SnapShot Archives - 04/17/2000
SNAPSHOT - PHOTO NEWS FROM BETTERPHOTO.COM
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Welcome to SnapShot, the weekly newsletter on the art
of photography from http://www.betterphoto.com
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IN THIS ISSUE
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Monday, April 17, 2000
* SPOTLIGHT: New Contest Categories at OnlinePhotoContest.com
* BETTERPHOTO: New SnapShot Features
* WEB NEWS: Tips on How to Shoot Great Portraits
* WEB NEWS: Judge for Yourself with People's Choice Voting
* WEB NEWS: Cool Kodak Digital Camera Samples
* MUSEUM WATCH: Modernity, Germaine Krull, and William Gedney at the SF MOMA
* TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Celebrity with a Camera
* WORKSHOP: Polar Bears from a Tundra Buggy
* THIS WEEK'S TIP: Don't Take Wooden Nickles (or Agressive Tactics)
* PHOTO Q&A: Minolta XTsi vs. the Canon Rebel 2000
* PHOTO Q&A: What File Size Terms Really Mean
* PHOTO Q&A: How to Take a Picture of a TV Screen
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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Enter Photos of Unusual Pets at OnlinePhotoContest.com
The Grand Prize is $5000 and the deadline is Monday, May 15. Other prizes
include Epson digital cameras and Tamrac photo bags.Other categories include
Scuba & Underwater Scenes; Urban Landscape; Beauty in Everyday Objects; and
Photographer's Choice (where you can enter photos that do not fit in any
other category):
http://www.onlinephotocontest.com
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WHAT'S NEW AT BETTERPHOTO.COM
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New Features to SnapShot
We are adding a few new touches to the SnapShot newsletter to make your
weekly experience even more enjoyable and educational. Featured will be a
trivia question and answer, a regional museum exhibit, and a regional
workshop announcement. For more information, see below.
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PHOTOGRAPHIC HAPPENINGS ON THE WEB
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Tips on How to Shoot Great Portraits
Portraiture is an art that mystifies many photographers. Answers seem to be
few and far in between; often, the practicing portraitists are either too
busy or too secretive to share their secrets. Take a look at this helpful
article which examines equipment, intentions, background, and more:
http://www.cameraworld.com/portraiture.asp?affky=591732
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Judge for Yourself with People's Choice Voting
OnlinePhotoContest.com, along with adding a bunch of other new features, has
enhanced their photo contest. In their new People's Choice voting section,
you can now vote on photos yourself or invite friends to vote for pictures
you have entered into the contest:
http://www.onlinephotocontest.com/PCV_main.asp
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Cool Kodak Digital Camera Samples
Would you like to see what the images shot with a digital camera look like?
Check out Kodak's sampler page. Photo galleries illustrate what images shot
with the DC290, DC280, DC265, DC240, and the DC215 look like:
http://www.kodak.com/digitalImaging/samples/classic.shtml
Or look into buying the Kodak DC290:
http://www.betterphoto.com/product/productDetail.asp?productID=253
Kodak DC280:
http://www.betterphoto.com/product/productDetail.asp?productID=160
Kodak DC265:
http://www.betterphoto.com/product/productDetail.asp?productID=159
Kodak DC240:
http://www.betterphoto.com/product/productDetail.asp?productID=156
Kodak DC215:
http://www.betterphoto.com/product/productDetail.asp?productID=422
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MUSEUM WATCH
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Modernity, Germaine Krull, and William Gedney at the SF MOMA
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is packed with great photography.
Until July 30, 2000, you can explore about 120 vintage prints from Germaine
Krull - the French photographer of the 1920s and '30s - and other
photographers. Another exhibit features ninety images from William Gedney,
recently rediscovered photographer of coal miners, the hippie era,
Brooklyn...
http://www.sfmoma.org/
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PHOTO TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK
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Celebrity with a Camera
Many celebrities - from a Beatle's wife to the man who played a disgruntled,
bomb fanatic in a fast-paced Keanu Reeves vehicle - have wielded a camera to
make a cool image or two.
Which famous singer once got a photo he shot of a boxer on the cover of Life
magazine? Answer coming next week...
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PHOTO WORKSHOP
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Polar Bears near Churchill, Manitoba
A friend of mine leads these cool trips where you can photograph the bears
in their natural habitat from the comfort and safety of a Tundra Buggy. If
you are interested, act quick - there are only a few spots in November left:
http://www.wildlifeadventures.com/churchil3.htm
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THIS WEEK'S TIP
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Don't Take Wooden Nickles (or Agressive Tactics)
In any exchange, you have to be careful. With photo shops and camera stores,
the danger usually just gets worse. If you feel pressured in any way while
talking with a camera salesperson, politely hang up or walk away. Some
resellers in particular have a reputation of being gruff, manipulative or
downright mean-spirited. Don't feel the need to give them your business. If
you are still searching for a few pleasant places to shop, check out Leslie
O'Shaughnessy & Douglas Blondin's online survey of mail-order photographic
suppliers; it is a gold mine of honest evaluations:
http://www.cmpsolv.com/los/pmos.shtml
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CAMERA AND PHOTOGRAPHY Q&A
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Q. Minolta XTsi vs. the Canon Rebel 2000
Which is the better SLR camera, the Minolta XTsi or the Canon Rebel 2000?
