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andrew_gardiner

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Posts posted by andrew_gardiner

    Heavy medium format abroad?

    in Travel

    Posted

    <p>Notwithstanding the sensible advice regarding going in and out of A/C etc, air conditioning is actually your best friend when dealing with sensitive equipment in high humidity. A/C makes the air very dry and there's nothing better for your equipment than regularly leaving it for a few hours in a well air conditioned room when you're in the tropics.<br>

    Also store all your equipment with lots of silica gel bags everywhere (make sure these get the a/c treatment as well so they dry out too).<br /> Lastly I don't know if you're out there during the rainy season or not but you might want to consider taking a drybag also (just big enough to put your camera bag into should you get caught). Normal camera bags are inadequate in tropical conditions but once in a drybag it could survive a river - I find Ortlieb the best brand. <br /> This advice is equally useful for digital as well as film but good for you taking some film out there, you will see a huge difference from your previous photos and you won't regret it, just make sure you take enough!</p>

    Saturation, Vibrancy, and Contrast

    in Casual Photo Conversations

    Posted

    <p>Martin Parr I suppose is the obvious example for me, though look particularly at his earlier work for this.<br /> He's very different though. When he makes saturated images he does so fully conscious of their potential vulgarity and in fact their tastelessness is an important part of the work. Also of course he is actually a genuinely successful and important photographer too.<br /> http://www.martinparr.com/</p>

    format: 6x7 is weird isn't it?

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>I think it might be more of what you're used to than anything JD. I shoot very little 35ml nowadays (which often strikes me as being too narrow) and like the 6x7 format very much because it's so close to my 4x5's. In fact I am prepared to make significant compromises just to keep the format intact when cropping. <br>

    Maybe also it is a little old fashioned , as Edward implies. Nowadays formats, especially on tv, in feature films and also I notice on smartphones have an ever more stretched out widescreen picture frame. For some reason wide is seen as modern and contemporary and I'm sure this has a great effect on what we expect and how we are used to reading pictures.</p>

    Identifying Text on Photos

    in Casual Photo Conversations

    Posted

    <p>I'm not sure that the faith people have in watermarks is warranted anymore. To my knowledge since CS6 anyone with just a casual understanding of Photoshop can remove even the most obtrusive watermark perfectly and almost instantly. There are dozens of YouTube videos out there showing you how.</p>

    Antarctica Voigtlander 667 or Ebony 5x4

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>It sounds like a fairly epic subject and also a subject that doesn't particularly require fast shutter speeds or masses of incidental shots for that matter. In fact quite the opposite; I imagine it more to be vast, still, empty landscapes and for that reason I would take the bull by the horns and use the 4x5. Go slow and take your time with the right tool for the job. Come back with just a few beautiful, considered landscapes. Half measures avail us nothing as they say.</p>

    Banner ads obscuring the last few inches of text on practically every page I visit.

    in PhotoNet Site Help

    Posted

    <p>Hi, I'm running Safari on a Mac 10.6.8. Yep it's the 'Bitdefender' ad and I'm not a subscriber but am always signed in when I visit. For me every time I see it it's obscuring text and I'm seeing it now on maybe 20% of the pages I visit.<br>

    I don't know how these arrangements work or whose responsibility the 'ad code' is but if I were Bitdefender and paying hard cash for this campaign I'd want it sorting out fairly promptly, especially as it is now being discussed publicly on the forum. </p>

    Your least prefered category

    in Casual Photo Conversations

    Posted

    <blockquote>

    <p>Long-exposure, soft-water shots, turning waterfalls and waves into smooth, bokeh-like white outs. A sharp wave is now an exception rather than the rule. When did this flip-flop happen?</p>

    </blockquote>

    <p>Ha ha, a pet hate of mine too along with sunsets, other peoples kids playing sports, 'street' shots of wrinkley hobos or any other hackneyed cliche we've all seen a thousand times before - there I've gone and offended practically everyone!<br /> But seriously though the OP is not asking our opinion of other peoples decisions but which category we least like to pursue ourselves (all categories are open to cliches after all). I used to hate portraiture because I no longer really believed in it but nowadays I find making a successful portrait one of the most satisfying things. I'm open to any project really as long as it's interesting in some way and maybe I'll worry about that category later.</p>

    Dust in lenses

    in Casual Photo Conversations

    Posted

    <p>I've put my time in worrying about it but don't bother anymore. Flecks on the rear elements are supposed to matter more than the front but in truth wherever they are they don't make any visible difference. The only time it does matter is in resale because even though we all know it's not that important we all still do mind a little.</p>

    beautiful shots of endangered tribes

    in Casual Photo Conversations

    Posted

     

     

    <blockquote>

    <p>Their stunningness is, in part, their downfall. Many don't breathe life. They breathe more of a canned sense of beauty, IMO.</p>

    </blockquote>

    <p>I would agree with this and would add that although he seemed to have visited a large number of very different tribes from all over the world, each obviously with its own unique culture, he seemed to stick to exactly the same framing, compositions and set ups for all.<br>

    This suggests that he had a kind of rigid, photographic formula that he imposed on each very different situation and consequently rather than bringing us an actual encounter with the world he brings us a kind of exotic 'product'.<br>

    The self-aggrandizing video was irritating.</p>

     

     

     

    Jason Bell's photos of the royal christening

    in Casual Photo Conversations

    Posted

    <p>I think they look technically very proficient photographs in what must be an extremely demanding situation. But having said that, there is also an air of almost waxwork unreality to them that I find disquieting, especially the middle one with Wills and Kate and the baby.<br /> I almost prefer the old photograph of Queen Victoria which, in contrast to these modern images, actually manages to look much less formal. Maybe it's just too much work in post. Lighting all looks perfect, I have no problem with the shafts of light coming up from the bottom.</p>

    Any LF aerial photographers?

    in Large Format

    Posted

    <p>I'd be interested too Michael if you've got experience, how difficult is it? (I mean with a 4x5, not the Hasselblad). I'm assuming you would have to shoot out of an open door and presumably the longer shutter speeds are a problem? Burtynsky obviously does it and I have wondered about the practicalities.</p>
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