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Messages - Squat
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51
« on: July 13, 2009, 15:03 »
Tan, your big concert even made the paper in Winnipeg this morning. The photo was credited to a Canadian Press photographer. 
No, it's not me. It's probably the same AP wire photo that is used all over . Paul is making big news all over Halifax and our neighbouring cities. I am sure he is also touring the rest of canada. Is he going to Winnipeg, or Regina. I love Winnipeg too, the home of the late great Lenny Breau. Lenny was one of the people who influenced my guitar playing. Could never understood how he was able to play like that without dubbing. Incredible. Btw, I think the next big event here is Kiss. Or maybe it 's past. Not crazy for them either, so I don't keep up with them.
52
« on: July 13, 2009, 10:04 »
Also, Booggie, re: what puravida said, here's some additional hints from me as someone who sells pro equip as seasonal :
-don't try this at the mall or large departmental stores. the security will come down hard on you. go to the pro stores , they are used to having pros do this.
- even if the pro stores are more expensive, just do the test.
- check around for the prices, get quotes, and then go back to the pro store to let the salesperson know you had a better price. we always price match.
I like to buy from one person or one store. It builds confidence and many times, we exchange ideas and even get to hear of horror stories about equipment, even some of the top names have lemons.
We all work on commissions, so it is in our mutual interest to be good to our regulars. As a photographer, I do this even when I travel, I have certain stores I favor, and most times, I end up with the cheapest price because I get them to price match my best offer.
In return, I use that extra savings to buy extra stuff from the salesperson ie. mem card, card reader, filters,etc. or simply put that savings into my next purchase, from the same store and the same sales person.
P.S.
and don't neglect the savings you get from trade in to upgrade.
My fave pro store (which just opened here in my lovely city) is always advertising on trade ins values and even if you can't find the used equipment in this branch, they can get it from another across the country.
53
« on: July 12, 2009, 15:21 »
removed
54
« on: July 12, 2009, 13:32 »
Maybe it works differently with the K20D vs the Canon,etc..
The uploading to HDD via usb is not the problem, as it only takes a short time to do that with the SD memory adapter.
I only want to use the TV monitor or DVD player monitor as a large previewer instead of the tiny LCD on the camera.
As I mentioned before, the K20D has a feature that enables me to see a snapshot before deciding to save it as RAW and or RAW + jpg.
With a flip of the switch on the shutter release, I do that. With another , I decide either to trash it, or save it. Very simple, and not needing to go tethering via Assistant. I don't need the other procedures.
I am told it works . So I am going to try it this way. It cost almost nothing to get a TV , and since I don't have a TV, it 's not entirely wasted. I can connect it to my cable and get free cable tv shows too, as here , our internet already includes cable tv.
So if this method works, it 's a win win situation for me.
55
« on: July 12, 2009, 10:37 »
Yep, that's about it for me too. Couple of payouts a year. Now at least I get one every couple of months. There aren't a lot of big fotosearch sales, but it only takes 3 or so to reach the $50 payout level.
Hey Lisa, good to see you back !
I'm confused here. My first two downloads got me $1 and 30 cents respectively.
How does $20+ for one download happen? Such a disparity between $1 and $20+
Do I have to opt in to Fotosearch for that? Or is this from the Ext Lic option?
Yes, you have to opt in to enhanced licenses to be on Fotosearch. Go to My Account, click on Preferences, at the bottom, and in the Licensing box, see if Allow Enhanced License is checked. If not, check it. If it's already checked then maybe you just haven't had any Fotosearch sales yet.
PixelBytes, yes I just verified and I am marked for Ext Lic. I also got one dl via Fotosearch, it was for 30 cts. Right company, wrong amount 
56
« on: July 12, 2009, 10:10 »
neevr mind. (deleted)
57
« on: July 12, 2009, 09:58 »
We shoot objects tethered - food, small stuff, etc. No way we shoot people tethered but for food and white bkgd objects it's useful. It makes editing later on much much easier! Why not do that?
yes, that's the whole idea really. check dof, and saves not having to shoot until you're satisfied with the lighting and placement,etc... this , I find is a large savings in both time to edit via PS as well as not needing to look through your images to find the one you want. even more important, you don't clog up your hdd with too many RAW files which can be hefty at 23 MP +- each. In my case, all I wanted was for DOP and subtle accent light checking. I found out a couple of days ago from my colleague at Henry's that all I really needed for my K20D is a TV, hook it up via the yellow RCA . the quality is not that hot, but it does the job for checking DOF within squinting at the LCD. he told me of a fella who shoots jewelry, and he used the K20D to do the job this way. So, that's going to be what I will get. A cheap TV, or even a 2nd hand portable DVD player, which could make it easier than lugging a TV. I will let you know if it works out.
