Minamalist Lighting - Review

This book, by experienced photographer Kirk Tuck, is in some ways inspiring and in others another repeat of what has gone before. What you'll get out of this book depends, to a large extent, on where your experiences are to begin with.


Certainly if you've got the Strobist DVD's, or if you're a saddo like me and have read every Strobist post since day one, then this book will likely give you nothing new. Otherwise if you can't afford the Strobist DVD's, or the time to review a couple of years of David Hobby's posts, then this book could be considered a reasonable short cut to get yourself up to speed.

The book focuses on portraits which is the corporate bread and butter version of the wedding. Main, fill, separation, hard, soft, job done. With the focus on technology, I believe that this book is going to be left behind ... fast. So many people are going that extra level (or six) and documenting it for others to learn that this book will probably be obsolete in a few years. Flash technology is moving on apace and this book is too specific in terms of both technology and style. Personally I'd get, "Light, Science, Magic," and delve in to the forums to get the feel of where the portable flash market is at the time.

Given the information that is already out there in the public domain (and has been for some while) I don't think this book is worth its cover price unless you are a complete newbie to off camera flash.

To compound the problem, the print quality was terrible. There were yellow splodges of discoloration on a number of pages and ink splodges on others. If, "Amherst Media," is truly a, "publisher of photography books," as it claims then if I were a photographer I wouldn't be using them to publish my work.

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Could we go back to books?

Many things have hung on Web 2.0 and much free information is held on blogs such as this one. Blogger is actually owned by Google and I've been watching the share price. In the last year it has halved. But what does this mean?


Well, Facebook has just had its value shattered to the degree that it might go bust. What would happen if Google went under, however? The whole thing is based on advertisers and money is tight. If a company is based on the perceived value of its users and pessimism devalued those users, a company share price could plummet to the floor.

The publication of information costs money. For many people who publish on free services, the question has to be asked whether they could afford the bandwidth costs if they had to host it themselves ... even ask the question over whether they would WANT to cover the costs. The downturn could cost the Internet a fair bit of money in terms of available information and services.

Photographers have already seen a number of on-line services die, and the corresponding copies of photographs and databases have been suddenly taken off line with no chance given to people to download copies of their photographs ... and who knows whos hands that data is in now; the disks could be in a skip somewhere or, worse still, being sold on e-bay. You really don't know. Such is the problem with the cloud.

As usual, the old mantra comes in to force ... BACK IT UP!!!!

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A grandson's portrait

Sometimes, the best pictures come without thinking. Here, I was using the Botero and the Stellar X units to shoot a friends grandson. (the 50-200 stock lens is prety slow on the focus; I almost clinically NEED to replace that lens.) when his parents put him on the sofa on the side and prepared to change his clothes. It was pure chance that I got this shot. Yes, I know that I screwed up the composition, but the moment was just a beaute. Not my absolute most favourite from the shoot, but it is certainly up there. The others had various other people in as well so I can't post those. I consider myself lucky to be allowed to use the photos of the grandson. (name not included to protect him from ribbing when he grows up ... well, at least from anyone other than his Grandpa!)

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Meanwhile...

On my other blog, Shoot Green I've been going through the difference between using the on-board flash and using desktop lamps to light objects. I've also introduced readers to light tents and issued a Christmas Challenge for which picture was taken with which camera.

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a900 in Professional Photographer

This just goes to show you can't trust anyone, especially not an industry magazine like Profesional Photographer. I mean, talk about frigging the figures. They gave the a900 to Duncan McEwan to test out. What other effortless way is there to cover up the problems of a camera that performs lousily at even mid range ISO speeds than to give it to a landscape photographer who will be using a tripod and the best ISO they can get their hands on. Extra justification, if any was needed, that I've junked my subscription.

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Competitions?

Now and then I look at the competitions that are going on and I think I've entered a couple, but never expecting to get anywhere. Why? Well, partially it is because of the judgement. I mean ... photography is a representation of artistic expression and if the judges aren't in tune with the photographers message, then why bother.

To my mind, also, photography has gone beyond photography itself and is making the severe transferrence in to art. I mean look at this account of Anthony Crossfield's work. It is two images merged in to one, obviously. This is, for me personally, mort art than photography. When dealing in that sort of field, the question is ... why bother?


