Sisters double portrait

[Cindy Procious]

Glare and blur. The double-whammy.

I open all the blinds in my studio, and turn on the overhead light - all so I can get enough light into the camera so the photo doesn't come out dark, and even more blurry.

It wasn't so bad before I applied retouch varnish - that really makes for bad glare. I tried shooting from an angle - that does serve to eliminate most of the worst of it, but then the image is blurry and out-of-whack. Then it's a matter of dinking with the image in Photoshop until I think it's correct.

I've seen the diagrams in the photography threads regarding outdoor lighting - umbrellas, etc. Eventually, I suppose, I'll need to invest in that sort of thing.

You're shooting slides of your work? Is that the source of your confidence shake-up?

[Debra Jones]

I have been getting 24 exposure rolls developed of auto focus 35mm pictures with all possible configurations and have had decent luck. I get in shows and have samples for what I need, but I have a REASON now for them and I swear, I am blowing 50%.

The oils I have done recently I take outside on a bright, but shaded patio and lay an old black overcoat, felt side out, on a wall or bench to make a neutral background.

The shade lets a lot of light in but if there is no direct illumination it keeps it from going really washed out or blue.

In my digital I can try for a tilt or distortion and take the parallax out in the photo-shop but the slides are just there.

The processing is only $8 and the film is $6.50 so if I get one good one it is still a bit cheaper than the $25 a slide the pros charge. And I usually get at least 4, used to be 10 but I am trying to photograph my sueded mat pastel pieces and they are a bummer.

On paper I get as far as I can and use the strobe in daylight. It seems to make a cleaner color balance in spite of the sunshine but it is lousy on shiny surfaces. My 10x optical zoom is the BEST!

IF I ever had the time to go take a seminar on photography again I would completely implode from lack of time but might actually get a tall tripod so I don't have to keep stacking phone books to get the lens centered!

Good luck, good work!

[Cindy Procious]

I'm sorry you're having difficulties. I would have thought that the pastels on sueded mat would be a snap to snap. Interesting.

One aspect of digital cameras (the better ones, that is - not mine) is the bracketing feature. Have you tried that?

If there's one thing I've learned from getting to "know" you, Debra, it's that you are one heck of a resourceful woman. In your own inimitable style, you will conquer this, I am sure!

[Debra Jones]

I can fix most of my digitals in my computer if I have bracketing problems.

My problem is the automatic 35mm. I am not doing badly with the pastels and the flash is great on most everything, but the visual framing distortion is very tricky on small format pieces. I have two notches in from top and side to help you guide to see where the viewfinder distortion will correct but I am still taping like mad just to make things square. And I prefer natural light, but find external light will trick it often and I can't see the blue until I get them back from the lab.

Even a cheap digital with the advantage of being able to throw out 99% of the bad ones to get the good one, nearly guarantees I have my shot. And my average is much higher on 35mm to keep me away from the websites that create slides from digital files!

Thank you, I AM resourceful. What I need to be is a bit less creative and more predictable. You have no idea how many times I have reinvented the wheel.