What the best way to make positive slides ready for the web?

Scan them?

I am just shooting in the dark here.....

I forgot to mention Helmut Newton, he's the artistic nude photographer that all others are judged by.

What is it I smell in the air?







Dog?










Cat?








No it's BULLS**T

But it was nice of you to say that.

So "Grasshopper" what wisdom can I pass on from the mystical East?

Aaron is right, the Nikon Coolscan 4000 is about one of the best, if you have a lot to do try a hopper feeder as well.

The benefit is you can fine tune the scanning to improve the picture, also scan in much larger than you need then reduce it in size. Don't know why but this gives a better picture.

Some processing labs are now offering scanning as part of the service, but you will fiind it pricey. Plus you still have to sit and correct them individually.

I believe you may be on to somwthing here.

Can you tell me the proper way to illuminate a negro at night when shooting with a basic digital camera?

I always seem to have a problem with getting the black person to show up. As you can see...I even had the fat guy wear a white shirt in hopes that it would act like a reflector.

Where did I go wrong? loaded question.

http://www.ampcontent.com/pics/CherryBucks.jpg

What would you buy for a complete beginner?

What Camera, lights, ect?

I just read an article about Newton a couple of weeks ago. Damn i should have bookmarked it. There was a great quote in it.
I'll look for it and post it here if i find it.

This is a very tricky one and made even more dificult when using a wide angle lens to get all the beer bellies into the picture.

However there are some simple solutions.

1; Paint him white or use white lipstick around his lips and eyes. this will help to hi-lite him.

2; Failing that you need to get the fat guy to get on his hands and knees (Doggy Style I'm sure he knows the postion) in front of the black dude so the light bounces up.

3; Stop buying those disposable cameras.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Eva has just told me the solution. Get the black guy to stand in the middle where there is the most light.

She also said he's should be in the middle as he's the best looking one.

Charly do you do video?

If so what format do you prefer to shoot on?

Do you think mini-dv is a professional format suitable for porn production?

Any SLR film camera costing $100-200 and then send him out to shoot anything he likes except nudes for a year.

The last thing he needs to tackle is porn, as a complete beginner. His pictures will be worse than the "amateur" pics he is trying to imitate. These are shot by lovers prior to having sex and the model looks like she is ready.

Not some guy trying to fathom out what is wrong with his camera and showing the model how confused he is. She is thinking "When can I get out of here"

But if you insist, you have to decide digital or film. Then go with something like the Nikon D100 (Digi) or the Cannon EOS3 (Film) for lights you need to work out where you will be shooting. In high rise apartment measuring 12 ft X 10 ft or my studio 2000 sq ft. You will need different power and numbers of lights. For the smaller set up go for 3 heads @ 200 Jules each a bigger set up would need 5 heads @ 600 Jules. You then need light stands, umbrellas, hoods, honeycombs and softlights (it?s a light fitting). Plus a very good light meter that gives you direct light and reflected light.

Then some good books on the basic mechanics of cameras, shooting models, shooting Erotic and lighting techniques. A book on psychology will be useful as well, we do not always end up with the most helpful and brightest girls in the world.

Yes we do shoot video, but have been concentrating on stills. the videos on the siite sell and people are asking for more, but editing is time consuming and I do not have it. But I may have a solution soon. Watch the site.

What format depends on what you are shooting, Playboy Channel or ButtMan. Middle of the market and lower is fine for Mini DV, but you might want to consider a professional camera $8,000 approx (I think) or at least the Cannon Mini DV I cannot remember the name but around $3,000. You can try it with a $300 camera but remember what the girl is thinking "Bloody tosser, he's just some amateur. Does not even have a proper camera"

Any more questions?

yea!!
how often do you get to bone the models?

Not often enough.

Yea right :Graucho
your just saying that 'cause Eva is reading this

Charly mishandled this one so I'll answer it again: The idea behind a free site is the opposite of a pay site. In a pay site, you want your visitor to stay and join your site. In a free site, you want him to go and join someone else's site. That understood, if you're designing a free site, you want it to be frustrating and ugly so that the visitor says, "Jesus fuckin' Christ, I hate this site...but this banner looks interesting."

Is this right or is he "just pulling our legs"? If I went to a bad site the last thing I would do is hang around to look at the banners.

I thought the idea of a freesite was to get the guys attention, arouse interest enough to make him want to take the action to go to a place you have chosen. This was how I was taught to design a good advert and I think it still works.

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

Unseen why not take this chance to ask some photography questions, this is something I do know about:) Could tell you the correct way to get the soft focus look yoou like and how to control it.

