** A Picture I Took - 2009 **

ben chi(f4) said:
Johnny, nice looking photos... which actions did you use?
Totally Rad?

flickr?

Also, how does smugmug work when people buy photos? How much do you get? Charge? Any help would be awesome as we're wondering if we should just package the deal and we give them the digital negs or charge them per photo.

Here's our website http://www.starrphotographs.com We're going to be adding a client proofing section soon. Also, do you use a local printer or somewhere else?
Click to expand...

Most of my pictures from that wedding have Lilyblue's Wisteria preset as a base. I use Lightroom exclusively, although I have tried messing around with the TRA pack on a friends' computer...I just greatly prefer the real time previews that presets offer.

If you have a Smugmug pro account, you set the prices, and Smug takes a small percentage. If you have a power account, you can still sell, but you don't keep any of the money. Pro is really the only way to go, IMO. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of getting my money through prints. I prefer a higher per hour/session fee, with less expensive prints and CD/DVDs.

This is the digital age, and people expect to be able to print and copy their files when and how they want. Hell, for my wedding, I specifically told the photogs that I wanted copies of the unedited files in case I wanted to reprocess them. I think people are more willing to pay for the service than 3 bucks per 4x6. That's just me.

As far as printer, I just use what Smug provides. Their prints have always been perfect for me.
 
xphil3 said:
Snowknight26:
psychoace:
You need to REALLY work on your compositions. Dont just shoot everything and anything, sit back and look at things for awhile and visualize your shots. Honestly, to me it looks like you're forcing all of your photographs.
One last thing I noticed, you cut off your subjects in a lot of photos(not the self portraits, im sure thats implied ;-)) but for example the whole shot of the car. Keep at it though.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I've kinda been uploading more and more here cause I wanted to hear some Constructive criticism. I understand what you mean. I should of moved over a little get all the car in on the wide shot. I probably should of framed myself a little more to the right of the frame in the side profile shot. I think right now I'm just really worried about getting comfortable with the F stop settings, shutter speed and using those in different settings. I
don't want to just shoot stuff in auto and fix it up in photoshop later or have wasted shots because I didn't know what to do. I like the shots still but yeah I know even my best shots still need to be framed better. It's just something I have to concentrate on. You are right though I do just walk around and shoot a lot (although the last one's were more me just sitting around bored shooting stuff). I think some of my stuff I did when I first really started to do this as a hobby were better framed because I cared less about settings and left everything on auto. ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/psychoace/page8/ ) but as I said even those shots would look better with an easy adjustment.
 
Last edited:
Shoot in Aperture Priority until you get comfortable with what the different f-stops look like, how shallow DOF works, etc. Then move to Shutter Priority until you figure out how slow you can handhold reliably, what speeds stop motion, what speeds blur motion, etc.

Just keep playing!
 
xphil3 said:
stop!theradio:
Really dig your stuff man, nice as usual!
Click to expand...

Thank you!

Thanks :)

Some random shots taken in the front and back yard today. Pretty much just killing some boredom today:

IMG_2250.jpg


IMG_2207.jpg


IMG_2226.jpg


IMG_2203.jpg


Aaaand my favorite from today. I had no idea until I reviewed the pictures, but I got awesome colors in the background from the sky, plants, and sun reflecting off of stuff:

IMG_2283.jpg
 
it would really help if you guys included what camera gear you used to take the photos
 
Question: Do most of you crop your photos before displaying them?

I have a real problem taking pictures in any resolution (4:3, 3:2, or 16:9) where I feel that I have a lot of "wasted" space. Instinctively, I treat it as a lack of skill and something I will improve on over time, but I am curious as to how the process actually works for those of you who have been displaying your work for a long time.

Is cropping some area out of a picture something you expect to do to most photos normally? Is it considered a mistake if you take a photo with "wasted" space in the first place?




edit: I ask this because a similar realization came to me regarding post processing. I found it strange, at first, to learn how mandatory it is in a way to post-process images for saturation, color, and something like contrast. I always figured that's what mastering a camera was all about, adjusting specific settings to snap exactly what you had imagined.
 
Last edited:
dalarev said:
Question: Do most of you crop your photos before displaying them?

I have a real problem taking pictures in any resolution (4:3, 3:2, or 16:9) where I feel that I have a lot of "wasted" space. Instinctively, I treat it as a lack of skill and something I will improve on over time, but I am curious as to how the process actually works for those of you who have been displaying your work for a long time.

Is cropping some area out of a picture something you expect to do to most photos normally? Is it considered a mistake if you take a photo with "wasted" space in the first place?




edit: I ask this because a similar realization came to me regarding post processing. I found it strange, at first, to learn how mandatory it is in a way to post-process images for saturation, color, and something like contrast. I always figured that's what mastering a camera was all about, adjusting specific settings to snap exactly what you had imagined.
Click to expand...

I crop if the situation requires that I do satisfy a good composure, or to cut an ugly out of the scene. I don't do it as part of my "workflow" for every picture.

That being said, it's crucial to learning how to crop well. I honestly had a hard time conceptualizing how different crops would look until I started using Lightroom. Their cropper is one of the easiest, yet robust tools I've used. I know it sounds drastic, but try Lightroom out if you haven't...it's free for a few weeks on trial basis.

