ATLANTA PHOTOGRAPHERS GUILD

JULY NEWS AND NOTES

2010-07-01T10:25:00.001-04:00

DAVE RICE is doing a special Advance Lighting workshop TONIGHT JULY 1, 7PM @ Studioplex. More information available HERE.

TRESS RITTER and DAVE RICE's Bridal workshop is coming up on SUNDAY July 18 as well. If you want to learn from one of the best wedding photogs in the group along with the light mastery of DAVE RICE, here's your opportunity. More information HERE.

Burlesque Camera Club, I'd like to thank the participants of Tuesday's Burlesque Camera Club at the Academy Theatre in Avondale. DAVE RICE, DEAN HESSE, SHOTGUN, DAVE DOBBS, and the girls of Big City Burlesque were super generous with their time, talent, and equipment. Also don't forget to tag your photos from the show as bcc062910. Post as many as you can but only your highest quality. We want to demonstrate our expertise not merely our attendance.

photo by Dave Rice

I am in a quandary about next month's BCC though. The theatre is already rented for the date that we have the second edition of Big City scheduled (July 27). Should we skip July? Should we move location back to Sycamore Place for one date? Also, how do you feel about contributing to concessions at the Academy? I'm really interested in hearing from those of you who have attended and enjoyed the BCC about what would best serve you.

STUDIO APG is up and running. I've been shooting pretty much every day breaking in the new joint. I know a lot of you have lobbied for an open day of shooting like we did at Studio 1*five*0. We would love to do that but at this juncture that is not possible due to size / space limitations and our rental agreement. I am working with the owner to figure out how to do an open house that won't be too intrusive.

I'm considering adding a monthly Tuesday studio night to our calendar for about 5 participants with two models. I haven't figured out a price point. Let me know what you think.

Also, I really really need a mental holiday so I'm going to the beach ALL NEXT WEEK.

If anyone would like to rent the space Saturday to Saturday for $300 let me know. Call / text me direct at 404-925-0024.

TRENT CHAU is in charge for the APG meeting on July 6 6PM at Elliott St. just in case anyone is wondering. Contact him with models and suggestions.

Trent's Weekend w/ The Canon T2i

2010-02-27T07:50:00.000-05:00

When the T2i was rumored a short while ago I was pretty meh about it (All my Canon rumors come from www.canonrumors.com). As the day progressed though, more concrete information came out, and when it was announced that full 1080p manual video was available I just had to have the camera. Quickly putting the spare T1i up on market, I’ve been salivating at the idea of the T2i coming in.

Read Trent's complete review here.

What your light meter is telling you

2009-08-17T22:01:00.002-04:00

Back in Flickr land the question was asked would buying an external light meter help one understand one's camera settings? As happens on the Internot, opinions surfaced from both sides. As such, it seemed prudent to make some information available on just how this light meter thing works, what it can and can't do for you and what you can learn from it.

What does the meter meter?
In a word, a light meter measures luminosity. That is, it measures the intensity of the light source you point it at in a unit called candles per square foot. In their simplest form, old-school light meters would give you a reading of how many candles/ft² were present in the direction you pointed it. Advances in interface let the meter give you a reading either as an arbitrary scale (where "2" was more light than "1", but "1" and "2" didn't correlate to any specific units of measure) or as a series of f-stop/shutter speed combinations for a chosen ISO rating.

Hold on, let's backtrack...
In order to understand the so what portion of this, there's a little behind-the-curtains information that will be necessary. So, here's the big secret of photography, please keep it hush-hush: All photography is black-and-white photography. Yep, it's true. All photography, film, digital, black-and-white, color, slide, print, hell, even x-ray photography is always and forever black-and-white photography. Reason being, a piece of film or a digital sensor can read one and only one thing: luminance. (Starting to make sense, eh?)