In this realm, art is a vision and the camera is merely the brush. The line between art and photography has been blurred to a level which can start arguments along the lines of whether zero is a number. Personally, I don't fancy bothering to submit my work in competitions which are within a hairs sniff of that sort of argument.

I don't actually need anyones blessing on my work. I pass comment on my personal work and the person with the pay cheque either forks over the dough or screams loudly and chases me from their premises.

However, I leave you with a zoomable version of a picture I took of an advert in Professional Photographer today. I laughed until my sides ached and the more I looked at the image, the more I found to chuckle about. Congratulations to focus on imaging. You deserve to have a great show if that is the kind of tone you're setting!

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A flip through some pages

Those of you who know me are aware that finances aren't the best and I'm running down my magazine subscriptions to Professional Photographer and Photography Monthly. I happened to be in the supermarket with time to spare, however, and added Amateur Photographer to my basket. I took a flip through the December issues of Pro and Am mags this evening. I thought comparing them might be interesting.


The first thing I was stunned about was that the amateur magazine carried an article on the professional D3x, while the pro magazine carried an article on the less than capable a900. That really confused me, but I kept reading.

The amateur magazine contained articles on the warning that the economic slowdown will hit camera sales, portrait techniques and even an article on how lenses work. It took some readers out on a shooting expedition and it also carries the What The Duck cartoon. It had some interesting little business tidbits, including a photographer who has surfers subscribing to her SMS weather service; she then goes out and takes pictures of them and they buy the pictures. Really inovative. Not bad for £2.30

The pro magazine weighs in at £3.80 on the cover. It covers Hasselblad slashing its prices, the MPA splitting from the BIPP and going their own award path, more awards, profiles on some professional photographers, kit tests and even an article on the cheap plastic cameras. An article on shooting food, some photoshop techniques and the usual stuff on growing your business.

The obvious difference was the style of photography; the amateur shooting without a studio or equipment beyond the camera and lens, and the professional who mostly has the latitude of a studio, models and thus produces cleaner images. Beyond that, they are of a muchness, although the am mag contained a lot more adverts.

Each magazine certainly had its own story to tell and while they have clearly different audiences with different perceived available resources, there was a distinct overlap in terms of equipment and approach to the art of photography itself. Of course, not running a business myself I came away with more from the am mag than the pro mag, but with both I am left with the feeling that they are revisiting the same old ground year in, year out.

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I had to post this

It's no good. I had to post this. I've seen it numerous times already and I can't help but laugh at how much grief Nikon are going to get over this. In all honesty the noise on the Sony a900 isn't getting rave reviews, though.

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The Radio Popper X system is here

You can catch up with the official news here but these units are all set to rock the world.

To get the history over with, the RP crew haven't been the best at communicating and although the P1 set the technical bar for excellence, they have lost customers to other systems for lack of telling people what was going on. The P1 revolutionised wireless TTL control systems by using an optical conversion system that was able to carry any manufacturers TTL signal to remote strobes.

The major concerns I had with the original design of the Jr system (touted to be $25 a unit) was that it wouldn't be hot shoe mountable and the lack of channels meant that if a system got popular, particularly with the 1,500 foot range they're targetting, it would result in localised chaos.

These concerns were addressed in the final design of the new JrX unit, as it is hot shoe mountable and has 16 channels. It, and the receiver, have easy battery access and are better designed overall. The price is a bit higher than the original $25 targetted, but that is for good reason and I think they're right to make the additions they have made.

The battery on the receiver appears to be AAA or AA - easily obtainable in the field - always a big plus in my book. Get some sets of precharged rechargeables and you're golden.

The big controvertial addition is the ability (on a low cost system) to control output power in three groups, with an RJ11 socket that talks with the Alien Bees/White Lightning. Although this functionality on the flash units themselves wouldn't have made a large splash with anyone other than their own customers, having this ability on a remote unit which is set to rule the world could set a new unofficial industry standard in remote power control, both of studio and high end battery powered flash units alike. That could very much happen in the future and I would expect this control system to start appearing on future products from other manufacturers. Any strobe maker worth their salt will probably be including the jack for this system if the Radio Popper system makes a significant market impact.

