Odd. One of the promoters I work with for fashion shows down in Denver called me and was being super super nice. Asking what I need for the shoot this Friday and offering to promote me as much as possible. He even offered to hold my lights so they don't get blown over if we shoot outside.
This is a weird change from being mildly ignore or ordered to take pictures a certain way. o_O
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Odd. One of the promoters I work with for fashion shows down in Denver called me and was being super super nice. Asking what I need for the shoot this Friday and offering to promote me as much as possible. He even offered to hold my lights so they don't get blown over if we shoot outside.
This is a weird change from being mildly ignore or ordered to take pictures a certain way. o_O
Odd. One of the promoters I work with for fashion shows down in Denver called me and was being super super nice. Asking what I need for the shoot this Friday and offering to promote me as much as possible. He even offered to hold my lights so they don't get blown over if we shoot outside.
This is a weird change from being mildly ignore or ordered to take pictures a certain way. o_O
Someone is looking for photos of landmarks/skylines around the city for a walking tours brochure. How much is reasonable to sell the photos for? He is looking for a half dozen or so. Is $200 for half dozen reasonable, or $40 each?
Someone is looking for photos of landmarks/skylines around the city for a walking tours brochure. How much is reasonable to sell the photos for? He is looking for a half dozen or so. Is $200 for half dozen reasonable, or $40 each?
You should find out the exact usage and figure out how much they plan on selling / circulating.
If this is a big-ish company I would say you could charge more.
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Sorry guys for posting other peoples stuff, but I would really like to learn all the different techniques in Photography so I can learn to adapt them and add my own style.
Now I'm going to the F1 Grand Prix at silverstone in the UK and would like to get some awesome shots, but dont want to go the same old same old route. Now this guys work really gets me going:
He has many examples of this type of photography on his site but I just wondered how he gets these shots without it being all blurry...
One is predictive focus. If you know roughly where X is going to be in a moment and focus there, you can nail it.
Two is panning. A quick following a car will give you an AMAZING, though somewhat cliche, effect.
Three, if you can swing it, is a flash. This is a lot harder to do as anything less than an official photographer, since you need to be able to mount the flash relatively close, but a flash can freeze the action in its range. If that range is just hitting a car passing by thanks to a snoot or barndoors or somesuch, then you can catch that one car frozen in the moment, even while all the others motion-blur past.
This. He is just focusing on the car and using a low shutter speed and panning with the motion so the car looks relatively in focus and the background is more blurred. This takes some practice and it can help if you have a mono-pod or something to cut down on the vertical shake/blur.
Edit: On the first one it is possible a high powered strobe was used because you can see a nice crisp line for the top of the air intake (the curved thing back behind the driver's head). Also there are some pretty bright specular highlights on the lower part of the car.
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
I could just imagine. I mean I've seen pictures with that lens at 17 taken with a full frame but I don't think I'd truly appreciate the difference between that and my 18 on my XT without looking through the viewfinder.
I could just imagine. I mean I've seen pictures with that lens at 17 taken with a full frame but I don't think I'd truly appreciate the difference between that and my 18 on my XT without looking through the viewfinder.
Heh I had an 18-55 EF lens for my 10d and I tried putting it on my 5d and realized you only see a nice circle in the frame at wide open because some built in plastic on the back of the lens.
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
I'm a sucker for dogs that appear to be grinning, they always make me smile, so someone else will have to critique the first one.
I'd like the centre one a lot but I find that post in the middle distracting .
With the bottom one I'm having trouble focusing on the banjo player. Although I tend to like a shallow DOF and fuck.. I've lost the words.. This headache is driving me nuts.. A tighter focus on the main subject? So that they fill the frame pretty much. I sound like an idiot here but I hope you get what I'm trying to say here.
I'd also like to say that I'm glad that I'm not the only one whose been delving B&W lately .
Argh, this picture is bugging me. I can't see all the waterfall and I want too. If only you had been 4 feet to the right.
Anyway, here's another New River Gorge Bridge picture. Check out the original size to see the cars on the bridge.
(I'm low on material these days, gimme a break)
I think there's too much foreground - a nice square crop perhaps? Cutting off some of the pure white at the top and a lot of the dark foreground. Btw - was this raw? I feel like the pure white area could be rescued.
I'm a sucker for dogs that appear to be grinning, they always make me smile, so someone else will have to critique the first one.
