New camera

[trickblue]

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v628/cowboyszone/thread_stuff/nerdfight_large.jpg

 

[YosemiteSam]

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v628/cowboyszone/thread_stuff/nerdfight_large.jpg

No debate required. I would.

 

[Phoenix]

woot.com today has what looks to be a fairly good deal on a Canon camera...?

http://www.woot.com/



Canon EOS Rebel XS 10.1MP SLR Digital Camera with 18-55mm IS Lens

$399.99

• + $5 shipping

 

[vta]

woot.com today has what looks to be a fairly good deal on a Canon camera...?

http://www.woot.com/



Canon EOS Rebel XS 10.1MP SLR Digital Camera with 18-55mm IS Lens

$399.99

• + $5 shipping

I think this camera is discontinued and is cheaper on Canon's own site @ $351.99

Link

 

[ologan]

I think this camera is discontinued and is cheaper on Canon's own site @ $351.99

Link

That camera,while good,is cheaper still on other sites. Yes,for all intents and purposes,it is "discontinued". I have the XSi,which is good enough for me......at this time! Yes,you can catch the camera bug real easy. Listen to Saltwater Server,he knows what he's talking about.
Also,may want to investigate the following site http://photography-on-the.net/forum/

 

[Vtwin]

woot.com today has what looks to be a fairly good deal on a Canon camera...?

http://www.woot.com/



Canon EOS Rebel XS 10.1MP SLR Digital Camera with 18-55mm IS Lens

$399.99

• + $5 shipping

I know a pro who does a lot of his work with that body. The common theme of advice for getting into photography I've heard is spend your money on glass.

You're better off with a $300 body and a $1000 piece of glass than the opposite.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I know a pro who does a lot of his work with that body. The common theme of advice for getting into photography I've heard is spend your money on glass.

You're better off with a $300 body and a $1000 piece of glass than the opposite.

That is just like audio. The speakers mean way more than whatever is pushing the audio for the most part. (obviously you don't want your tuner or whatever to come out of a crackjack box)

 

[SaltwaterServr]

I know a pro who does a lot of his work with that body. The common theme of advice for getting into photography I've heard is spend your money on glass.

You're better off with a $300 body and a $1000 piece of glass than the opposite.

1. Glass

2. Lighting

3. Body

1 and 2 are somewhat interchangeable, but that's pretty much where you spend your money. 3 is an afterthought unless you're in a specific niche where the print editor has very specific requirements.

Someone who has experience can produce a better shot with a disposable Kodak 35mm throwaway camera (with the built-in flash) than a novice with a Hasselblad H4-D series, if both people are given the same lighting equipment. The difference is that the experienced photographer can compose and understands light. They can get the flash on the Kodak disposable to trigger their lighting and knows ahead of time where its going to be placed.

Cheap glass though, you can't disguise it especially in portraiture. Cheap glass = no eyelashes. Good/Pro glass = excellent eyelashes which help define the eyes.

There are a few pieces of relatively inexpensive pieces of glass for both Canon and Nikon that will produce excellent results. Key word is few. I'm talking maybe 3 or 4 tops.

If you wanted a good mix for Nikons, you'd do great by having the 35mm 1.4 (1.8 as an option), 50mm 1.4 (the 1.8 is a nice inexpensive one), the 85mm 1.4 (1.8 is great as well), the 17-55, 24-70, and the 70-200.

That's a great line-up you'd be happy to have. Problem is that it's a hair under $9500 for those 6 lenses and they only get you to 200mm at f2.8. Now it gets expensive when you want to go low light with long glass for shooting wildlife.

FWIW, I've seen some incredible portraits done with 200mm and 300mm primes.

Now when it comes to lighting, well, do a search under my name for "playboy" and see if the thread from last year or the year prior comes up that shows their lighting set up for a single shoot. $250K+/- worth of lighting and basic modifiers, without including the stands, barn doors, gels, gobos, etc.