We're going to have to wait for people to get their hands on these units to see, not how well they perform (as that is a given wth the P1's track record,) but rather how user friendly they are and how rugged they feel. Also, how the buttons and switches handle life in a camera bag and how well they stand up to every day life and use. The gap between the Gadget Infinity and Pocket Wizard systems has been well and truly blown to smithereens by this prodict comming to market.

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New blog

Well, I've started it. Shoot Green is something I'm putting together for people who want to get more out of their digital point and shoot thingamies.

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Why paper won't die ... yet

This BBC report highlights why the local paper will have no option other than to head for a resurgence ... unless the Internet can deliver local services and local news, then certainly the local papers should happily survive. That should be, at least, some good news for press photographers. Local advertisers who need to reach local people without the cost of going global, will want to spend their money more wisely. We can only hope that many of the local press organisations don't see fit to dismantle themselves to the extent that they may well be driving the nails in to their own coffins...

If there was any time to aproach local businesses and say, "Advertising with us is a wiser spend than wasting your money on a global audience," to the right businesses, is what is most likely to save their behinds. Let me put it this way, I'm not going to nip accross to a company in Vancouver to handle my double glasing installation ... well, not unless they've got something VERY special and I've recently won the lottery.

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Hit rate

I've just been through yesterday evenings shoot and I've achieved nearly a one in two hit rate. That means I've kept nearly half of the images I shot. I have to admit that only about half of those are, "commercial," the rest are just thost wonderful moments in time that you want to keep, but you wouldn't want to put on the mantle piece. Still, an overall shooting ratio of 1:4 is something I can be happy about.

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Simba the Shitsu and the Stellar X

Well, it happened. The Stellar X units were loaded in to my car and served in a shoot in someone elses home. I was nervous, mostly because after making up cross over cables for the Gadget Infinity triggers, they didn't work in the replacement Stellar X's. Indeed, after attempting to use them, they then refused to fire the GY180 units either, even after changing for a fresh set of batteries. I'm reserving judgement on the situation until after I've managed to get hold of another wireless trigger system ... that will probably take a couple of months.


In the mean time, I reverted to the safe 45 degree safe set up. It was then that I noticed that the soft box had ripped just past the velcro. Bugger. Then my friend called to my attention that the side of the Botero 8x16 had also torn. Shit. The whole set up was falling down around my ears. I hooked up a PC cable to the one strobe, flipped the other to optical sensor and prayed that the gear would hold together long enough to get this done.


The Stellar X units held together for another batch that went over two hundred shots. Simba didn't actually end up being the main attraction but instead my friends grandson and his parents (the grandson's parents, not my friends!) took the majority of the flash firings, and the Stellar X units held together brilliantly throughout the shoot.


So, I've got a Botero background to repair, a soft box to repair and a triggering problem to investigate. Brilliant. At least I got the shots. Once I get written confirmation that I can display the grandsons pictures, then they will be displayed as well.

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Photographic Future?

This will probably be the last time I tackle this issue for a while. I return to it after talking with various people over last weekend. David, for one, thinks that the newspaper is dead. Me? I'm starting to have my doubts.

In London, a good deal of the population charge down the tube stations and grab a copy of Metro on their way to the deepest, darkest depths of crushed railway hell. It gives them something to read while they are packed like sardines. I can't currently consider many alternatives as being practical. Podcasts and the like demand all time concentration, or else very fast shuffle key pressing. The paper can be put up and down as the reader is required to concentrate on other things ... like staring down the nutter who has just sat opposite and is intent on their laser beam stare cutting your skull right to the very back. Black and white flexible paper is here, and it is increasing in its abilities very slowly. However, most of the book devices are delicate while you wouldn't worry about using the Metro to swat that pezky fly that just flew in throguh the vent that the nutter left open after conceeding to your more masterful control of your social nerves of steel.

Wireless communication will eventually come to the tube, but using content devices en-masse, at the key times of day, renders them risky to use, so nothing is going to replace the Metro just yet. The wider broadsheets will still have their audiences; you know the ones, you buy them on Sunday and by the time Saturday comes around you're only half way through it but you've got to recycle it anyway because there is a new one on sale tomorrow.