LMAO....Nice one bro. You owe me a few drinks for setting that one up for you. :thumbsup

Um..Not so...You clearly do not know what makes Eva tick. :)

Hmmm interesting

Hi Charly,

Thanks for all your words of advice :)

My questions, if you don't mind:

I use digital camera with manual settings and use it's preview screen for checking the lighting - and do some 'test shots' which I upload to the laptop. I thought it is enough but somebody told me that I should use lighting meter anyway...
What is your opinion (lighting meter for digital cam)?

If so... My next question, maybe stupid but i'm curious...

When using a lighting meter do I need an assistant for this or is it OK to ask the model to hold it?

And last question...
What is your opinion on Jan Saudek's coloured photos?

As you are in the Czech Rep you must be familar with his work :)

thanks,

Marie

ask oliver klozov -- hes yer neighbor and i think he could help you in this arena

Charly believes in light meters so much that he even uses them when shooting in night vision mode.

Hey Charly,

I'll take you up on your offer. What is a good but affordable digital camera set up for producing "amateur" style photos along the lines of LightSpeedcash's sites? Based on my experience, highly produced "professional" type pics by outfits like Matrix Content is too "slick" and don't convert as well for me.

I'd appreciate the tips. Thanks in advance

If this is a serious question then you are asking the wrong person. Charly does not produce that type of image. Lightspeed uses the Nikon 900 series digital cameras...At least they used to. Pretty much any $600-$1000 digital camera could produce the same results when in the hands of somebody who knows how to shoot that kind of content. Lightspeed and his crew shoot different than most people because they have a true interest in what they are shooting. The stuff is top notch because of this.

Aaron,

Thanks for responding to my question. Please advise re which makes and models of digital camera to look into in the $600 to $1000 price range. Also, any advice re lighting? My connection's looking into indoor shoots only.

Thx,
Jeff

aaron if you were serious about shooting black n white people together... just run "curves" in photoshop and boost the low values and keep the rest fixed... if yer camera didn't drop out the detail in that range through compression or whatever...

in painting it's always easy to spot an amateur painting from a photograph... cameras tend to drop out the rich colors in dark areas... one of the major benefits of painting a live model :)

There are several cameras that would work...My personal suggestion is the Canon Powershot G2 or G3.

As for lighting...I am not sure that Lightspeed would want me to give any of their specifics out but I think you could get by with 1 or 2 decent hot lights....oh....and no, a light meter is NOT necessary. :)

I know where you can get an Olympus E20 for about $850. That's a great camera, from all I have heard, the consumer end of the digital SLR market. I was considering it for quite a while, but decided to hold out for something a little beefier... Until a little while before starting this thread, in fact.

My opinion on why content sucks ass.

#1 ugly model
#2 artificial light
#3 boring concept

Even if you have no artistic skill, inspiration or training -- if you have a hot model with natural light and a good concept I want your content.

Charly, when someone wants to leave a site, he frequently does so by clicking on a banner or interesting-sounding link. The point is that a free site should not be a place to STAY, because someone is chewing up bandwidth he hasn't paid for and can only pay for if he leaves.

AIDA works for the banners and links on the free site, not the site itself. Once someone comes to the ugly-ass free site, a cute banner or interesting link gets his attention and interest. A desire swells in him to investigate (because the rest of the ugly-ass site isn't crying to be seen), and he takes the action of visiting the sponsor.

You told me you wanted some ice tea consider it done:1orglaugh

And you do??

A good light meter is essential, one that gives you a direct reading from your lights to the subject (taken from where the models are) and one that gives reflected light (taken from where the shooter is standing aimed at the models.

Learn how to use a light meter by testing all the angles so you can meter the different light sources. Put the light meter against the model and take a reading. For flash you need a light meter that registers flashlights.

This will ensure that you get an even distribution of light and hi-lites to seperate the models from the backgrounds. Look at good pictures and see the side/head of the models have the white glow around them.

Check the image on your computer sreen, which should be checked reguarly for light and color. Then open the image in Photooshop and check the "Levels".

Sorry do not know who Jan Saudek is. :(

YOU don't know Jan Saudek?Ok never mind -you are in adult biz and I am sure he doesn't know you, but he is worldwide very respected art photographer.....the top

Thanks for the info about the light meter :)

Jan Saudek is a contemporary Czech photographer.
He takes black and white pics and then colours them.
Sometimes it's a really strange stuff...

Unfortunately his website http://www.saudek.com/ is not working but you can see some of his work here http://www.ambrosiana.cz/Saudek/Saudek_en.html

Hi Charlie!

Just wondering,
are you shooting prints, slides, of digital ?
where do you develope prints and slides for porn ?

Cheers