You can do that with . . .

[KLaban]

...and they did goeth forth and they did spreadeth the word

[fredjeang]

With more than 400 replies and 10.000 views, the thread that motivated B.C OP must have something special indeed.
I pointed the sync flash at one point and the wood started to burn again when the thread seemed self-dead. Impressive.

Anyway, I visited the Barrett's site again, website that I follow with other Lu-La's members sites and the blog is very interesting.
Had a look on the product section and there are some masterpeices IMO, like the image with the hand etc...Fantastic sense of composition in general,
precision. In short, it's all about beauty.

Fortunatly, there are great material, artistical and technical and about life in general in Lu-La members.

Apart from the threads interesting or not, people inspire, teach, and bring the dream like James, Keith, Chris, Rob etc...

[bcooter]

With more than 400 replies and 10.000 views, the thread that motivated B.C OP must have something

Maybe it goes on in Europe and Asia but in North America we have cable news shows that have pundits that beat on the same subject.  The object is not to listen, or learn, but to stay on point and they've made it into a specialized art form.

One is called FNews (F standing for that red furry animal that people hunt on horses).  The interviews always go something like this.

FNews: So let's just cut to the chase Mr. Blad,  . . . why should I buy your camera?

Mr. Blad: Well we craft high precision cameras made for

FNews: Made for who, ME, I just want to take a few snaps of my kitchen floor and don't see why I should Spend $50,000 to do so, Answer that. 

Mr. Blad: Well, to begin our cameras aren't just $50,000 we have a series of price points 

FNews: So you can't make up your mind on what to charge me for a camera?  Jeez  so how much does it cost, be honest?

Mr. Blad: Our cameras covers a range of prices but really are made for a photographer that takes the art of photography

FNews:  Art Fart.  So I have to be one of those artistas that prances around with a fuzzy little dog, wearing a beret just to take a picture?  What happens when I go down the street and want to shoot my friend Billy when he does his cool trick of blowing beer out of his nose?  Can you camera capture THAT? 

Mr. Blad: Actually yes it can as our sync speed with professional strobes is 1/800

FNews:  So I gotta buy a bunch of expensive lights to use your camera just to capture Billy's beer out the nose trick?  What do you think that the average person is made of money?

Mr. Blad: No that's why we have upgrade policy's, backwards compatible software, informed dealers? 

FNews: Software.  You mean I gotta own a computer to use your camera?  Come on get real. I can tell right now that your hiding a lot of information. 

Mr. Blad: No we don't hide anything, in fact we offer seminars, demonstrations, class

FNews: Just hold on for a moment.  Classes and seminars.  You actually can tell me with a straight face to take a few snaps of my kitchen floor and every now and then shoot beer coming out of someone's nose I gotta take a class?  By the way Mr. Fancy Camera Maker, is your camera beer proof? Because on the BXO website they claim your camera won't work with beer in it.  Show me the test of your camera and other cameras with beer in them.  I want an exact test.

Mr. Blad: I don't think any camera works with beer in it, though we do have repair facilities located

FNews: Here we go.  Repairs.   That's where the big money is right?   First you lure me in to buying an expensive camera then you charge me extra if someone blows some beer into it. 
I'd listen to your answer Mr. Blad, but that's all the time I have today. 

IMO

BC

[Rob C]

Coot, you have a sense of humour that you keep hidden too often!

Okay, maybe you don't get much downtime, but at least you now know what to do with it when you get it... post more of the same.

Rob C

[KLaban]

If I really want to know what can be done with what I’ll look rather than listen.

If anyone here is in doubt and wants to see evidence then they could do worse than click on a few of the footers on this thread - and I hasten to add, not my own.

The talk here is fun but it’s the walk that matters.

[BrendanStewart]

The talk here is fun but it’s the walk that matters.

Ok i'll bite. Certainly not my best, but was just having fun enjoying a rare free friday night...



Video of the setup:  http://vimeo.com/16556531

Enjoy.

[Rob C]

Just think, Fred: in Mallorca, she'd have worked for €50 a day!

I had a dream...

