General Photography Questions Megathread v4 - Don't Listen to Any of These Freaks

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > General Photography Questions Megathread v4 - Don't Listen to Any of These Freaks

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Pompous Rhombus: Mar 11, 2007

fronkpies posted:

Let me just say, designing even the simplest website with no prior knowledge of html/css/flash or any coding is destroying my brain.

4 days and this is what I have, 4 loving days.

https://www.christopherineson.com

When it finally does get finished i WILL be proud.

That's why a lot of people outsource designing their websites. A bit like hiring a photographer for a job rather than teaching yourself photography :v:

What you have so far looks great though, I like it.

Coincidentally I spent all afternoon going over some principles of web design type stuff, because I really need to figure out what I want from a website before I decide on whether to DIY it or hire someone to do it for me.

# ? Mar 26, 2010 21:44

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# ? May 17, 2024 02:51

No. 9: Feb 8, 2005; by R. Guyovich

fronkpies posted:

Let me just say, designing even the simplest website with no prior knowledge of html/css/flash or any coding is destroying my brain.

4 days and this is what I have, 4 loving days.

https://www.christopherineson.com

When it finally does get finished i WILL be proud.

What font are you using for your name?

# ? Mar 26, 2010 21:48

fronkpies: Apr 30, 2008; You slithered out of your mother's filth.

Pompous Rhombus posted:

That's why a lot of people outsource designing their websites. A bit like hiring a photographer for a job rather than teaching yourself photography What you have so far looks great though, I like it.

Thanks, and believe me, If i had the money it would be going to someone else straight away.

I love reading about the web design though, many hours Ive wasted just looked through really great layouts of other peoples sites.

http://www.tutorial9.net/resources/minimalism-around-the-web-design-inspiration-wordpress-themes/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/05/20/the-showcase-of-big-typography-second-edition/

http://speckyboy.com/2010/03/25/50-examples-of-large-photography-backgrounds-within-web-design/

Tincans posted:

I don't mean to belittle what you've done so far but have you considered other ways of forms of portfolio hosting such as Wordpress, Smugmug and so on?

I used to have a wordpress photo a day thing, I liked it and it was nice and minimalistic but I really fell behind updating, I want this to be something really simple that i can just leave, a few gallery's, contact info, small blog and that's it.

I thought of using wordpress again but its easier (although hard work and alot longer) to start from scratch, no code bloat and I know where and what everything does.

No. 9 posted:

What font are you using for your name?

Its chunk, found in this list i think.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/05/beautiful-high-quality-free-fonts-for-your-designs/

# ? Mar 26, 2010 22:06

JAY ZERO SUM GAME: Oct 18, 2005; Walter.
I know you know how to do this.
Get up.

Smugmug is poo poo and a pain in the rear end for web design. I'm not even sure I'll keep the print portion around after I migrate over to my own server.

Mediatemple looks to be my solution, thanks.

----

Does anyone have a link to the thread where woot fatigue explained his process?

JAY ZERO SUM GAME fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Mar 26, 2010

# ? Mar 26, 2010 22:10

MrBlandAverage: Jul 2, 2003; GNNAAAARRRR

hybr1d posted:

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good Mac-based Lightroom/Flickr export/workflow manager? I'd like to be able to dump small groups of shots to my Flickr Pro account from Lightroom.

This should do ya - it works well for me, though I'm on a PC. http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/flickr

# ? Mar 26, 2010 22:18

Ration: Dec 3, 2005; My mile could not pump the plumb

I'm going to disagree about goon hosting. I had Darklotus' service for a while and it was nothing but top notch. I'm not certain who Phat_Albert had, but Darklotus has plenty of glowing reviews.

# ? Mar 26, 2010 22:37

Bahama.Llama: Aug 17, 2006; Scary Money

I think this has been brought up before, but I apparently suck at searching or search doesn't search this sub-forum.

Has anyone had any luck with using a GPS device such as this and using it to plot exactly where a picture was taken by time stamp? I've always been really curious but haven't found many solutions that doesn't involve another piece of software that sucks.

If you have had experience and success with this, are you up for a run down?

