Inspiration required please
Discussion
Here's a bit of idle musing which may stimulate some comment to help me.
Before the days of digital I was quite interested in Photography. A Pentax MX with a range of lenses gave me some reasonable results home & kids, cars and a few brochure pics at work.
Lost interest a bit when digital came along though.
Now, at work I am required, amongst other tasks, to take photographs of furniture - Beds & Lounge Suites mainly - for use in newspaper advertisements. We have an Olympus C-50 with 5 megs from which my results are bearable. It's not that anyone's complaining, I just want to do a better job of it!
At present I rely mostly on the automated settings and a set of 'building site' type floodlights. The task has to be quite fast moving insofar as stock comes it and I photograph it on the sales floor for a press advertisement the following day so with the volumes involved Photoshop is not an option.
To give our ads an identity I show the products as 'cutouts' and photograph each piece separately which means the lighting is more managable and some simple perspective effects can be acieved by moving each piece of furniture relative to another, that also helps with composition of various sizes of advertisements.
Now with the Pentax I would have used a wide apperture, slow shutter and a tripod but these Digi cameras just do not seem that controlable. Full manual override seems impossible and I do not manage to create the same set up twice in a row.
Bear in mind that I'm not trying to be too creative - Just a clear sharp photograph with good colour represenation staged to make the sofa or bed look comfy and desirable without enhancement.
I suspect that this camera is just not up to this semi-pro job but on principle I hate blaming tools.
Just thought I'd canvas some oppinions from the PH gurus.
Before the days of digital I was quite interested in Photography. A Pentax MX with a range of lenses gave me some reasonable results home & kids, cars and a few brochure pics at work.
Lost interest a bit when digital came along though.
Now, at work I am required, amongst other tasks, to take photographs of furniture - Beds & Lounge Suites mainly - for use in newspaper advertisements. We have an Olympus C-50 with 5 megs from which my results are bearable. It's not that anyone's complaining, I just want to do a better job of it!
At present I rely mostly on the automated settings and a set of 'building site' type floodlights. The task has to be quite fast moving insofar as stock comes it and I photograph it on the sales floor for a press advertisement the following day so with the volumes involved Photoshop is not an option.
To give our ads an identity I show the products as 'cutouts' and photograph each piece separately which means the lighting is more managable and some simple perspective effects can be acieved by moving each piece of furniture relative to another, that also helps with composition of various sizes of advertisements.
Now with the Pentax I would have used a wide apperture, slow shutter and a tripod but these Digi cameras just do not seem that controlable. Full manual override seems impossible and I do not manage to create the same set up twice in a row.
Bear in mind that I'm not trying to be too creative - Just a clear sharp photograph with good colour represenation staged to make the sofa or bed look comfy and desirable without enhancement.
I suspect that this camera is just not up to this semi-pro job but on principle I hate blaming tools.
Just thought I'd canvas some oppinions from the PH gurus.
You need a decent Digital SLR - does everything your pentax did and 30% more.
Steve
edit to add: all these were digital SLR and one was medium format.
>>> www.stevecarter.com/2005/2005-0.htm
Steve
edit to add: all these were digital SLR and one was medium format.
>>> www.stevecarter.com/2005/2005-0.htm
Edited by GetCarter on Wednesday 14th March 18:49
madeinengland said:
You Sir are truly inspiraional. What a lovely set of photo's. Have you ever thought of doing a book.That gallery is exceptional Steve.
madeinengland said:
I bet you get loads of people saying " That's a good camera youv'e got" 
Thats a real pet hate of mine. When showing someone a specific photo i've taken thats required some thought, planning, timing & post processing - they say "you must have a good camera!"
yes thats right, its just the camera, just buy a dslr and all your shots will be great
52classic said:
Fabulous portfilio Steve. Thanks all for your comments.
Seems like I'm justified in blaming the tools then!
Any recommendations on an SLR?
Seems like I'm justified in blaming the tools then!
Any recommendations on an SLR?
Depends on budget, but most in here reccommend Canon or Nikon. £400 (ish) needed to get into the quality stuff.
www.dpreview.com has good in-depth reviews.
I'm going through a similar thing myself at the moment: (www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=364963&f=109&h=0)
I've come to the conclusion that one of the smaller DSLRs is the way to go, and in particular the Nikon D40 seems like it's going suit me best.
I've come to the conclusion that one of the smaller DSLRs is the way to go, and in particular the Nikon D40 seems like it's going suit me best.
Thank you scruff. Yes, your thread was most useful at least to see that I am not the only one.
Essentially I want something that most closely replicates a conventional camera. Focus ring, dial on the top etc. Size and weight are not an issue and in fact a bulky one would be an advantage because the job is usually done whilst there are customers in the shop and a tiny camera on a standard tripod hardly looks the part!!
It's the menus that I find most frusrating, remembering the sequence in which things have to be pressed to get the most basic adjustments and as you say, they don't hold settings from one job to the next.
I will start looking at cameras then and post again for some observations.
Essentially I want something that most closely replicates a conventional camera. Focus ring, dial on the top etc. Size and weight are not an issue and in fact a bulky one would be an advantage because the job is usually done whilst there are customers in the shop and a tiny camera on a standard tripod hardly looks the part!!
It's the menus that I find most frusrating, remembering the sequence in which things have to be pressed to get the most basic adjustments and as you say, they don't hold settings from one job to the next.
I will start looking at cameras then and post again for some observations.
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