Also feel free to look through my work (definitely better out there) if you want to see what my crops end up looking like.
 
Just wanna give Victor Chan another thumbs up on his Ospreys, nice work sir! I have access to a very secluded family of Ospreys and it's killing me that every time I go there it's so bright that my crappy longest glass results in a mess of blown out skies and purple fringes around the nests. I'm actually considering figuring out how to get the local fire department to give me an hour or two on their ladder (I'm a volunteer as well) so that I can shoot from ABOVE the nest.
 
JohnnyNapalm said:
I crop if the situation requires that I do satisfy a good composure, or to cut an ugly out of the scene. I don't do it as part of my "workflow" for every picture.

That being said, it's crucial to learning how to crop well. I honestly had a hard time conceptualizing how different crops would look until I started using Lightroom. Their cropper is one of the easiest, yet robust tools I've used. I know it sounds drastic, but try Lightroom out if you haven't...it's free for a few weeks on trial basis.

Also feel free to look through my work (definitely better out there) if you want to see what my crops end up looking like.
Click to expand...

I do have lightroom and have been playing around with it but, unfortunately, my camera works with .RW2 files, which aren't supported by anything yet except for the proprietary software it comes with.

Thanks a lot for the great info.
 
dalarev said:
I do have lightroom and have been playing around with it but, unfortunately, my camera works with .RW2 files, which aren't supported by anything yet except for the proprietary software it comes with.

Thanks a lot for the great info.
Click to expand...

Sorry if I missed it earlier, but what camera do you have? I ask because the RAWs from my 50D can only be processed in Lightroom 2.

As far as cropping, use software, LR2 can also do many more great things as well.
 
Last edited:
dalarev said:
Question: Do most of you crop your photos before displaying them?

I have a real problem taking pictures in any resolution (4:3, 3:2, or 16:9) where I feel that I have a lot of "wasted" space. Instinctively, I treat it as a lack of skill and something I will improve on over time, but I am curious as to how the process actually works for those of you who have been displaying your work for a long time.

Is cropping some area out of a picture something you expect to do to most photos normally? Is it considered a mistake if you take a photo with "wasted" space in the first place?




edit: I ask this because a similar realization came to me regarding post processing. I found it strange, at first, to learn how mandatory it is in a way to post-process images for saturation, color, and something like contrast. I always figured that's what mastering a camera was all about, adjusting specific settings to snap exactly what you had imagined.
Click to expand...

I rarely crop in PP. I normally do all my framing in the camera if I can, I'll sometimes crop PP, but I mostly shoot what I shoot and like what I have in the background and how it's framed.

This shot was framed with the camera:
3547373794_54e66672a2.jpg


This one I cropped PP
3689698624_fb18a33fb4.jpg


It's all in how I feel for the picture.
 
dalarev said:
I do have lightroom and have been playing around with it but, unfortunately, my camera works with .RW2 files, which aren't supported by anything yet except for the proprietary software it comes with.

Thanks a lot for the great info.
Click to expand...

That's still not a problem...just edit your pics in your existing software, and bring the JPEGS over to Lightroom for final cropping!
 
Victor - Thanks for the pointers. I'll keep working on it. I only have a 200mm lens so that makes it a little more difficult to get close. I'll post a few of my better ones after I do some PP this week.

JohnnyNapalm said:
I crop if the situation requires that I do satisfy a good composure, or to cut an ugly out of the scene. I don't do it as part of my "workflow" for every picture.
Click to expand...

Johnny maybe you or someone else with quite a bit of experience can talk about your "workflow" a little. I've been shooting quite a few pics lately with my D40 but it seems that I I dont get around to doing much PP partially because Im not sure how to store them all or how to start going about it. I guess what I mean is if you have 50 pics to sort through no big deal. But when you have several thousand to go through and categorize, edit, etc, I guess Im not sure where to start.
 
Kadath said:
Just wanna give Victor Chan another thumbs up on his Ospreys, nice work sir! I have access to a very secluded family of Ospreys and it's killing me that every time I go there it's so bright that my crappy longest glass results in a mess of blown out skies and purple fringes around the nests. I'm actually considering figuring out how to get the local fire department to give me an hour or two on their ladder (I'm a volunteer as well) so that I can shoot from ABOVE the nest.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Just one thing you would learn that never shoot with the sky as your background. Unless....during late evening or early morning when the sun light isn't harsh. The camera would always meter off the exposure through the sky. So, your shots would always come out with the subject underexposed. Or to have the subject properly exposed with the sky overblown. Good luck with your ladder. I haven't seen any Osprey shots taken ABOVE the nest though. :)
 
metallicafan said:
Johnny maybe you or someone else with quite a bit of experience can talk about your "workflow" a little. I've been shooting quite a few pics lately with my D40 but it seems that I I dont get around to doing much PP partially because Im not sure how to store them all or how to start going about it. I guess what I mean is if you have 50 pics to sort through no big deal. But when you have several thousand to go through and categorize, edit, etc, I guess Im not sure where to start.
Click to expand...

