jvanark

<p>It's certainly not a replacement for a tripod but I've been able to, in a pinch, get marginally more stable by taking a page from rifle shooters (used to compete) and use the neck strap as a brace. I shortened mine so I could wrap it around my right hand and arm to achieve some tension while I hold the camera up to my eye. There was an article on-line with some images that I saw that mentioned this technique a while ago. I can't find it right now but if I do I'll post a link.</p>

<p>Adam,<br>

Did you purchase your XSI with the 18-55 kit lens? The newer one, I believe it's the IS version -- not sure what the older one was, delivers pretty sharp images. I can't quite tell from your original post whether you have this lens or not. This might not be a bad, very inexpensive option, for the wider angle lens you are looking for. I'd read some reviews to see if you think it'll do what you want or play with it if you've already got it.</p>

<p>Talk to the director and see if you can shoot a technical or dress rehersal instead of a performance. You'll still need to follow the various flash rules/constraints but you'll have a lot more freedom to move around the auditorium getting various angle shots and you should have more time as they'll stop and start things more for the tech rehersal, not so much for the dress. Then, if you can, shoot a couple of shots during a performance to include part of the audience and it'll look more like you shot an actual performance.</p>

 

<p>Here's another link to a site to poke around on. Lots of DIY projects for studio gear and other ideas to do it on the cheap:<br /> <br /> http://www.studiolighting.net/</p>

 

<p>As John O'Keefe-Odom pointed out it can be surprising how much you need to "over-expose" an image to get it to really, really wash out.<br>

Here's an experiment I tried a little while ago while playing with this.<br>

Pick a couple of scenes to shoot -- one with even lighting and one with some highlights and shadows.<br>

Select a correct exposure for both (for the highlight/shadow scene first expose for shadows then highlights using spot, then one of the other metering methods). Now use exposure bracketing (hopefully your camera has this) at the smallest increment available (1/3, 1/2 stop?). Take images and increase the spread on the exposure bracket by the smallest increment and repeat until you've covered the entire range of EVs (I can only go up +/- 2EV -- Canon 450d).<br>

Look at the resulting images. I found it to be a real eye opener.</p>

<p>According to the linked Wiki article:<br>

"with 1 EV corresponding to a standard power-of-2 exposure step, commonly referred to as a “stop”.<sup id="cite_ref-0" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value#cite_note-0">[ 1]" </a> </sup></p>

<p>And since, doubling the shutter speed (from 1 to 2 seconds at f-22) without changing f-stop or ISO, equals one stop. I'm pretty sure that +1ev is equal to +1 stop.</p>

<p>If this isn't correct, first I appologize, and second, I hope someone more knowledgeable will correct me.</p>

<p>If you do end up contacting Penland, please let me know who you get in touch with and if you use a book-artist through that connection I would be very interested to learn who you use.<br>

My family and I have deep roots with Penland both from attending classes (my wife is a book-artist but doesn't, I think, have the time to undertake this sort of project -- I'll ask) and volunteering.</p>

<p>However this goes I would be interested to learn what you, in the end, chose to do.</p>

<p>The only photo related discounts I'm aware of are those offered by Adobe on software. Which can be very, very nice depending on the product.</p>

<p>http://www.adobe.com/education/purchasing/</p>

 

<p>If you can prepare and print the pages yourself -- check with the art department at your school (you mentioned you were a student) and see if they have any book-arts students that might be willing to take on a collaborative project and bind your book for you.</p>

<p>Alternatively do the same basic search local to where you live to see if there are book artists in your area. If you lived in Western NC I would send you here as a starting point to find names of book artists:<br>

http://www.penland.org/<br>

Penland School of Crafts<br>

Actually, you could check with them any way to see if they have a list of artists in your area -- I'm pretty sure they do.</p>

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<p>I will echo the sentiments about the remote release. I am also a new photographer and was debating whether or not to get a cable release when I purchased the rest of my gear but it is something I use now on an almost daily basis. If you are doing any macro photography, tripod + mirror lock-up + cable/remote relase = crisp images.</p>

 

<p>Thanks for all the responses. Gonna work through the information and practice.</p>

<p>-- jon</p>

<p>When looking at a chart or software to determine hyperfocal distance and the focal length of the lens is asked for is the the "real" focal distance of the lens used or should the crop factor of the camera body in use be taken into account?</p>

 

<p>Would you not also be able to "drag the shutter" by opening the aperture or setting a higher ISO if the shutter speed was a slow as you felt comfortable? The basic idea, right?, is to get more light in and the shutter isn't the only way of doing this. Or, am I missing something else?</p>

<p>A common response to a question like yours is almost always: "shoot more and when you're done doing that, repeat."</p>

<p>There was also a recent response to a similar question on this forum, that I thought was great and simple and I'd give credit if I could remember who posted it, the closest I can get is to not claim credit. The recommendation was to periodically assign yourself to take images of some subject. I believe the specific example was 10 images of fire hydrants. So, go around where you live, work, whatever looking for your assigned subject and take the assigned number of compelling, well composed, creatively exposed images. Then, evaluate them back home and figure out what worked and what didn't and more importantly why or why not.</p>

<p>That's a project I am embarking on starting this weekend and I'm busy putting together a list of subjects.</p>

 

<p>http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm<br>

Being a beginner myself constantly looking for tutorials on different topics I've landed on this site a number of times. The information seems good but I may not yet have the personal experience to be able to evaluate it properly.<br /> Oh, and as a beginner looking for information and wanting to DRINK ;-) -- THANKS!<br>

-- jon</p>