Leon wrote a really detailed, and most appreciated reply which included: " Is there a reason for using manual focus? "
Yeah, a couple really - I am still getting used to the "feel" of the autofocus on the Olympus - it feels very different to any of my Pentax bodies, and as I am unfamiliar with it, I didn't want to "risk" it. Also, due to the nature of the shots being so close-up and with very low depth of field in some instances (I was shooting in macro with f2 in some places - remember these are young childrens clothes, veeeeeeerrry small...), and again, I just didn't "trust" it and wanted to be sure that I got what I wanted in focus, in focus, iykwim? And I am also pedantic, and almost always use manual focus anyways, except at weddings when I need to be quicker... "Digital is a great learning tool, now all I need is some more time and a couple of soft boxes." Yup, me too! I would love some. I lit these shots with only one monobloc bounced into a white umbrella, which I was moving around all the time to stop those blasted reflections on the stickers etc. I lit the backdrop with my trusty Pentax AF360fgz, on slave mode (had to mention Pentax to keep it somewhat on topic! lol)... And used a gold reflector when I needed it... " I can be a harsh critic, and having said that some of your photography is better than I ever hope to achieve, but you asked...." Really?!? I am truly humbled... "The shots are very good, but I think it is the ones with people in them that will sell the clothes..." Yeah, those are the ones I am looking forward to. The purpose of these shots isn't really to sell the clothes as much as to illustrate them for mail order/web site purposes. They will be used more in a "shopping cart" context rather than a marketing one - hence the closeups on buttons/stitching/labels/pockets etc. I can't wait to start working on the shots with the kids, I have some cool ideas that I am hanging to put into practice... "You'll do a great job for this wedding in Brisbane too. Can you supply some details of where you will be shooting? I grew up in Brisbane and shot some weddings about 16-17 years ago up there." I have no idea! This has all only come about this afternoon, so the details aren't "nutted out" as yet. I have another in Brookefield (a place called Bundaleer Rainforest Gardens) on 28 Feb, another in Sandgate (on the beach! yaaaay, I love shooting beach weddings!) on 14 March, and then one in Coolum, and one in Noosa in August, and another in Brisbane (not sure of exact location) in September too... "...If there are a few lose threads or bits of grass out of place on the images it's difficult to see on the small files, but it's probably best to correct that before shooting - it's difficult to exactly match fabric textures by cloning on a curved piece of fabric." I totally agree! And this is what I thought I'd done! Seriously, this lens is that good - some of the fibres that were showing when I viewed the shots at full resolution were amazing! I went back and looked at the cuffs of one shirt in particular and for the life of me, I could not find, until I looked at them with a magnifying glass, those said fibres! Also, shooting in low light (only using a 60watt modelling lamp), at night, made it difficult to see such things... "... I wonder about some of the shots you deleted." Most were just duplicates of some that were already there, and others were obvious stuff ups whereby, I missed the focus or wasn't happy with a reflection/shadow due to the position of the light... "I can see some obvious landscape crops in some of you portrait shots (and a little the other way). Some of the shots are a bit unbalanced, but I can see a 6x4.5 crop in them that would make them right. This may have been your idea from the start, I just notice it because in all cases I would crop fully from one side of your images - I tend to allow extra on both sides of the image and crop the middle, so I notice it more in your images." Naaaah, that's just me, I'm a bit warped and unbalanced myself you see.... <vbg> Seriously though, yep, mucho cropping to be done yet, and much more other editing too... "Once you get the *istD or if the Oly allows it consider shooting in RAW format. It gives you a lot more latitude in the image and cuts down the need to bracket (some of the shots of the dark fabrics were a little too dark and with only a 24 bit image to work with could be difficult to lighten enough and keep the tonal range smooth)." I *can* shoot RAW with the Oly, but to be honest, I'm a bit too scared too, I really need to read up on it alot more to fully understand what it is all about. I have a great article in, I think, Australian Camera Enthusiast from a few months ago, that I have been meaning to "go back and read" so, I really should do that... "What did you have? We had a potato bake." mmmmmmmm! potato bake, yuuuummy! Whenever I make it, we have huge domestics over it cause my hubby tries to sneak all of the leftovers off to work with him the next day! lol. I was too tired tonight to cook, such a domestic goddess I am! So, we all had toasted sandwiches with left-over roast chicken and melted cheese on them. Was very yummy, even if very simple, and a good stand-by that I know my kids will always eat without arguments! Many thanks for your detailed comments and advice Leon, I truly do appreciate it... tan.
