Photography?

[caroline]

Is there anyone who uses a camera for semi-or professional work?
I am a semi-pro and would love to see a thread on photography!

[Ravenlost]

I have a bachelor's degree in photography, but haven't done anything for years. Used to do freelance work, won an international photo competition way back when and worked as a newspaper reporter (did most of their photo/darkroom work).

Now with all the new digital equipment, etc. I'd be totally lost in the field. I'd probably need to go back to school!

[Harry Chickpea]

Used to do it professionally, was fairly heavy into darkroom tricks and super-high resolution black & white film, more recently won an award for an article on 3D. There were a few years that I was so burned out on looking at life through a camera lens that I didn't pick one up. Have a few ideas on designing a rather radical system that approaches holographic imaging, but that is way off-topic, and would need some funding anyway.

I'm still amazed what kind of depth of detail could be had with a top-notch lens and the litho type films developed in super-slow developers. I could do a full frame 35mm, blown up to 30" x 40" poster size, have no grain, and detail worthy of a 5 x 7 camera using pan-x sheet film.

Like Ravenlost, if I was to return to it as a profession, I'd need a serious refresher. They still do Rembrandt lighting don't they? I used to hate chasing that nose shadow.

[caroline]

Yes, they still use the Rembrandt lighting.

As far as being lost in the new field of digital photography--I think you both would get it fast. I was an old film user and had a Nikon back in the 70's, which I liked.
Then I elvolved into the digital world and fell in love
I have a Canon EOS with a great lens and I do a lot of animal and people poitraits.This winter is holding me back as the snow is so deep and it is too cold for the camera, drains the battery.

If you have any photos from film, I'd love to see them.

[BlueberryChick]

Originally Posted by Ravenlost

I have a bachelor's degree in photography, but haven't done anything for years. Used to do freelance work, won an international photo competition way back when and worked as a newspaper reporter (did most of their photo/darkroom work).

Now with all the new digital equipment, etc. I'd be totally lost in the field. I'd probably need to go back to school!

Wow, Ravenlost! I wish you lived near me. I am learning a bit about photography because I have an Etsy shop. It's a constant struggle to get good photos of my products to put on my site.

I so wish I could hire you to be my photographer!

[caroline]

Here is a photo of a tiny rose---the kind you buy in a pot in the grocery store.

Taken with my Canon----



Edges softened, background darkened for effect.

[Wisconsin Ann]

Caroline, I've not had any more problems with the cold than I did with my film cameras that used batteries for meters and such.
3 ways to deal with it:
1)keep the batteries in your breast pocket as you walk and insert it/them when you take a photo(or keep a 2nd battery/set in your pocket to swap out at the first gets cold)
2)use an external battery pack. Many of the digital cameras have a way to power the camera with an external power cord (usually next to the "out" plug). Keep the external (and by the way, more powerful) powerpack in your inside coat pocket.
3)use one of those hand heat packs on the base of the camera. They're cheap. Used by outdoorsmen to put in mittens, or you can get a larger one. They can be taped to the base of the camera and will keep the battery nice and snug. (they don't last hours, but are easy to change out and light weight to carry)

If anyone still has their film camera and lenses, you can probably find a digital body that the lenses will fit. They handle just like a film camera, although generally lighter and sometimes smaller.

There still is a difference in the look of a film photo vs a digital, but the digital is coming along rapidly. For normal work, and certainly for putting on the web, digital is a great thing, imo. I still love working in the darkroom and seeing the magic, but I have to tell 'ya...taking a photo, and 5 minutes later having it cropped, color adjusted, stray things airbrushed out, and then showing to someone on the other side of the world is...FAN-PHOTO-TASTIC!

[caroline]

Thanks for the info--- I actually keep the spare battery in my bra----
but the real reason I don't do much in the winter is that I hate the cold. Hate snow and just don't want to go out in it.

I do love the other 3 seasons,, tho...

[caroline]

Converted to B&W.

[Reptyle]

Originally Posted by caroline

Converted to B&W.

On this one it kinda looks like the horse is wondering why you're snapping shots of his/her butt.

[caroline]

This horse was an old friend. I was there saying goodbye to him before I moved. After we nuzzled, he turned and slowly walked away, and as he turned I got this photo.

His last goodbye.

[Harry Chickpea]

These are somewhat representative of the type of stuff I did regularly. I share them in part to show that not all photography is scenic shots, weddings, and class photos.

Yes, I grew up about ten miles from where the real Maria from "Sound of Music" lived. This type of shot was often extremely constrained for time, and yet had to convey some action or interest, catch the eye, satisfy egos and the needs of the station. The process was - think about it a little while beforehand to get a quick scene set-up, interrupt and drag talent there, snap a few, and try not to be too distracting and upset producer - director - talent - anyone walking by.



