tony_santella

<p>I didnt read it that way<br>

and even if you are correct . I dont think that would be the proper question for some one in the position you suggest</p>

<p>Maybe<br>

Im looking at getting into pro photography , I pretty sure I would like to specialize in close up work , Can anyone point me in the right direction?</p>

<p>looking for eqipement recomendations just seems like starting in the middle to me</p>

<p>Plus how in the world can you have any idea that you want to take specialized photos and sell them<br>

without at least rudimentary knowledge of the equipment</p>

<p>I May just be in an off mood tonight but the whole question just struck me wrong</p>

<p>I can 2nd adorama<br>

I use them for all of my processing and have no complaints</p>

<p>Any which way that i write this its going to sound harsh</p>

<p>Its not really ment to be hurtfull but it needs to be said</p>

<p> Im not a pro Im not even a good amature And I can say with some confidence that if you need to ask the question you are nowhere near ready sell anything<br>

This is not a critique of your photo skills which may be excellent<br>

It is a critique of your knowledge of and Photographic equipment , and those seem lacking for someone aspiring to sell a product or service.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I have taken Williams advice and jumped in I try and do 2 per day<br>

using the methods posted and trying to add my own style</p>

<p>I can already see how viewing others work and putting some thought into it can help both the photographer and the critiquer</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I have taken Williams advice and jumped in I try and do 2 per day<br>

using the methods posted and trying to add my own style</p>

<p>I can already see how viewing others work and putting some thought into it can help both the photographer and the critiquer</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I cant see any reason not to take both , the fifty mm is so small and light it will fit in a pocket<br>

since im assuming you have weight and packing issues you will most likely be shooting HH and the 50 mm 1.8 could come in handy on cloudy days and in some darker areas<br>

put the zoom on the camera<br>

toss the 50 in a coat pocket<br>

its still winter here you will be wearing a coat or atl least a jacket everyday<br>

Good luck and enjoy your trip</p>

<p>just my .02<br>

While I understand your desire to garner acurate information and that miss information could be costly.<br>

I would rephrase the post if it were mine<br>

removing the part specificaly asking for refrences It just read poorly like you are tired of looking for your own solutions and wish for others to do it and pass on their findings<br>

Please dont take this the wrong way Im not saying that is your intention.<br>

It is just the impression I got a first blush</p>

<p> I would have the origianl question and left it be , Then sorted through all the suggestions given to separate the opinion from the fact.</p>

<p>Please accept this in the spirt in which it is typed<br>

I hope you get your answers<br>

heres my opinion<br>

I would imagine that an older version of PS and light room would run fine on a newer more powerfull os<br>

I have never had issues with any older programe running on a newer machine<br>

only the reverse running newer programes on older less powerful machines , has caused problems for me<br>

GOOD LUCK</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I am in the process of having a box made with the 2.8 gig quad core i7<br>

It was recomended by all of my web designers and computer literate friends<br>

and the builder<br>

They also said that while sandybridge has great potential that they are back ordered due to recalls and issues with the chip set<br>

everyone also recomended a new solid state hard drive matched with a large conventional 7200 hard drive to get maximum processing speed with great storage capabilities</p>

<p>I am setting up for the same type of machine the OP is speaking of No gaming No Video<br>

I am placing the OS on the SS drive and all photos on the new 7200 rpm HD<br>

while keeping my existing HD and all of its old files (- photos) for normal computing and family uses</p>

<p>My specs<br>

i7 quad core 2.8<br>

1 terra bite 7200 wd HD<br>

1 120Gig Soild state HD<br>

8 gig ram ddr 1333<br>

other misc readers and writers, cards chips ect ct<br>

windows 7 OS</p>

<p>Local Computer store builder 1400.00 including all file transfers new case , powers supply ect ect ect</p>

<p>Its really great to see that others are in the same situation and that this thread was able to help others</p>

<p> </p>

<p>If your in Coney Island its a short train or cab ride to Sheepshead bay<br>

Early in the day 7am and after 3pm you will have the local charter fishing fleet coming and going<br>

In early april all the boats will be painted up pretty for the start of the season<br>

walk over the foot bridge and a few blocks south to the beach<br>

Enjoy your trip</p>

<p>Great Ideas Fred<br>

Thanks<br>

Your right on William, I have started to critique my own work but I am a harsh and always make myself cry</p>

<p>I need to slow down and not get distracted<br>

Im really jammed this weekend between showing the boat and running trips but by monday or tuesday i will have my 1st project planed out</p>