58
« on: July 12, 2009, 09:46 »
How about this unique camera for out of the box images. If you consider that this camera can be used with gloves in winter, and underwater to 10m, shockproof for the amazing clut who is used to dropping SLR.
its 12 MP 28-102 mm zoom (35 mm equiv), much heavier than the usual P&S, for obvious reasons.
Olympus Stylus Tough 8000
Imagine the unique shot of snorkeling, and underwater shots you can get for micro . Definitely could put you into the niche class, which could mean more dls and less competition. It's a bit pricey for 400 US MFL.
59
« on: July 12, 2009, 09:17 »
that's strange, I inserted the images but they were deleted.
oh well, I thought I could embed my photos here for you to see.
Without them, this thread is redudant. Sorry !
60
« on: July 12, 2009, 08:55 »
Here are some photos from the concert. As you all know from my other thread (old beatles not photographer friendly), we can only take the shot from outside the perimeter. Also, even if I were to get a Press pass, I would have to pay for the tickets, and I am not a Paul fan (sorry! I would pay 360 bucks for Andrea Bocelli but Paul not quite. ) Still as you can see many thought he was worth it, and almost every one from Halifax, Bedford, Dartmouth, and area were there. There were just as many people outside the concert area then inside, perharps more, as The Commons is an enormous area and we're not even counting the other side of it which is a hill where the Citadel is. The best seats in the house were of course the apartment block (back of the image). I bet some guys could have made some hot videos from his window. Anyway, the story is available on my earlier thread . Here I just want to post some images I took. It was dark and I used my new baby Pentax 50-200 zoom set at ISO 1600 with enhanced dynamics. Very excessive crop, this is as large as it gets, from a 14.6 MP RAW image. not large enough even for editorial with Bigstock. Still, the quality is not that great but it's good to go for the show. Paul started with "Drive My Car" from the Beatles Revolver Then followed it with "Jet" from Wings. not sure what happened after that, by that time I was too far to hear the concert (I was walking home enroute 5km from the Commons) Halifax was alive more than ever , everyone downtown was there. Except me, ha!ha! and other Andrea Bocelli fans, ha!ha! Maritimers sure know how to party , for sure ! Moi, I 've had too many years of Montreal Jazz Fest, and already attended the world's largest outdoor party 7 days and 6 nights (Bahia Carnaval). So it's not really a party for me anymore. Done it all, so I prefer to relax with my ale and hot wings instead. lol Enjoy !   
61
« on: July 11, 2009, 21:08 »
Well, the Event of the Century started with Paul singing the old revolver tune Drive my car, then Jet from wings. There were as many people outside the fence than inside , and they brought their chairs , puppies, wives, ex wives, and maybe their next wife, lol.
Cars were parked and double parked on empty lots behind the hotels, in bushes, etc.. empty buses are lined all along one road waiting for the end of the concert.
The whole place is packed with people, cars, and anything that moves.
I took a few quick shots, more to try out my new tele 50 - 200 zoom rather than because it's Paul. It was getting dark so I took the chance to try shooting at IS0 1600 and 3200 extended dynamics.
I was about the only one walking away from the commons, as everyone I passed was heading towards the scene. Halifax is more alive than it ever was, since I moved here from Montreal.
I will post a couple of shots to show you woodstock is alive and well with Paul in halifax. I have never seen so many people sitting outside their homes as they are this evening. funny, all it takes is one old wrinkled beatle to get them outside.
Maritimers sure love a party.
Me? I was more interested in finishing off my hot wings and rickert red draught before walking the 5 kms back to my pad. I'd rather sit home, lay on the carpeted floor and watch a replay of Uma Thurman old crazy movie My Ex Super girlfriend, while emptying off a new wine (Banrock Station White Shiraz). I love the part where Uma bangs , oops, I mean have sex with boyfriend in the air, lol. Did anyone watch this movie, it's hilarious I couldn't stop laughing. I will pull this movie out next time I get a rejection.
As you can see , I have a different set of priorities in life, from the average Haligonians et neighbours from Dartmouth, Bedford, etc ..
62
« on: July 11, 2009, 20:41 »
I am not a full participant in micro. I do it as more or less a weekend thing. But from the tiny port I have, my repat sales come mostly from travel shot (ancient architecture), and food shots. Not quite isolation work, but more decorative. I used to enjoy isolated images only because it was a sure thing to get approved. But I sort of lost interest in the same light box type lighting . I try now mostly to do more ambient setting as I like the way food looks in a more dressy and relevant setting.
And PixepBytes is right to say isolation work has been done to death.
As for nature. I don't think it's has no potential. In fact, my friend Larry (ljtripod) has a wicked port of nature work, and he sells a lot more than I do.