# ? Mar 27, 2010 02:23

Pompous Rhombus: Mar 11, 2007

Bahama.Llama posted:

I think this has been brought up before, but I apparently suck at searching or search doesn't search this sub-forum.

Has anyone had any luck with using a GPS device such as this and using it to plot exactly where a picture was taken by time stamp? I've always been really curious but haven't found many solutions that doesn't involve another piece of software that sucks.

If you have had experience and success with this, are you up for a run down?

Yeah, I have a Gisteq Photo Trackr. It comes with an annoying piece of software and I had to pay $20 to upgrade to the "Pro" version just so I could get .RAW support. Honestly didn't use it much, but when I did it worked. Handy for writing into the metadata, Flickr will automatically place it on the map.

# ? Mar 27, 2010 03:31

TheFuglyStik: Mar 7, 2003; Attention-starved & smugly condescending, the hipster has been deemed by
top scientists as:
"The self-important, unemployable clowns of the modern age."

All of this web talk is making me feel bad. I've got my site outsourced to a web designer buddy even though I used to do the same drat thing, a zenfolio account, a blog for promoting, and a plan to use facebook for what I can for pulling in seniors and weddings. But I haven't tied everything together yet. I slowly started to hate web design, and finally jumped ship for print design and photography when it just became a massive pain in the rear end every day.

Guess I know what boring poo poo I'll be doing while everything's greening up during spring. :smithicide:

# ? Mar 27, 2010 05:20

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Bahama.Llama posted:

I think this has been brought up before, but I apparently suck at searching or search doesn't search this sub-forum.

Has anyone had any luck with using a GPS device such as this and using it to plot exactly where a picture was taken by time stamp? I've always been really curious but haven't found many solutions that doesn't involve another piece of software that sucks.

If you have had experience and success with this, are you up for a run down?

Yes...and I really ought to put up a thread sometime.

If the device lets you grab the raw GPS log data, then you have the freedom to use better software (I think MS has a freebie bit that will do that)

# ? Mar 27, 2010 08:26

pwn: May 27, 2004; This Christmas get "Shoes"

Interrupting Moss posted:

Does anyone have a link to the thread where woot fatigue explained his process?

# ? Mar 27, 2010 12:39

germskr: Oct 23, 2007; HAHAHA! Ahh Eeeee BPOOF!

Ration posted:

I'm going to disagree about goon hosting. I had Darklotus' service for a while and it was nothing but top notch. I'm not certain who Phat_Albert had, but Darklotus has plenty of glowing reviews.

AKA Lithium Hosting. I also use them and have nothing but praise.

# ? Mar 27, 2010 15:03

poopinmymouth: Mar 2, 2005; PROUD 2 B AMERICAN (these colors don't run)

Dreamweaver makes websites super simple. I made this one in a day with no code writing, just using the UI.

http://www.mr-chompers.com

# ? Mar 27, 2010 15:15

fronkpies: Apr 30, 2008; You slithered out of your mother's filth.

poopinmymouth posted:

Dreamweaver makes websites super simple. I made this one in a day with no code writing, just using the UI.

http://www.mr-chompers.com

Nice and simple, I like it, especially your non flash gallery.

Is that simple to do?

# ? Mar 27, 2010 15:18

MrBlandAverage: Jul 2, 2003; GNNAAAARRRR

Bahama.Llama posted:

I think this has been brought up before, but I apparently suck at searching or search doesn't search this sub-forum.

Has anyone had any luck with using a GPS device such as this and using it to plot exactly where a picture was taken by time stamp? I've always been really curious but haven't found many solutions that doesn't involve another piece of software that sucks.

If you have had experience and success with this, are you up for a run down?

I use the Amod AGL3080 tracker and this workflow. It's easy and all of the software is free. As spog said, it's so much easier when you have the raw GPS log data. I like the AGL3080 in particular because not only does it record raw GPS logs in plaintext, it mounts as a USB drive using a non-proprietary mini-USB connection.

# ? Mar 27, 2010 18:35

benisntfunny: Dec 2, 2004; I'm Perfect.