In black and white film photography light strikes an emulsion full of junk^a that is sensitive to light. The more light, the more the junk gets affected, the darker the negative is at that spot and therefore (since it's a negative) the lighter the resulting print will be. Color film works exactly the same way, it just does it 3 different times. The light still strikes some light sensitive junk, but for color images there are three layers of the junk with various sensitizers in the mix to make the junk only react to a certain color of light. Until the final stage of development, those three layers are just 3 black-and-white copies of the image. During development the junk gets replaced with a colored dye in the same quantity as the junk before it. As those 3 colors stack in the 3 translucent layers all the other colors are created by subtraction. Digital sensors work the same way, but instead of layers of dye the sensor has three tiny receptors for each pixel. Each receptor is sensitive to only one of the primary colors and they're squished up close to each other so that they can pretend as though they were one atop the other like film layers^b.

So, all any camera ever does is record the luminance each pixel of an image as some shade of gray on a continuous scale between pure black and pure white.

Ok, so what?
So now that we know that light meters read luminance and camera film and sensors record luminances, a mini A-HA moment occurs: "A-HA! I can measure the luminance with a meter, and then set the camera to record THAT luminance! EUREKA!"

Wait a second, there's a problem. Nowhere on your camera will you find a dial, button, knob or twisty-thing that says "luminance to record". So what use is this nifty measurement you can now make?

The magic of middle gray
Well, as it turns out, a decision has been made to help you out here. From the dusty days of yore, photographers have agreed that a "proper" exposure is such that the average of all the luminances in a scene would fall halfway between "darkest dark" and "whitest white". By virtue of some freaky science-y shit, that halfway point is equal to a surface that reflects 18% of the light that hits it. That shade is referred to as middle gray or 18% gray. You'll see little devices called gray cards that are printed to be exactly that middling shade to use as an exposure target^c.

The important part
So, when your light meter (either inside the camera or outside) says "shoot this picture at f/8 and 1/125", it is actually telling you, "If you use f/8 and 1/125 for this exposure, all the luminances in this scene will average out to the magical 18% gray". Plain and simple, that's all you'll ever get out of a light meter. There are light meters that will read a very small spot (oddly enough, they're called spot meters) and ones that read a wide area to average (which is likely what your camera does, and most of the hand-held meters you'd buy). Some cameras can be set to one of several metering modes (of which "spot" and "average" are typically included). But at the end of it all, the meter is still only telling you "the thing you're pointing me at can be rendered as middle gray using these settings..."

Your camera is a lying ass
Here's the bad news: as long as the scene you wish to photograph contains a pretty even mix of luminances from really dark to really light and everything in between, your light meter can give you an exposure setting that will do pretty well. However, if your scene contains an unusual amount of dark values, or light values, or really just a lack of mid-range ones, your meter will lie to you like your worst ex.

It's not really the meter's fault, of course. The meter just wants everything to be middle gray, but it has no idea what you're really pointing it at, or how you want the scene rendered. Let's imagine you're taking a picture of a jet-black car parked against a blazing white-painted wall. Well, your meter will dutifully do it's job of averaging everything out to middle gray, which will give you a picture with a dull, dark-gray car, and a flat, lighter-gray wall. This is, by the way, why everybody always gets gray-looking snow with auto-exposure cameras in the winter. The meter got confused with all that white and did its normal, middle-gray thing to it.

So how do you get any use out of a light meter?
All you have to do is take 1 more second before you snap that shutter and think about your scene. Now that you know what the meter is doing, you can predict when it's going to lie to you by examining your scene. If your intended target has a serious lack of middle values you can bet that your meter will screw up the exposure and give you dull, flat values. Your decision is which is more important, nice white whites, or nice deep blacks. If you prefer the highlights, give the shot a little more exposure than the meter suggests (thereby taking the grayish highlights the meter wanted and pushing them up to white), or, if you prefer the shadows, give a little less exposure (thereby taking the muddy shadows the meter wanted and pushing them down closer to full black).

If the scene in question is truly hideous with light and dark values, it may pay you to bracket the shot with a 1-stop increment over 3 shots (one shot as metered, one shot a stop under, and one shot a stop over that value).

A note on equivalent exposures...
Keep in mind as you delve into adjusting the exposure suggested by your meter the concept of equivalent exposures. Equivalent exposures is just the fact that an exposure at f/8 and 1/125 is exactly the same as f/11 and 1/60 which is also exactly the same as f/5.6 and 1/250. In fact, once you settle on an exposure, you can make exactly the same exposure with any other shutter speed by altering your aperture appropriately and vice-versa. Of course, your depth of field will change as will your camera's ability to stop motion, but the exposure itself will be identical.

