Photography Workshop Thread

[captain_awesome]

yeah thats a good point, Think im ging to save a little longer and get some more glass (Will probably be a 17-50 or 10-22) but wont get it for a while now, have to focus on school

[captain_awesome]

I've been looking at flashes (and subsequently receivers and transmitters) for a few hours, reading articles about them on http://strobist.blogspot.com/ as well as discussions on flickr and figure that should help guide me towards which one will be the best to buy in regards to build quality, reliability and ease of use. I just cant get my head around manual flashes, I get the power output, but am really struggling with the other settings (such as aperture and ISO, which i have no understanding when they are used and referenced to a camera). How do these things affect the flash? Would it be better to get an 'auto' flash (or a manual flash with an auto mode) or would that not work completely with a 30D (was looking at 270ex's this morning and know they are not fully compatible with a 30D)

I plan on buying 2 flashes. 1 transmitter and 2 recievers (I can't afford to buy the canon models though, otherwise I would) and using them for mainly skate and some portraits and then will most likely expand my uses for them from their)

Thanks in advance

EDIT- Would something like this be better? I'd still learn lighting techniques and then when I need manual control I can upgrade to a 430ex II or something similar.

[kc_bodyboard]

I've been looking at flashes (and subsequently receivers and transmitters) for a few hours, reading articles about them on http://strobist.blogspot.com/ as well as discussions on flickr and figure that should help guide me towards which one will be the best to buy in regards to build quality, reliability and ease of use. I just cant get my head around manual flashes, I get the power output, but am really struggling with the other settings (such as aperture and ISO, which i have no understanding when they are used and referenced to a camera). How do these things affect the flash? Would it be better to get an 'auto' flash (or a manual flash with an auto mode) or would that not work completely with a 30D (was looking at 270ex's this morning and know they are not fully compatible with a 30D)

I plan on buying 2 flashes. 1 transmitter and 2 recievers (I can't afford to buy the canon models though, otherwise I would) and using them for mainly skate and some portraits and then will most likely expand my uses for them from their)

Thanks in advance

EDIT- Would something like this be better? I'd still learn lighting techniques and then when I need manual control I can upgrade to a 430ex II or something similar.

x2 please, very interested in this

[captain_awesome]

So this is what i've worked out (I may be completely wrong though).

-If you halve the output power you halve the f/stop (on the flash not the camera) therefore if you quarter the power you quarter the f/stop and so on (provided you keep the ISO and distance the same)
- If you increase the ISO, you increase the flash exposure (distance from subject to flash from what i can gather, terms seem to be interchangeable on the speedlite it will read distance and on the iphone/itouch app photomaster)
- The photomaster app seems to do alot for me and i can work (well guess and check really) out the correct settings for the flash exposure/distance I want, then if i want to halve/quater/sixteenth the output power I halve/quarter/sixteenth the f/stop
- theres something called a GN calculator which means you can set any 3 of the 4 settings (ISO, Distance, f/stop, power) and it will work out the left over one (of the 4)
- Do test shots first with you subject at the distance, then look at the photo (and histogram) on the camera's LCD (so chimp). Then if there are small under/over exposures you can fix/improve in photoshop and/or lightroom (maybe both depending on what needs to be done)
- If you shoot at a shutter speed higher than the flashes sync speed the photo wont come out properly in areas (see photo)

Worked this out using the photomaster app, Strobist Guide Number article and photoform.com.au thread


This is the set up I'm looking at
x2 YONGNUO YN460-II flashes (have read various dscussions on them and they seem to be fine, however I will still look at other options from vivitar (from what i've read they've had some quality issues, but that may have been resolved) bower and other similar ones
x1 transmitter and x2 receivers
then rechargeable batteries for the transmitter, receivers and flashes.


Please let me know if I've got it completely wrong or even a little wrong and your opinions on the set up, Thanks

[Comptee]

I've found when using flash, I can sync with my 580's upto 1/500th

just gotta tweak it bra.

[CaptainSiphilas]

get two maybe 3 younguo what ever they are or a couple of vivi's
i got 3 sunpak 555's the go sweet but are hard to come across
as far as triggers go get pocketwizzards they are pricey but worth it, or go for some cactus v4sheaps cheaper and go alright and you should invest in some light stands
i dont shoot above 1/200
maybe im kooking it

[captain_awesome]

I've come across some more articles/discussions on the Yongnou flashes and they seem to be hit and miss, it will brake in the first week or last for ages. So I might wait it out until I can get something more reputable. In the mean time i'm going to get a shutter remote.