Bahama.Llama posted:

I think this has been brought up before, but I apparently suck at searching or search doesn't search this sub-forum.

Has anyone had any luck with using a GPS device such as this and using it to plot exactly where a picture was taken by time stamp? I've always been really curious but haven't found many solutions that doesn't involve another piece of software that sucks.

If you have had experience and success with this, are you up for a run down?

This is probably way too much work but I use my Garmin Watch to perform a workout. After I pull the feed from the watch and sync it in lightroom with a free plugin some guy developed. It was very useful for cruising around Ireland when we had no idea where we had been. Fun to look at later.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/16907042

# ? Mar 27, 2010 18:41

Shmoogy: Mar 21, 2007

Is there a program similar to ExposurePlot that can analyze my lightroom catalog(or lightroom feature) and give me the same sort of information? It only works with Jpegs, and I don't really export jpegs of most of my stuff.

I want to see if I can get rid of my 17-50 and make due with a 30mm and maybe an ultrawide if I really need something more wide.

# ? Mar 27, 2010 22:48

VermiciousKnid84: May 28, 2004; A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

Shmoogy posted:

Is there a program similar to ExposurePlot that can analyze my lightroom catalog(or lightroom feature) and give me the same sort of information? It only works with Jpegs, and I don't really export jpegs of most of my stuff.

I want to see if I can get rid of my 17-50 and make due with a 30mm and maybe an ultrawide if I really need something more wide.

Forgive me if I'm being stupid, but can't you do that with Lightroom's library filter metadata option?

http://mbignell.com/images/lr_ir/lr-filter.jpg

# ? Mar 31, 2010 08:02

Shmoogy: Mar 21, 2007

VermiciousKnid84 posted:

Forgive me if I'm being stupid, but can't you do that with Lightroom's library filter metadata option?

http://mbignell.com/images/lr_ir/lr-filter.jpg

Interesting. It didn't quite do what I was looking for, but it did allow me to just browse shots with my 18-55 and 17-50.

I was able to find out that 90% of my landscape orientated shots are in the 28-35mm range, and 50% of my portrait orientation shots are 17-30mm~range. That's going to be good to know, thanks!

Thanks!

# ? Mar 31, 2010 14:15

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

I accidentally deleted a few old folders (well not accidentally, really; I meant to do it, I just didn't realize they weren't backed up elsewhere), and I'd like to get them back. When Lightroom prompts me every week to save a catalog backup, what is it saving? Is there any way to get these files back?

_{*I don't think I can use a restore utility, it's been a while and I've done too much to the drive since the deletion.}

# ? Mar 31, 2010 15:15

fronkpies: Apr 30, 2008; You slithered out of your mother's filth.

I think the lightroom backup is for your catalog information and not your pictures.

Apart from trying a restore utility i cant think of a way.

# ? Mar 31, 2010 15:49

Shmoogy: Mar 21, 2007

You'd be surprised how far back you can restore things using a restoration program. It's worth a shot.

# ? Mar 31, 2010 15:51

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

LR can't help you restore files it manages. Stop writing to that partition, pluf the drive read-only into another machine, run a restore util.
You get to wear the dummy hat for April.

# ? Mar 31, 2010 16:00

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

Thanks, I'll try a restore program. Any recommendations?

evil_bunnY posted:

You get to wear the dummy hat for April.

It's what I get for having photos spread across two drives and four partitions, sometimes with duplicate copies, sometimes not. Someday soon I'm going to do a complete reinstall of windows, and when I do I'm gonna do things a wee bit smarter.

# ? Mar 31, 2010 16:17

Beve Stuscemi: Jun 6, 2001

While we're talkng LR, is there a way I can split my catalog? Having a ton of RAW files on my laptop is eating up space very quickly. Can I move half the catalog off to a backup disk or something, and keep just the newest half on the laptop?

# ? Mar 31, 2010 16:21

hybr1d: Sep 24, 2002

Phat_Albert posted:

While we're talkng LR, is there a way I can split my catalog? Having a ton of RAW files on my laptop is eating up space very quickly. Can I move half the catalog off to a backup disk or something, and keep just the newest half on the laptop?