Rudolph Dreikurs was a famous Adlerian psychologist. Brilliant man. I had a hard time doing work instead of listening to him. This type of shot will drive you nuts. The talent is is intense lighting for the video cameras, the audience is sitting in half darkness, and the whole scene goes between underexposed and overexposed. Once shot, in the darkroom there had to be test prints, then the various areas dodged or burned in, and the blacks held back to accommodate the terrible characteristics of type of print media normally used. I used to bemoan that my prints were "muddy," but that was what was required to have them show up anywhere near properly and not "block up" when they were in the program guides and newsprint.



This is one example of the high contrast work I used to play with. My boss hated my "wasting time" on this type of stuff, and just steamed when the staff artist and I came up with this cover, which everyone loved but him.



It is hard to believe that all that was done forty years ago, before many of the folks on the forum were even born.

[caroline]

Neat stuff. I really like the design jacket.

Got any current work?

[hippygirl]

I'm not a "photographer" by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm trying to learn. The biggest hurdle I've had to clear (so far) was how the aperture and shutter speed work together.

For example, the fact that a smaller f/stop "number" lets in more light that a larger one took me a minute to get a handle on. I understand it's expressed that way because of the math, but the concept would be SO much easier for people to grasp if it were expressed in the way most people "think" (smaller=less, larger=more). As for shutter speed, because I can "see" the relationship expressed in terms of time (seconds/fractions of a second), I immediately understood.

So, to remember how the two settings work together, I always have to think of it as how MUCH light gets to the lens (aperture) and how LONG the lens sees it (shutter speed). To simplify even further, "how much for how long".

I know discussion along these lines was probably not what you were looking for when you started the thread, but I had to chime in anyway.

[caroline]

Absolutely what I was looking for! I agree with you about the way it is put for aperture and hutter speed. It's backwards for me too.

Once you get those two things in your head yu can go for other enhancements....and there are many.

Show us something you've done that yu like.

[foaly]

Does camera film even exist anymore? I spent years in my aunt's darkroom learning the art of developing B&W prints and what fun that is. Unfortunately, I haven't been in a photo store in years.

What am I going to do with this humongous Bessler enlarger if film and D-76 developer isn't made anymore? It has served as a fine dust collector for a long time. Maybe that is it's only purpose from now on.

Digital is good and fun but creating prints on paper is a real art.

[Ravenlost]

You could sell it to me foaly! LOL...

I used to do all my work with my beloved Pentax K1000. Hard to go from a manual to digital and I really haven't attempted to try very hard. Time stands still for me when I am in a darkroom, but it's been years since I had the opportunity.

None of my black and white stuff is online. Maybe one day I'll get around to hooking up the new printer/scanner my sister gave me for Christmas and scan some of it.

[foaly]

Ravenlost--

If you lived closer, I'd sell it to you.

My aunt had a darkroom built in her basement in the 1970s and I spent many hours during the summer down there learning the art of film developing and print making. Very easy to lose track of time. Good thing aunt had a toilet put in the darkroom.

I actually have two Bessler enlargers, a small portable version and the big one in the darkroom. Aunt is too ill now to go down there and I just don't have time right now.

If you're ever around these parts and if I ever have any spare time, come on over and we'll have a big time in B&W!

[NickyBlade]

I took some photography courses in college and had a home dark room... around 2000 it became impossible to get the chemicals and to dispose of them properly when our local photo store went out of business. So, that pretty much ended my home developing days.

I shot high school sports and weddings for a while years ago and then started selling stock online. Started in the digital world with the Canon D30 (pretty sure that was Canon's very first DSLR), then moved on to the 20D. Our oldest daughter is getting married next month and asked me to shoot her wedding, so I just picked up the 60D a few weeks back and kept a 20D for my second. Man, they have made some improvements since the 20D! But, they changed the battery type and the 60D uses SD cards instead of CF... so extra expense there.

My husband loves to shoot my cameras... but he has no interest what so ever in learning about shutter speed, aperture, ISO, nothing. He took one of my 20Ds on his last deployment and got some amazing photos of the Persian Gulf by just using the auto setting. Even the little point and shoots have come a long way in the last few years. And many of your point and shoots actually have manual setting options...

I used to belong to some photography forums online, but they can get quite heated about film vs digital... and mention microstock to some old school photographers... yikes! lol. I say just have fun with it!

[Linkovich]

Ooo a photography thread sounds great! I have a Nikon D60 and am just getting used to it. I don't have anything professional, but I have a few pieces i'd like to enter into an art show. I also go to the photography forum, theres a good discussion place! But it would be nice to have a subsection here for it.