[Yoyo]

Yoyo–I don’t mean to be mean-spirited, demented, immature, or malicious, but it has to be said (or I think so). If there were ever a reason for a ‘funny’ vote, it’s the recruiter shot from Arcelor Mittal. I’m sure she’s a very pretty girl–I can see that–but that makeup has. got. to. end. The penciled brows are not only uneven, but they’re a bit evil looking. The top lashes look like she’s on the Las Vegas Strip (and I don’t mean the burlesque), and this combines with a smile that says, “Yes, I hear you, but I’m ignoring you, you want me to hire you where?”

It got both the votes from me.

Rav, your comment had me laughing out loud. Since the Farkistanis seems to have a morbid fascination with “kill it with fire” photos (often via The Smoking Gun mugshot line-up), I decided to go with her instead of some more photogenic recruiters (a la pharmaceutical sales reps). This portrait captures the theme “strange” on so many levels.

Arcelor Mittal is a global mining and metal company. They have a steel mill outside El Paso Texas where they make rebar.

Regarding this young lady’s style of make-up, I can only describe that as “south-western Chicana chic”. At least she doesn’t use a black Sharpie for her “eyebrows” and doesn’t have tattooed eye-liner (yet). I can’t say I noticed her lashes myself, as the lazy-eye over powered those. On the full size images, there’s something going on with her upper lip as well. Philtrum. Slight case of macrodontia. She may be the kind of woman that perhaps only a steel mill worker would consider pretty, hence my title.

Regarding her expression, it seemed like her counterpart recruiter was leading the show (or at least recruiting for engineers like me), and I did speak with the counterpart at length. While I was taking this photo, there was another employment seeker talking with the second woman. One or the other of them asked about my camera, and since there was someone waiting to speak with the other rep, I asked her if I could take her picture. This is my second shot from a low angle, because I didn’t like my first shot ‘s perspective where I was standing and she was seated.

[Yoyo]

My rules for photography are thus:
1. Always use the neck strap (when not using tripod).
2. Take off the lens cap.

[Yoyo]

Ok, here’s how to make a pin-hole camera:
Supplies: blue painter’s tape, aluminum foil, small pointy object like a pin, camera with removable lens like a SLR. (Body cap not required.)
1. Remove lens from camera.
2. Tape piece of foil over hole where lens goes, optionally being careful to block out any light leaks.
3. Use pointy thing to poke a very small hole in the foil. Centering the hole is a good idea if you don’t want to end up with a shift pin-hole lens. This can also be done before step 2, if you have a not-so-pointy thing that causes massive tearing. Put the foil on a firm backing like corrugated cardboard, then poke the hole.
For even more fun try holes of different sizes by using a tapered pointy thing and poking it through more or less (deeper or not so deep). Or experiment with regular thickness and heavy-duty foils. Some people recommend brass shim stock, but if you can scrounge up that, then you’ld be the sort that wouldn’t have trouble with power tools. Aluminum from a beverage can should be readily available, susceptible to heavy duty kitchen scissors, and pokeable with a thumb tack and a hard soled shoe. The foil from Hershey’s Kiss or some other candy could be carefully put into service for a very thin pin-hole.

You could get really crazy and put two holes in one piece of foil. Now I’m thinking about diffraction gratings, and the double slit experiment, etc. Also about where I can find the bottom of a Coke bottle. I may have to hit up the junk/antique/charity stores in my town.

[Yoyo]

Crescent shaped upholstery needle and thick thread or thin string.

When I was thinking up ideas for this these, my mind went to “Mexican sports” sort of contests. I’m pretty sure I know which side is going to lose. The resulting carnage will make Juarez look like some mid-continental Canadian border town in terms of safety. It’s not good to be a loser, but they can be very tasty!

I just bought props for this tonight. The checker at the grocery store thought I had some good ideas when I told her why I was buying one each of half of all the kinds of fruit in the store. Gotta have some spectators in the stands, linesmen, referee, a pear with a mouth (it is Fark after all),…

[Yoyo]

No need to push as close as like a 28mm (portrait style is usually done with something around 80-100mm – I like using my 50mm, but with sensor size that comes out to about 80), the point is to just not get a 300-400 lens and telephoto in on someone.

The aisles between tables for recruiters to set up in the student union center ballroom were rather narrow, so I chose the 28mm (“normal” focal length for my APS-C sized Rebel T2i) to get a wide enough field of view for a full length portrait. The other option for me would have been the 18-55mm kit lens that tops out at f/4.?. Being indoors, I knew that I would need one of the faster prime lenses from my collection. The next size up would have been the 50mm f/1.4, which would equate to 80mm for 35mm size sensors, and conventional wisdom would dictate that for portraiture, but I knew some shots would need to be up close and personal.

If you look at my photo of the ensign, I was backed up all the way to the table on the other side of the aisle in order to get my opening shot (available on Flickr) of him and the petty officer there with him. I did crop the portraits of each of them individually a bit. The steel mill worker photo is the full frame, and I pretty much had my forearms on the table to get the upward angle since she was seated. Even though I was that close, I don’t think her features are really distorted (by the camera) all that much.

Some people saw me with camera and asked why I had it so I would explain that this week’s topic for my photography education is portraits of strangers. Then I would ask if I could take that person’s picture. One, maybe two, turned me down. The only one where I initiated the conversation was the accountant, and he asked to go into the hallway where I selected the wood panel wall for a background instead of the white painted walls. I made a print for him to give to his mom, but I didn’t see him back for the second day.

