Commission

[ELAY]

So this weekend I got my first commission.

My mother-in-law is moving away from her home, and asked me to take some black and white shots of a bridge near her home, for printing at 8x10 and framing.

We were visiting from about 11 - 5 on a sunny day, which made for some tough light. Also (and this happens to me way too much) I had been experimenting the day before with some low light photographs, and the ISO had been goosed to 1600 -- guess who forgot to dial it back down for the commission. Anyway, here are three of the better ones. I decided to sort of go with the ISO noise, and pretend it was film grain.

http://elay.smugmug.com/photos/181271637-M.jpg

http://elay.smugmug.com/photos/181269638-M.jpg

http://elay.smugmug.com/photos/181270421-M.jpg

EL

[Sime™]

EL....love number two!!!... congrats on the commission!... i'm a bit scared, I was asked by two "budding actresses" to do headshots for them... next week is my first real job for people I dont know... hmmm...

[falafelicious]

I'm with Sime, that second one is fantastic... nice job, I'm sure your MIL will be delighted :)

[Saralonde]

#2 for me also. I like the leading lines and the clouds.

[Isilwen]

I love love love the second one! In fact, I think it would also probably look quite good in color with a nice saturated blue sky. Fantastic!

[ryan s]

What grain? No, really, these pics are great! :cool:

PS: maybe tie a ribbon around your camera every time you put it to sleep for the night so you remember to change the ISO :p

[ELAY]

PS: maybe tie a ribbon around your camera every time you put it to sleep for the night so you remember to change the ISO

I would need one for ISO, one for exposure compensation, one for mode (I have on occasion shot for a minute or two on manual before realizing it, making no adjustments of course), one for flash compensation, one for....

EL

[beckywithasmile]

I really like the clouds on the second shot.

[prrs4me]

I think your pics are great and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one that forgets to check the settings before a shoot.

[ELAY]

I wish there were some way of establish a bunch of pre-sets I could make my D40 revert to with single touch of a button.

(I had probably better go check my manual to see if there is such a beast, before somebody here points out that such a thing exists...).

EL

[epeyton@tampabay.rr.com]

Hi Elay,

I do like the second picture from a photographers stand point, but if I just wanted a picture of a bridge that held memories for me I would the first pic. :)

[praesentire]

Congratulations on your commission! I like the second shot also. :)

[jdepould]

Second one is really great, very Ansel Adams with the silver clouds.

Where are you planning on printing? Mpix has Ilford paper specifically designed for B&W that looks interesting.

[ELAY]

Thanks for the tip. I was going to print at SmugMug, but I have never done BW with them.

I'll definitely look into MPIX -- thanks.

EL

EDIT -- SmugMug is "working on" getting special black and white papers. I'll give MPIX a shot.

[peeperita]

elay

i'm glad to hear that i'm not the only one who gets a little too excited when they go to shoot.....i've done the iso thing a gazillion times.....and on my canon.....it stays what it stays....even when i reset to default....

peeper

[windrider86]

Well I think the general ruling is picture # 2. I agree wholeheartedly.Congratulations!

[ellie mac]

I also love #2, it's really a beautiful shot. I'm sure your MIL will love it too.

I always (when I remember ;)) put my camera back to auto when I turn it off. This tends to remind me to have a look at settings again when I pick it back up & if I don't the camera almost always sets off the flash when I don't want it to which is also a pretty good reminder to check what I'm doing!

It also means that if my husband picks up the camera there is a chance it will do what he wants - he knows nothing about how to change the settings.

[ELAY]

I always (when I remember ) put my camera back to auto when I turn it off. This tends to remind me to have a look at settings again when I pick it back up & if I don't the camera almost always sets off the flash when I don't want it to which is also a pretty good reminder to check what I'm doing!

Excellent idea.

EL

[angeleyes216]

number two has my vote as well. Love the black/white