lisae

<p>Thanks for the explanation, Shun. I'm going to take the time to read more today.</p>

<p>Shun, concerning the RAW files, that's what I thought. But the tech specs state NEF (raw): lossless compressed, compressed 12- or 14-bit. I guess I need to do more reading in order to understand it. (I think I've decided that 5 fps is sufficient. I only wanted to confirm that shooting RAW would not slow it down.) And thank you for the link to the other thread. I will go read that next.</p>

<p>Shun, may I ask a question about your RAW setting? Is that the maximum resolution setting for the D600? (I hope I got the language right. I'm trying to understand the different RAW settings.) I'm thinking about buying a D600, and pondering the 5.5 fps. Most likely, when I need the faster frame rate, I will also need the extra megapixels of a larger RAW file. </p>

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<p>Fascinating. We homeschool (for other reasons) and there are a lot of homeschoolers who romanticize the off-the-grid lifestyle. (I don't!) It's fascinating to get such an intimate glimpse at the reality of an intentional community. I also have an MA in Anthropology. I would love to read more studies about the psychology of this sort of segregation.</p>

<p>Tim, I'm assuming you know that there is a large one outside of Waco called Brazos de Dios. They welcome visitors to their shops and teach classes. I'm not sure about their religious affiliation, but they live like Anabaptists or Mennonites.</p>

<p>I think it depends on what you want to see. I prefer autumn in Texas because the weather is more predictable than spring. I've been to Ft. Davis/Guadalupe Mountains in early November and they were beautiful, lots of fall color. But we also love our spring wildflowers. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that they are in two (or 3 or 4, depending on how one classifies them) different ecosystems, and the winter can be very cold in the Panhandle. </p>

<p>Texas Highways magazine might be a good resource in addition to the parks' websites.</p>

<p>I would guess 60s in the day and 30s - 40s at night, maybe colder at the higher elevations. You should probably contact the park and ask. I understand that one of the highlights of the Park in November is McKittrick Canyon because of the fall color. You might ask about that, too. </p>

<p>What about Guadalupe Mountains National Park? I've only been there once, in early November, and would love to spend more time there. http://www.nps.gov/gumo/index.htm</p>

<p>Q.G.: the FTP protocol sounds familiar to me. I think they may have done that a couple of years ago, when I first began taking photos for my son's team. My husband is the techie in the family so he would upload the photos. I'll ask him about it. Thanks for the reminder.</p>

<p>Thanks for all of the comments. In the past, the gym had a part-time media person. She set up a system for multiple people to upload photos and access photos. After she left, the gym began tightening security over images, but I expect they will always have a handful of people with access to the galleries. That is their main requirement, along with the ability to keep the galleries hidden. </p>

<p>I hadn't thought about web hosting. They have a website, so I assume they have a web host. Perhaps they can get storage through the host. I'm also going to ask about backup storage. I assume they have it.</p>

<p>I'm waiting for a call back and I'll pass on the recommendations.</p>

<p>I'm helping my son's gymnastics club with organizing and archiving thousands of photos. They currently use a photo-sharing website to upload photos from multiple photographers and store them for future promotional use. This particular photo-sharing site (I would prefer not to name it) seems to have a lot of bugs, everything from resetting privacy settings to temporarily losing albums. Although it would be very time-consuming, I'm thinking about suggesting that the gym move the photos to a more reliable website. I'm assuming they want the cost of the site to be minimal.</p>

<p>I'm assuming that with so much digital media nowadays, many schools and athletic clubs have a similar need for online photo storage. Does anyone have a recommendation for one?</p>

<p>I bought the 35/1.8 for indoor family pictures. But it stays on my camera (D5000) most of the time. I use a 50/1.4 when I want a head/shoulders shot of one of my kids. But the 35mm is perfect for general use.</p>

<p>This is a good time to visit because it's cooling off. Two places immediately come to mind: the Stockyards area in Ft. Worth, and the Dallas Arboretum. In Dallas, you might like walking around White Rock Lake and the Deep Ellum area. I also find it interesting to watch the tourists around the Texas School Depository (and JFK Memorial) in downtown Dallas. <br>

<br />I'm a Dallas native, and still live in the area, so I know Dallas better than Ft. Worth. But, you can probably find a bit of everything within a 3 hour drive. If you can be more specific, I might be able to give more suggestions.</p>

<p>You might look through the photographs of Justin Turveen to get more ideas. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninjatune</p>

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<p>Very sad and very frustrating. We visited Denali with my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. We took the shuttle bus into the interior of the park. It allowed us to see and photograph several grizzlies from the bus. At that time I had a P&S, but my dad got some great shots using a 70-300mm.</p>

<p>Giving the hiker the benefit of the doubt; it may have truly been an accident that he got so close, so I'm speaking generally here....</p>

<p>I understand why people want to backpack. I don't understand why people don't respect the wildlife enough to give them distance. Denali is set up so that people are an intrusion in most areas of the park. That gives visitors a unique glimpse into a wild place. In return, visitors need to be good guests and follow the rules.</p>

<p>Editing to add: just read the article (an update to what I read earlier) and it looks like the hiker didn't retreat as he should have. Very frustrating.</p>

<p>Andrew: thanks. That's what I've been thinking. </p>

<p>Andrew: thanks. I'm thinking in terms of final image quality - if cropping from a full-frame image would give me better images than zooming in from a crop sensor. I don't think the D800 is the perfect camera for me. I'm just trying to weigh the compromises. </p>

