A Portfolio Series for Your Consideration: An invited Series Friday morning

[George Holroyd]

I'm currently in the process of shopping for a full-frame upgrade to my D7000 and have been doing a lot of research on the net, including surfing the various forums. Spending time on any of the gear-oriented forums, one might think that the typical catalog shot was the highest form of photography. Sterile, tack sharp images just don't do it for me so, why should I be worried about sensor and lens ratings? I guess for me the term "image quality" means the quality of the content, rather than technical aspects of the image. In fact, I'm more likely to add blur, grain, vignetting, etc. than obsess over avoiding such things.

Anyway, here are a few from this morning to illustrate my point.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Allocation of Importance!

George,

Once again, you demonstrate the lack of need for a studio, fancy strobes and a hired model! A tolerant partner who believes in you is more important than most purchased "stuff". So you are already doing well! But don't get seduced by what is on the other side of store counters!

I'm more likely to add blur, grain, vignetting, etc. than obsess over avoiding such things.

This picture is an experience! It immediately grabs our attention, dims the outside world and has us hyperfocus on this woman, face down, either conscious of the picture being taken, or not. This is not only a personal moment but also a blank story that we can then imagine new plots and twists with each return visit. Are we there as observers? Is the woman alone? There's no element here that calls for a new sharp camera! OTOH, an old lantern lens might be a worthwhile try!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

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The ambiguity here is part of the motif I see in your work. We do not know whether or not this is a private moment of meditation and relaxation, as in yoga. There's no immediate indication that this is a staged picture. It's too unprepared and ungroomed. My feelings are of a private peephole to someone's sanctuary.

Asher

 

[George Holroyd]

George,

Once again, you demonstrate the lack of need for a studio, fancy strobes and a hired model! A tolerant partner who believes in you is more important than most purchased "stuff". So you are already doing well! But don't get seduced by what is on the other side of store counters!

This picture is an experience! It immediately grabs our attention, dims the outside world and has us hyperfocus on this woman, face down, either conscious of the picture being taken, or not. This is not only a personal moment but also a blank story that we can then imagine new plots and twists with each return visit. Are we there as observers? Is the woman alone? There's no element here that calls for a new sharp camera! OTOH, an old lantern lens might be a worthwhile try!

Asher

Thank you, Asher. I can't imagine trying to work around a light stand or two in such a small space. I can barely navigate our studio apartment with camera in hand. As it happens, I did use an SB-900 on-camera, bounced back behind me to bring the light up for these shots.

I'm looking to go full-frame mostly because I'm tired of dealing with the crop factor. The image quality benefits that go along with a larger sensor are also a plus, of course.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I'm looking to go full-frame mostly because I'm tired of dealing with the crop factor. The image quality benefits that go along with a larger sensor are also a plus, of course.

George,

I'm not buying this! What lenses do you have?

With your APS C sized camera, if you stop the impulse to go full frame, you can afford to buy a wider lens and travel first class on your picture making journey!

I'd be far more encouraging for you to consider purchase of the fabulous Nikon AF-S Zoom Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF Lens. No other item is likely to open up such great possibilities for you in tight spaces. Add Lee filters to taste!

You'd have an effective focal length of 21mm-36mm of the highest quality one can buy for any DSLR! It's an investment in your work. In 2 years time, you can sell it for what you paid for it, so it will not cost you anything! None of the available Nikon camera bodies offer as much creativity as this single lens for your work as you have shared with us.

Go head, visit the local camera store and try it out! Take your lovely supporting wife with. Bribe her! You'll be spell bound for something that will really contribute to expressing your creativity.

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

Spending time on any of the gear-oriented forums, one might think that the typical catalog shot was the highest form of photography.

Not only that, but participants in these places tend to judge each other by the same criteria. Winners have the most expensive gear, even if they don't take pictures. The criteria is not even really sharpness or technical excellence. If absolute sharpness and amount of detail was the criteria, gigapans or even large format film would win each time over any DLSR system, obviously.