I'd like the centre one a lot but I find that post in the middle distracting .
With the bottom one I'm having trouble focusing on the banjo player. Although I tend to like a shallow DOF and fuck.. I've lost the words.. This headache is driving me nuts.. A tighter focus on the main subject? So that they fill the frame pretty much. I sound like an idiot here but I hope you get what I'm trying to say here.
I'd also like to say that I'm glad that I'm not the only one whose been delving B&W lately .
Yeah I can't really tell people to stop driving or to come closer, these people are not models. Sometimes with street photogaphy the shot isn't perfect, but more often than not, this only adds a sort of very human connection.
I think there's too much foreground - a nice square crop perhaps? Cutting off some of the pure white at the top and a lot of the dark foreground. Btw - was this raw? I feel like the pure white area could be rescued.
It wasn't raw but there isn't anything to rescue, it's pure fog. I cut a little foreground off and it looks better but it puts the bridge in an odd place/size when it's square.
I like it, nice image. I almost wish you could snap more of them of just the foggy mountain / bridge. That faded out tree in the mid-foreground is very nice.
Experimenting with my 17-40mm f/4L. We decided to do a company outing today and took everyone to the range.
n0: as usual your post processing really sells your images, when I was younger I was junior elite golfer, sadly that title never got me laid. Nevertheless, I really like the final image, the DOF is perfect, the lighting is fantastic. The third last image really pulls me in as well, it's a little darker than the others, it's not like golf is an evil sport .
EDIT: Looking at that first image, if they weren't smiling, it would look as though you were going to use that driver to put the smackdown on some snitch or something.
Shots 2 and 3 are bizarre. I think it's the sky and the lack of any other buildings on the horizon. It looks like you're playing golf at the apocalypse or something.
Optic, I think my favorites are the first and last ones. You've got a nice dramatic angle on the first one, though the dude at the far right getting his head distorted weakens it a bit(assuming you're not shooting film, maybe it could be fixed in ye olde Photoshop with some presets or tinkering or something?). As for the second one, I just love the vivid colors and the way the golf club exits the in-focus area as it goes up into the guy's hand.
So, I found this singular flower in what USED to be a flower bed, and is now a bunch of dirt. Most of my shots were a little off-focus(need to tinker more with the 50mm to get it right), but this one came out pretty good, I think.
Any thoughts? I know the light's a bit flat and bland. Probably should've dialed down the pop-up flash and used it for some contrast.
EDIT: Woooo, this is shot 201! I've passed the point where free is enough! I can completely justify upgrading with some of my graduation money(assuming some is left over after gear and fun) now!
I am going to do a shoot with my crew for our companies team page, will have to repeat #1 with more serious faces and maybe a more desolate location. Always used to love that angle in movies when they have a crew walking up to the camera.
I must confess my golf skills would not only not get me laid but would probably get me injured. The other guys had played before, I haven't held the club in my hands. Ever. Hilarity ensued. I'm better at sports that don't need a lot of hand eye coordination. Like pushing rocks around.
Yalbo: the idea is good, but the problem with that particular shot is that the car / road are much much higher key than the flower / dirtbed. That leads the eye to the car and the flower becomes an afterthought. If you were to isolate the flower in the dirtbed alone - that would be a strong image. I slightly better light would help, too.
I am going to do a shoot with my crew for our companies team page, will have to repeat #1 with more serious faces and maybe a more desolate location. Always used to love that angle in movies when they have a crew walking up to the camera.
Just to add to the photos I posted at the top there, here is another shot of that same dog. I like the expression in the first one, but here he is looking mean and we can see that his name is "Beefcake."
If not for that darn post sign - the bike picture would be really cool with that road leading out... And beefcake is a very respectable dog indeed.
Yalb: better. But how about a shallower DOF to isolate the flower? The texture on the ground is a little distracting. But this is better. And could be improved with some post processing to take the dirt down in brightness.
If not for that darn post sign - the bike picture would be really cool with that road leading out... And beefcake is a very respectable dog indeed.
Yalb: better. But how about a shallower DOF to isolate the flower? The texture on the ground is a little distracting. But this is better. And could be improved with some post processing to take the dirt down in brightness.
Sadly, the shots I had with the shallower DOF are out of focus. I'm not good with getting my 50mm to go where I want it to yet, but I'm practicing.