<p>Just came back from Detroit, where my son competed in J.O. Nationals for Acrobatic Gymnastics. We had just returned to the hotel after a stressful day at the competition. These are my kids, looking out the hotel window at the Detroit River, taking a moment to enjoy the view before getting ready for the next day of competition.</p><div></div>

<p>Andrew: thanks. I'm planning to buy a new camera before the end of the year. I hadn't planned to move to FX, but I'm starting to rethink that after taking photos of gymnastics at J.O. Nationals last week from the stands. I'm weighing the advantage of a DX camera over the extra pixels to crop from the D800. Maybe I'll rent one for a few days.</p>

<p>Andrew, may I ask what focal length you used for this photo? </p>

<p>These photos are from the US Olympic Media Summit, held in May in Dallas. As David Haas said, the point of the Media Summit was to allow a number of media outlets to photograph and interview some of the athletes competing for the Olympic Trials. It worked just as David described. Because my son competes in Acrobatic Gymnastics (not an Olympic sport but under the umbrella of USAG), I've seen sets of images from 2 other photographers, both of which are much better. Our local news even provided some background images to show their setup.</p>

<p>I've wondered about the selection process. I'm assuming that photographers and other media people requested invitations to attend, just as they request credentials for other events. </p>

<p>Thanks, all. These are all from friends, moms who happened to capture a good picture while out with their kids. I take photos for my son's gymnastics team, and the parents think I can do anything. :-)</p>

<p>Tim, thanks for the tip about 16 bit. That's not one of those things I would have thought of.</p>

<p>I did think of one more question. IPhone pics are 4:3 aspect ratio, is that correct? So they will need to crop when they get ready to print them, or is there a place that prints 4:3 pics? Most of these pictures can be cropped, but I had one picture (a dancer in her recital costume) that would have lost a significant part of the composition. I suggested that my friend have it printed on a larger size paper, then trim the excess and mount it on a board.</p>

 

<p>I seem to have a growing customer base for "cleaning up" iPhone photos for print. (Just wish I were getting paid, but I'm starting to think about outsourcing to my teen and letting him charge for it. ha!) </p>

<p>I haven't tackled anything really difficult. All of them have been in good light and just needed some light sharpening and a little noise reduction or white balance adjustment. I use Lightroom 4, then export at full resolution and send them back to their owners.</p>

<p>I'm assuming that editing camera phone pics for print is the same as any other image. Am I missing anything?</p>

 

<p>John, the gym has a detailed photography policy. I'm not comfortable discussing the agreement (or the potential conflict we had with a parent) any further on a public forum, and it's not relevant to the discussion here. The only reason I brought it up is to reinforce the recommendations that Nicole get additional counsel. </p>

<p>To add a few more comments... I recommended the SBA just as a place to start, and to help you think through your options. I didn't think the SBA consultant knew enough about a photography business to give me more than a few broad guidelines. And I thought some of his tax advice was questionable. (He said something similar to your tax guy about income for services. I don't know the answer to your question about sales tax on prints. I've never sold prints, just my services.) </p>

<p>Since I only do an occasional portrait, I decided that I would continue as a hobbyist. Most of what I do is serve as a volunteer photographer for my son's gymnastics team. I provide photos for promotional use, and the gym has assured me in writing that my work covered legally under their photography policies.</p>

<p>But even with my limited experience, I've run into some issues where I needed professional advice. (See above, where I talked about the potential for legal problems just serving as a volunteer mom-photographer.) That's why I said that you probably need an accountant and an attorney. At a minimum, as Michael pointed out, you need protection if you are sued. </p>

<p>So, even if you decide not to operate as a business, I think you probably need to understand all the pros and cons of different options.</p>

<p>You might start by consulting with an advisor with the Small Business Administration. I did that last year, and concluded that I would continue to operate as a hobbyist. (I'm not earning much, and I don't want to deal with the tax issues.) <br /><br />He answered the big questions and helped me clarify my goals. If you decide to move beyond that, then I think an accountant (and probably an attorney) is essential. </p>

<p>Leslie, thanks. :) I do shoot sports - Acrobatic gymnastics for my son's team. This is my third season as the "team photographer", which means I'm the parent who provides the photos for the team website. I've also helped at a couple of Artistic meets. </p>

<p>I also know the limits of my camera. 5% might be overstating it a bit, but no more than 10%. I'm always surprised. It's harder to catch tumbling runs (for a couple of reasons) but those aren't [usually] the most interesting parts of Acro routines, so I often skip those. Of course, now that I've announced my great success in public, I'll probably bomb at the next meet!</p>

<p>Ariel, thanks for the tips. I've given him some advice, but I don't have time to give him one-on-one help at meets, which is probably what he needs. I'm not sure this is a high priority for him anyway. I'll try to print off your suggestions and share them with him. I'm not sure what lens he is currently using. I need to think about the "1/2 stop slower shutter speed" and how that would affect the pictures. That would potentially give him more blur, right? So I'm wondering if he is using too slow a shutter speed, and with that 1/2 stop disadvantage, just getting motion blur rather than missed focus? Does that sound possible? He doesn't share a lot of his pictures so I haven't seen examples of the problem.</p>

<p>I've said in other threads that I didn't buy the D5000 for gymnastics, but I ended up becoming the team photographer because I had a DSLR and, apparently, I knew how to use it! I added a Sigma 70-200/2.8, and my place was sealed. ;) Now I'm waiting for Nikon to come out with a successor to the D300s, or I will buy an upgrade to the D7000. </p>

<p>I also use the center focus point, with single-point AF and it's remarkably reliable. But I don't find it that difficult to shoot gymnastics; to me, it's pretty predictable. </p>

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