So, can I really learn anything from my meter?
Yeah, you sure can. By carefully examining the scene you're photographing and then considering the exposure suggested by your meter (in-camera or out-) along with what the final output of that photograph looks like you can begin to understand what it means to expose a photograph properly. Taking notes as you shoot helps tremendously in this respect, and for you digital shooters you're lucky in that your camera already takes notes for you in the form of EXIF data.

For example, if you shoot a scene using either your camera's built-in meter or a hand-held averaging meter and get the image off the card (or the neg back from the lab) and look at it and go, "Meh, that looks pretty flat and lifeless. Everything is muddy"; perhaps you can think a moment and decide, "Yes, my meter lied to me, I should have increased the exposure a stop, that would've made the reflection coming off Mark Turnley's head appear as brilliant and shiny as it was to my eye!" The more you correlate what you see to what your meter sees, and relate those two to how the image turns out, the more you can learn the nuances of getting a truly great exposure.

So should I buy a hand-held, external meter?
The answer is both yes and no. Chances are no meter you will buy will be any more accurate than the one in your camera. On the other hand, what if the one in your camera goes belly up? Or, what if the one in your camera doesn't offer a spot metering mode, and you really want to use that? Or, what if you want to calculate a flash exposure accurately without firing frames and trusting your LCD display? All these are good reasons to buy an external meter. If you do buy one, try to buy the best one you can afford, and make sure it performs all the features you think you'll need. If you want to measure flash output, make sure it has a flash mode. If you want to do spot metering, make sure it has a spot mode/attachment. If you want to do incident readings (kind of the opposite of reflected readings: you point the meter FROM the subject TOWARDS the light rather than the other way 'round) make sure it has an incident attachment.

If, however, you're perfectly happy taking readings from your internal meter and don't mind switching between metered and manual modes (or whatever else you may have to do to take a reading but use manual settings) then the expense of an external meter is probably superfluous. You can count on the thing probably costing you at least $100, unless you delve into the used market (I got my flash meter for $40 on eBay).

No matter what you decide on the external meter issue, DO make sure that you start paying attention to whatever meter you use, and learn to know when it's lying to you.

Errata
Books you can read:
Nobody does it better than Ansel, and he wrote a whole book on getting a good exposure:
The Negative - It focuses on film and film cameras, but all of the exposure concepts apply just as well to digital photography.

John Hedgecoe's New Introductory Photography Course - Hedgecoe is a pretty knowledgeable guy, and he writes things in small, digestible chunks that are easy to read.

The list is practically endless, your local library will have tons of good books that cover exposure calculation in much greater detail than I've gone into here. As always, I hope this was helpful, and feel free to shoot me any questions that come to mind.

^aThe "junk" is a silver halide, FYI.
^bThis is why film can actually have a sharper image than a digital sensor, because the distance between the receptors creates chromatic aberration. Software in the camera corrects for it as much as possible without harming the image.
^cYou can use a gray card to set your color balance, too. Include a shot of an 18% gray card with each set of photos and use that spot as the "pick spot" for your white balance adjustment software and you'll be dead on.

Southern Fried Photographers Exhibit Call for Entries - Oct Exhibit

2009-07-23T12:04:00.005-04:00

The Atlanta Photography Exhibit is calling for entries for their October show. 80% of their spots have already been taken less than 24 hours into sign-ups, so sign up quickly if you want a spot! October is a huge month for photography in Atlanta with Le Flash and Atlanta Celebrates Photography, so if you're looking to promote your work, you don't want to miss this. Sign up to exhibit at www.southernfriedphotographers.com.

Where to develop your film

2009-07-15T21:19:00.003-04:00

As more and more APGers discover the joys of film photography, the subject of what to do once the film has been exposed comes up more and more often. In fact, just earlier today a discussion flared up about where to take film for processing. So, it seems logical to put down some basic info to this end so that everyone has access to it. Keep in mind, of course, that things change over time and as new stuff comes up, we'll keep this article updated as best as we can to reflect current knowledge.

