Official Luthiers Forum!

I can't figure out what it's supposed to be? But...I think I might just be
able to use it tomorrow during my first photoshoot in two years!

I'll bet you're gonna spend many great hours with that toy James, good on ya bro!

I'm the photographer. My pastor really likes what I used to do with
children when I was in school and wants me to try to do it again with
some specific pictures at our church. I haven't really taken any serious
pictures since I graduated (i.e., had equipment access), but it should be
fun nonetheless. I found a place that had this particular lens to rent b/c
it's what I used to use.    

Powerful work there James, you really have the eye to catch meaningful moments in the children lives!

Gosh, thanks guys. I tend to like to shoot from just above their head
level. I also used Fred Miranda's BW plug-in and used the warm gray
duo-tone preset on most of the black and white stuff I did. I remember
because once I find something nice I tend to just stick with it. It's why I
eat hamburgers so much, lol.     

I believe the way I sharpen also has a lot to do with their finished look. I
always use the unsharp mask filter in photoshop with the amount at 100
-200 depending on print or web (100 for print), ratio at .05, and
threshold at 7.

One of my pictures tomorrow will be a combo of those first two. I want to
get a really soft face in a little girl reaching over the communion table for
what my denomination calls the chalice.

These are really my only other two good pictures. I always wanted to do a
collage of a trumpet where one pic would be the valve block, another the
bell, etc, pieced together.        &nb sp;    

Those are beautiful, James. I love b&w photography. I shot many, many photos with a view camera over several years and I bet there aren't people in more than a dozen of mine. I shot mostly landscape and architectural photos of old dilapidated buildings. But I really, really appreciate good photographs. Nice work!!

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

I started taking pics last year when i joined the OLF but i'll definitely look at photography as another interesting hobby, thanks James, great shots!

Excellent, James! Looks like talent doesn't end with lutherie here at the OLF!

Nice work, James! The one of the roses is so rich, there must be about a zillion shades of grey there. Very nice!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Ok, well... They work. Shooting at iso 1600 takes some of the crisp
away. But I'm happy. I got about 10 pics that I really like and think will
work for what I took them for (web backgrounds).

lovely!

I love my 17-40/4L, best lens I own, hardly ever leaves my camera. My sigma 105/2.8 and Canon 50/1.8 are sharper straight out the box, but they're loud, slow-focusing, hunting lenses beyond that...

Nice work James. Very nice.   What are you majoring, if I may ask?

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Aoibeann

Very nice pictures James. You might call the last one "the three wise men".

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

WOW James, those are incredible man! Ever shoot guitars?

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Thanks guys.

Mattia, I'd love to own the lens. I'd love to own a digital SLR! It made it
so easy to take the pictures I wanted to. Color balance was always right
on the money. But it was a tool that let me do what I wanted to do rather
than what the camera limited me to do.

Lance, thanks. That's a great compliment. I haven't shot guitars. I think
it would be very fun. I'm a slow shooter. I like to outline the shot out on
paper and position things until it'll come out. Doing people shots doesn't
really let me do that. There's no way you can pre-arrange three guys
goofing off during the sermon, haha.

Lillian, I double majored in theology and production with a minor in
peacemaking. I had a stint as a history minor (midieval), but it didn't last
long.         & nbsp;

Thanks Hesh!

I'm going to try to come up with some of the things that influence the
way I imagine pictures before taking them. The first step is my very
intentional low way of phrasing that. I believe professionalism kills
artistic efforts.

James thank you for letting us have share a few life moments through your eyes. I feel like I was given glimpses of a caring wise soul.

You may say you want to be Brad P. but I think I see talent on the level of Ansel A.

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"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...

James, you may prefer to stage things, but you have an intuitive side that sees very deeply. Those are great short stories you took.

Medieval history huh? Ever spend any time in the SCA?

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Aoibeann

[QUOTE=James Orr] Gosh, thanks guys. I tend to like to shoot from just above their head
level. I also used Fred Miranda's BW plug-in and used the warm gray
duo-tone preset on most of the black and white stuff I did. I remember
because once I find something nice I tend to just stick with it. It's why I
eat hamburgers so much, lol. [/QUOTE]

James could you give more info on the B&W plug in?
I'm starting on a new project to also include a handmade book to go along with each of my builds, not too big just something to make it a little extra special. I'm thinking I'd like to use B&W for the construction photos and color for the finished instrument.

Very nice shots by the way, your definitely gifted.Jim_W39056.0376041667

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Again, thank you. I have no idea how to respond because I'm so
surprised by your thoughts!

Jim, it's fredmiranda.com and the BW Pro plug-in. It should be the only
BW plug-in on the page. I don't think it's the ultimate, but it's pretty
good. One (I forgot the name, and it was over $100 so out of the
question) would nail the look of different films. Tmax, TriX, and others.
You can do good things with this one too. I like to do BW coversion and
then use the warm-gray duo-tone setting. It will make sense once you
see the plug-in. I actually don't like it in the three men because there
isn't enough contrast, but play with it and see what you like.

KO, I'd love to agree! I would! Who wouldn't?! Ansel is the standard. I
read his book on developing negatives. Why stop with the zone system
when you can master knowing how long sitting something in a certain
chemical will effect the tones in the picture? However, I greatly appreciate
your sentiment. Thank you very much.

And Lillian, thank you, too. I love telling stories. I love imagining them
and using some medium to tell them. I'm going to start another thread
on my approach to this stuff.    

Very nice work. Im impressed!