.

I used the clone Stamp only I think at 18.

Todd

Thanks all :

I gave it a go on the high res original, then saved it for web. Let me know what you guys think:

Todd<div></div>

I shot a wedding for a friend. They weren't looking at spending much and asked me to shoot it. I did it free of charge

so I am not trying to make money at anyhing that I am not qualified for. It was quite the experience.

For any overall view of the shots you can go to this site:

http://awexotics.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=5

I am posting in here for advice on removing the kids from the background. I would love to have this shot without the

kid in the background.

I used Photoshop Elements 6.0 and have access to CS2. Any help offered would be greatly appreciated.

I was even thinking of dropping a rock on the kid =)

Any ideas?

Todd Phillips<div></div>

Amanda,

I shoot a D200 and just shot a friends wedding. I love photography and I wanted to do a good job. I picked up an SB-800 5 days before the shoot. It worked great with my slow kit lens. The critiques on here were more about image composition. Most thought the exposures were good. I didn't do much more than just TTL-BL mode. 3 weeks should be great for you to get a feel for it. I picked up a bracket as well. There are alot of differing opinions about that.

I didn't pick up a battery pack. I used the 5 battery set up for rechageable NiMh batteries. Recycle time when the batteries were fresh was great. I do feel a battery pack would be a huge advantage. I missed a few shots because of slower recycle time after the batteries were a little used up.

There is not a huge price difference between the SB-600 and SB-800. I felt the little extra was very justified.

Thanks again to all that offered their advice. The wedding went off without a hitch, well they did get hitched. They are

on their honemoon and I have just over half the photos edited and posted to my gallery. I am fairly happy with the

results. The sun cast some brutal shadows but at the same time was very warming. I shot most shots with the sun

at my back while keeping my shadow out of the shot. There were a couple shots into the sun which came out with a

nice dramatic effect. I should have tried some more of these. My camera was set to program mode 100 ISO shooting

RAW/JPG basic. SB-800 was set for ittl-BL. I tried to keep it automatic but I wish I would have experimented with

some manual flash shots, bumping the flash a few stops. There were also some good uses for some Rear sync after

the sun got below the hills (after the wedding ceremony). Enough about the could of''s and should of's. I lacked

confidence and didn't experiment for fear of screwing it up.

Here are the results: The first 4GB of shots are posted to the gallery and I am looking for some honest critiques from

you all. I still have about 3GB left to edit and post but these shots cover the cermony and some posed shots of

family friends and kids. Very informal beach wedding with the bride and groom both wearing black shirts and cacki

shorts.

I am looking forward to reading what you all have to say. I enjoyed shooting this. It is not what inspired me to pick up

a camera (nature and landscape) but it was fun to do.

http://awexotics.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=4

Thanks again

lol.. yes Girlfriend... =)

permission granted

William W.... No problem. I appreciate all advice and I donot feel you made any mistake. I assumed it was indoors until the bride-to-be gave some details to my girlfriend.

I appreciate everyone's advice. I went with the following:

Stroboframe STCF Camera Flip Bracket

Nikon NISD800 SD-800 Extra Battery Holder

Nikon NISC29 SC-29 TTL Off-Camera Shoe Cord

Nikon SB-800

10 Energizer 2500 mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries and a charger

Sunday I plan to visit the location around the same time of day as the wedding and shoot some shots of my GF to test the lighting.

Thank you to everyone for their feedback. I will post some pictures of the test run and the actual wedding for some feedback.

Todd

I am going to order in a bracket. I am a little worried about the location so I will "scout" it this weekend. Someone left a link above for a bracket.

Any other recomendations for a bracket?

Great advice and thanks to all. I think the overall consensus is to skip the bracket. I am picking up the SB-800 lithium batteries and a second battery for my Nikon. I errored in my earlier post. My widest angle lens is the 17-70 nikkor "kit Lens"

I have also found out that this wedding is going to be around sunset at the beach in Malibu or Santa Monica. I am getting worried about harsh shadows and possible severe back lighting. I have warned my friend but they more or less want to just get married quick and on a budget. I will be practicing with the flash and at the sunset time frames to get a groove.

Nadine,

Thank you for a quick response. I was referring to the camera yes. I am a little concerned about the Flash's refresh rate. I will have plenty extra batteries for the flash.

I will be playing with bouncing and the diffusing Dome. I donot think I will need the bracket.

Hey all. I am new to this board and am photographing a wedding free of charge for

a friend. I am an avid photogrpaher but my subject is usually landscapes and

nature. You can find my work on my myspace at:

www.myspace.com/TAP11

After reading in this forum I feel the need to inform everyone that I am doing

this "gratis" (or as Al Swearington said "Free, Gratis") I shoot with a Nikon D200, I

am picking up a SB-800 for this shoot.

I shoot with a couple Slow lenses:

Nikkor 28-80 3.5-4.5

Nikkor 70-200 4.5-5.6 VR

I have shot some "events" in the old film days. I had some decent equipment but it

was stolen. The release of the D70 brought me back into the photo hobby and I

have never been happier.

Other equipment:

Tri Pod and monopod. Remote Shutter release

Questions:

I used to use a flash bracket. Do I need one? In the past it was for better coverage,

less shadows and additional red eye reduction. I have noticed that most "wedding

Photographers" equipment lists have left this out. If you're opinion is yes, can you

recommend a decent bracket?

Battery life. This is a very informal wedding so it will not be long. I do want to

capture the candid shots for my friends and will be there for about 2-3 hours. Do I

need to consider a battery pack for my D200. I don't want to fork out that cash,

right now.

Any other advice. I want these to look good for them.