You can create a second catalog, but you can't have two catalogs open at the same time. This is one of my biggest gripes around LR.

# ? Mar 31, 2010 17:22

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

I'm gonna step in and ask a really stupid question: what is the LR catalog? What is saved there, what does it do? Is it just a record of all the RAW changes you've made?

# ? Mar 31, 2010 17:25

Paragon8: Feb 19, 2007

jackpot posted:

I'm gonna step in and ask a really stupid question: what is the LR catalog? What is saved there, what does it do? Is it just a record of all the RAW changes you've made?

Yeah, I think that's basically it. I think Lightroom doesn't destructively edit any images so all the edits are stored in the catalog, leaving the RAW files untouched.

# ? Mar 31, 2010 17:27

hybr1d: Sep 24, 2002

Paragon8 posted:

Yeah, I think that's basically it. I think Lightroom doesn't destructively edit any images so all the edits are stored in the catalog, leaving the RAW files untouched.

This, an index of your metadata, comments, tags, etc. It's essentially a small database, which allows indexing for faster performance.

# ? Mar 31, 2010 17:29

VermiciousKnid84: May 28, 2004; A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

Alright guys, I'm planning a Sock Hop, and I'd like to have a photo booth. I'd like to have a cool, 50s-ish backdrop for the photos, and I need to do it on the cheap. I was wondering if anyone has had any ideas. Here's what I've looked into:

1.) Buying some kind of 50s-ish fabric pattern, and taping it to the wall. The backdrop needs to be large enough to accommodate group shots, so I figure I need something in the range of 8 ft long by 8 ft wide (maybe a little less wide is fine). From doing some fabric math, it seems like I would need about 8 yards of fabric. Has anyone gone this route before? I'm a bit worried about stitching together separate pieces of fabric for this. Also, from a bit of looking around, it seems like all the patterns that looked decent were really expensive...like $15 bucks per yard. The max I can spend for this backdrop is maybe $50, which is already pushing it.

If I can't think of anything else, I might just get a cheap solid colored fabric, and hang up some printed paper decorations on it.

2.) I thought wallpaper might be an alternative to look into, but it looks even more expensive, and I think the stitching problem would be even worse, with an added in rippling problem. I guess I could glue the wallpaper to large pieces of cardboard, but again, this seems even more expensive.

Anyone have any other ideas? Or links to cheap fabric/wallpaper that looks vaguely 1950s America-ish?

# ? Apr 6, 2010 01:30

8th-snype: Aug 28, 2005; My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012; Young Orc

VermiciousKnid84 posted:

Alright guys, I'm planning a Sock Hop, and I'd like to have a photo booth. I'd like to have a cool, 50s-ish backdrop for the photos, and I need to do it on the cheap. I was wondering if anyone has had any ideas. Here's what I've looked into:

1.) Buying some kind of 50s-ish fabric pattern, and taping it to the wall. The backdrop needs to be large enough to accommodate group shots, so I figure I need something in the range of 8 ft long by 8 ft wide (maybe a little less wide is fine). From doing some fabric math, it seems like I would need about 8 yards of fabric. Has anyone gone this route before? I'm a bit worried about stitching together separate pieces of fabric for this. Also, from a bit of looking around, it seems like all the patterns that looked decent were really expensive...like $15 bucks per yard. The max I can spend for this backdrop is maybe $50, which is already pushing it.

If I can't think of anything else, I might just get a cheap solid colored fabric, and hang up some printed paper decorations on it.

2.) I thought wallpaper might be an alternative to look into, but it looks even more expensive, and I think the stitching problem would be even worse, with an added in rippling problem. I guess I could glue the wallpaper to large pieces of cardboard, but again, this seems even more expensive.

Anyone have any other ideas? Or links to cheap fabric/wallpaper that looks vaguely 1950s America-ish?

Maybe cheapish plastic table cloth with a pattern on it? Just be careful with using flash around shiny stuff.

