srika

agreed on PP, I absolutely love it. and I get lost in it. it sometimes scares me how much I love doing it.

einsatz

I tried CHDK on my SD700IS and it's not bad - a little rough around the endges (when I tried it a couple of years back) but it does good stuff.

It was easy to revert on the SD700IS - make sure you read the process on how to hack/revert very well and understand it before you do anything.

srika

cool. yeah I'll be sure to read everything I can before trying it. From what Ive read so far, it basically boots off the memory card with a separate partition on there, so the in-camera firmware stays in-tact.

SaaBaaDoo

I was supposed to be a second shooter in a wedding this past weekend where all I would have to do is focus on the candid shots and the primary photographer would focus on the wedding and formals. At the end of the day, dump my images onto his computer and get paid.

So I'm on my way down to the venue and get a call. Ends up that his flight into town got cancelled and he spent all night trying to get another flight and there was no way he was going to make it. So I went from secondary to primary photographer without ever meeting the bride and groom and only finding out their names right before I get there.

I was scared shitless that the bride was going to flip out on me when she found out the photographer she hired wasn't going to be there. When I told her, she was completely calm and had even looked into my work when she was told I was going to be the second photographer! The wedding went perfectly and I got some of the best photos I've taken yet!

Good thing is I'll be getting paid a lot more than what I was as a second shooter, but since the contract is through him, most likely any print sales will likely be his.

srika

what a fantastic case of serendipity! congrats to you and Im glad you got good shots. only one question though, why on Earth would the profit from print sales for photos YOU took go to the photog who couldn't make it? that makes ZERO sense! there's gotta be a way around that, even if there was some contractual stipulation. Special circumstance, etc. Good luck with everything!

wndrlst

Good for you for stepping up and doing a great job. He really ought to bonus you additionally for doing it with zero notice. You saved him a heap of trouble.

It's a pretty standard arrangement. I had a photographer who had seen my work through a florist friend of hers contact me last year to offer me a position as a contracted shooter for her studio. She'd pay me a flat rate to shoot and hand over cards so she could book more weddings. I'd be the primary/only photographer shooting the events. Many studios operate this way and they justify it by saying (rightfully, I suppose) that they did all the leg-work to build the business, all the marketing, all the meetings with brides. Having now done all of that, I agree that it's an enormous amount of work and not to be discounted. I couldn't stomach working my ass off to build someone else's business, though. I also think it's kind of lame to market yourself and your work only to pawn off other photographers on the brides at sales meetings. I turned it down.


Oh, and the studios typically make you sign over copyright, or at least limit your use to in-studion display..can't use the images on the web. This photographer told me I could select 2 or 3 of my favorites each wedding to display on my site as long as I linked to her site and wrote "xyz wedding shot for abc studios" or some such drivel. So, I bump her SEO and offer free advertising on my own website if I want to display my own images? No thanks.

The flip-side is that it would have been decent steady income with no post-processing, no album designing, no dealing with clients at all aside from the day of, and no work to book the weddings. If I weren't building my own business and didn't take a lot of pride in my work, I would have been tempted. She has several people working for her who have taken her up on the offer..decent shooters.

SaaBaaDoo

A little background info. He used to be a competitor of mine in the area and we met at a Chamber of Commerce function and really got along good. He ended up taking a job up in NYC and is referring all of his local requests my way. In the short time I've known him, I could honestly say if I were looking for a photography business partner, it would be him.

He did do all the business/contract side for this wedding and their engagement photos, and I can use any and all photos I took for my publishing/web needs. This would have been true even if I were the second shooter. He really did get the shaft from the airline last weekend. I'd love to see more money from prints, but if not, it's no biggie. I like to think he would have called me even if I was not already the second shooter.

It's also great experience and adds to my portfolio. I'll be sure to post some of the photos when I'm done with them.

wndrlst

Great - can't wait to see them!

It's too bad he moved away if you guys get along so well. I wish I'd meet someone interested in partnering up. My husband is happy to shoot with me and gives lots of input to handling clients and proofreads contracts, etc., but has no interest in learning to build/maintain the website, processing the photos, designing books, going to client meetings, deciding which images go in the portfolio, designing ads, managing the budget..you know, the hard stuff.

srika

oh so you were working for the 1st shooter? if that's the case, then I could see there being some prior arrangement. also if you got (considerably) more moula because of what happened, I think that's good to keep in mind.