I think the best approach is to submit a variety of your work, and see which gets the sales. Don't let the rejections ruin your self confidence. Reviewers are no more immortal than any critic. Does a music critic really know more about music to criticized Miles Davis, or Coltrane's work? In fact, the history of jazz has it that Leonard Feather the great critic of jazz once called Charlie Parker's work as a din or chinese music. We all know who Bird is, and every musician studied Charlie Parker. However, not too many musicians study Leonard Feather. So there goes the analogy between the critic (reviewer ) and the creator .
Once again, as PixelBytes said so well, if we all truly take rejections as a judgement written in stone to our workmanship, all of us would have committed suicide a long time ago.
63
« on: July 11, 2009, 13:02 »
I'm confused here. My first two downloads got me $1 and 30 cents respectively.
How does $20+ for one download happen? Such a disparity between $1 and $20+
Do I have to opt in to Fotosearch for that? Or is this from the Ext Lic option?
Yes, you have to opt in to enhanced licenses to be on Fotosearch. Go to My Account, click on Preferences, at the bottom, and in the Licensing box, see if Allow Enhanced License is checked. If not, check it. If it's already checked then maybe you just haven't had any Fotosearch sales yet.
Thanks , I just went over and the Allow Enh Lic is ckecked. So it must be I haven't any Fotosearch sales yet ! Dammmnnnnn ! 
64
« on: July 11, 2009, 12:58 »
1. How do I turn off daily updates that come by e-mail?
-click on your name -your information -hear from veer -uncheck email.
65
« on: July 11, 2009, 10:27 »
..
66
« on: July 11, 2009, 08:16 »
.. deleted..
67
« on: July 11, 2009, 08:01 »
double post
68
« on: July 11, 2009, 07:04 »
Epilogue  there was at one time when I first started checking micro to find 1001 variations of isolated shot of cigarettes, or nuts and bolts,etc... same cigarettes, same nuts and bolts, but shot from a different angle. first 100 odd images were all like that , all from the same contributor. my first impression was , "what? is this what micro stock is all about?" However, that's all changed lately. At least , not all cigarettes!!! But from my knowledge, some officials are clamping down on mass image flooders , which is why you are getting more loud complaints of mass rejections. So really, it's not that blatant. There's more to micro stock than that.
69
« on: July 11, 2009, 06:25 »
I think your statement "I know it is not about art or even about good photography" is probably your biggest issue. In fact, it IS about good photography. It may not be "art photography", but the things factors that make a good photograph are essential to success in microstock just like any other branch of photography (composition, lighting etc.).
When your pics were rejected, what were the reasons given? Most often forlong time pros the biggest issues are not compositional or lighting, but more often focus, noise, and artifacting. I don't know of any other branch of photography outside of micro where the images have to be perfect at 100% pixels. At 100% is where images that might look perfectly acceptable in print or at normal viewing range will reveal their flaws.
First, congrats on a nice port in Flickr. PixelBytes writes so well and covers it all, I have to say. I am not so sure if I can agree with you that microstock is "not about good photography", although to a certain point I might agree with you that "it's not about art photography", as in artistic and creative for gallery work vs art as in vector,etc.. There are lots of very good "art" work and design here in micro stock. If I may even dare to compromise that more than artistic photograph. No, no Ansel Adams, W Eugene Smith or Richard Avedon here, not even Art Kane . But to give credit to where micro stock deserves, I feel it is as PixelBytes closing statement. It's not just enough to make "artistic" images but also be aware of noise, fringes, color balance,etc. When I came into micro stock I was a bit apprehensive as well as the "lack of artistic photography". But like every business, there is a place for that ie gallery, and there is a place for generic work. You really cannot expect the best of both works to intermingle. Most recently I started to see "flaws" at a co-op of experienced photographers who conducted country wide exhibitions. I saw noise the size of golf balls which I was not so critical with, before I started micro. Ironically, I now find myself making enemies of some gallery exhibitors because I pointed out to the chairman that the "exhibitor's works were plagued with noise." So that's the matchpoint : Gallery 1 : Micro 1, lol... Lately, with the competition being stiffer, I am seeing a lot more awesome creative works , so I can say that it is perharps misinformation to think that micro stock is just for the dabblers with lots of money to buy the most expensive camera and take boring generic photographs. . Generic yes, boring maybe to an extent that there are so many copycats ripping off ideas from the top sellers. Even creative work can become boring if a great photographer or painter is being copied blatantly. I remember my frustration at one seminar when every other bloke present B&W zone VI perfect print that looked like poor man's Ansel Adams, lol. Perharps with this stiffer competition in micro to survive, we may see more "artistic" work and less generic. we probably need to , if we are to stay viable. Already many are complaining what is the point of having so many stock agencies when every one of them has the same images. We really only need 3, no doubt? In conclusion, I think if you removed that preconception , you will find some outstanding work in micro as well. They may not sell as well as the "boring" stuff. But even that may be a perception . But are these photographers total slack asses compared to gallery photographers? I wouldn't say so, now that I have spent 16 months rubbing shoulders with some awesome and wonderful people here through Tyler's forum. You will , I am confident, find yourself changing your opinions about them too, after a few months here. Good luck, and welcome to microstock. P.S. if my comments are seem fragmented. Excuse me, as I don't think too sequentially this early in the morning (breakfast time) , even more so on weekends. I usually make more sense and think more coherently after I get a pint of Guinness, lol. Cheers.