The first thing to impress upon yourself about processing film is that it is a highly personal and individual activity. That is, the quality of your processed negatives (or positives) is directly related to the individual doing the processing--much more so than the store, lab, shop or what-have-you. That's why so many people eventually make the decision to process their own film themselves (yours truly being in between making said decision and actually implementing it as I write). The upshot of this is that the people are the most important thing to consider when choosing where and how to process your film, not the name of the shop or its location.

So, without further ado, here are some notes on getting your processing done for the 3 most common film types here in the A-T-L:

C-41 Process Film
The most common film any of you will use is regular old color negative film. We refer to this film as C-41 type film because that is the designation that the engineers at Kodak gave the specific film chemistry when they came up with it. It could just as well have been called "Bob", but they chose "C-41". Chances are any color film you have at home right now is C-41 film, and you can tell for sure by looking on the box or canister for the words "process C-41". This is the film that you can have processed almost anywhere in 60 minutes or less.

C-41 film is processed in an automated machine that takes care of developing the image, stopping the development and fixing the resultant image as well as making prints from the negative. So, you'd think that any C-41 processor should be able to give you the same results as any other C-41 processor, but such is not the case. The devil, as you've heard, is in the details, and differences in chemical temperature, machine upkeep and calibration and a number of other things affect the final output drastically. And, of course, these factors are all a direct result of the people who work at the lab.

Some things to keep in mind when processing your film are:

Cost. Different places charge different rates, and if you're having prints made the cost will vary depending upon how happy you are with said prints. A great way to save money is to have the film developed "negatives only" (that is, no 4x6 prints). See below for how cheap that can be.
Negative sleeving. I use plastic sheets to store my negatives in a 3-ring binder. Each page holds 6 strips of 6 negatives each. When the lab cuts the negatives apart for me, they typically cut them in 4-frame strips, so I usually have to specify that I don't want my negatives cut. Then I do it myself at home.
Print compensation. If you do have prints made (and I sometimes do) keep in mind that the machine that makes them will compensate for varying exposures. This is to give the average snapshooter the most pleasing set of prints assuming s/he is a little haphazard with their exposures. For hobbyist or pro shooters who vary exposure on purpose it can be maddening to have bracketed a shot across 4 shutter speeds and get 4 prints that have the same EV. Some labs will disable that feature for your prints if you ask them ahead of time.

So where is the best place to do your C-41 film? Good question. Remember, most important of all is the people who work at the lab you choose. Here are some of the places I frequent:

Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #5390 210 Cobb Parkway South Marietta, GA 30060 (770) 429-9029 - Yep, good old Wal-Mart. I specify the exact store because, again, it's the people that matter. These guys know me, if not by name, at least by face. They're always very polite and helpful. They meet every single request I throw at them (including cross-processing E-6 film - see below) and I can get a roll of negs-only processing for about $1.50. Yes, I said a dollor and fifty cents.
Wolf Camera Ultra 3141 Piedmont Road NE Atlanta, GA 30305-2516 (404) 869-1116 - Once the guys there and I ironed out a little negative-scratching issue, life has been great at the Buckhead Wolf. They're generally nice fellas and are always careful to make sure they double-check my special requests. Another plus is that there's a Chic-Fil-A within walking distance from here so you can have some nuggets while you wait for your film.

E-6 Process Film
E-6 is just another chemical process dreamed up by the geniuses at Kodak, just like C-41. It's a different name because it uses different chemicals and is typically how slide, or reversal film is processed. Slide film is called reversal because the image that results after processing is a positive image, but reversed as viewed from the base side of the film. Some examples of E-6 film would be Fuji Velvia and Kodak Ektachrome (the recently-in-the-news Kodachrome is another process entirely). In general, slide film is known for its intense color saturation and narrow exposure latitude (very similar to a modern digital SLR in fact).