I would also strongly advice against blindly using any of these forums to choose gear, since the "advice" found there is riddled with incompetence.

May I ask what lens you used on your D7000 for the pictures presented here and for which reason you feel you need something different?

 

[Jerome Marot]

I'd be far more encouraging for you to consider purchase of the fabulous Nikon AF-S Zoom Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF Lens. No other item is likely to open up such great possibilities for you in tight spaces. Add Lee filters to taste!

I certainly do not second that idea. While the 14-24 is certainly a miracle in optical design, it makes little sense on a crop camera. Moreover we don't know if George Holroyd is considering a wide-angle for his style of pictures. I can't imagine him using one when I see his portfolio.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I certainly do not second that idea. While the 14-24 is certainly a miracle in optical design, it makes little sense on a crop camera. Moreover we don't know if George Holroyd is considering a wide-angle for his style of pictures. I can't imagine him using one when I see his portfolio.

Jerome,

I don't see that George is need of a new camera. His work is not lacking in any way that we know of because of the current sensor. If one has money to spend #1 is a printer and #2 a lens that will last for years. Frankly, his work is fine and we don't see gear holding him back! If one must by oneself a present, a lens will outlast a series of camera bodies!

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

You may well be right, but George Holroyd came with the idea to get a different camera and he probably has a reason. I suggest that we wait and know what the reason is.

 

[George Holroyd]

The images above were shot with the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G DX lens at 1.8 and 2.8. An inexpensive normal lens on DX that's sharp with quite a bit of distortion. The 14-24 looks like an impressive beast, but I can't see myself shooting portraits with one, even in a small space.

I currently own the 35mm and 85mm f/1.8G, both excellent lenses. The 85mm is a bit long with the crop factor yet I managed to make 8 (out of 33) images in my series with that lens. Most of the images were shot at f/5.6, FWIW.

If I go full-frame, I'll need to replace the 35mm with an FX equivalent lens. I like the 50mm focal length and will stick with that for most of what I shoot. I'll keep the 85mm f/1.8 for a while longer but may eventually upgrade to the f/1.4 version. I'd also like to add a longer lens to my kit, most likely, the Zeiss 100MP. Purchase of the latter would depend on whether or not I upgrade my 85mm f/1.8.

As for FX versus DX, I already mentioned the crop factor. I am also interested in the larger viewfinder, larger sensor, increased color-depth, low light performance, and lastly the increase in resolution. I think there are several compelling reasons to move away from DX for me. Although, lenses hold their value while bodies don't, I'd say the sensor is as important as the glass in the digital world.

 

[fahim mohammed]

Asher, Jerome...

Let me say the obvious, so as to get it out of the way; gear has to be fit for purpose.
Keeping the above caveat in my mind; I offer the following for consideration.

Gear is important; very important. Not in the sense of any particular brand. That I believe is for gear nerds to argue about.

It is critical for my work, that I feel comfortable with my gear. It should fit right. I should know to operate it without consulting a 300 page manual. It should ' feel ' right when I hold it, use it, carry it.

I should feel a joy when I pick it up to use it. Dare I add, I must be in love with it so much that I take it for granted. It is there for me. I know its limitations, and its strengths. It must be something I feel passionate about to use.

As I said, it must be there for me, but not in my way. Like my hands. Instinctively my hands reach for the place I feel an itch.

My gear should be an extension of me. Not a hinderance for me. And neither for my subjects.

As the man reputedly once said, the sculpture was already there, he just had to chip away the stone. Tools were never mentioned. But tools were there.

Your image and vision should already exist. One just needs to ' chip' away the stone' , so to speak.

Get a tool that gets out of the way. Lets one reveal the sculpture. Not to talk about the tool; but about the vision that it helped display.

There are many equally excellent tools. I would choose the one that I do not think about when I use it.

This is nothing but one person's point of view.