What are the differences and which one has been reviewed higher?
-Kathy
A. The Minolta XTsi is more comparable to Canon Elan II than to the Rebel
2000.
-Buagu
A. I rate the Canon Elan II the best of the three; the speed and quietness
with which the Canon focuses simply blows away the competition.
-BetterPhoto
Canon Elan II:
http://www.betterphoto.com/product/productDetail.asp?productID=238
Rebel 2000:
http://www.betterphoto.com/product/productDetail.asp?productID=228
Minolta XTsi:
http://www.betterphoto.com/product/productDetail.asp?productID=497
Respond to this question:
http://www.betterphoto.com/QnAredirect.asp?threadID=191
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Q. What File Size Terms Really Mean
When they say 640x480 or 1280x1024, what does that all mean? Also when you
buy a digital camera and it says it is 1.5 Mega pixels or 2.3 Mega pixels,
what does that mean?
-Stephen
A. Those numbers describe the resolution of an image - each unit refers to a
pixel (picture element) and they can be compared to the dots used in
printing. If you look closely at photos in newspapers, the less expensive
processing uses large dots in small numbers to fool the eye into seeing the
image, and you can see the dots pretty easily there. Ever seen a chunk of
billboard print up close? Dots the size of Detroit. A strong magnifier (8
or 10 X) will show the same dots are used even in fine reproductions that
were printed (unless done by lithography, serigraph & other special
methods).
Those numbers, then, tell you what kind of image quality the camera will
produce. For fine prints you want to PRINT out at least at 150 lines or
dots per inch. You can do some math and figure out how little your
snapshots would print out, to have that kind of resolution, once printed. To
simulate really photorealistic results (which is still seldom seen except in
film technology), you'd want to be able to print at 300 dots per inch.
That's about what most people are used to seeing in decent printed books.
Resolution can be confusing, but it's really pretty straightforward. It's
like you have different window screens in front of your face at all times,
and once in a while you need to change screens or figure out how to get at
an image where the details seem the same res as the screens and wipes out
the details. Maybe stand back and zoom in, or stand close and zoom out,
whatever means necessary...
The next problem becomes data storage... to describe full colour, an image's
file needs to store a lot of data, and "bit planes" refers to the sets of
data needed to describe red, green, and blue light intensities and any
brightness or other control info, FOR EVERY pixel... when a given image is
made twice as big in dimensions, the file size goes up FOUR times (actually,
instead, probably you get a big checkerboard or interpolated approximation,
if you really do that enlargement). That's why less expensive cameras will
offer lower resolutions, and why most all will store the images in the JPEG
format.
Just for comparison, a high quality 35mm film has light sensitive grains of
chemicals, where the film's grain is measured in microns ... while such
images are usually archived more affordably at one or two thousand pixels
per inch, we'd really need about 4000 by 4000 ppi res to truly capture all
the info in it.
-Gregour
Respond to this question:
http://www.betterphoto.com/QnAredirect.asp?threadID=207
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Q. TV Exposures: How to Take a Picture of a TV Screen
Some the situations that I am required to shoot involve TV screens, radar
images, LCD screens, and computer screens. What settings or techniques can
provide me with the best exposures. I'm trying to avoid capturing the TV or
CRT screen's refresh rate.
-Walter
A. Television screens flicker at a constant 30hz so you should seek to shoot
at 1/15th or 1/30th of second. 1/15th should give you the cleanest results
(because of technical details I'm sure you don't care about) but try both
settings. Either way whatever screen you are shooting, try to find its
refresh rate and shoot at that speed or one half that speed.
-Fern
Respond to this question:
http://www.betterphoto.com/QnAredirect.asp?threadID=137
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Q. PC and TV Photography Using Slide Films
My camera is Canon EOS 888. How do I take pictures from the TV [ordinary TV]
or PC monitor? [my PC has refresh rates of 60-75 hz]
- Jong
A. Using Fern's guidance from the previous Q&A, shoot between 1/30 and 1/60
on a tripod to get the best results. Use a polarizing filter if you need to
reduce glare.
Respond to this question:
http://www.betterphoto.com/QnAredirect.asp?threadID=406
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Ask a question or answer a few from your fellow photographers: http://www.betterphoto.com/qnaTOC.asp
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READ SNAPSHOT ARCHIVES
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http://www.betterphoto.com/snapshots.asp
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Until next week, enjoy shooting!
Thank you,
Jim Miotke
BetterPhoto.com
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