Are you using a center focusing point? I learned from a fellow photographer that you always want to use only the center focusing point, focus on the subject, press the shutter button halfway down and recompose. Guarantees that you get what you want. Mostly.
Are you using a center focusing point? I learned from a fellow photographer that you always want to use only the center focusing point, focus on the subject, press the shutter button halfway down and recompose. Guarantees that you get what you want. Mostly.
We're talking fractions of an inch of DOF here. That method would screw it up. I have a shot in here where the petal at one end of the flower is relatively in focus, and the petal opposite it is already out of focus. The dirt is just a grayish brown blob.
Plus, it's a manual focus lens for me, as I'm on a little D40 without internal motors. So I can only trust my eyes and the focus indicator.
We're talking fractions of an inch of DOF here. That method would screw it up. I have a shot in here where the petal at one end of the flower is relatively in focus, and the petal opposite it is already out of focus. The dirt is just a grayish brown blob.
Maybe you should stay away from getting a macro lens for awhile....it might be too intense. Sorry the above quote just sounds like it's said so passionately, man. ;-)
:-P anyway. Seriously. Just take MORE pictures. It's not like you're wasting film. Snap away. By all means do your best...but I don't know how many pictures you're actually taking. The best way to get a handle on that lens if you're having trouble is to take lots of pictures...but I'm sure you've heard that before, right?
And yeah, I've heard it. I have a decent grip on the 50mm at more reasonable ranges(I took my brass pig shots with it, for instance), but when I get up close like that, with the DOF already shortened, I just can't keep it just right. It's one of those things where a tripod helps very very much.
It a tripod can help, but there are other things that can help you too. Are you sure you're out of focus on all of them? Some could be slight motion blur too.
Even changing how you hold your camera. You right hand should be holding the side grip firmly. If you don't know this already, the body of your camera should be resting on top of the palm of your left hand which should be easy enough to adjust your focus from that position. You can often steady your arms against your chest if you don't have something a little more solid to lean on.
A good "rule of thumb" estimate to am for hand held and not really having to worry about camera shake is 1/60th of a second or faster. It looks pretty bright in those pictures, and if your aperture is open then you're probably using faster than that, but it's something to keep in mind.
I would recommend investing in a cheap monopod to carry around with you if you're having that much trouble.
Also, the above was hand held macro. My beardy was getting his bath in the tub :-P The light wasn't that bright either. I just took a lot of shots...it helps that lizards sit quite still a lot, but you shouldn't be afraid of going for it. You're just doing your photos for yourself and enjoyment...no pressure.
Posts
Uncle - I like the trees / lake - but wish it would intersect as much (higher POV maybe?)
This is a weird change from being mildly ignore or ordered to take pictures a certain way. o_O
They
That or they want something from me. I'm not sure if I should be happy about this or cynical. :?
He wants to bang you all night long.
You should find out the exact usage and figure out how much they plan on selling / circulating.
If this is a big-ish company I would say you could charge more.
Now I'm going to the F1 Grand Prix at silverstone in the UK and would like to get some awesome shots, but dont want to go the same old same old route. Now this guys work really gets me going:
He has many examples of this type of photography on his site but I just wondered how he gets these shots without it being all blurry...
Any ideas?
Two is panning. A quick following a car will give you an AMAZING, though somewhat cliche, effect.
Three, if you can swing it, is a flash. This is a lot harder to do as anything less than an official photographer, since you need to be able to mount the flash relatively close, but a flash can freeze the action in its range. If that range is just hitting a car passing by thanks to a snoot or barndoors or somesuch, then you can catch that one car frozen in the moment, even while all the others motion-blur past.
This. He is just focusing on the car and using a low shutter speed and panning with the motion so the car looks relatively in focus and the background is more blurred. This takes some practice and it can help if you have a mono-pod or something to cut down on the vertical shake/blur.
Edit: On the first one it is possible a high powered strobe was used because you can see a nice crisp line for the top of the air intake (the curved thing back behind the driver's head). Also there are some pretty bright specular highlights on the lower part of the car.
Heh I had an 18-55 EF lens for my 10d and I tried putting it on my 5d and realized you only see a nice circle in the frame at wide open because some built in plastic on the back of the lens.
EDIT: This one is way overexposed, lightroom can't do much with the NEF file either, still, I think it turned out alright.
This was all done on my D80 with Sigma 300mm (420mm APS-C equiv?) f/4 Tele.