The good news is, you are certainly able to take your E-6 film to the same place as your C-41. The bad news is, they're going to promptly put it in an envelope and mail it to a lab somewhere and it will be upwards of a week before you see your slides. The even better news is that since we live in and around Atlanta there's a great little lab in town that does E-6 film. Oddly enough, they're named E-6 labs at 678 10th St NW Atlanta, GA 30318 (404) 885-1293. Every roll of slide film I shoot goes there and the guys there have always been absolutely great to deal with. I've had no issues at all with their work and they're always very helpful. They'll also do your C-41 film if you want them to (albeit more expensively than other places) and they can handle film formats other than 35mm with no problem as well. If you have slide film processed somewhere else in Atlanta, chances are these guys are actually who's doing it, so it makes some sense to go straight to the source.

Here are some things to keep in mind when you process E-6 film:

Mounted or unmounted? You can get your slides back mounted in plastic frames, ready to go into a slide projector or as just the film strip (cut or uncut) just like a negative strip. The choice is mostly a personal preference, however, keep in mind that if you choose to scan your slides into a computer for digital retouching or Internet upload that having the slides mounted makes this task somewhat easier with most consumer-grade scanners. Simply put, the thingy that holds the slide and the software that interpolates what the scanning device sees into what you see on-screen both expect the mount to be there and could be confused were it missing.
Cost. Cost for a roll of slide film is going to be about $9-$10 depending on your choice of mounts and any other special instructions. That makes it not necessarily cost-prohibitive, but certainly more expensive than C-41 film processing, and should be considered.
Cross processed? This is one case where you can take your slide film to Wal-Mart or Wolf. Cross-processing is when you process one kind of film in the chemicals meant for another kind. Typically people use the term to refer to processing slide film in C-41 chemicals, or vice-versa. The outcome is an image with (usually) odd and sometimes severe color and contrast shifts, depending on the specific film used. Be sure that you're very clear with the lab if you want to x-pro film so that they don't use the proper chemicals by mistake. I have done this at the aforementioned Wal-Mart, but I had to explain very clearly that yes, I did in fact want to put my film into the wrong chemicals.

Black & White Film
There are a couple black and white films that are made to be processed in C-41 chemicals, and as such can be taken to exactly the same place you take your Kodak Gold or Fujicolor flim. However, normal black and white film such as Kodak T-Max or Ilford Delta has to be processed in different chemicals. B&W is typically what people start doing on their own because the chemicals are (relatively) safe to handle and dispose of, temperature requirements are a little more lax and the film itself has such a wide exposure latitude that it's kind of hard to mess up. However, if you would rather someone else do your b&w processing, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Push or pull? Black and white film is very easy to over- or under-develop simply by changing the time the film stays in the developing chemical. So, let's say, you have some T-Max film at ISO 400, but it's really dark and instead you expose the film as if it were ISO 1600. No problem, just tell the lab to push your film by 2 stops because you under-exposed it. On the other hand, if it's really bright you may over expose the film and ask the lab to then pull the film to compensate. Mind you that the more you push film the more noticable grain gets, but sometimes that might be just what you want.
Printing. The paper used to print black and white images is different than the paper used to print color images. However, some places will put your B&W prints onto color paper. Occasionally this can lead to a noticable color cast and/or less-than-ideal tonal range. You can ask to have the images printed on actual black and white paper, though it may cost more.

E-6 labs, mentioned above, does a great job on B&W film, and that's where I take all mine currently. Showcase Photo and Video (2323 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE Atlanta, GA 30324-3795
(404) 325-7676) has done good work for me in the past, but they've recently had to reduce their staff so their turn-around times have gotten longer, and, in my opinion, the quality has taken a hit too. Your mileage may vary on that, though, and I don't feel bad about recommending that you give them a try.

A note on digitizing film
Just about anywhere that you get your film processed will usually be happy to scan the images from the negative for you and provide you with a CD of those scans. If you don't have a scanner yourself this can be really convenient. However, keep in mind that it will cost you extra, sometimes $5 - $10 extra, to have that done. Having the negatives scanned and burned to CD after the fact is even more expensive, as much as 50¢ per image expensive. The cost of a perfectly adequate, consumer-grade scanner that will scan negatives and slides is around $160 or so. If you think that over, it doesn't take many rolls of film before buying yourself a scanner is justified. Of course, then you've got some extra time involved scanning stuff in, but I can guarantee you it will be higher quality than you get from any lab (not counting special hi-res scan jobs that you pay through the nose for) and you'll always take more care with your own images than a relative stranger will.