People still like print.

So who are going off it? Advertisers. Their smaller advertising pots are being spent on the Internet these days and even well presented magazines are cagey about upsetting their advertisers in case they, too, jump to the electronic forms of dispersion. It is, however, a world of click fraud; something quite difficult to occur in the land of print. Also, having a long term interest in web design, I was party to some research that an international company carried out in the late 90's in to browsing habits. People switch off from animations and some even use their hands to cover them. They just aren't looking at the adverts.

Some suggest the auto suggestion factor as used in TV, but unfortunately that doesn't work either ... on TV the customers whole concentration factor is on the screen which is filled by the advert. On a full page of paper the add will fill the whole page and it does make its impact before the reader looks at the adjacent page. On a browser screen there is pleanty of other content on there which I can look at. I think advertisers will, at some point, start to divert their funding back to paper based publications. It is always hard to judge the returns of any advertising campaign, but the Internet savvy world won't bite to these adverts the same as before and the old technology doesn't apply on the Internet.

I believe that Internet usage is in for a shock as people eventually learn to see the Internet monkey on their backs and they return to going out. I think I shock a number of people when I say that when I leave the home, my e-mail is left behind me. I've got my phone on my hip and if it is important I give that number. It is my belief that periods of switching off the Internet is going to be the ultimate saviour of many of our ills.

So ... people will have to come off the Internet eventually. And what are people going to do with their time? Why ... pick up a book or magazine, of course. News delivery through the TV has taken a turn, especially in the delivery of more local news on the wider number of channels available. However there is much going on that can not be replaced.

News papers can't die. They'll have to change their funding formats, for sure, but I believe there is still a future in selling day old news, certainly on a local or at best regional basis. The cost modelling will have to change, sure, but the current rate of Internet usage surely can't carry on like it is.

Once a story has been written, there is a cost factor to its dissemination. As people continue to buy books, the authors get a portion of the sales. On the Internet, once a story has been written, it is up there for everyone to see and that is its end. Once the advertisers turn off the taps it is goodnight Vienna, literally overnight. The problem with the Internet is that the story has to be continuous. If you can continue with the story then you have a chance, but if you run out of new content, your disloyal followers will start to read a new story and once your hit ratings fall, then your advertisers will leave.

For me, Web 2.0 is already a crowded space and there is only restricted money to go around. If I did have a venture up there, I would be banking the income and not spending it, or else making sure I had some other spin offs to bring the money home.

Just call me a cautious, conservative pessamist.

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My lens shopping list

Well, Pentax certainly haven't helped out here in the lens department. The best we've got in the DA* range is the 16-50 2.8 at £425 and the 50-135 2.8 for about £470. However, according to this roadmap there is a DA* 60-250 comming, even if it is only f4.

So, the low end is covered, but the mid range isn't. I prefer a good portrait lens to be in the 50-200 bracket and down to f2.something. Neither of these lenses are cutting in to that. The 50-135 is too short and the 60-250 will be too slow, dammit.

That leaves a gap in the mid range while at the long range, they've gone to 300mm at f4 with another DA* lens costing just short of £800. Personally, I use a 400mm full frame that takes me effectively to 600mm. Can I live with that little range? Well, that's on my list too. I've seen the results and it is a cracking performer. I can only drool.

If I end up with indoor shooting then there is a DA 12-24 f4 that will just about cut the mustard at £450 but like the rest of it, it all comes down to whether Pentax stick with APS-C or bow to the market pressure and go full frame. I hope they stay APS-C myself; I can't see the sense in full frame.

So, four lenses to cover my standard range of use all costing £small-fortune. Damn.

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Sunbounce DVD - The conclusion

Well, it definately promotes the sunbounce system. That much is a given.

After watching the pros that are shooting, only one is on his own and he is restricted to the micro mini, sometimes using it on a stand. Everyone else is a full on production shoot. So what do I take away from this DVD?

