Monday, February 19, 2007

IN THIS ISSUE

TESTIMONIAL OF THE WEEK

ENROLL IN 8-WEEK CLASS, GET A FREE CAP!

Sign up in our Spring session (starting April 4th) of 8-week courses today and receive a Black Embroidered BetterPhoto Ball Cap for free! To ensure shipment, add "Free Cap" in the promo field upon check-out. (Caps available while supplies last.) See school schedule...

NEW SPORTS CLASS BY NEW INSTRUCTOR

Learn how to use your digital SLR camera to capture your favorite fast-action activity. This new 4-week class - Photographing Fast-Action Sports with a Digital SLR - is taught by photographer-author Gregory Georges.

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THIS WEEK'S TIP

Pro Tip: Infrared Triggers by John Siskin

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Featured Gallery

© - Dan Walters

Updates From BetterPhoto

Photo Q&A

1: Emotional Aspect of Pphotography

How many times have you seen an excellent shot and thought, "I'd feel like a fool getting out of my car here in front of all these people to snap a photo"? (This happened to me this morning - wished I had stopped.)

ANSWER 1:

Some of my best shots were because I didn't care about looking foolish. OK, the time I got flat on my back in the center of a railroad museum floor to shoot the ceiling, even my wife and son disappeared, lol
Let people laugh. You'll get the shot they only dream of, or at least give them something to talk about the rest of the day. :)

ANSWER 2:

Quite a few years ago I was flat on my belly photographing ants. Another photographer came up and snapped a pic of me shooting ants. That picture was published in the Los Angeles Times. That was embarrassing. Got a good picture of an ant, though. Thanks, John Siskin

ANSWER 3:

I've had several amusing things happen. In the spring, there's a nice wildflower patch in the median between 3 roads. I always get strange looks when I'm flopped on my face in the middle of it shooting flowers. Once, I was on my back shooting the undersides of some tulips, and pretty soon, a lady appeared in my vision field wondering if I was okay. Her car was stopped with the doors open in the middle of the road. Gotta love it!

ANSWER 4:

I used to give students an assignment to shoot cracks in sidewalk. The assignment taught them how to use line as part of a design and that you could get away with crazy behavior if you had a camera. Thanks, John Siskin

2: Best Way to Back Up Photo Files?

With all the new bells and whistles out there has this old farm boy wondering what is the best way for me to go to backup photo files - CD, DVD, external hard drive?

ANSWER 1:

Imo, the safest way is to burn them to DVD-R's. Two copies, each to be stored at a physically different place.
Since the chemicals in the plastics in DVD's also react with each other (and with light? And with gases in the air?), which slowly deteriorates (destroys) them to the point of being unreadable/illegible, it is very advisable to burn new copies of your DVD-R's - on new DVD-R's, of course - every 2 years (then destroy the 'old' ones).

However, this won't be "for generations", if only for the fact that PC's, system software and 'reading' software will be so different from today's in, say 20 years, that your DVD-R's - however pristine and perfect - most probably can't be read by then.
Try and find a record player these days to play your old stack of vinyl records...
NO photo storage method - be it film or digital - can guarantee to keep your photos perfect for anything over 50 years. If you want to keep them better longer, you will have to re-store them within 10 or 20 years (max) with the THEN available technology. Every 10 or 20 years again! And so on, so forth.

Storing on hard disks is easy. But extremely volatile. (Hard disks fail!).

3: Modeling Lights

I have a Paterson/Interfit system, which I am starting to use more and more. I normally shoot in concert. What wattage of bulb would you recommend for studio use per monolight? Also, are modeling lights any different from lights that can be bought in, say, Home Depot?

ANSWER 1:

I usually use modeling lamps I get at Lowe's. The difference is the brightness of the lamp. If you are going to use the modeling light to try to previsualize your shot you will want all your bulbs to be the same. It will help if they are bright. I usually previsualize a shot in my head, so I mostly use the modeling lights to tell me which way the lamp is pointed and to help me focus. Thanks, John Siskin

4: External Flash - Battery Power?

I am using a Canon 550 flash, which requires 4 AA batteries. I run through tons of batteries during the course of a typical wedding day. I can see in the prints when the batteries are weakening. And I try to change them often enough to keep it firing at full power. I also have the energy saver setting on. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips for this problem?
Thanks,
Rachel

ANSWER 1:

Rechargeable NiCad or NiMH AAs will cycle faster than alkalines, but will not last quite as long. The only way to go longer without battery changes is to use an external battery pack. Canon's Compact Battery Pack CP-E3 loads 8 AAs, it's Transistor Pack E uses 6 C cells. There are similar solutions from other companies, such as Quantum Turbo.

5: Vinyl or Muslin Backdrop?

I'm looking to purchase either a vinyl or muslin backdrop. Now, I've learned that a muslin backdrop is renowned for its wrinkles, and vinyl is supposedly of a much smoother finish. However, a member was complaining that their vinyl back drop was all wrinkled. Now I'm very confused!!! I want a white backdrop that is smooth and has no wrinkles. I also need it lightweight, as I will be going mobile. Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

ANSWER 1:

Get white seamless paper. Then, when it is stained, you can throw it away. It stays very smooth on the roll. If you get the very long rolls (100 feet or more), it is much cheaper to use, but also much heavier. Thanks, John Siskin

ANSWER 2:

Yup - although vinyl (if stored properly) can lose its wrinkles over time, white paper is probably the only wrinkle-free option.