 

[CliffnDallas]

Visited a local restaurant Monday. The food is great...

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v65/BigCinBigD/57e3fe66.jpg

Ordering a flash, soft box defuser and some batteries...

 

[SaltwaterServr]

Visited a local restaurant Monday. The food is great...

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v65/BigCinBigD/57e3fe66.jpg

Ordering a flash, soft box defuser and some batteries...

Okay, see how the left side of her face is so brightly lit? To the point where her cheek is almost as white, or whiter, than her teeth? That's called blowing it out or "blown out". You've overexposed the photo to the point that all color is lost and it's only white. If you go to the histograms on Photoshop, or while still in camera, you'll see the the Master is probably got blinking highlights on it showing where the image is overexposed.

I know this was a quick posed shot, but the lighting could have been spot on for a great portrait if you under exposed it a bit. There are great shadows on her the right side of her face that could've been highlighted with less exposure.

Another thing to keep an eye on, pardon the pun, is her eyes. Pose her where there's a bit more white showing between her iris and the corner of her eyelids. It helps accentuate the color of the eye if it's framed on either side by white.

The smile looks 90% natural, so good job there making her feel at ease while you popped the photo. You'll see quickly when someone isn't as comfortable in front of the camera when they have "dead eyes". They're smiling, but if you block out the rest of their face and look only at the eyes, they're without emotion.

This is a pretty good example of using ambient lighting. The window was your point source/light for the shot. It works just as good as any 3200W Broncolor in this case, if you play with the exposure a bit.

What kind of softbox are you ordering? One built for the flashgun itself or a different model?

Give building one of these a shot too. Cheap as heck and work EXCEPTIONAL for what you invest. I built one of these for myself, and another for a friend. Don't use Lowe's Valspar plastic paint. It stinks to high heaven. Krylon fusion for the win. I got the bowl at Lowe's. It's a big brown plastic jobber. Bigger is much better.

http://www.ishootshows.com/2010/02/09/music-photographers-diy-beauty-dish/

He has a few shots at the end that show a secondary use for a flash that you probably haven't considered, as a source to separate the subject from a dark background. B&H has a sampler pack of pre-cut filter gels you can stick on the flash that then give you a colored flash. ******* Amber is the go to for warm portraits. When you shoot gels, make sure you have the camera's white balance set. If it's on auto, it'll try to cancel out the color of the gel you're shooting with.

However, you can use the camera's tendencies to go the opposite direction. If you shoot a very light to medium blue gel, the camera will compensate the other direction and you'll end up with an orange tint to the image which is great for giving the subject a bit more color in their face. There are white balance cards you can buy to calibrate the camera's settable options, unless you can set the Kelvin manually and have a good handle on how that works.

One more thing on the beauty dish, I built a secondary diffuser by adding a layer of translucent shower curtain. I cut out a pattern around the edge of the dish, added an inch around it, and then hotglued a piece of elastic you can get a Walmart inside of a seam made by folding over the plastic curtain edge. Only glued myself to it once or twice too.

 

[CliffnDallas]

Okay, see how the left side of her face is so brightly lit? To the point where her cheek is almost as white, or whiter, than her teeth? That's called blowing it out or "blown out". You've overexposed the photo to the point that all color is lost and it's only white. If you go to the histograms on Photoshop, or while still in camera, you'll see the the Master is probably got blinking highlights on it showing where the image is overexposed.

I know this was a quick posed shot, but the lighting could have been spot on for a great portrait if you under exposed it a bit. There are great shadows on her the right side of her face that could've been highlighted with less exposure.

Another thing to keep an eye on, pardon the pun, is her eyes. Pose her where there's a bit more white showing between her iris and the corner of her eyelids. It helps accentuate the color of the eye if it's framed on either side by white.

The smile looks 90% natural, so good job there making her feel at ease while you popped the photo. You'll see quickly when someone isn't as comfortable in front of the camera when they have "dead eyes". They're smiling, but if you block out the rest of their face and look only at the eyes, they're without
emotion.