The sun swatter is a great idea for extending shoot time in high and powerful sun which would otherwise be so contrasty that it would make the shoot unworkable. The swatter acting on the model can also help by contrasting with the background which isn't being swatted, if that makes sense. These photographers are, on the whole, working with bounced sun light; not very many strobes in there. They're also working hard to get the shot right in camera, and these aren't press photographers with ethics to uphold, either. These folks could photoshop their way to success if they wanted to ... but they don't ... that is an important message for me ... they know how to light properly.

In terms of product usage, I can't see an amateure like me ever having the resource to do a location shoot, so I've got little option than to be happy with my circular collapsable reflector; but I think I've got the main points that will enable me to up my game should I have to. In the absence of a swatter, I'd have to find natural shade and use the circular reflector to bounce light in. Heck ... what am I talking about ... I don't even have a model!!!

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Sunbounce DVD - first 2 parts

I've managed to find the time to watch Greg Gorman and Steve Thornton's clips on the free DVD that Wolfgang-Peter Geller gave out at David Hobby's seminars last weekend. So far the thing has struck me is that the sunbounce system has been around for a long time and it is a large system requiring assistants and time; these are things that the lone amateure like me just doesn't have. Sure, there are smaller sunbounce boards, but although I can pick up the tips that these photographers are giving in amongst talking about the Sunbounce system, I'm left thinking ... how on earth am I supposed to manage this on my own, without a studio? I don't have three people who can spend half an hour putting up a cage. I'm not in that league.

Well, the conclusion is that if I ever made it in to the serious league, I'd definately be looking at the Sunbounce as an important part of the lighting kit ... but I'm just one person and a camera. Making some of these things happen just isn't going to be a reality; I'm going to have to do whatever I can with a ten pound colapsible reflector and a spare pair of hands wherever I can find some.

So far, the tips are, using silver, white and black to have different effects on the light; natural light is the best light; believable action carries a lot of weight. Of course, something I've known for a while is that the absence of light can be more improtant than its presence. More later as the week goes on and I find the time to go through more of the short clips.

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Helping The Strobist...

I'm not sure what brought me to offer to help David on one of his lectures this weekend. Having read the Strobist blog from the very first post and also run through the DVD set I knew what was going to be taught. The DVD also contains the same hands on set ups, so I had to ask myself why I did it.

Hero worship was probably the closest. I'm not usually one for that sort of thing but I also attended one of Fetish Diva Midori's workshops and likewise got a picture of me with her, and so I ended up getting a picture of David and me together. If I had the chance (probably never happen) I'd get a picture of me and Chase together (that guy is realy passionate about the community) and McNally (just because the guy is so cool!) but if there is one thing that does come out of this picture, it shows just why on axis light looks so bad and that taking a few extra moments (this camera couldn't handle it) to hook up off camera light is so important. Sorry for blowing you out on this shot David!

So what's so special about David? Well, on the physical lighting level he isn't actually teaching anything which is that new. You can get videos and books that cover lighting theory which go back decades. So it is not so much what he is doing, it is how he is doing it, and the background against which it is being done. Here, in short, is a man who is passionate and enjoys sharing. (yes, it's a crap lens in low level ambient, zoomed to 200; it was a shot that had blur written all over it but I just had to capture that smile.)


I actually knew that both he and Chase Jarvis get hate mail. What I didn't know was the extent and it sounds like they get more hate mail than I thought. This communication age has not only expanded the voice of the likes of McNally, Jarvis, Hobby, et al... but also everyone else. The Internet is nothing if not even handed.

The trailblazing is using small lights to handle the lighting situations whereas before it would be a case of hoiking out the battery powered studio heads. This just removes the cost from the equasion and opens up the use of equipment that already exists. Why on earth does he deserve to be berated for that? Answer, he doesn't. Oddly, David says that he understands the perspective of those that think he is giving away the crown jewels, but personally, the more I think about the situation, the more I have to conclude that I don't understand those that protest that their living is under threat. Sorry folks, but the arguments don't add up. I can't see a single argument that would justify any professional photographer out there holding any other photographer to account for their falling trade. Blame the camera companies for delivering idiot proof equipment cheaply in to the hands of the common person, yes, blame the outlook of a society which doesn't value marriages any more so there are less of them happening, yes, but not another long suffering colleague who has actually already fallen in the field through the change in media that is happening.

