I found the best photographer: "Christy, get down on your knees"

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > I found the best photographer: "Christy, get down on your knees"

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

reddit posted:

Please don't edit my work without written consent. It's copyrighted, and by retouching it, you're in violation of that copyright. I'm not trying to be an rear end here, it's just a bit disrespectful to take other peoples' work and work on it without asking them first.

As for why it's so flat, I wanted to maintain the midtones as much as possible, to get a full dynamic range. In my edit, I have one white spot, and one black spot, but it's not overwhelming on either side. Your edit hits the whites hard and the darks hard. Sure the extra contrast is nice, but it's not maintaining tonal detail.

reddit posted:

I'm not trying to be rude here, I just have work to protect. I'd think that if any place would be supportive of the work of others, it's be a subreddit populated by photographers. Either way, I'm happy to abide by your speculations on it.

Because the copyright of the image is new (created this morning), I'm unable to provide the actual certificate of copyright for the image. However, you can file an inquiry for the image at your local copyright office. The Claim number is 1-2905925101, filed at 9:43am PT on 11/24/2015.

Frankly, I've had images stolen from me a year or so ago, and decided it'd be best to autocopyright anything I publish. Doing this has netted be over $9K over the last year in copyright infringements. This is advice I'd suggest you all take to protect your work from theft. Unfortunately, we live in a culture now that doesn't think to credit artist or respect their work, so copyright infringement is rampant.

However, my intentions aren't to sue the living poo poo out of people on reddit. My purpose of gaining copyright on my images is to protect my work from publications and other commercial outlets. Does it bother me that people are taking my image and editing it without asking me? Yeah, a little...but purely because of the latter portion.

As for my image being flat, my monitor self calibrated itself this morning, and has a contrast ratio of 1000:1. It also covers 99% of AdobeRGB color space, and 100% of sRGB. My monitor indicates exactly how I wanted the image to look, which was contrast while maintaining detail.

reddit posted:

I appreciate your input on the topic, but let me further reiterate my point once again. As I've stated multiple times since my original comment, I have no intentions of suing anyone for their actions here. I am fully aware and fully understand the repercussions of sharing images on the internet. However, I've never visited a forum before where this kind of behavior is allowed. Often, many of them (POTN, DPReview, and others for example) have a setting in your profile where you can allow others to edit your images or not.

I'm an editor of two very large publications on photography and have been a writer and/or editor for the majority of publications on the field of photography over the last five years. So after having an incredibly large amount of my images stolen, misused, and mishandled in the past, I've learned to take this topic very seriously. I even went as far to mention this to other colleagues in the industry, to check if I was being irrational. Quite literally everyone I've spoken to agreed that this is a very bizarre rule to have. The people I questioned about this were all professionals in the field of photography, writing, or retouching. The rule itself seems really odd and disrespectful to the work of others. That said, I'm not the rule maker here, and I'm perfectly content with sharing my work elsewhere if that is what I need to do.

reddit posted:

I wholeheartedly disagree, and will refrain from posting here in the future.

All in response to this edited example based on a suggestion another poster made about the photo not being so flat:

after this original photo was posted in an image critiquing thread by the photographer:

Due to the Streisand effect, this wound up happening:
http://i.imgur.com/TJhE1pR.gifv

Doggles fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Nov 25, 2015

# ¿ Nov 25, 2015 19:12

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:27

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

quote:

The internet is dark and full of terror, so we've fiercely watermarked/reduced quality! Your calendar images will be vastly different from the quality you see below!

# ¿ Dec 2, 2015 19:42

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

PROTIP: When shooting a cosplay model, shift their legs over a few inches in Photoshop. Because why the gently caress not?!

# ¿ Dec 15, 2015 23:09

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

I found the best photographer.