Mr. Amazing / 48 Hour Film Project

2009-07-03T17:54:00.003-04:00

Thom Milkovic and Trent Chau's inspired entry in the Atlanta 48 Hour Film project.

Lots of APG members in and behind the scenes.

Donations are still being accepted: paypal trent@trentchau.com

Mr. Amazing from Thom Milkovic on Vimeo.

Calu's Last Gigs

2009-05-31T12:39:00.007-04:00

It's with a heavy heart that I report burlesque queen CALU (of DollSquad and Peepshow fame) is permanently leaving ATLANTA for her new home in LONDON.

This means her APG Burlesque Camera Club group shoot JUNE 9, private portfolio shoot on JUNE 21, and her reunion show on JULY 11 will be the last opportunities we have to marvel at her beauty and talent.

JUNE 9 at STUDIO 1*FIVE*0

VIEW POSTER FULL SIZE

JULY 11 at SMITH'S OLDE BAR

FAQ

2000-07-16T18:58:00.000-04:00

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ATLANTA PHOTOGRAPHERS GUILD

What's this Guild thing about?
The Atlanta Photographers Guild is a co-operative. We meet to share technique, equipment, and a good time. Official meetings and workshops are way below the price point of the general market because we believe that photography is exciting and that excitement should be shared.

When are meetings held?
Meetings are held on a bi-weekly basis and feature aspiring and professional models as subjects. Pictures taken at Guild meetings are for portfolio / Flickr use ONLY unless an agreement between artist and model has been agreed to. Commercial / promotional use by model or photographer is prohibited unless agreed to by both parties.

Can I attend?
If you're 21+ and own a camera you're welcome to attend.

How much does it cost to attend a meeting?
$10 to shoot.
$0 to attend.

Where are meetings held?
Elliott St. Pub
51 Elliott St. Atlanta, GA 30313
www.elliottstreet.com

When?
7 PM to 10 PM EST
Every other Tuesday. Look at the title of the group for further details.

How do I find it?
Elliott Street can be a difficult find IF you don't print directions. It is not on many GPS systems. However if you use Google maps you should have no problem.

What are the rules for the group?
GUILD RULES

I have a friend who'd be a perfect model for an APG meeting. How do I get him / her in the mix?
Awesome! As much as possible we try to use models that APG members have worked with before. If you can vouch for the reliability and dedication of the person you're suggesting, please send us their contact information along with a link to a non-Myspace picture.
ATLANTAGUILD@gmail.com

I keep seeing SHOT OF THE WEEK as a thread header. What's that about?
After every meeting we post our favorite shots of the official models. The winner is chosen by an outsider or sponsor. The winner takes home a multitude of prizes and of course, the coveted Green T. Winning photographs can be seen here: SHOT OF THE WEEK WINNER

I've got something to sell. Can I post it in your group?
Please post photography and tech related items in this thread FOR SALE. This is not a place to put adverts for your business or services.

I'm a member of Model Mayhem. Where can I find other members from the APG?
MODEL MAYHEM

I can't make Tuesday nights. What other opportunities do you guys have to learn and participate?
In addition to our Tuesday night meets we are affiliated with the following groups:
Atlanta Analog Film
Atlanta Grid Project
The Atlanta Photo Strollers
Atlanta Photography Exhibit
Atlanta Figure Art and Photography
South Atlanta Flickr
Alpharetta Creative Photography Co-op (ACPC)
Express

Do you offer a class specifically for lighting?
Check out our lighting group APG LIGHTING

Is it OK if I post nudes?
While we are mostly adults here in attitude or age, photographs or drawings that reveal male or female genitalia or female nipples are not allowed in the APG pool. You are more than welcome to join and post them to this associate group instead:
ATLANTA FIGURE PHOTOGRAPHY

Do you guys have a studio? How much does it cost to rent?

Yes.

Depends.

Contact us at atlantaguild@gmail.com for more information.

May I have a logo badge for my flickr profile or website?

I'm so glad you asked! You sure may.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/atlantaguild/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3627/3356743321_69a4722730.jpg"></a>

It looks like this:

logo design courtesy of Scott Thigpen.
See more of Scott's work at www.sthig.com