So, in the morning my work was embarassingly light. David was like a whirlwind unpacking his stuff and all I could do was unpack some stands and mount heads on them. It wsa a cross between either getting suck in and doing stuff taht he likely didn't want done, or stand there and ask for instruction. Most of my work consisted of seeing everyone in and checking their credentials before writing them a pretty little name tag (viva l'America for the name tag thing!) and instructing them to a seat ... that was about half an hours work. And anyone reading this, if you're planning on attenting one of Davids seminars, please have pitty on the volunteer and make sure you have your PayPal thingy ready ... there were a good few that didn't and it could have held up the queue. (David instructed to get everyone in and sort it out later, so I sat at the back going through the paperwork, so I think he has hit this problem a few times before!) Apart from that it was a case of flicking light switches on request, and at some occasions other people were closer to the light switches than I was! Oh well.

Once everything is shaken out of the tree on this, the venue didn't give a lot of room for the teaching and the lack of space resulted in a few things being shifted around which cost time ... and what David has to show could easily run in to a couple of days. He acknowledges that so many people have been following the work and are coming in to the sessions with a knowledge of the basic controlls, that he is going to re-work the sessions. Good news to hear. (this shot was taken between other bodies, in low level green light. By that time I'd learned to amp the ISO off 100)


For those that haven't got the time to read through the now massive information contained in the Strobist blog, the beginners session will definately get you up to speed and running with the basic controlls; distance, quality and the rest of it. If you're new to using the less powerful battery strobes closer to the subject then it is definately worth spending the time learning and practicing this and not jumping in at the deep end, should David offer an advanced course in the future.

Peter was there from California Sunbounce and as I was there to help David, I kept myself out of the way of the crowd so I didn't really get a good look at the equipment on the table, which included a smaller Sunbounce which is easier to carry. Peter even gave away one to the audience! (He gave one away on the previous day also.) He also brought a whole pile of DVD's, one for everyone, containing more than two hours of teqhnique instruction ... and I have to admit to picking up one of those. I'll watch it after I've finished typing this post.

I have to echo something that David was saying about women and photography; it isn't all about the figures and the kit. The key thing is knowing the kit and practicing the ratios with it to achieve the effect you want. Sure, writing a starting power ratio down on the flash heads and knowing a starting aperture is a good start, practice will determine how distance and modifiers take you away from those settings. You don't have to get bogged down with the maths of this ... apart from the logorythmic distance thingy, there really isn't anything much beyond a simple extension of the aperture/shutter/ISO balance that you already know.

The long story short is to understand the basic controlls and get out there and do it. The other thing that I've been taking away from Davids blog more recently is that he, himself, is also learning and even re-learning ... using on axis as fill. This is a dynamic environment where people really are doing some cool stuff.

But what about the amateures? Well, the question did hang in my head about how many people have got the kind of equipment that can pull out a decent quality shot from a strobe more than a hundred feet away from the subject, running at ISO 400, f2.serious ? It'll take ages before I can pull out that kind of glass, but there is still plenty of opportunity, so go for it.

The thing to take away from the class, however, were the basic controlls. The one thing that the class didn't give, indeed couldn't nor shouldn't give ... is what to shoot. So many people there sounded to have different styles, different personalities, different needs ... they're not going to leave there and all end up with mechanical shots. The key is the imagination, and that, dear reader, is what will determine where things go. As I have written before, a photographer can only be taken so high up the technological ladder; there after they have to climb in their own direction, by their own steam.

If there is one thing that David, Chase, etc. have done, it is take away some of the fear of failure. Stunning shots can be created with standard equipment. Now, success or failure rests squarly on the shoulders of the photographer; but a great deal has been done here to give the confidence that, yes, it can be done and it is not rocket science. So if you have a can-do attitude and really want to amp you're game then depending on your learning pattern either go for the DVD or attend the seminars, because if you haven't performed this kind of lighting before, thenthis is a learning experience that will open serious new doors for you. Come on in, the water's lovely.

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Good Sir; how many chickens for that pig?