I'd like the centre one a lot but I find that post in the middle distracting
With the bottom one I'm having trouble focusing on the banjo player. Although I tend to like a shallow DOF and fuck.. I've lost the words.. This headache is driving me nuts.. A tighter focus on the main subject? So that they fill the frame pretty much. I sound like an idiot here but I hope you get what I'm trying to say here.
I'd also like to say that I'm glad that I'm not the only one whose been delving B&W lately
Argh, this picture is bugging me. I can't see all the waterfall and I want too. If only you had been 4 feet to the right.
Anyway, here's another New River Gorge Bridge picture. Check out the original size to see the cars on the bridge.
(I'm low on material these days, gimme a break)
Yeah I can't really tell people to stop driving or to come closer, these people are not models. Sometimes with street photogaphy the shot isn't perfect, but more often than not, this only adds a sort of very human connection.
It wasn't raw but there isn't anything to rescue, it's pure fog. I cut a little foreground off and it looks better but it puts the bridge in an odd place/size when it's square.
Experimenting with my 17-40mm f/4L. We decided to do a company outing today and took everyone to the range.
@17mm
Messing around a bit here...
different lens here....
EDIT: Looking at that first image, if they weren't smiling, it would look as though you were going to use that driver to put the smackdown on some snitch or something.
So, I found this singular flower in what USED to be a flower bed, and is now a bunch of dirt. Most of my shots were a little off-focus(need to tinker more with the 50mm to get it right), but this one came out pretty good, I think.
Any thoughts? I know the light's a bit flat and bland. Probably should've dialed down the pop-up flash and used it for some contrast.
EDIT: Woooo, this is shot 201! I've passed the point where free is enough! I can completely justify upgrading with some of my graduation money(assuming some is left over after gear and fun) now!
I am going to do a shoot with my crew for our companies team page, will have to repeat #1 with more serious faces and maybe a more desolate location. Always used to love that angle in movies when they have a crew walking up to the camera.
I must confess my golf skills would not only not get me laid but would probably get me injured. The other guys had played before, I haven't held the club in my hands. Ever. Hilarity ensued. I'm better at sports that don't need a lot of hand eye coordination. Like pushing rocks around.
Yalbo: the idea is good, but the problem with that particular shot is that the car / road are much much higher key than the flower / dirtbed. That leads the eye to the car and the flower becomes an afterthought. If you were to isolate the flower in the dirtbed alone - that would be a strong image. I slightly better light would help, too.
Reservoir Dogs what what
Yalb: better. But how about a shallower DOF to isolate the flower? The texture on the ground is a little distracting. But this is better. And could be improved with some post processing to take the dirt down in brightness.
Sadly, the shots I had with the shallower DOF are out of focus.
We're talking fractions of an inch of DOF here. That method would screw it up. I have a shot in here where the petal at one end of the flower is relatively in focus, and the petal opposite it is already out of focus. The dirt is just a grayish brown blob.
Plus, it's a manual focus lens for me, as I'm on a little D40 without internal motors. So I can only trust my eyes and the focus indicator.
:-P anyway. Seriously. Just take MORE pictures. It's not like you're wasting film. Snap away. By all means do your best...but I don't know how many pictures you're actually taking. The best way to get a handle on that lens if you're having trouble is to take lots of pictures...but I'm sure you've heard that before, right?
And yeah, I've heard it. I have a decent grip on the 50mm at more reasonable ranges(I took my brass pig shots with it, for instance), but when I get up close like that, with the DOF already shortened, I just can't keep it just right. It's one of those things where a tripod helps very very much.
Even changing how you hold your camera. You right hand should be holding the side grip firmly. If you don't know this already, the body of your camera should be resting on top of the palm of your left hand which should be easy enough to adjust your focus from that position. You can often steady your arms against your chest if you don't have something a little more solid to lean on.
A good "rule of thumb" estimate to am for hand held and not really having to worry about camera shake is 1/60th of a second or faster. It looks pretty bright in those pictures, and if your aperture is open then you're probably using faster than that, but it's something to keep in mind.
I would recommend investing in a cheap monopod to carry around with you if you're having that much trouble.
Also, the above was hand held macro. My beardy was getting his bath in the tub :-P The light wasn't that bright either. I just took a lot of shots...it helps that lizards sit quite still a lot, but you shouldn't be afraid of going for it. You're just doing your photos for yourself and enjoyment...no pressure.
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