yes, if you are shooting hubcaps. this is the way most "content" shooters shoot. you do get sharpness, the catch light in the eye, the pimple on the elbow, and the discarded condom packaging on the pier one night stand.

if you are shooting a solo human model with imperfections you (usually) want to be close to wide open, using a longer focal length, and getting back away from the model with a long zoom (for "deancapture style"). if you are shooting a girl's face you usually DO NOT want short focal length high F number.

this requires a very good fast lens, usually of longer focal length to emulate this "deancapture style". and usually only fixed f/stop (maximum f/stays the same regardless of zoom) is good enough (usually f2/8 on high quality zooms.)

there is a place for shooting at f/11 but not for the type of shots in this thread. let your dentist use that when he needs to photograph your mouth for oral cancer or you want to photograph the tree in your backyard.

there is also a place for using wide angle, etc for artistic effect but that is a different subject.

people need to understand the physics of lens optics if they want to try this "deancapture style". it requires good fast glass (expensive), fairly long focal length, and careful lighting.

GREAT shots Dean :thumbsup :thumbsup

:1orglaugh
I think it's much better to shoot your own content, and becaome as good as Dean.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
to DEAN CAPTURE

My 70-200mm F2.8 is an "IS" lens....and I dearly love it. I shoot everything handheld as well and very seldom will I ever see any motion blurr with that lens. The longer the lens, the more steady you have to hold the lens so I would suggest practicing holding the lens as steady as possible when using video lights for your still work. Also, you might consider raising your ASA/ISO to 400 or 800 and see if that helps. This may introduce a little grain into your pics but you can reduce the effects of the grain with a program like Noise Ninja.

I love my "IS" lens and in your situation....it would be the perfect tool for what your doing :thumbsup

I currently use the Canon 1D Mark II but with some photo-knowledge you could shoot those pics with any pro-am digital SLR camera (IMO).

The best photography is done with a bottle of Jack Daniel's in the left hand while operating the camara with the right.
I reccomend a cheap Sony Cybershot for real photography these days and if you are into authentic break out the poloroid for close ups.

Falling over balcony railing's to get the perfect shot is well worth the result.

Tommorow .. I shoot some Pinup models on the beach .. any suggestions as to the settings for my digital SLR to get that over saturated color .. with a tiny bit of yellow ( I ll be using my flash head with a gold reflexor to give that Old look) .. but would really like my color saturation to be higher ... Without Photochopin it

a better question would be, what lens ...


A good piece of glass makes all the difference in the world

:thumbsup
Mark II is the fucking tool :)
I cant imagine working without it now.

I'm sold! Tell B and H you want a commission. :winkwink:

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I shoot everything in "raw" format and convert it to jpeg using CaptureOne Pro Software. Within the conversion, I can specify the temperature of the light and make the image warmer or cooler. I can also pump up the saturation of the colors and the contrast of the image. Then, I apply that setting to all the images within the set and convert to jpeg. Easy as pie once you get the hang of it :thumbsup

I agree - I love mine :winkwink:

That's how you always get such amazing depth of field on those shots.. hawwwt

Yes I tryed that a quite a few months ago for an advertising client of mine .. I so surprised at the ease and management that a raw file has in Photoshop .. But what I was looking for is a setting ..to emulate Tungsten film being used for daylight

Hmmmm, it's possible that you could tweak out a setting or two to emulate that look but I'm not aware of how to do that. I've spent the last year or so fine-tuning my digital raw workflow so that I could get a more consistant look with my work and that's the only way I shoot now. I prefer to just record a nice clean, well-exposed and well-compositioned image and manipulate the color in post (the same way they do in the movie industry with major motion pictures). With all the photoshop plugins available, you should have no problem tweaking out the color of your images to your exact specifications and then running a batch process. Just some thoughts......

Care to share the work flow? Maybe even the setting your using? I have been shooting RAW with the D2x, converting using Bibble Pro. Rairly if ever go into photoshop. Im intersted in things like, which color space do you shoot in, All the little fun stuff :) I find Meta tag info great since you can look a t a picture you enjoy and SEE the settings that where used.

I'm a self taught photographier, So there is a SHITLOAD that I don't know. Basically I learned what I know cause I had to. I have been looking for a course, or school that I could goto, or even someone I could shoot with to learn more as I'm finding that as I get into it deeper the more I enjoy about it. Know of any good people or places one would goto for training/apprenticeship? I have been thinking of taking some stuff by David Mecey http://davidmecey.com/index.html but would also be interested to find out any more contacts of people that train.

can i be you?

Beautiful pics. :thumbsup

Gerco, I've spent hundreds of hours experimenting, learning and fine-tuning my digital workflow process and because I've spent so much time, energy and money figuring it all out.....I wouldn't be comfortable laying it all out here for everyone to see. If you REALLY want to get to a new level with your work, you need to put some effort into reading everything you can get your hands on about digital workflow. I have several books that I've picked up over the last year that go into great detail regarding all the things you mentioned. In fact, any good digital workflow book will have that info. This is one of those things that - "the more you put into it, the more you get out of it"!

In regards to the David Mecey Workshop - if you can afford to take that workshop...you should go for it. David is an excellent Photographer and a very talented teacher. I took a workshop from him many years ago and it was money well spent!

I met David years back during an Internex in Vegas. Super nice guy. A friend of mine (Anton) has taken many of Davids workshops and has always said the greatest things about him. Truthfully, I'm at the point where I feel I can't afford NOT to take the next step and join some of his classes. I have an ever growing collection of books, everything I can get my hands one and I spend a great deal of time reading, But I still find that I need actual hands on, "to SEE it done" The cost of his course really is small if you compare it to what I have sitting here in equipment. Equipment that I know I would get a LOT more use out of if I knew exactly what to do with it :)

This is some of the best advice anyone can give about getting the proper shot, your histograph will show you if your too dark,too light, or right on and thats 90% of the battle right there.

Im shooting with 4 - 1000watt Dyna-lites and 2 - 2000 watt power packs, how many lights do you use for indoor shoots? And do you use all natural light for your outdoor shoots or a portable system and bounce boards?

Love the Mark II, expensive as fuck with all the lenses but to get the quality you need it is a must. 90 megs a raw image sucks too, we have started to use wireless Hard Drive storage units because we were filling 4 gb storage cards so fast.

I don't have a set number of lights that I use all the time. Sometimes I'll use one light - sometimes I'll use 6. It just depends on what kind of look I'm going for and how much time I have to set it all up. I have to shoot a certain number of sets per day so time constraints play a big part of my decision on how much lighting I use. In regards to my outdoor stuff, I will usually use some flash along with the natural light.

I have many 1gig cards and I will typically shoot 1 set of pics per card...switch cards and shoot another set and continue that thruout the day. The cards are immediately dumped into my laptop or my Epson P-2000 digital wallet :winkwink:

Could those type of images be achieved with a Canon Pro1?

I don't have any experience with the Pro1 but I've been thinking about picking me up one. They look like they'd be fun to shoot :winkwink:

I really don't believe that it makes much difference what kind of equipment your using - more importantly is what you do with it. I use top of the line gear because Photography is my love, my life and my passion - but I believe that I could shoot some nice stuff with just a point-n-shoot if I had to :thumbsup