# ? Apr 6, 2010 01:41

VermiciousKnid84: May 28, 2004; A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

8th-samurai posted:

Maybe cheapish plastic table cloth with a pattern on it? Just be careful with using flash around shiny stuff.

That's a good idea, thanks. Maybe I can even find a cloth one, which might work a bit better with the flash. I plan on diffusing the flash with a shoot-thru umbrella.

# ? Apr 6, 2010 04:56

HPL: Aug 28, 2002; Worst case scenario.

Can you rent a jukebox? Like an old-school Wurlitzer or something?

# ? Apr 6, 2010 05:53

psylent: Nov 29, 2000; Pillbug

Search ebay for "1950s fabric" there's a shitload of results, hopefully something in the size you're after

# ? Apr 6, 2010 06:46

VermiciousKnid84: May 28, 2004; A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

Renting a jukebox would be amazing (I'd love to own one someday, in fact), but I'm a poor grad student so that's pretty much out of the question for now.

I have been scanning ebay for fabric, but what's tough is finding 4+ yards of it all together.

I think I'm gonna go with this: http://www.fabricdirect.com/acatalog/Gingham-1-Inch-Check-lime-yard.html . That seems to vaguely connote the 1950s, and a 1" check should be visible in the photos.

I'll also probably pick up some vinyl records from Goodwill, and hang them with fishing line.

I'll also probably build this frame: http://www.lifeisaprayer.com/articles/photography/diy-greenscreen because it seems easy, and I can reuse it for other stuff afterward. With a gingham fabric, it's probably important to keep the background looking crisp and neat.

A little earlier this evening I got the idea of looking for wrapping paper, but I honestly wasn't finding much in the way of patterns I liked, and I was a little worried about reflections. I don't think it's a terrible idea in general for lo-fi setups, but I don't think it would work here.

# ? Apr 6, 2010 06:58

brad industry: May 22, 2004

Renting from prop houses is surprisingly cheap, you should look into it.

# ? Apr 6, 2010 19:35

poopinmymouth: Mar 2, 2005; PROUD 2 B AMERICAN (these colors don't run)

brad industry posted:

Renting from prop houses is surprisingly cheap, you should look into it.

I wish we had a prop house here in Iceland. I need one of those makeup desks with the mirror and row of giant light bulbs on both sides, and I just cannot find a source, there might not even be any on the island. I am probably going to have to make one.

Does anyone know if there is a proper name for those?

# ? Apr 6, 2010 19:46

orange lime: Jul 24, 2008; by Fistgrrl

poopinmymouth posted:

I wish we had a prop house here in Iceland. I need one of those makeup desks with the mirror and row of giant light bulbs on both sides, and I just cannot find a source, there might not even be any on the island. I am probably going to have to make one.

Does anyone know if there is a proper name for those?

I think you're looking for a "vanity mirror", or at least that's what the term used to refer to.

# ? Apr 6, 2010 20:14

Cross_: Aug 22, 2008

VermiciousKnid84 posted:

1.) Buying some kind of 50s-ish fabric pattern, and taping it to the wall. The backdrop needs to be large enough to accommodate group shots, so I figure I need something in the range of 8 ft long by 8 ft wide (maybe a little less wide is fine). From doing some fabric math, it seems like I would need about 8 yards of fabric. Has anyone gone this route before? I'm a bit worried about stitching together separate pieces of fabric for this. Also, from a bit of looking around, it seems like all the patterns that looked decent were really expensive...like $15 bucks per yard. The max I can spend for this backdrop is maybe $50, which is already pushing it.

The difficult part will be finding something that's 8 ft wide. Fabric for consumers comes in 44" - 60" widths. Sources for cheap fabric: Wal-Mart and Jo-Ann, but you'd have to stitch it together.

# ? Apr 6, 2010 21:13

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# ? May 17, 2024 02:51

brad industry: May 22, 2004

poopinmymouth posted:

I wish we had a prop house here in Iceland.

Don't people film movies in Iceland? Contact your film board and they can tell you where to find stuff like this, that is their job.

# ? Apr 6, 2010 21:55

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > General Photography Questions Megathread v4 - Don't Listen to Any of These Freaks

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