CSB: Tonight I went shopping for supplies for next week’s theme, and I had 1 each of about half of all the varieties of fruit at the grocery store. My receipt is about a mile long. I explained my reasoning to the clerk and my idea on interpreting the theme, and she thought they would be good.

[Yoyo]

Seriously, who’s the psychopath who came up with this torturous theme? If we were well adjusted normal people that got along well with the public at large, we wouldn’t be participating in Farktography, or Fark at all, as a substitute for real live social interaction. Just face it, half of us are most likely deranged, be it Aspergers, ADD/ADHD, OCD, or just an unspecified geekiness and general all around psychosis. They shouldn’t let us out of our cubicles. I suppose I can get some shots at the Career Faire that’s going on tomorrow. At least that has some ground rules regarding the roles everyone plays in the social interaction and chit-chat. I’m guessing the 28mm f/1.8 would be the best choice for the university ballrooms.

[Yoyo]

That’s just crazy! Even at 50% off, I’m not paying ?227.50 for a pair of Tommy shoes.

I’m assuming the focal length given is the 35mm equivalent, and after doing the math, that setup has a diagonal field of view of 1.15 degrees. I was thinking about getting the 2x extender for my primes (50/1.4 & 85/1.8 resulting in 100/2.8 and 170/3.6) since my telephoto zoom has a maximum aperture of about f/5 at those focal lengths.

[Yoyo]

I’ll take a swing at these questions:
1) You haven’t heard of this before because it’s a fringe area and the fad is long over.
2) There is a lack of technical information because they’re trying to sell you something.
3) I’m sure you’ll figure out some way to rig this up with less than 2 trips to the hardware store.

[Yoyo]

Ok, I’ve figured out what the problem is. My ISP is being a bunch of cheap bums and shorting me on bandwidth.

http://totogamboa.com/2011/05/17/check-if-your-internet-service-provider-degrades-photo-quality/
The blue bird shows visible differences on my computer. Instead of the smooth color transitions in the out of focus areas, I get noticable blotchiness in the second image. Also areas of high contrast like around the bird’s legs get very pixelated. Additionally, when I saved them to my hard drive, the top one was 227kB with exif data and the second one was 21kB. I need to have a word with my ISP, since I specifically mentioned still images when I signed up for the package. My advice, don’t go with Cricket.

[Yoyo]

Unframed prints probably ought to be bagged with something stiff (cardboard etc) behind them, both to protect them from handling and because they’re a pain for people to take home otherwise, e.g. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/307334-REG/Print_File_PF1114BAG_Polyethylene_Bag_with_2.html

If you want to bag-and-board prints, you could check with your nearest comic book shop for supplies as well. You should be able to find archival grade 8×10 (IIRC) bags and backing boards there. 11×14 might be more than you need?

[Yoyo]

When I first bought my Canon T2i, I was about to head to Europe for a year, so at the time, I bought a small Manfrotto which was lightweight and suited me well for field trips. It came with a shoulder bag that was nice for carrying it around. It had a built-in video head, i.e. one handle for pan and tilt, and one knob for portrait/landscape. The head was not great, but it worked. The quick-release plate was acceptable but not rock solid, however it was small enough to leave on the camera body all the time.

Recently, I picked up the Manfrotto 055XB. I only have two complaints: it didn’t come with a bag (and vinyl is $15/yd at the local fabric store) and I would like a built-in level on the top plate.

To go along with that, I picked up the 410 Junior geared head. It’s amazing! I love it. The gear action is smooth and solid. There are quick releases to allow for rapid coarse adjustments. I would have liked to get the Arca Swiss Cube, but I can’t justify that price. There’s no need to “lock it down” after framing the shot. The pan axis is mounted closest to the tripod, so if the legs aren’t leveled to start with, and panning with cause the camera to tilt.

I don’t regret my decisions. The first one served me very well, and I expect to get further use out of it for tourist type stuff, while I use my new one for more photographer type shots. Sometimes you want a sports car, other times a pickup truck.

[Yoyo]

Charge for time at $60/hr and 100% markup on consumable materials and other expenses (i.e. photopaper cost $5, charge $10). Ok, so maybe you haven’t got all the experience needed to justify a $60/hr labor rate since you probably need to take more time to do things than a well experienced professional, but still I’d go with a “parts and labor” approach to pricing. Research what other photographers in your region are charging, and price accordingly. Have you got a business license and tax ID? Being a good photographer is only half of being a professional photographer. You also need to be a professional, which quite often seems to be the difficult part. Good luck and welcome back.

Secondly, I never figured out how to post photos here either.

[Yoyo]

Anyone want a mod to post a totally black (or white, to match Fark) photo (with voting enabled) in solidarity?

I seriously considered posting an all black or all white (under or over exposed) pic just to show that sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) crap comes straight out of my camera.

On the other hand, given the difficulty that complying with this theme and what it all means that several people seem to have encountered, I think I’ll propose a new theme: “The green square makes the best pictures.” I.e. all entries must be made using a fully automatic mode But then people with start arguing about auto-focus, since on some makes, that is independent of the “green square”.

[Yoyo]

I’ve got the CR2 (Canon Raw) plug-in for Irfan View, so I can look at the raw format images from my camera just as easily as the JPGs. As it is, I hardly ever take the time to post process aside from resizing for uploading and the occasional crop.

[Yoyo]

Sounds like the script for a Sun Dance award winning short film.

[Author]

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