Portfoliage

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Which do you like better?  The old version or the new version?

I’ve got a photography job this weekend.  Whee.  Good fun.

I’ve heard rumours that alot of people are running into problems with the d700 not being as sharp as they would expect. I’m not too sure about that problem. And let me tell you why.

Everytime I’ve upgraded to a more ‘pro’ type equipment I’ve had to spend a month or so adjusting my technique. I found that the more pro end, the less forgivable the equipment was with my sloppy technique. It happened when I went from the d70 to the d200. It happened when I went from a 70-300 5.6 lens to the 70-200 2.8 (and a 1.7tc). I happened again with the d200 to the d700. So every time I upgrade I end up spending some time upgrading my technique too.

That being said, if your d700 isn’t as sharp as you expect there are a couple things you can do.

1. Take it back (my first d200 had a rear focusing problem)
2. Reset it. The submenu for fine tuning to a specific lens might be screwing up your sharpness.
3. Ensure adequate shutterspeed by controlling aperture and ISO before you decide to take it back.
4. Test in controlled conditions.

I personally do not find my d700 less or more sharp than the d200. It is less forgiving of my mistakes though.

I’m getting ready to enter an art park contest sponsored by an art park nearby. All entries are due soon but I’m waiting until near the end to post them because they are all available publicly on the sponsoring website.

Shutterstock is getting upwards of 85,000 new pic’s a day. That’s a staggering number. My sales keep going up little by little so it is hard to say whether or not it makes a difference. Today two sold that had not sold in a long long time.

I discovered a couple of things to be careful of with the d700. Certain popular folks on the Internet claim crazy colors with the d700 in vivid more. For the most part this is true. But for stock photography Everything has to be sharp at 100%. We all learn tricks to keep it sharp for stock like using unsharp mask, shrinking the image size (who says megapixels don’t matter), etc…

The d700 (and I’d expect, the d3 too) has a problem that when you put it into vivid mode with too much saturation you start to lose details. It is similar to blowing the highlights, but in this case you are blowing the colors. It is ok as long as you realize it and make sure you get the vivid mode off or less saturated when you start to take photos of very colorful things.

And people….don’t shoot people on vivid. They end up looking sunburned.

Today I added some full frame samples on my site for the 12-24 f/4 DX lens.  Upshot?  Works fine at around 16mm and higher.  See here.

I sold the d200 and got a d700. Check out my experimentation blog page here.

I am back from class.  The class I went was part of the American Photo Magazine Mentor series.   In this class you get a professional mentor as part of the class and the mentor works with you to understand composition and how to see better photos.  Less than two hours spent working out the ins and outs of your camera unless you do it 1 on 1 with the mentor (which the mentor is willing to do if he understands your camera type.

I learned three major areas

1.  Using Fill Flash Creatively – basically I learned to work the flash is such a way to ‘fill in’ the subject without overexposing the subject

2.  I spent some time working in manual mode at the recommendation of the mentor.  I now am shooting almost 100% manual mode.  This allows for more creative options how I want the picture to turn out rather than letting the camera set some of the options.

3.  We had a session on marketing your work.  The mentor gave out tips and the process that she used to perform a career change into photography.

All in all it was a good experience and it was worth the money to attend.  My workshop was 899$ for three days of learning.  In comparison, I’m going to SANS Security training in a few weeks and that is 2800$ for 4 days.

You can check out pictures from the mentor series below.

I thought I’d put up some of my flower isolations. Most of these are made with a 105mm VR Nikon Micro (Macro) lens. I also use the SB-R200’s on a D200 to take these shots.  One was not.

Can you guess which one was taken with a 28-70 and not the macro lens?  How about which one was shot with the macro lens but not the R200’s?

I took none of them with a tripod.  All were handheld.  I like to get all my lenses nowdays with the VR or IS.  Carrying around a tripod stinks when your photography taking time consists of where you can haul the kids around to.  Tripod + Cameras + Kids = Hard to make images.  I got to move fast to keep up with the kids.  I’m thinking about getting a monopod though.

Given that I’m not a botanist I don’t really know what each one of these flower is. If you know, please post the name as I’m trying to figure them out.  I put in what I think they are in the description.  I’m sure about the Gerber Daisy, but the rest I’m up in the air with.  If you know the scientific name that would be even better.  Any suggestions on how to determine the type flower based on a website would be good too.  I’ve tried a couple of online web sites but it really has not allowed me to figure out which flower was which.

I’m heading off to Madison for a photography class with a couple of industry recognized experts.  Before I signed up I made sure it was a photography class, not a photoshop or digital workflow class.  One of the things which I’ve discovered about photography classes lately is that they spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out the ’sexy’ part of photography and not a whole lot of time working on taking creative images.

What do I mean by ’sexy’?  I digital wow factor.  Cards, techno-gizmo’s, computers…etc…Photoshop and electronic gadgets are interesting (after all, that’s where I spend 8-10 hours a day working), but I don’t need another photoshop tip and how to clean dust off my sensor or ‘wow, this remote control is really cool’….I need to know how to make and see simple, but creative images.

Hopefully I’ll have some good ones to share when I get back.

More St. Joseph Pictures

These are takes on Silver Beach which has had a rival in recent years. When I was a kid, Silver Beach was just a memory after it was destroyed by riots and teenager intimidation in the early 70’s. The piers and lighthouses were there, but there were no lifeguards, parking lots, or public facilities.

Now the beach is groomed every morning by prisoners in the orange jumpsuits before it opens. Weekends have lifeguards and radio stations. Sand Volleyball courts abound. Schu’s (see below) has a restaurant on the beach.

The town itself is pretty quaint and peaceful.

If you visit, plan for a weekend when something is planned. The St. Joseph City Homepage has a calender of events. I tend to go during ‘chalk the block’ because that is when the water is very warm for swimming. If you like boats, the Venetian Festival is up your alley. The Festival is many, many boats going down the river and it moves all over the calendar from year to year. Lastly, be sure to hit a farmer’s market. I spent about a 1/2 hour talking to the guy below regarding my dad’s tree tapping hobby which this guy turned into a small business.