david_l._forney

<p>FYI, the release of Lightroom 3 is probably around the corner. Lightroom 3 beta 2 runs out at the end of the month. </p>

<p>Thanks so much, Alan. Now that you said that, I can see the distortion effects in my mind's eye from close shots of short lenses that I have taken from time to time. This is very helpful. David</p>

<p>I thought the question a bit simple at first, but as I read the answers, I can appreciate that it is a very good question. Alan, how would your answer change if shooting waste up, or full body, in the studio? David</p>

<p>I've been to the Calumet store in San Francisco. They have fine art paper in stock and on display.</p>

<p>See Patrick Lavoie's description at the link below. Patrick is a professional fashion image processor and does images just like this.<br /> http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00VmDI<br>

[i now see a link to Patrick's discussion on this topic was already provided above.]</p>

<p>Does anyone have any experience or intelligence about this program (other than by general reputation)? I've heard that some big name schools have outdated equipment and software and some have turned into diploma mills. Is SVA still the real deal, on the cutting edge? Has anyone been through their Online/Summer Residency masters program? Thanks in advance. David</p>

<p>Got the program and started using it. So far, I like it. A great time saver. David</p>

<p>Thanks so much, Tom! I think I'll wait until this weekend to try this out on my desktop. (Currently, I'm traveling and using a laptop.) I just tried a very simple experiment, with one good color tone and one bad, where I pulled the bad toward the good. It appears to work. When you work with these, I assume that you do so in the input box on the left, and not the preview box on the right? Both seem to affect the image. Thanks again. David<br>

p.s., I found the images of the baby instructive. </p>

<p>Tom, I've been following your dialogue with great interest. I downloaded a trial version of Color Mech and tried it on an image of a fair skinned girl with red blotches. I'm having a little trouble making some progress. When you take the samples, do you select the bad tones or the good tones? What would interest me would be to even out the tones with the overall skin tone appearing natural. Do you recommend a tutorial? Thanks in advance. David</p>

<p>Thanks, Patrick. I have the new Epson 3880 and print my own prints up to 17 x 22. I shoot only portraits in RAW on the Canon 5D MKII (which I will upgrade to the 1D4s when it's available). I have been using ProPhoto, but it's been recommended to me to use Adobe RGB (1998) 8bit and specifically not ProPhoto. Would you agree with that advice? You also referred to PSD files. Do you prefer them to TIFF files? </p>

<p>Patrick, Do you use Adobe RGB (1998), ProPhoto or some other color space when working on high end portraits? Do you ever use the color space in Photoshop that is linked directly to a calibrated monitor you are using? Thanks in advance. David</p>

<p>Patrick, Thanks for sharing your trade skills. I read all of your posts with great interests. They have helped me become better at what I do. I'm curious what your view is concerning catchlights. I realize that most of your work is studio work. Whether in or out of the studio, do you add or adjust catchlights? If so, what techniques do you use? What works and doesn't work for most high profile fashion shots? When I look at high profile fashion shots in top magazines, especially location shots, I don't see a lot of continuity. Thanks in advance and again for sharing. David</p>

<p>See also the following which discuss shooting whales:<br>

<strong>http://www.photo.net/nature-photography-forum/00LHyY; </strong><br>

<strong>http://www.photo.net/nature-photography-forum/00T1G4; </strong></p>

<p>David</p>

<p>To clarify the above image, this is a female who was inverted (belly up), with her tail out of the water. She was just holding steady, flapping her tail on the surface of the water about a dozen times over a two minute period or so. No one knew why she was doing it, but the flapping was loud and lots of fun to watch. The guide on the boat identified her as a female. She was about 50 meters from the boat. David</p>

<p>I did this in Maui a few weeks ago (2nd time). Nix to the tripod/monopod. You will be constantly moving around the boat, upper/lower deck, front/back. If the sun is out, you won't need a fast lens. I have the 70-200 f/2.8L and the 70-200 f/4L and chose the latter because the IS is one generation newer. Take the lens with the best IS and don't forget to use a circular polarizer and check the settings as needed depending on your orientation. I recommend that when you spot a whale and are waiting for it to surface, keep the camera up and ready to shoot with the focus set. When you see the whale surface, in most cases you should not take the time (you won't have the time) to reframe the whale in the center spot meter (provided the entire whale is somewhere within the frame), because in the fraction of a second it will take you to reframe, the whale may be back in the water. As soon as you see it anywhere inside your frame, be prepared by holding as steady as possible, press the shutter as quickly as you can, shooting continuously and don't let up until it's back in the water. You can later crop the image in post. Take an extra card and delete all the duds. When I was out, there were half a dozen whales around us most of the time, but most were not within 100 yards. Some were very close and with full zoom I had to be more careful with framing. (If you are prone to get seasick, consider taking some appropriate medicine before you go out.) Good luck! David</p><div></div>

<p>Thanks to all for your input. The collection of comments have given me some good ideas for exploring solutions. Thank you so much again. David</p>

<p>Thank you all for your very helpful responses. To add information, I use only L series lenses and shoot 50% of the time with primes. I apologize that the question is dependent upon too many variables, and don't want to waste your time with theory. I initiated the question because I thought that boosting ISO would boost the shutter speed to help with the stop action for active children when I'm using a flash. I am simply not that adept at flash as I am with natural light. Neil, so you are saying that even though the curtain is open for 1/125 second, you get stop action because the only image recorded is from the 1/10,000 burst from the flash, even if the model is moving during the entire 1/125 exposure? Suppose you are looking for a narrower DOF? </p>

<p>The situations would be non-studio mobile shooting. "Acceptable" would be for me. I consider a portrait sharp if I can count clear, crisp hairs on the eyebrows when enlarged (which I can do when I get the shot right). I also shoot kids, so they move around quite a bit. Hence the problem of getting these types of shots using a flash. When I'm outdoors with good light, I can get the results I'm looking for. It's when I use the flash which is giving me the problems with children.</p>

<p>Sorry, this was part of a text which I deleted because it was too long. I am using a Canon 5D MKII full frame 24 megapixel camera. I'm having problems with getting good results with my Q Flash QFT5d-R because the shutter speeds are too low resulting in images that are not sharp enough (and the Q flash in both TTL and Auto mode overexpose the image). I shoot ISO 100 and am thinking of increasing to get a better stop action. Alternative would be for me to use manual mode and fix shutter, aperture and ISO and allow the Q Flash to make the right adjustment.</p>

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<p>At what point is ISO unacceptably high for producing high quality enlarged wedding portrait prints (say 13 x 19)? David</p>

 

 

 

<p>Richard, Thanks for your response. It sounds like you do something similar to what I expect to do. What rights do you give your customers to the digital files? Can they make copies for commercial use or do you retain that right? What type of contract do you use? David</p>

<p> . . . . and as to the argument against WMs because people may remove them, my father always told me that locks are intended to keep honest people out. My estimation is that most honest folks won't remove the WM. David</p>

<p>Interesting, and a little disconcerting. I have the Canon 5D MKII and just purchased the T5d-R and received it yesterday. Did some test shots in my house that showed no real problems. I have a shoot tomorrow (Sunday) and intend to go to location today for test shots in preparation for the shoot. Based on the tutorial and my test shots so far, I expect to use auto mode most of the time, since I'm looking principally for fill. I'll be shooting portraits outside and inside a greenhouse. I'll let you know how they work out. And if I forget to get back to you, please send me a note. Sometimes I even forget to eat. :) david </p>

<p>Thanks so much to all for your suggestions. Are there "standard" contracts available anywhere? David</p>

<p>I find it a fabulous program that I use with some discretion so as not to over do it. David</p>