Bartering has been the foundation stones for commerce since who knows when. People trading what they have for what they want. Money only enters the equasion because it is a common bartarable product. So if I go to a butcher and negotiate the use of my photography skills to promote their business in exchange for a nice ham for that Sunday and a couple of packs of bacon for every week that they use the pictures, that is fine by me. It is the cornerstone of good commerce.

The thing that has caused me to exchange seven chickens for a goat, so that I can say that people have well and truly got my goat, is the issue of good will. Under the guise of free photography, there is an incoming value of reputation. It is up to the photographer, however, to gague how much that reputation is worth. If someone who has a bad breeding reputation comes to me to trade, I'm going to say, "Away with ye! There is no way you're seven sickly chickens are worth my well looked after goat."

To those who say that photography is denying them their living I say a few words. Firstly, kind Sir, if I were engaged in a shop next to yours on the high street the battle would be similarly playing. In a time of poor business, such as now, we would be cutting our prices and pulling any necessary trick to ensure that people come through our respective doors and the dinner is supplied to our respective tables.

Indeed, if we conspired to keep our prices linked then we would quickly find ourselves in jail, kind Sir. So quit your moaning and get on with what competition is and does, and quit sitting on your arse in your shop praying for people to come through the door ... in times like these whether I existed or not, I wager it would not make much difference to your custom. I would rather colaborate with you (and others) and share our fortunes, but it appears you want it all for yourself. The selfish bed you have thus made, kind Sir, will be the very petard that hoists you.

As to the general fate of photography as a whole, with the majority of news organisations going on line, we are in the situation where the quality provided by the equipment is geting better, but the quality demanded is getting lower.

If you want someone to spit hatred at, then talk with the companies who are delivering equipment to the hip of anyone connected to a mobile network, for giving them devices of such quality and convenience that the demand for professional photography has slumped.

The world it is a changing, and we must all change with it if we wish to maintain the bread on the table. The fact is that with high definition video cameras that fit in a persons palm; with point and shoot cameras that take the picture only when everyone in the frame is smiling; with eight megapixel cameras (and half decent lenses) now being bundled for free in everyones mobile phones ... now is the time to look to the future, not hang on to the past.

If you have half an ounce of sense or gumption, kind Sir, you will be out there trying to shape that future. Don't come crying to me when you've exchanged your pig for a cheque that has more rubber qualities than a truck load of Edamer ... because it is just a part of what we are going through that there is a lot of rubber out there. Or are you going to blame me for that as well?

It has long been a running industry joke that the only people making any serious money are the people who sell cameras. The only difference between now and some years ago is that our own fortunes are the ones that progress has decided to upset.

In truth, I've engaged on collaborative projects for mutual photographs, but my results and professionalism have resulted in my receiving money for my work regardless. This has been more through my care of whom I am dealing with, than the image of standing on the street corner offering a sign which gives my skills for free to any passing stranger ... there is a difference. That people pay me less than they would for you ... consider our shops being side by side ... I have food to put on the table as well. In fact, it is through my day job that I am only undercutting you maybe one day a week at the very worst, kind Sir, and not six ... and that my lack of practice compared to you means that my reputation means that my goat is worth less chickens than yours ... considered that?

Guide your vile bile elsewhere, kind Sir, for surely I am not deserving of any more ridicule and anger from you than would normally be attributable were the market more healthy.

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Easy Video

Well, here's something I slammed together with the free version of idImager. The music is actually me playing my keyboard, so that is the copyright issue dealt with there.

Something like this is very easy to put together, but it has leached out the colour and contrast from the images. The free version also doesn't allow you to save the slideshows that you're working on, although it still allows a full movie export. Not bad for free!

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K20d - the report - part 1

I got in to Pentax as a matter of chance, but the more I use the cameras the more they become a part of me. Canon and Nikon, for the money, are well out of my range, but as I shoot I come up against many other people who shoot various different things with various types of equipment, and I start to get annoyed at why Pentax isn't taken seriously by many professional magazines and when people talk about professional cameras, Pentax isn't in the list.

Well, this series will probably go on for a while and will detail the K20d and my experiences with it.