Rob C


P.S. On a technical/aesthetic level, I feel there are too many lights. This may be an 'innocent's' question, but why isn't one large, flattish fill enough? Do people really have to put highlights onto everything?
There are some shots in a pool where the girl has a blueish bikini: it looks beautiful and feminine and soft (fifth shot from the start); why is there this desire to harden everything up? Of course, it could all be the clients request/fault and a need to be cutting-edge, but it's so brittle that it really does cut.

[KLaban]

My post wasn't so much a call for entries, but rather a reaction to the pages and pages of photography-by-numbers and entrenched positions of the other thread.

Having said that, it is good to see what can be done rather than read about what can't.

BTW, I would have loved to have seen the video but ran out of patience waiting for it to load. Why is it I can go to some sites, click on a video link and watch it almost instantly and yet on others I can grow a beard in the time it takes to load?

[Rob C]

Keith, it's weired, could play both videos instantanously.
Sometimes it could happen that one site is saturated at that moment, or simply a browser issue so you have to refresh. In general, when it happens I just reload the page and it would work. Also, if you use safari, well this bird is not the best Mac has produced to be honest. I saw it zillion times on every mac that I know freeze for no reason.

Rob, I agree that the continous light with soft screen is enough, although the video does not really show how much darker was reality, but basically they do that to equilibrate temp. I quite like the ring flash and I was thinking about it this morning, that is the only flash that fits in my "flash-arsenal". I personally prefer the more "burned whitish look", with direct HMI in the ww2 style when they where sinking enemy planes pointing the sky, but the problem is that it tends to provoque tears in the eyes. I must have japanese (or scotish!) blood in my veins cause I love washed white delicate skins.  

About the possibilities, they are high to be honest. To give you an idea, this picture of Diana Gartner is art printed about 2meters long and this is really really good quality. Not lidke a big MF back, but not too far. So the Canon is a serious tool also.

That's a much nicer (to me) image; I like back lighting a lot, but prefer the front bit to be pretty gentle.

But viewing distance is ever the key. I used to produce 40x60 inch blow ups for stores from 35mm HP4 and they worked well, and similar sized ones from 6x6 Ektachrome for fashion exhibitions on tour around the world for manufacturers. In both cases, it all depended where they were put and how close people were likely to get to them.

There is no doubt that a large team can do things a single shooter can't. I grew up working mainly alone - in the days of b/w it was so much easier to control the prints but when it was transparency time, your possibilities were much narrower, as was the time of day you could do much work, so it was early morning and late evening by choice, but often you had to use times with bad light just to finish the job. Life is a compromise!

Ciao

Rob C

[Fritzer]

Hey , are we back to comparing formats again ?

[pegelli]

Hey , are we back to comparing formats again ?

Nope, that's the other thread.
This is just a friendly discussion how good each format is when you put it in the right hands  

[pegelli]

By the way Pegelli, beautifull macro shots in your site. I saw that you use a Minolta, was it the 7D? I really liked this camera handling/ergonomics. Shame that they disapeared.

Thanks for the encouragement Fred, and indeed macro is one of my hobbies. Whenever I'm in a creative slump (happens to all of us) it's always macro that pulls me out and start "seeing" again.
My Minolta was the "small brother" of the 7D, i.e the 5D. Same sensor and image quality but ergonomics/handling not to the same standard. My dad has (and still uses) a 7D and it's a very good camera if you can live with 6MP. In the meantime I've given in and converted to Sony but still my 5D gets used once in a while.

[Fritzer]

... how good each format is when you put it in the right hands  

Aka: It's not the camera, stupid !
That's one of the very basics of format war .
Zero relevance in the trade, but comes with the unshakable confidence of a life-time water colorist.

The war cry of the tea-baggers in photography.
Now there's an sight to behold.

[KLaban]

Aka: It's not the camera, stupid !
That's one of the very basics of format war .
Zero relevance in the trade, but comes with the unshakable confidence of a life-time water colorist.

Given the choice between

(a) "It's not the camera, stupid"

and  

(b) "It is the camera, stupid"

I'd pick (a) everytime.

Spoken with the unshakable confidence of a life-time image maker.