Studio flash and digital camera training

[William Whitaker]

An old tramp stumbled into the studio during the session and insisted on spoiling a picture.

[Michael Georges]

Bill:

These are great shots! I would love to hear more about the flash equipment. One thing I have considered is to start a topic where folks who have high-end digitals that can take RAW pics could post their settings.

I have a devil of a time taking shots of my paintings vs. taking shots of subjects.

[Richard Budig]

Yes, Mr. Whitaker, I would like to hear a bit more about your light source. Is it actually a flash unit, or is it a light source us dummies could build?

Also, do you -- or anyone else -- have a few cogent comments about which digital camera does a good job at portrait photography?

The photo you showed from your studio and camera were great, I thought.

[Mike McCarty]

Richard,

You might find that Bill answers many of your questions in this thread, "A Natalie Test":

http://forum.portraitartist.com/showthread.php?t=5418

I recommend any of the digital SLR's. I am biased toward the Nikon's but would accept any of the other major brand digital SLR's.

[Richard Budig]

Mike:

Thanks for the thread. Sounds like it is quite a nice piece of equipment. Wonder if a guy could come anywhere near creating a similar thing on his own.

At the moment, I'm using tungsten light and Kodak Portra 100T film. Get good flesh tones with this film. Why couldn't a guy jury-rig a soft diffuser of some sort, or would that be necessary?

So far, I've heard good things about the Canon EOS 10D, and the Nikon D70.

[Mike McCarty]

Why couldn't a guy jury-rig a soft diffuser of some sort, or would that be necessary?

I think a clever fellow might get that done. I'm no good in that respect.

Although I admire these setups, and concede that they can offer great benefit, I tend to go with the natural light.

[Michele Rushworth]

I jury rigged a faux-soft box with two light stands, a $10 dome lightbulb housing and a $40 "Lite-disk" circular diffuser. The whole deal cost me under $100 and works fine.

That said, I always end up just using natural light when I do photo shoots.