Daily Mail posted:

EXCLUSIVE: Oh snap! America's 'most hated mom' Casey Anthony, 29, launches photography business - with help from renowned PI, 67, who helped clear her of daughter's murder

Pariah mom Casey Anthony has filed papers with the Florida Department of State to register a new business, Case Photography, LLC

Daily Mail Online found Casey snapping away with her Canon EOS camera, as veteran private detective Patrick J. McKenna showed her the ropes

Anthony has been staying with McKenna, who was the lead investigator on her defense team

Anthony has set up blogs, online slideshows and a Facebook page to showcase her work - but is yet to post a single image

Daily Mail Online can reveal the papers have been copied to Facebook page where users have posted threats and abuse

In 2014 Anthony was living as virtual recluse and working as a housekeeper, clerk and secretary

I hear she takes killer shots.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...r-s-murder.html

# ¿ Feb 9, 2016 03:42

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

You have to admit though, if you were looking for a photographer who could perfectly focus on the right butt cheek of an out-of-frame football player, he's your go-to guy!

# ¿ Oct 6, 2016 05:28

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

This guy came along asking for advice on why his crowdfunding campaign ($4,000 goal) has yet to see a single backer.

https://chrismohindrooart.com/product/big-bend-national-park-fundraiser/

quote:

On December 16-24, I will be at Big Bend National Park taking photos of landscapes and wildlife. Some of the photos maybe used on future greeting cards. You can order prints or digital copies of the photos when I publish the photos.

During the first few days, there will be a visible moon. I will need to rent a super telephoto lens to capture it with a beautiful scene in the foreground during moonrise or moonset. The same lens will be used to photograph wildlife. I will use a more regular lens to photograph the stars during the latter part of the trip. I will also need a regular zoom lens, a moderate telephoto lens, and a tripod with different heads.

Whoever donates between $2 to $5 will receive a single use coupon code for 5% off products sold through my site such as greeting cards and custom made prints. Whoever donates between $5 to $10 will receive a 10% off coupon code. Whoever donates between $10 to $20 will receive a 15% off coupon code. Whoever donates $20 or more will receive a 20% coupon code.

quote:

To rent the equipment I want to use, I have to meet or exceed my goals. The list of equipment I want to rent is below.

-Canon 5D Mark IV: To make the great photos better. It will be my backup camera or what I use for scenes not worth capturing on medium format.

-Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS: To use for purposes of figuring out composition before I install a prime lens. This will also serve as a backup lens.

-Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II: To use for whenever I need something in between telephoto and super telephoto.

-Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro: To use for capturing flowers and other plants up close. It is also for landscapes that look great when captured at the 100mm focal length.

-Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art for Canon: To use for making low light photos of stars look better. It has better wide aperture performance which helps with less grainy photos and has fewer problems at wide apertures. It also helps make daytime or sunset photos better.

-Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art for Canon: To use for making low light photos of stars look better. It has better wide aperture performance which helps with less grainy photos and has fewer problems at wide apertures. It also helps make daytime or sunset photos better.

-Tamron 200-500mm f/5-6.3 SP Di LD for Canon: This is for capturing birds and other wildlife on the fly. With it being light for a super telephoto lens, I can shoot handheld if I needed to.

-Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 EX DG APO HSM for Canon: This is for capturing taking photos of the moon with a beautiful scene in the foreground. I will take the photo during moonrise or moonset. It is also for wildlife that is more predictable or when I specially go to an area to see wildlife.

-Hasselblad X1D Medium Format Mirrorless: This will be first choice when photographing landscapes. The Canon camera will be used for wildlife or other scenes in which this camera is not appropriate.

-Hasselblad XCD 45mm f/3.5: This is for photographing scenes in which I want a broad field of view. It has a 35 mm equivalent of 35mm.

-Hasselblad XCD 90mm f/3.2: This is a moderate telephoto lens with a 35 mm equivalent of 70mm. It is for scenes that demand it.

-Wimberley Type II Gimbal Head: This is the tripod head for handling the Sigma 300-800mm lens. It makes it easy to maneuver so I can track the subject.

-Induro Carbon 8X CT313 Tripod: This is for all of my scenes that demand it.

-Markins Q20i BV-20 Ballhead: This is for when I am using regular lenses.