 

[Jerome Marot]

I am also interested in the larger viewfinder, larger sensor, increased color-depth, low light performance, and lastly the increase in resolution.

Those are perfectly reasonable reasons to get a full frame camera indeed. For me, the larger viewfinder and greater depth of field control is what I found the most useful after the change. But since I note that you cited "increased resolution", I should point out that there will be very little difference in practice between 12 (D700), 16 (D7000), 24 (D600) and 36 (D800) mpix for the style of pictures you presented here.

 

[Mark Hampton]

I'm currently in the process of shopping for a full-frame upgrade to my D7000 and have been doing a lot of research on the net, including surfing the various forums. Spending time on any of the gear-oriented forums, one might think that the typical catalog shot was the highest form of photography. Sterile, tack sharp images just don't do it for me so, why should I be worried about sensor and lens ratings? I guess for me the term "image quality" means the quality of the content, rather than technical aspects of the image. In fact, I'm more likely to add blur, grain, vignetting, etc. than obsess over avoiding such things.

Anyway, here are a few from this morning to illustrate my point.

beautiful tones - in the 1st work George.

given they way your work seems to be going and the research you have been doing I would get a film camera - develop your B&W negs in the flat and print in communal dark room - or the any space you can find.

 

[George Holroyd]

beautiful tones - in the 1st work George.

given they way your work seems to be going and the research you have been doing I would get a film camera - develop your B&W negs in the flat and print in communal dark room - or the any space you can find.

Thank you, Mark. Going back to film is a thought, it'd make things easier for me in some regards but I'd like to stick with digital.

 

[Asher Kelman]

George,

As you know, I'm moved by your work. It's all possible because of your own past, present and drive to make impressive images expressing your unique view of your world. Until now, these strengths plus inspiration and support by your lovely wife have yield for you coherent sets of pictures of worth. That itself is a stellar achievement and one you'd have done no worse with many lesser cameras.

New cameras desire is mostly the construction of memic "needs" created by our online communities and clever marketing that don't reflect any functional necessity, just razzle-dazzle. It's a self-delusion that we buy into so readily as the gadgets do in fact all come with new glamorous features that are so seductive.

Of course the new one does better in low light, but that is not really a block to creativity, just nice to have, but you are not a rich dentist, LOL, and likely as not money is a commodity that does not just flow into your Paris apartment. So let me address you as if you were in my own family.

You also have so recently expressed your frustration at the high, almost impossible barriers to getting to the "Art" market place and complained rightly at the self-serving nature of so-called open art "competitions"! So, being older, with many more disappointments and more than a few successes, I look at your angst for a better camera, with a filter of age. I've the benefit of many more mistakes and bubbles of delusion than you have under my belt! With that, I can't help but feel that saving money until you find you can no longer get the work done, would be wiser. If you were blocked in getting/completing the paid assignments you are offered then, of course, you get the camera!

Alternatively, Mark's idea of using film does give you both a tactile, pacing, esthetic and marketing self-branding that could move your work to a new level. Look at Dawid Loubser's journey in this forum doing exactly that!

Asher

 

[Mark Hampton]

Thank you, Mark. Going back to film is a thought, it'd make things easier for me in some regards but I'd like to stick with digital.

no hassle man.

in that case a 5d mark 2 and a 45mm tse f2.8 lens - second hand

should be around 1500/700 ish.

solid sensor on it and a crisp lens.

you could have years of fun in your flat with that setup!

 

[Asher Kelman]

[/CENTER]

...... There's no immediate indication that this is a staged picture. It's too unprepared and ungroomed. My feelings are of a private peephole to someone's sanctuary.

r

George,

This, I'd offer, might be the basis for your second major series in the small Parisian apartment. It's unique to the two of you and I'd set this as an inspiration to continue, but not lose the connection with her. I like her as a whole person, but that's for you to explore in your own way!

Anyway, shoot more each day and then keep selecting you 12 best!

Just a prod to go further on this path!

Asher