Vision, perspective, & mentoring...

Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 OIS

10/13/2016 10:36:21 PM · #26

I think we should do an editing experiment, though. Fences is a minimal editing challenge. I think we should take the top 3 (or 5) winners, and see what people could do with them in advanced editing.

mariuca

Fujifilm X-T30

10/14/2016 12:47:55 AM · #27

Originally posted by vawendy:

I think we should do an editing experiment, though. Fences is a minimal editing challenge. I think we should take the top 3 (or 5) winners, and see what people could do with them in advanced editing.

Could be an interesting exercise but as I perused the fences in minimal I found that there is a lot of beauty in an image not processed.

As to your original post, I found a few things that need clarification:
1. If needing money is not a key factor why would you bother doing the computer consulting? Would it satisfy you more that photography or needlework for instance?
2. You certainly hit a wall in a shape perhaps of a midlife crisis. Photography you do very well but it's one of the worst artistic endavour from which one can make money or get any notoriety. There is also the commercial photography but it's equally difficult to get into the game.
3. I said that any artisitc work starts from sheer necessity of doing it. There are some forms of art than need an audience otherwise they don't exisit: being an actor for instance. Or a composer - one needs an interpreter to play one's music. Marketing or finding an appreciative audience is part two of the artistic process. At the Academy of Art our teachers told us bluntly "you might never sell your art so choose: continue and be a starving artist or find a daily job, preferable with some connection to your abilities and make enough money to continue to do what you want to do." The best advice ever.
4. If you have this feel for a certain type of photograpy, as you described it, using the feel and chiarobscure of the old masters, do it by all means. Study first what you like, try even still life to get a feel of the lighting - look at the Dutch masters. Unfortunately a lot of people, mostly Russians specialize in old masters still life - there are too many on 1x for instance and unless you find a new angle to approach the subject you might fall into "more of the same" which for the period of learning is not a bad thing.
5. We all look for an audience, painters and musicians and writers....the moment when you don't find it could be crucial in deciding to stubbornly continue because is a necessity of your mind and soul or to try a different thing.

NikonJeb

Nikon D850

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

10/14/2016 09:21:04 AM · #28

I think it's interesting that you wnt to get into specialized, artificial lightimng. To me, it's all about ambient light in the best, and most extraordinary of circumstances.....

All three of these are natural light and I don't think I could replicate them on a bet.

Of course, I suck at lighting, so.......

LOL!!!

NikonJeb

Nikon D850

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

10/14/2016 09:21:39 AM · #29

Originally posted by vawendy:

Sounds like a plan!

pixelpig

Sony Alpha a55

Sony DT 1.8/50mm SAM

10/14/2016 12:03:32 PM · #30

Originally posted by vawendy:

It's like being able to harness the sun.

Controlling the light is like controlling the sun. From the simplicity of turning on a table lamp to read a novel in bed...to setting up stage lighting to actually imitate sunlight--that's what we're doing. Controlling the sun by using electric light as a controllable substitute. No need to wait for the sun.

JakeKurdsjuk

Canon EOS R5

Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

10/14/2016 01:02:08 PM · #31

Originally posted by vawendy:

I'm at a wall.

For someone who has basically entered almost every challenge she could, I've entered one challenge in close to a month. And having a hard time bothering.

I'm with you, down to having only entered the FS challenges in the last month. I've entered a couple since, and I'm still having a hard time bothering. And I'm taking plenty of photographs.

10/14/2016 06:29:21 PM · #32

Originally posted by NikonJeb:

I think it's interesting that you wnt to get into specialized, artificial lightimng. To me, it's all about ambient light in the best, and most extraordinary of circumstances.....

All three of these are natural light and I don't think I could replicate them on a bet.

Of course, I suck at lighting, so.......

LOL!!!

Natural lighting can be truly spectacular. But then again, it can suck big time! Having to wait until a particular time of day, having to try to find un-dappled shade during high noon, having a North facing window that never gets enough light, it can be frustrating.
,
To control the light enough to get incredible shots, to fix the limitations of natural light, to create the sun, the shade, the candle glow... Intense.

I just need to figure out how to do it so it looks real, natural, intense, unique. I'm really not asking for much
:)

10/14/2016 06:37:59 PM · #33

I have no idea if it's any good, but I'm sitting in a church lobby waiting for a friend for the spaghetti dinner, and I found this link on petapixel.

basic lighting lessons

10/15/2016 10:33:27 AM · #34

Originally posted by vawendy:

I have no idea if it's any good, but I'm sitting in a church lobby waiting for a friend for the spaghetti dinner, and I found this link on petapixel.

basic lighting lessons

Ok -- I sat down and watched it, and this may be way, way to basic for people, but I thought it was exceptional. I have a tendency to just set the light and look. But it really stripped things down to basics. You can watch it, or here are the notes I took on it.

I started taking notes on a notepad, but I wanted screen shots, so I did it in MS Word. If this is helpful to anyone, I'll keep posting notes here. But it does take a chunk of extra time to do this, so if you find it helpful, please say something. Otherwise, I'll assume it's too basic and won't bother putting screen shots of the word document here. (Hmmm... wait... can I post a PDF here? I'm guessing not...)

Anyway, here's the first lighting lesson:

pixelpig

Sony Alpha a55

Sony DT 1.8/50mm SAM

10/15/2016 11:06:25 AM · #35

I watched the petapixel video & a few others I found on youtube. Your notes are excellent Wendy.

Inspired by this thread, I visited Joey Lawrence's web page once again. I found this--"When does your personal vision become more important than the gear you use?" Good question. Also, I see that he's using toys to miniaturize the lighting setup. Interesting idea. His website is always worth the visit.

10/15/2016 11:43:12 AM · #36

I completely agree! I'm so intrigued by the toys and the lighting. I want to go back and watch that and do it again.

I wish there was more info in his videos. I bought a couple, but it seems like, even though it's extremely good info, it's light for the money. But wow -- I want to be able to combine natural and strobe like he does! I still think we should have an outdoor natural plus modifier challenge: Go outdoors. Use the ambient light (not shade) and add more (reflector, flash, strobe... anything and everything you want). I add the not shade part, because if you go into the shade, you can just have the flash overpower the shade and then you're not really blending. So I need a better way of phrasing it.

I suggested that awhile ago, but it gained no momentum. But it would be fascinating to play with, and with 2 weeks, it actually could be really cool to work with to get it right.

10/15/2016 11:44:23 AM · #37

Originally posted by pixelpig:

I watched the petapixel video & a few others I found on youtube. ...

Did you watch any other videos worthwhile? I have so little patience watching videos (I'm a book learner), I'd love to hear about videos that people find worthwhile!

10/15/2016 06:42:06 PM · #38

oops -- not done yet

Message edited by author 2016-10-15 18:42:27.

pixelpig

Sony Alpha a55

Sony DT 1.8/50mm SAM

10/15/2016 07:10:22 PM · #39

Originally posted by vawendy:

Originally posted by pixelpig:
I watched the petapixel video & a few others I found on youtube. ...

Did you watch any other videos worthwhile? I have so little patience watching videos (I'm a book learner), I'd love to hear about videos that people find worthwhile!

I can't recommend...I watch them for general curiosity. Usually, the first assumption is wrong for me, so the rest of the video, while interesting, is not a how-to for me. It's either explicitly stated, or implied, that the photographer has a preconceived idea of what the final result should look like & the video is about how to realize that idea. Of course this makes perfect sense when doing it for money, on a deadline, a budget, working with a creative director. I don't work that way, I never know what I'm going for, & I make an effort to avoid preconceived ideas of all kinds.