-ProMediaGear 4in Universal L-Bracket: This allows me to take landscape photos in the portrait position.

-I will use a shutter release cable to ensure stability when using a tripod. It eliminates camera shake from hitting the shutter button because I trigger the capture when I hit down on the button on the cable.

After that list of required gear you may be wondering if this guy even owns a camera. I'll let his currated selection of two, count 'em two, greeting card photo designs speak for itself.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2016 19:28

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

Thank God my prayers for you to fight the urge to donate were heard.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2016 06:43

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

Sal Cincotta is a photographer who publishes a magazine called Shutter Magazine.

Shutter Magazine holds an annual convention called Shutterfest.

Shutterfest runs a photography competition during this convention. Costs $25 for each entry, multiple entries allowed, $2000 worth of prizes up for grabs.

Who's announced as the grand prize winner of this competition? Why none other than Sal Cincotta of course!

http://shutterfest.com/image-competition-winners-gallery/

He also placed in 7 of the 16 competition categories, completely sweeping one Wedding category.

Someday, I'll be a good enough photographer to win my own photo competitions. :allears:

# ¿ Apr 27, 2017 22:44

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

What's the easiest way to become an award-winning photographer?

Steal the work of previous award-winning photographers, obviously.

Photo by Souvid Datta, taken 2013:

Photo by Mary Ellen Mark, taken 1978:

# ¿ May 4, 2017 18:18

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

Back to Sal Cincotta for a moment...

xzzy posted:

The only way to know when you've nailed your tone mapping is when things look like they were lazily photoshopped in.

That's their secret, they're always lazily photoshopped in.

# ¿ May 4, 2017 20:43

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

/r/photography on Reddit posted:

Can you tell that the dog was photoshopped in, in these pictures taken on iPhone?

# ¿ Jun 30, 2017 18:48

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

Dear reddit, why is everyone acting like I'm the kind of rear end in a top hat who ruins customer-friendly return policies? Also, what's return fraud?

Some rear end in a top hat on reddit posted:

Sorry about the throwaway account but I don't want to risk any sort of retaliation against my real account as I know that there are a lot of die hard B&H fans on this subreddit (formerly myself included).
I've been a BH Photo customer for almost 10 years and I have spent 10s of thousands of dollars over the years with them.

I purchased many Nikon lenses from them including many very expensive professional lenses such as:
Nikon 14-24, Nikon 24-70, Nikon 70-200, Nikon 24 Tilt Shift, Nikon 35 1.4, Nikon 50 1.4, Nikon 50 1.2, Nikon 85 1.4, and even a Nikon 300 2.8.

Recently I sold all of my Nikon equipment (some of it to B&H) and switched systems.

After selling all of my Nikon gear I had somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 dollars to build my new kit.

Building an entirely new kit from scratch requires a lot of ordering and presumably returning so I ordered everything from B&H in large part due to their fantastic customer support and excellent return policy.

There are no longer any good local dealers near me aside from Best Buy so I was unable to easily see or test many of the lenses I was interested in in person so I was forced to buy everything essentially blind. Because of this and in addition to Sony's crummy quality control I obviously returned a lot of stuff to them.

I purchased a Sony A7RII and a GFX50S. I eventually settled on the A7RII as the image quality of the GFX was not better enough to justify the much higher price.

After much buying and returning I finally settled on a new kit consisting of 5 lenses and an A7RII totaling almost $10,000.

All was well and good until last week when I tried to return a camera bag which turned out to be too big for my needs. They denied my return citing a very high return rate.

I called their customer service line and talked to supervisor who explained the situation to me. I understood exactly what he was talking about and honestly I wasn't really that mad. It just annoyed me that they were essentially punishing me for violating a rule that isn't written any where; in fact quite the opposite what is written is on this page is: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/HelpCenter/ReturnExchange.jsp "If you are dissatisfied with your purchase for any reason, you may return it to B&H within 30 days of the purchase date, subject to the conditions and exclusions below." Reading the whole page nowhere does it say that they may deny your return if they feel you are returning too much.