70
« on: July 10, 2009, 19:56 »
Talking about Minox made me figure out why I was not stopped by security at the shows in Brazil, Boston,etc... During those days, when travelling I left my 35mm Nikon F at home, bringing only some strange looking Samsung half frame that I found at a pawn shop in Calgary. The deception was that this camera had a motor drive and a zoom from wide to tele. Perharps the security thought it was some cheap super8, as many of my friends , and even the camera salesmen in Brazil thought it was some Super8 movie junk .
After all, the ad to Paul's concert did specify No PRO video or photographic cameras.
71
« on: July 10, 2009, 19:50 »
I have to admit that 200mm is pretty decent for tennis open. Although it may not be much for the Melbourne Games or Grand Prix.
Even if Paul allowed 200mm, that wouldn't be that bad either. With a 14 MP camera, you can still crop pretty close shooting with even 100 mm.
I can see why they get stricter nowadays. I supposed during the days of 35mm, it isn't too often you see amateurs with a battery of SLR and lenses. But with digital, literally anyone can still get a bridge or a P&S with more or less 200mm +.
Phil, did you try anyway going in with the P&S 350mm equi zoom? Security probably look at SLRs and not P&S. Much like in the old days when many thought the Minox was just some toy cam or Instamatic, ha!ha!.
72
« on: July 10, 2009, 19:39 »
thanks. Also if you do it my way, you'd better stay away from pentax or sony or etcetera, because you will need lens compatibility and diversity, and canon&nikon duo are the ones with most lenses. by sacrificing autofocus, you may get brilliant pieces of shiny metal-not plastic- quality hardware. in that way, stay away from anything that could narrow down your options, such as d40, d60(which cannot use AF in anything other than lenses with autofocus motor built in to lens, which are pretty rare.) I would buy nikon if I had to buy second hand, because in terms of build quality nikon seems to be far better and should endure longer getting into your hands with far fewer creaks.(IMHO about last part, canon's pretty good too.)
Oops, not sure if I agree on this part with you. Pentax lenses are back compatible with the K20D all the way back to the older lenses. Also , the K20D has the body stablization as opposed to Nik and Can which has stabilization in the lenses. I don't know about Sony, but I did remember the salesman saying the Sony is back compatible to Minolta lenses as well. Unless you mean something else when you say lens diversity and compatibility.
73
« on: July 10, 2009, 17:47 »
if you are really low on money, you could just pick one secondhand DSLR that is functioning, and just put your all remaining money on lenses. That'd give you much more flexibility. I have Nikon d50, and well, it works beautifully even after four years, and I have no problem microstocking with it.
Hear ! hear! That has to be the best advice anyone can give to someone starting out. Well spoken !
74
« on: July 10, 2009, 17:29 »
You may be right. I think some superstar are less picky. Like U2 and the Grateful Dead. In fact, as far as I know the deadheads are even encourage to bring their tape recorders to the GD concerts as they don't record for the labels anymore.
U2 as well, they are supposed to be so user friendly that any fan can get the last minute news or even surprised free concerts via their fansite.
But in the end, you are right. As Sinead O'Connor once said, it's the record company that does most of the objections not her.
75
« on: July 10, 2009, 17:17 »
I'm a Beatles fan, yeah, yeah, yeah, but does it make a difference? Don't all stars restrict videos and cameras in their shows. At Cirque du Soleil, before the show started I was checking photos taken that day, and soon someone appeared to say photo and video cameras were not allowed during the show (and I had no intention of doing that). In a recent free concert in a church here, I was filming some clips and a security guy said filming was not allowed. You may take videos in shows here in Brazil, but don't think this is allowed.
Wow, has things really changed that much in Brazil? In 2001 I was at the Carnaval and we walked into the trio eletricos with our cameras flashing. Even in Boston with Daniela Mercury, I snug in her dress rehearsal and sound check. Dani was just about to leave for a break and she saw me. When I identified myself, she stop to speak with me and even pose for me and my wife. Even asked our names to sign on our ticket. And this was Dani, the biggest star in Axe. After the show around 2 am, the fans waited for Dani to come down stage to chat and pose with them. I went back to my hotel it was way past my bedtime. My contacts in Brasil still go to the Carnaval to dance with Dani, and she has not mentioned them banning videos or cameras. In fact, she videos the show every year . Unless it's changed now, I am not sure.
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