<p>I really dislike the fact that you cant go back and edit a post OH Well nothings perfect</p>

<p>Dawn If you are still following may I suggest that if its permissable on PN the we start a "circle" of members that critique each others work on a regular basis<br>

no rules or commitments</p>

<p>Well heres the plan going fwd<br>

Everyones suggestions were so very helpfull its only fair that I take the advice that you folks took the time to write up and put it into practice.</p>

<p>Im going to try and do atleast one or 2 critique for others everyday<br>

and more over im not going to do the popular photos getting plenty of play</p>

<p>Im going to take Williams suggestions about picking a exercise every week and when possible posting 1st the xercise and then the results it here on PN</p>

<p>Im going to shoot longer and take less shots of fewer subjects in any given outing<br>

concentrating more on exposure and composition<br>

Im going to use light room a little more for PP</p>

<p>Im only going to limit my own request for critiqe to one or at most 2 photos per week</p>

<p>The only thing Im a little sad about is Les was asking if I was ever going to come back to this thread and when I did he disappeared. Shame hes critique gave me an interesting perspective on my shots and his manner was refreshing at least to me.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Opps that large file is not the one I wanted to add</p>

<p>the hands block the face and it looks to me too cluttered<br>

This one is the one I wanted</p>

<p>Guess that in this setting it doesnt come natural to me<br>

I will in the coming days and weeks do some critiques and hopefully be of value to somebody<br>

I my field and in my circle of friends it would be a little difficult to get more than 1 or 2 critiques of value without a little ribbing ,ok more than a little . Live feed back is a little harder for me<br>

So I hoped to reley on the net and mostly photo.net that section was what originaly drew me to the site. I will have to put some additional effort into building a circle of critiquers here<br>

As allways William your post and lessons are greatly appriciated , you are a natural born teacher<br>

Les your post was also most helpfull and I will refer to it often in the comming months<br>

Blunt honest critique is a very good teacher as well . Actually I have already taken some of your advice to heart The part about the pics being flat and muddy , I have always prefered darker more under exposed images but after seeing that in writting I noticed how flat they seemed I took a few portraits that I had taken and brightened them up they are not perfect but neither are they flat or muddy It made a huge difference</p>

<p> Actually every post made here and all the advice given was excellent and will be refered to often.<br>

I will be out today taking care of some business but will check on this thread over the next several days before fades away down the list<br>

So any additional thought projects or ideas will not go unnoticed<br>

Thanks Tony</p>

<div></div>

<p>I hear what you are saying and agree<br>

I will say that It would be easier had I never picked up a camera not that its impossible now just that perspective changes<br>

I will also say that in a bar one guy talking to another ,when one is a dentist and the other is a plumber its one thing here on a site called Photo.net its another matter<br>

At least in my mind<br>

I ask people unassociated with my business question about it all the time I take their answers one way<br>

I ask the same question to some one "inside" and take it another<br>

I think your points are valid<br>

views from others are valable on some level<br>

even mine</p>

<p>now on to the critique</p>

<p>love that you left it a bit slanded it adds to the whimsey of the picture</p>

<p>The over all composition is nice and I like that it dosent look worked</p>

<p>the bottle on the floor is a bit distracting<br>

and I do wish the guy was a little more to the right</p>

<p>over all a nice piece of work</p>

<p>Les<br>

I never said I didnt want to do dark room work</p>

<p>I said" I am new at photograpy and not really interested in post processing at this time"</p>

<p>to clarify its hard learnng to take decent Photographs let alone learning how to use light room and photoshop at the same time<br>

I do feel at the end of the day I will most likely learn some post processing but feel that "my Style" wil be to use a minimal amount</p>

<p>right now I make minor adjustments in either the cannon software , lightroom and mostly picasa because I find it the easiest and most functional of the three<br>

I think lightroom maybe be the most powerfull of the three but im having a tough time figuring it out</p>

<p>Your comments are and will continue to be well recieved and appriciated the best comments are those that are accurate and truthfull and your were both</p>

<p>Sorry for the late response<br>

I had a bad day Someone forged one of my business checks and I spent the day opening and closing accounts and filing poice reports</p>

<p>I thank everyone for their responses<br>

they are all spot on<br>

I will explain the wave shot as that one was done with a little thought (wrong thought but thought)<br>

I was attempting to get the piling sharp and show the motion of the waves<br>

also looking to get the entire row of waves down the beach hence the f stop and slow ss<br>

I thought the recrop was ok you guys made it look better and showed me how and why</p>

