Memory lane

Came across a fairly old (well Christmas) blog on DPR from one of their writers, remembering the golden days of digital camera development...a very edited extract below.

Reminded me of the first digital camera I ever saw/used - which was one of those which took a 3.5 floppy disk (might not have even been a proper "digital camera", not sure how the technology worked). The art department at school acquired one at huge cost in the early 1990s.

From DPR:

First digital camera writer used was a Casio QV10 with 77,000 pixels.

"The first cameras I reviewed were, looking back, almost uniformly poor (I apologize unreservedly to anyone who spent £1000 on a Ricoh RDC-2 after my glowing review of a 0.4 megapixel camera with a 20 minute battery life and an appalling removable LCD monitor).
"Few cameras had a zoom, many had no screen, most relied on internal memory and anything over 0.3 megpixels (VGA) was considered 'high resolution'. Even the simplest things we take for granted these days - user controllable ISO, AE compensation, scene modes and so on - were unheard of at the 'affordable' (sub $2500) end of the market. Heck, we didn't even have EXIF or USB back then."

Lowest price for 32MB CF card £520
Fuji's first consumer digi-cam - 0.3MP DS-7 at £600
Cheapest pro DSLR - Minolta 2.5MP RDC-3000 at £4,000

So, what have we learnt?

I found this challenge the hardest so far. Thought it might be worth reflecting on what (if anything) we've learnt. I offer the following:

• Good vs great. Found it relatively easy to take a passable portrait; almost impossible to take a great one.
• My preferences are not shared by others - the ones you liked were not necessarily the ones I liked. Was this the same for yours?
• I am getting very critical of my own stuff; and begining to mistrust my own judgement. Maybe some of the ones I rejected were better than the ones I selected?
• I can see why photographers pay models! The kids won't stay still and Sarah is too self-conscious.
• It's very difficult to come up with an interesting pose that doesn't look "staged".

Any other thoughts?

World Press Photo Awards

Some stunning stuff here

Portraits: Toby #5

Yes, I realise there are blown higlights in the flames - should have use a faster shutter speed. But I still like it: it has atmosphere. 

f4.8, 0.5sec, ISO640, 42mm, tripod. 

Portraits: Toby #4

Sarah loves this, but I am not so sure: a bit too much going on. But it has impact.

F9, 1/60sec, ISO400, 50mm. 

Portraits: Toby #3

Number 2. I like this because it cracked the problem of how to get Sarah to pose: don't show her face. I also think the pink jeans and shoes sum her up without needing to. 

F2.5, 1/60sec, ISO100, 50mm. 

Portraits: Toby #2

Well, this has been a bugger of a challenge. And I have only myself to blame. Lots of pictures to choose from and I didn't think any particularly stood out. So I've enlisted Sarah's help to narrow it down. Here's number 1. Girls on a sofa. 

F5.6, 1/60sec, ISO400, 92mm. 

Price hikes!

Thought it was my imagination at first - but just had a quick look at camerapricebuster.co.uk to confirm and photographic equipment prices are going up again.

Looks like we picked the right time to buy Toby - lowest prices last year and everything is shifting up again now. SB600 for example: best price currently is almost £180...I got mine for less than £150 at least two years ago now.

D300 with 18-70, not even VR, is now more expensive than what I paid for mine with the 16-85VR.

Assume it's thanks to the weak pound and Yen - plus recession woes.

Suspect I won't be investing in anything new for quite a while if prices continue to do this!

Cheers - Tom

Posting problems?

Struggled to post those last three - at first would let me open the upload photos dialouge window, but when I picked a photo and clicked upload, then got an error message. Then wouldn't open the dialogue window at all...had to cut and paste HTML code from old messages in the end and swap in the new Flickr address.

Anyone else had problems?

Cheers - Tom

Portrait challenge - #3 - messing about with flash

What's in the box Sammy? It's the SB600 in remote mode. Advice would be, once the subject starts actually playing with the flash, stop taking photos. SB600 does bounce (and not in the photographic sense), I've discovered.

Can't decide which of these two I like most, so here's both.

Both pics: 50mm, f6.3, 1/60s, spot, ISO 400

Portrait Challenge - Tom #2 - high-key attempt

From one extreme to the other. High-key try...not as successful as low-key, in my opinion - but harder to cobble together set-up I found. In the end Sam sitting in front of window, exposure set to blow out as much of the background as possible, flash set to try and fill his face. Photoshopped pretty heavily to emphasis effect - background burned out more and face dodged back in a little.



50mm, f8, 1/5s, ISO800

Portrait Challenge - Tom #1 - low-key attempt

Finally settled on the first as my favourite, but also liked the other two in black and white. Trying to get a low-key style portrait, fairly pleased with outcome, especially as it was a more or less instant set-up and a fast-moving, impatient model!

(and apologies for cliched subject - I've only two potential models in the house and it's difficult pinning either of them down!)



16-85@65mm, f7.1, 1/60s, +1EV, spot metered, ISO 400



50mm, f8, 1/60s, +1EV, spot, ISO 400



50mm, f8, 1/60s, +1EV, spot, ISO 400

Portraits: Toby #1

Have been trying to come up with interesting angles/subjects, but not having much luck. Here's a standard blurred-background head-shot continuing the wife-in-hat-and-scarf theme.

F1.8, 50mm, 1/1250sec, ISO400.

Portraits - Kevin #1

We went for a walk in the freezing cold just before it started snowing. I took along my camera just in case.

I quite like it although she doesn't.

50mm f/1.4 ISO 200 + highlight tone priority