And my waterproof came back today (had to get it serviced, after surfing this epicly fun sucking dry y'bah shorie it got a sticky shutter, but my friend gets his gopro on monday so I bet I'll end up using that for water shoots more

[captain_awesome]

New watermark, whats everyone think?

[kc_bodyboard]

oh hey, that photographers name must be Joe L, ill just google search and try to find the rest of his work.
nah i dont think it would work.
I still havent found a watermark im 100% happy with either :S

[captain_awesome]

Good point casey, I'll do a quick tweak of it in Photoshop, should be easy enough to fix


EDIT- Here it is

joel l photo.png (4.9 KiB) Viewed 244 times

[kc_bodyboard]

If im sending photos to a magazine for the first time, whos the best person to send to?
particularly 'longboarding' and 'pacific longboarder', i doubt the editor would want to be gettin emails from photographers.

[captain_awesome]

If im sending photos to a magazine for the first time, whos the best person to send to?
particularly 'longboarding' and 'pacific longboarder', i doubt the editor would want to be gettin emails from photographers.

Gee, their websites have nothing, send a general inquiring email to whoever/call them. Make sure you have all the relevant stuff in the metadata as well (so your name, riders name, location ect.) and under 200kb's or so that way their inbox doesn't get glogged, and mags do the editing in house, so un editied as well.


And i may be completely wrong about that all

[stretch]

if you look in the mag it will more then likely have an adress to send contributions to , i do some work for freeriderMX magazine and in the mag it has a contributors list where it shows editors name and email ,distributors , contributors etc ,as well as a mailing address!! i agree the ed would probably prefer not to recieve hundreds of photos via email , I have been contributing to the mag for a while and my first time i sent an email to the ed just stating i had posted photos on a disc (make sure u have a raw file and Jpg with names locations in the file description) and any feedback would be appreciated . freelancing is always a bit hit n miss with getting published , my first cover shot i scored i sent in just befor deadline and they liked my shot so much they scrapped the one they had gone out and setup the shot for, redesigned the cover to run my shot , but other times you may not get any flicks run at all . as to editing i wont change the image too much personally i will only adjust the exposure if its a bit dark other wise as said above the mag will edit inhouse . i remember the thrill of getting published for the first time (actually it was the cover shot i was talking about before) . nothing beats walking into the local newsagent and seeing your image in a magazine . attached is my first published shot with the mag ..

Good Luck
cheers

Stretch

[stretch]

so this question was put up on the FZ forum and i wouldn't mind everyones opinions about it.
I didn't make the post but its involving the whole, was shooting some photos for someone and another person who was out comes in and asks you for the photos you took of them. do you offer to sell all the images of them to them for a set rate or do you just give them the photos in good will?

Someone asked me for the photos I took of them on the weekend and I said I was happy to and wrote down my email and blog address for him, have got no email from him (even if i wrote it down wrong theres and contact section on my blog) but if /when i do I will e-mail him a medium resolution watermarked copy.
I never had the intention of selling them to him, if I did I would have a set rate for all the images and told him straight away, and then when I got them email invoice him and send the full size non-watermarked photos.

What does everyone think about this, me personally i'm more inclined to give them a small watermarked copy of the photo and if it was to be submittable (maybe in the future) get his name and check that its ok if I send it to 'x' mag. On the selling hand I can nly see problems with getting payment unless it was all done on the spot (including transfer of the photos).

my opinion on this is i will give away photos to riders for personall use self promotion etc . i have found where i have done this it has come back to me 10 fold in being invited to secret loactions etc that said will usually give them a medium resolution copy of the image , i have been burnt before doing this but its all swings and roundabouts . i have had it happen where i have helped someone out by giving them copys of photos only to find them turning up in a sponsers advert ,in that situation i contacted the company in question and they were willing to come to a payment agreement .i genuinlly love taking photos and participating in events and the sports i shoot so i dont usually sweat the small stuff i actually find i spend alot more then the final pay off . but if someone else is making a buck off your hard work then you deserve a piece of the pie .

Cheers
Stretch

[CaptainSiphilas]

im pretty sure they wont accept them unless there in RAW