After talking to the supervisor he told me how much I had bought and returned and admittedly my rate was very high but I only did it based on the statements on their return page and past positive experiences with their customer service I didn't think there was a potential that this could happen.

Had I realized that they had such a policy in place I obviously wouldn't have returned so much.

I understand that the reason for this hidden blacklist is in order to prevent people from "renting" stuff from them but that is not what I was doing as the fact that I ended up keeping 5 lenses and a camera body shows.

Regardless what's done is done and I just wanted to share this experience with everyone in order to prevent someone else from running the risk of loosing the ability to return things to B&H.

Bolding mine. Had he realized they had policies in place to prevent return fraud he'd obviously be more subtle about committing it. That's his takeaway from this incident.

And what's returning "a lot" you might ask?

quote:

3 cameras, 7 or 8 lenses

This rear end in a top hat is upset and complaining on reddit because he's no longer allow to "rent" tens of thousands of dollars worth of camera gear for free, turning all that gear from new to used in the process. In the thread he tries to compare what he does to test driving a car, or having someone inspect a house before purchasing it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/6qkjws/psa_think_twice_before_returning_anything_to_bh/?st=j5rjowyy&sh=f0855d04

# ¿ Jul 31, 2017 03:47

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

I have many ideas I want to bring to life. I would like advice.
submitted 11 days ago

It's a whole list of crazy including new operating systems and internets, but I'll only post the photography-relevant part:

quote:

I dream about starting my own company to bring my ideas to life. They include:
...
New digital cameras. The cameras will have a new sensor technology that I thought of. It will improve the image quality. My cameras will allow users to install third party apps that help reduce guesswork associated with taking good pictures and video. They will benefit those who care about taking good photos but are not tech savvy. The cameras will use logarithmic A/D conversion to fit a high dynamic range scene into a manageable range of numbers without banding. The camera will be ISO invariant. If you use the same exposure time and aperture and save in RAW, the values saved will be the same regardless of ISO selected in camera. You can apply a LUT to raise or lower the tone values later. It will have a special light metering system that does not get confused the way today's current TTL metering systems do.
...
I have at times thought about dropping out of college to pursue these ideas. If I do, I want to do it when the time is right.
How should I get started? How should I go about finding people to help me bring these inventions to life? How should I motivate myself to write everything down? Which ideas do and do not sound appealing? What advice do you have for me in general?

You see, he's already got the hard parts figured out. All he needs now is the magic secret on how to get started.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2017 20:31

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

EL BROMANCE posted:

It�s a pretty insane contrast to the amazing photos of Obama on the campaign trail and in the White House over the years.

https://www.instagram.com/petesouza/

Pete Souza is a pro follow on Instagram. He was the photographer following Obama's Senate term and he became Chief Official White House Photographer when Obama was elected president. Now, with his backlog of amazing photos, whenever there's a controversy around Trump's response to an issue, Pete Souza posts a photo of Obama's response during a similar incident.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXVtsozlC3Q/?taken-by=petesouza

quote:

Phone call 2009 to Prime Minister al-Malaki of Iraq. The administration accurately provided read-outs to foreign leader calls. I don't recall if he ever talked on the phone to the head of the Boy Scouts.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYa1hvfl6Zb/?taken-by=petesouza

quote:

President Obama with a victim of Hurricane Sandy. There are no Democrats or Republicans hurting in Houston; there are just Americans. At a time like this, it shouldn't be about selling baseball hats or commenting on crowd size. It's about helping our fellow human beings. Pets too. This storm is catastrophic, not epic. Thousands of people are affected. Please consider donating to the many charities doing good work in Texas and other states to come. I am donating to the Red Cross and other local charities today but please feel free to comment on other worthy charities that you would recommend to me and others. (UPDATE: As one of your fellow followers points out, The NY Times has a good list of how to help victims and avoid scams. I posted the link in my profile. But keep suggesting others.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXtstU_FQEW/?taken-by=petesouza

quote:

So glad that my former boss used this photograph on Twitter in quoting Nelson Mandela to comment on the awful events today in Charlottesville. "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." - Nelson Mandela

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaZDA5AFeCy/?hl=en&taken-by=petesouza

quote:

From 2011: President and Mrs. Obama in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery. Section 60 is the area of the cemetery that holds the remains of troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

EDIT: Welcome to the new page.

