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Messages - MatHayward
Pages: 1 ... 71 72 73 74 75 [76]
1876
« on: February 03, 2009, 17:17 »
It looks a touch hot on her cheek, hand and her collar on this monitor. I'm on an uncalibrated laptop though so given the other feedback, it is clearly me and the computer. Sorry about that.
Mat
1877
« on: February 03, 2009, 11:23 »
Skin tone looks pretty OK to me. I always use a custom white balance for this type of shot to make sure I get it right. If I had to throw a critique in, I'm not crazy about the light on her left cheek (image right) it looks just a tad hot but that could have been the look you were going for. It doesn't appear blown out, it's just my personal preference to dial it down from that look a little bit.
1879
« on: January 31, 2009, 15:38 »
I should have added this to my original post and pretended it was my own line  I think Joe McNally's said this, but I could be wrong about that.... he said he uses "available light" exclusively. Fortunately for him, he said he usually has many strobes/speedlights "available" to him in addition to ambient light at any given time.
1880
« on: January 31, 2009, 13:54 »
I prefer direct flash right in the face or overhead sunlight in the peak of the afternoon. The less details or harsher the shadows the better!
Just kidding of course. I don't care how I get perfect light as long as it is just that...perfect. When shooting outdoors I usually use a combination of available light and between 1 and 3 battery powered flashes, usually with shoot through umbrella(s) or soft box to diffuse the light. Sometimes, when it's that perfect time of day, no external source of light at all.
In the studio..OK, the downstairs of my house with seamless white or a backdrop I'll use whatever I've got to get the light the way I want it. Sometimes just hot lights (Lowell Tota's), sometimes studio stobes (Elinchrome D), sometimes Canon Speedlights (550's, 580) and more often than not a combination of lights. I am not scared to used mixed lights and have used the hotlights and stobes with cto gels along with a custom white balance set using Ed Pierce's wb target which works amazingly well no matter how different the temperature in light is many times (wow! was that a run-on sentence or what?).
I guess in a nutshell my answer is...it depends...depends on the situation, the look I want to achieve in my photographs and the light that is available to me at the time. One of the advantages to living in the Seattle area is that it's almost always gray outside which makes light that I love available on a regular basis.
Mat
1881
« on: January 31, 2009, 12:24 »
I use a Sekonic L-358 and it works pretty great for studio work. It saves a lot of time from going the chimp, check, change route You need to buy an additional chip for around $50 (B&H price) to trigger Pocket Wizards though.
1882
« on: January 30, 2009, 14:20 »
As Avava mentioned, most of the food photographed isn't edible. I run a restaurant and have had "food artists" come out and prepare plates for photographs to be used in our ads. There really is an art to it. They use Crisco instead of ice cream, artificially shine dishes with all sorts of techniques and the end result always looks better than the real thing. I'm sure there are books on it somewhere, if you are serious about it I would invest some of your free time (must be nice ) and really study the art. Good luck! Mat
1883
« on: January 30, 2009, 13:20 »
I was at the ASMP meeting AVAVA spoke at last week..by the way..great job dude, you stole the show, and not just because you were the loudest He referred to a point I would like to also make..no matter how many thousands, millions, billions or trillions of photographers and wannabe photographers scramble to upload as many photo's as they can, if you know what people are buying and can shoot those photo's better than anyone else you will make more money. Simple as that. Focus on constantly improving your portfolio and no matter how many people you are up against, you will succeed. A trend I often see is people making excuses and justifying their lack of success by laying blame on external factors completely out of their control..the economy, too many other photographers, etc. I watch a lot of the portfolio's of the loudest people and find that there aren't many new images being uploaded. You cannot sit on your tail and expect the work you have done in the past to carry you into the future. You have to constantly work, learn and evolve or you will fail. That's my .02 anyway...it's only worth about .007 but what the heck. Mat
1884
« on: January 29, 2009, 12:54 »
I have been hearing the same thing from other photographers. They are either perfect or they are constantly giving these error messages. I'm sure they will fix it shortly and most are probably perfect. Just the same, I promised I wouldn't repeat history and buy a camera within 6 months of its release. The other thing really tempting to me is the video aspect of the camera. I've never been a video guy but incorporating it into shoots does open a lot of creative doors. Thanks for the welcome Lisa! Mat
FWIW I have tested two copies of the 5D II (through an ordering/delivery screw up - I'll spare you the details) and both were perfect.
Surprised the daylights out of me, as I normally expect problems with canon cameras during first 6 months of production run. But I could find no flaws with them at all.
OTOH, my 5D Mk II went back to Canon yesterday - persistent Err 20
I've never had to send a camera back to them before, but apparently there are a number of others with problems with Err 20 and Err 30, so they have some quality control issues. Other than that, what a gorgeous camera
1885
« on: January 29, 2009, 12:23 »
I shoot in low light situations all the time and was thrilled when I got my Mark III because ISO 1600 had about the same noise as ISO 400 on my 20D's and is very usable for stock. I use ISO 3200 at times but only in extreme cases. I'm amazed at the quality of this image at ISO 6400. It must have been a seriously dark room to need to bump it up that high. I am seriously tempted to get the 5D Mark II after the bugs are worked out (a lesson I learned when buying the Mark III immediately after its release) I can only imagine what cameras will be like in 10 years!
1886
« on: January 29, 2009, 11:52 »
I had a conversation with a guy from Getty the other day that said this is very much a real thing. There are so many impressive images posted by photographers simply making cool images for the fun of it and not realizing their potential to earn big $. I would flip out if someone from Getty wrote to recruit me! Not likely to happen, especially since I almost never upload images on Flickr.
1887
« on: January 29, 2009, 11:46 »
This is an interesting thread. I haven't posted here before but I've really enjoyed reading a lot of interesting thoughts and opinions here. I'm surprised at the feedback he's getting from this encouraging blog post. There are a whole heck of a lot of misconceptions about microstock all over the place right now. My opinion is that the more information out there the better.
As for sharing information, tips, tricks and advice...who here or anywhere in the photography industry wouldn't be where they are today without picking up some advice from others. Who here reads the blogs from Chase Jarvis? Joe McNally? How about Strobist? These guys all offer tons of tips, advice and information without getting much in return. To me, that's what makes photography such a unique way to make a living...the sense of community you find all over the world.
Mat
1888
« on: October 10, 2008, 10:37 »
If you are truly serious about Wedding Photography then the information you receive on DWF for your annual fee will more than pay for itself. I've been a member for around 5 years and I've found it to be an unending resource of great information from most of the industries leaders. I'm not nearly as active there as I used to be as I belong to another wedding photographer forum that is more like DWF used to be with high end shooters but fewer people in general. Because the DWF is so massive now it's a bit impersonal. The discounts I receive because I'm a member have paid for my membership every year. Especially the Prodpi discount. One weddings print discount covers my cost As for the free ones, you get what you pay for. I would not recommend you jump into wedding photography head first. It's one thing to shoot your friends and family for free. It's another thing entirely to ask for thousands of dollars for your work. The expectations are a bit higher and not being good with your strobes is not an acceptable explanation for why moments get missed. My best advice would be to find a reputable pro in your area and ask/beg/bribe him or her to let you carry their lights around for some weddings free of charge. Maybe even 2nd shoot. There is a heck of a lot more than taking pictures involved with wedding photography. Mat Hayward www.mathaywardphoto.comwww.mhwildlife.comwww.haywardphoto.blogspot.com
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