Firstly, I break my folder tree down by year, and then by event...2009->Chris and Cher Wedding. It's a really uncomplicated way to store my RAWs and make anything instantly findable.

Second, I don't try to let myself get behind by 1000s of files (unless I shoot that much at one event...but that rarely happens). Once you get the hang of your editing software of choice (Lightroom 2 for me), you can fix most images with basic tweaks in about 20 seconds per file. What I do first in post processing is white balancing (not usually a huge issue for outdoor shots). After that, some simple tweaks to exposure, brightness, contrast, and sharpening, and I'm done. Again, this is for basic tweaking. The great thing about LR is that you can copy your PP settings for one pic, and paste it onto as many as you want. That can save lots of time if you have a bunch of similar pictures.

Once my pics are done, I do a mass export to JPEG and upload them to my host. I then delete the JPEGs (since I have them saved on the web), and retain the RAWs in the above folder structure in case I ever need to go back and reprocess with new techniques that I've learned (happens quite often).
 
Here's two from the Shore this weekend. This is my brother-in-law and his wife (my photography partner)
3715778812_c7791ac6a0_b.jpg


I like this one because the wind came up and touched her hair just as I snapped the picture.
3714943405_8a119ef6ef_b.jpg


And this is my wife and I (Taken by my mother in law) I have my camera on manual... she couldn't find the focus points, haha
3715752810_0a3d587d0a_b.jpg
 
3716953530_c56b2c3b49_b.jpg


3716952928_1fa0a97a70_b.jpg


3716955838_3cc672b462_b.jpg


3716143053_7702455056_b.jpg


3716957798_d948b38caf_b.jpg


3716958396_6012fd5b2a_b.jpg


I really need to get some kinda hood for my LCD screen cause it's impossible to see what's going on with the summer sun. So some of these are overexposed. I know I didn't compose that well anyway (which I can't blame on the sun since I have to use the viewfinder since I'm running a Rebel XT). I should PP them but I don't think I did anything good here other then the two ladies sitting with the boat in the background (even that one is kinda bad cause I didn't set my F stop right and so the stuff in the background is not as sharp as the foreground) I took some pictures yesterday that I think might come out nice though so I'm not feeling to down on myself.
 
Try using a shallower depth of field (a lower f/stop number) to give your backgrounds some blur. That would have made the Lincoln shot 10x better, because those distracting sharp leaves would become a wonderful green blur.

As far as exposure, remember that your camera has an exposure compensation control. It's all about taking a ton of shots to learn how your camera will react to certain conditions...once you know that, you can get a lot out of the exposure compensation.
 
Also, I thought the beach pic had the most potential...you should always play with post processing, especially on photos that you think don't deserve them! With a little cropping, straightening, and coloring, the picture really pops.

(I'll take it down if you don't want it posted, just let me know)

34eukna.jpg
 
Yeah you can keep it up. I did these out of fun and am just using it to gain experience so I am not to picky on what's done to them.

I will have to read up on Exposure Comp Control to see how it works and when best to use it. I also got to use that straightening technique you used (I really need to read up in general) I will try to mess with these in lightroom tonight along with the stuff I took yesterday.

*EDIT* uh DUH I know what Exposure Comp is. It's the thing setting to tell the camera to expose longer or shorter. I thought you were talking about something else. I used it more often before but some people said my stuff was under exposed so I tried to keep the exposure comp at 0 instead of dropping it down to where I had it before. I really need a LCD hood though cause I wont be able to tell if it's overexposed until I look at the screen but with the sun blasting the detail is very difficult to flush out.
 
Last edited:
Doesn't look quite as good scaled... :(

I am using GIMP... any hints/tips/tricks to scaling an image properly?

corkey.JPG
 
I've always done Image -> Scale Image -> enter dimensions that are the same H/W ratio, cubic interpolation -> hit "Scale"
 
JohnnyNapalm said:
I've always done Image -> Scale Image -> enter dimensions that are the same H/W ratio, cubic interpolation -> hit "Scale"
Click to expand...

I think I did that, but I see 'jaggies' on the right hand side of her face, which aren't there in the original... maybe I need to turn 16x FSAA on!! :D
 
We did our first paid gig yesterday!

Here's a couple samples:
3722765896_1771bcffb0_b.jpg

Nikon D50 50mm
3721935405_ae68f70672_b.jpg

Nikon D50 50mm


I have more up but I'll post when they're all uploaded

I learned a TON from this photo shoot.

First thing I learned was that 6:30PM was too early at this time of year to go to the beach to shoot (I'm in New Jersey).

We had a soft box for off camera flash, but we didn't use it. Things were moving so fast with this big family and they were somewhat directing everybody everywhere, which helped as you can see they had a lot of kids. Anyway, if you have any questions about the shoot let me know and I'll try to answer the best I can. The only exif info I can provide since I didn't save the info, I'll have that later for all interested.
 
Ben, a shame that girls hair is obliterating her face...it's still a fun shot.

I like the idea of the second shot, but it's got too much facial contrast for my taste. On one had you've got legs that are on fire, but then half a face that's in the dark.

Either way, grats on getting your first paid gig, that's always exciting!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top