This is a pretty good example of using ambient lighting. The window was your point source/light for the shot. It works just as good as any 3200W Broncolor in this case, if you play with the exposure a bit.

What kind of softbox are you ordering? One built for the flashgun itself or a different model?

Give building one of these a shot too. Cheap as heck and work EXCEPTIONAL for what you invest. I built one of these for myself, and another for a friend. Don't use Lowe's Valspar plastic paint. It stinks to high heaven. Krylon fusion for the win. I got the bowl at Lowe's. It's a big brown plastic jobber. Bigger is much better.

http://www.ishootshows.com/2010/02/09/music-photographers-diy-beauty-dish/

One built to fit on the flash. I thought the photo could have been darker also. I have what I think is a better shot. But I'm not sure how management feels about belly buttons.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

An example of a shot done with two gels.

A good example of breaking my suggestion about giving the spacing in the eyes.

Shooting a flash through hair from behind.

Flash is behind her right shoulder. I won't get into the other modifiers used to make the full image, but it's a cool example of using the disco ball as a reflector.

Since most of my reference port is bikini and glamour stuff, I'll send two to your PM's that show rim lighting (lighting the edges of hair from behind) and using gels in water.

 

[CliffnDallas]

An example of a shot done with two gels.

A good example of breaking my suggestion about giving the spacing in the eyes.

Shooting a flash through hair from behind.

Flash is behind her right shoulder. I won't get into the other modifiers used to make the full image, but it's a cool example of using the disco ball as a reflector.

Since most of my reference port is bikini and glamour stuff, I'll send two to your PM's that show rim lighting (lighting the edges of hair from behind) and using gels in water.

Thanks!

 

[SaltwaterServr]

I should add, one of the things that makes the bi-color gel shot stand out is the single point if white light in her left eye. It's called a "catch light". That one was put in using Photoshop or LR, after the fact. It's there to give the eye a highlight. I really don't think there was any lighting behind the photographer to produce the catch light during the shoot. Possible, but not probable.

EDIT:

For the folks who've watched Full Metal Jacket, Rafterman is actually a pro photographer in Hollywood and very much sought after. He uses only ambient lighting. Tony Manadarich or whatever his name is that was a huge bust for Philly or Green Bay is also a pro glamour/boudoir photographer. Don't look his photography up at work unless you want a visit from Human Resources.

 

[tupperware]

One built to fit on the flash. I thought the photo could have been darker also. I have what I think is a better shot. But I'm not sure how management feels about belly buttons.

I feel great about them. PM works.

 

[Phoenix]

Hey, did I do okay with this quick shot with my old LG Verizon phone?

http://i46.***BLOCKED***/albums/f131/vsmith23/AmericanFlagbyVietnamMemorial.jpg

This was a few days ago just by the Vietnam War Memorial here in DC

 

[vta]

Hey, did I do okay with this quick shot with my old LG Verizon phone?

http://i46.***BLOCKED***/albums/f131/vsmith23/AmericanFlagbyVietnamMemorial.jpg

This was a few days ago just by the Vietnam War Memorial here in DC

Yes you did, that's a nice pic. You can find on the web some people who do shoot with their phones and get some great stuff.

 

[Phoenix]

Yes you did, that's a nice pic. You can find on the web some people who do shoot with their phones and get some great stuff.

Thanks!

 

[CliffnDallas]

Hey, did I do okay with this quick shot with my old LG Verizon phone?

http://i46.***BLOCKED***/albums/f131/vsmith23/AmericanFlagbyVietnamMemorial.jpg

This was a few days ago just by the Vietnam War Memorial here in DC

I like that.

 

[CliffnDallas]

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v65/BigCinBigD/c1896b89.jpg

There, I adjusted it a bit and flipped the image. Looks a bit better.

Heres another.
http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v65/BigCinBigD/TwinPeaks2-20-12059.jpg