Doggles fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Nov 2, 2017

# ¿ Nov 2, 2017 16:20

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

The series perfectly captures the feeling of, "excuse me, could you please take my photo? Just press the button right here."

President Trump's Trip to Asia by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Nov 13, 2017 23:02

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

Mum hopes royal photo can pay for university

quote:

Ms Anvil posted the image on Twitter at about 11:00 GMT and got thousands of likes. Her previous record was just five likes.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2017 18:12

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

Hurricane Briefing by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Oct 10, 2018 21:43

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

President Donald J. Trump Arrives at Joint Base Andrews by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Nov 8, 2018 18:43

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

Time for another round of, "Guess the Subject of the Official White House Photo!"

President Donald J. Trump Travels to California by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Nov 26, 2018 18:06

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

That out-of-focus floating head must have some really interesting things to say.

FIRST STEP Roundtable by The White House, on Flickr

Also, check out the pics grandma took of her Christmas decorations!

White House Christmas 2018 by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Nov 27, 2018 22:18

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

Let's play a game. Which one was posted by a friend who recently started a "photography" page on Facebook, and which one is an official White House photo?

They're both official White House photos! :haw:

# ¿ Jan 15, 2019 04:30

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

President Trump Welcomes the Clemson Tigers by The White House, on Flickr

:hmbol:

# ¿ Jan 15, 2019 23:07

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

This is it. This is "The Last Supper" of our generation.

White House Christmas 2018 by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Feb 1, 2019 18:36

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

The Prime Minister of Ireland Visits the White House by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Mar 16, 2019 01:29

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

xzzy posted:

I could never shoot a wedding because even though I would never publish a photo that bad, I know I am bad enough that 99% of my photos would have to be discarded.

You'll never rise to the rank of Official White House Photographer with talk like that. Remember: "Aim High"

President Trump Boards Air Force One by The White House, on Flickr

President Trump Boards Air Force One by The White House, on Flickr

Compare those to the kinds of shots we were getting less than four years ago:
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/04/13/behind-lens-somewhere-under-rainbow

# ¿ Mar 21, 2019 19:31

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

When your autofocus selects the wrong subject, but you still gotta post something.

President Trump Arrives in El Centro, CA by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Apr 8, 2019 16:51

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

A textbook example of the "oh poo poo, I was supposed to get a photo of this" composition.

Vice President Pence Visits Gerdau St. Paul Steel Mill by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ May 14, 2019 17:24

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

President Trump Aboard Marine One by The White House, on Flickr

They couldn't have waited a few more seconds for that guy to walk out of the frame?

# ¿ May 19, 2019 03:58

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

I like to think this photo will be the cover of a future photobook titled "Leading Lines to the Penises: An Official White House Photographer's Memoir."

President Trump Tours the Demilitarized Zone Between North and South Korea by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Jul 1, 2019 17:42

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

President Trump Boards Air Force One by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Jul 6, 2019 18:41

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

"Give me all the ISO you have."

President Trump Meets with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands by The White House, on Flickr

# ¿ Jul 19, 2019 00:14

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/us/yearbook-photos-st-johns-girls-altering.html

# ¿ May 24, 2021 05:48

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:27

Doggles: Apr 22, 2007

https://petapixel.com/2021/10/13/student-plagiarizes-african-artist-gets-exhibited-at-the-milan-photo-festival/

https://twitter.com/AFWomenInPhoto/status/1446853826150084608

# ¿ Oct 14, 2021 20:10

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > I found the best photographer: "Christy, get down on your knees"