To start with, the K20d is the sucessor of the latest digital crown of Pentax, the K10d. That was, also, the result of the *ist series. Pentax was, overall, very late to the world of digital SLR. Considering that it is Japans oldest SLR manufacturer and had names the like of Herbert Keppler championing its cause, Pentax has always followed its own course and at its own timings.

When the *ist series hit the market, a number of models came in relatively quick succession. I still have my *ist DS and it is unlikely that I'll part with it. I read in one article somewhere that, while Pentax were slow to enter the digital SLR market, when they did, they were well prepared. There have been a few key things about the Pentax series. The first is that they have retained the ability to use all the older lenses, something that no other manufacturer can match. The other is the quality level that is delivered for the price.

For those of you who don't know the K1000, it is a bit of a legend. The temperature and humidity abilities of this 35mm film camera were such a success that it achieved something that I have never known of before or since ... the camera was re-released!!! Wikipedia has a reasonably history of the K1000 and once the *ist had marked Pentax's emergence as a serious contender in the DSLR market, the K100 was born, intended as the K1000's digital successor. This move was relatively knocked in to silence by the almost simultanious release of the legendary K10d.

The K10d won the EISA European Camera of the Year 2007-2008, the TIPA Awards 2007 and the Camera Grand Prix 2007 by Camera Journal Press Club (CJPC) in Japan and Europe. It was no fluke. The K10d was ground breaking in a number of ways, not least for the 10 mpx sensor but the weather shielding and the in-body anti-shake system.

So let's get one thing straight ... this wasn't a fluke of any nature; this was Pentax getting very serious about their technology. The only thing that didn't put it up there with the other competitors, was the price.

The K20, however, didn't win any such accolades. The other manufacturers had taken on board the benefits of in-body stabilisation and the weatherproofing; and the K20 hadn't broken any new ground; simply improved on what was already there. But does this mark it as any less of a camera? I don't think so, and these following articles are why I believe that anyone thinking of getting seriously in to DSLR photography, even as a pro, could do worse with their money than invest in the Pentax system.

More in part 2.

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Making the web work for you

Well, I've been watching this video Chase Jarvis put up on Viddler. It is about photography, blogging, etc. and ... well ... what can I say? So many different messages are coming out of that piece that, personally, it made me realise ... I'm blogging this for me. Then I realised, hey, I said that ages ago.

I mean, I'm not a professional photographer. I'm just someone who loves photography and gets to practice it now and then. I'm not trying to make money from this and with the slagging that I'm giving most equipment ('cause most of the equipment I get my hands on drives me nuts) is probably not going to end up with me getting crazy offers off manufacturers, and you'll also notice that there aren't any adverts here either ... that's because I don't run them, even if I was actually offered them.

Well ... I guess that says it all really. I've actually managed to stay true to something and not sell out! ... well, not that I've actually got any reputation that's worth selling out on, anyway ... but that's a minor thing :-)

So ... what is coming up? Well, next weekend I get to assist David Hobby give a lecture/tutorial/class/um... whatever the word is, next weekend. That isn't actually in any shooting; I just hand out the name tags to the people attending, look after the kit while David goes for lunch and run for the janitor if anything goes screwy. Shortly after that I get to give the Interfit Stellar X units a run through shooting a family (and the pet shitsu!) at their home. Then I'll be relatively silent here for Christmas and then things will pick up doing some black and whites of a woman who needs pictures to get her in a music career ... or something ... my memory is a bit wolly.

So there are things coming up. Also, visiting some photographer friends could end up with who knows what happening. The CherryPal will also land on my doormat (I hope) sometime in the next few weeks, so as the photography side goes silent over Christmas, I'll be fully geared up on my technology and life blog giving it a damn good shake down.

I'll also be taking photos for a book I'm working on ... don't worry, even though it won't be posted here (unless I can't get a publisher!) it will be aimed at well below you guys abilities; you won't be missing much.

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That pathetic law

Well, Joe McNally had better make sure that one particular shot at the top of his latest blog entry is not on his memory systems should he come to the UK, because this shot is likely to fall foul of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Part 5 law that comes in to force towards the end of January 2009.

Believe it or not, it is possible for a suitably snobby court to conclude that this picture is pornographic, is of an obscene character and puts the models life in danger through suffocation.

God help us all.

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