SaaBaaDoo

Yep, working for the 1st shooter on this particular job.

SaaBaaDoo

I talked to the guy I was working with on this weekend's wedding about the prints and stuff. He said all he needs to do is fulfill the prints that were offered in his package, other than that, if they contact me for prints, sell them.

I got through the first round of processing last night so I'll post a few of them soon.

wndrlst

is300eater

Good price on Manfrotto carbon fiber tripod

Edit: never mind, it's sold out

is300eater

The aluminum version is still in stock @ $49.99 shipped

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...=1&topnav=&s=1

srika

nice! this sounds "right".

srika

$50 for a Manfrotto tripod WITH head? sounds too good to be true. I'd guess it'd last about a week before breaking?

edit: load capacity is 4.41 lbs. ok that explains a lot.

is300eater

Yeah, I should have added that it's a light weight

SaaBaaDoo

Anybody with a battery grip find themselves shooting a lot more in portrait orientation? For weddings, I'm using it way more than ever before.

Mizouse

Can't use the camera without the grip now. Just so much better w/ it.

srika

yeah, love the grip and portrait orientation. although, I used to "love it" a lot more on the 5D, with the 7D for some reason I don't feel as enamored by it. And, sometimes I remove it just to have a smaller form factor. I think this may be because on the 5D I had the handstrap which for all intents and purposes made it impossible to remove the battery grip, so I felt it was more a real part of the camera. or something.

srika

There is now a zoomable Canon 24-70 coffee mug.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UHHOHG/?tag=047-20

is300eater

yeah, I can't have a dslr w/o battery grip either. It's not just the ease of shooting in portrait, but the overall balance is better with a grip (in landscape). I don't even have big hands, but if the camera has any lens bigger than the nifty fifty mounted, w/o a grip... the 2nd half of my palm is hanging pass the bottom of the camera... just doesn't feel right.

srika

^^ yeah I hear you. the other thing that I like about shooting without the grip is its better for around people like at events - the camera doesnt look nearly as 'serious' so able to get better candid type shots and more shots without people freaking out about photos

is300eater

just messin' around with the Portrait Professional program

srika

I like the before much better. I mean it looks like we are talking about freckles? Skin smoothing is useful for blemishes, pimples (smaller ones), smoothing out wrinkles and other rough spots, things of that nature. But freckles are of the "naturally-occurring" variety of facial features and that being said, IMO they should never be removed. Furthermore the skin on the modified shot looks too smoothed soft and lacking features.

my 2 cents.

jupitersolo

Not bad either way, you didn't over process her, so good job.





Though I have never been a big fan of big gummed women. But she is cute.

Mizouse

synth19

I think Portrait Pro works better in studio style "glamour" type shots... if you going for that look.

srika

apparently 5D Mark 3's are in the wild already. one of my acquaintances in Australia told me one of his buddies who works for Canon has one for testing. said the high ISO is ridiculous, night shots handheld no problem. I cannot wait!!

wndrlst

How's the focus system??

srika

the AF carries over from the 5D2, unchanged.

Mizouse

iirc sarlacc mentioned last year that he knew someone with one.

wndrlst

Awesome!

srika

must have been something else, there were no 5D3's last year.

srika

apparently 1D5's are out in the wild now, too.

and, I think I am going to set my sights on one of those, instead.

srika

the S95 has some pretty bad CA. pretty annoying and disappointing, for a camera like this. and, it's not only me.

http://www.google.com/search?q=canon...ient=firefox-a

Mizouse

No it was 5D3 cause I kept thinking "BS"....

srika

maybe you were dreaming

MWalsh9152

I cant wait to start hearing the prices of 5DC's to start falling even further! Though, as much as I want to upgrade....my 20D has never let me down with what I shoot, and the amount I shoot. I think Matt probably has shot more than me in the past 9 months.

srika

now this is something!

http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/lens-shot-glass/