<p> William yes thats my wife and niece taken before I started to try and really use the camera</p>

<p>while im not shy with advice I am with critique . I would hate to have a negative view on something that someone thought was a great work and me being a rank amature make a foolish comment</p>

<p>like the POW I think its over done , but many think its pleasing<br>

In the future I will engage more</p>

<p>In general its hard to carry and set up a tripod but in the end its necesary<br>

Most of those beach shots were taken enroute to my objective the light house so I guess they constitute snap shots. There were some good subjects that someone else would have spent time on<br>

the walk down the beach with a camera was a killer so in the end even the light house shots were rushed<br>

I leaned something from the pics I took on this trip and the trip I took to the aquarium and now from your critique<br>

if you want good photos plan good photos</p>

<p>take less shots and plan each shot<br>

you cant just go out and take a lot of shots and hope for a good one or 2 you have to plan your shots and not get distracted<br>

There is a pelican shot on the critique board in birds I think it came out nice<br>

the wings are cliped but the water and face are good any one want to take a look<br>

Thanks again everyones opinions are most helpful and will all be put to ,hopefully good use<br>

remember with me you cant be to kind or to harsh Tony</p>

<p>I just did a little trip to the aquarium<br>

I found that my 50mm lens 1.1.4 provided the best results due to the lightlng in the aquarium tanks<br>

I only had a hard lens hood and it worked fine</p>

<p>I tried to use a 100mm macro with poor results<br>

a friend shot with my 24 to 105 f4 with some good results as well<br>

I did find that shooting straight on produced better results<br>

In the aquarium tripods were not allowed so everthing was Hand held<br>

I believe that at home with a tri pod your results should be better and allow for more freedom with settings</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

<div></div>

<p>I have posted several pics in the critique forum<br>

a few get a comment most go unnoticed<br>

I try and express that I am interested in honest critique and that negative critique is welcome and in some ways more welcome that praise<br>

I am new at photograpy and not really interested in post processing at this time<br>

My focus is on taking quality shots not inventing quality shots<br>

Am I doing something improper<br>

Am I lookin for something that doesnt exist here<br>

are there so many photos that many get lost in the mix</p>

<p>guess the question is what am I missing in that forum</p>

<p>Thanks Tony</p>

<p>Kim hello<br>

Welcome from another newbi<br>

I hope you find the site as helpful and informative as I have .</p>

<p>I just hopes this helps someone else<br>

The real tuff part is I wasnt sold anything I sold myself with web searchs and review sites<br>

Buying the gear was not a real hardship and in truth its all good gear that will serve my for years to come<br>

My only reagret if you could call it one was buying a older 80 to 200 2.8 lens when in truth a longer focal length and small f stop would have served me better<br>

I do need the low light capability to some xtent but I have taken it too FAR not every lens need to be 2.8 or lower<br>

learning a little about DOF in advance of my purcahses would have helped A lot<br>

Well for now In pretending I dont have any high iso settings or low f stops and trying to limit my lens selection<br>

I leave the house with one lens and leave the rest home I deal with the one on the camera for that trip<br>

in place of the big camera bag and all the goodies I carry my tri pod and try and use it . gotta admit its a lot more work setting up a tri pod than changing a setting<br>

I think the results will be better</p>

<p>Wow Surprise surprise the more I shot learn.</p>

<p>Im writting this so I may help anyone who finds themselves in a similar position</p>

<p> I wanted to do photography as a hobby so I bought a camera then started to read reviews and vistit different web sites. I found a lot of great information and being that i had a fair budget acted on it. Dont Do it!<br>

Mistake number 1 buying equipment before you actually learn what it does.<br>

Im happy with the body and actually all the lens I own.<br>

What im finding is that I dont use them at the extremes of their range And that Im better off for example using a lower f stop and lower iso and my tripod as opposed to some super feature IS 1.0 blah blah lens</p>

<p>I would have been better served by learning to use the kit lens (which I gave away to a friend)or getting one good general purpose lens before buying series of high end lens.<br>

I know this info is put into lots of answeres and the advice is always sound.</p>

<p>I just thought it would be nice to put it down from someone who jumped in with both feet and now realizes that I could be taking the same shots with lesser lenes and a tripod and that they would most likely be better than my hand held shots that some super iso and f stop let me take hand held</p>

<p>2.8 fstops and IS maybe great but knowledge and a tripod will get u better pictures<br>

Oh well ive and learn<br>

and keep shooting</p>

<p> </p>