Category: Photography

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Regarding current version of Silverfast on Mac

Looks like we mac users just need to wait for the fixed software. This is the reply I got from LaserSoft Imaging:

Dear Jaakko,

the framework set we have for internal testing at the moment still shows the issue with
the different exposure value for 7200dpi. We have no installable test version of this at the moment. (…)

The final version that resolves the issue for 7200dpi is – as far as I know – still in development
on Plustek’s side.

Update December 19th:

So I asked to confirm whether they can confirm whether 3600dpi resolution scanning has the same issue. I got a swift reply:

the current driver version shows the different scan speed and the difference in brightness also for 3600dpi scans. We have a driver that works correctly up to 3600dpi, but sometimes shows the issue for 7200dpi.

I asked could I have that driver so I could at least scan with 3600dpi, the answer was no. So I asked when will the fixed software become available and got this reply.

I assume, that we will include it in the next update, or the update after the next one. This may be within the next 3 or 5 weeks. 

I would certainly like if this would be included in the next update.

Therefore it seems that at present, mac users have no access to the higher resolutions.

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Business Card

Past years I have had a series of business cards, all featuring my “birdie” logo. The previous versions of my business card have titled me as “visualist”, a general word that refers to my visual work in broader sense, mostly of course web design, 3D graphics and such. It could be even said that “visualist” do video, which I have done, although not quite enough.

However, since I have ran out of my business cards, it’s time to make a new one. I thought I will just go ahead and write “photographer” in it. Honestly, I am somehow a bit ashamed to call myself as photographer since I still feel I’m a total beginner. Even in formal sense, I’m just a photography student at the moment.

But it wouldn’t make much sense to write “student of photography” to the business card, now wouldn’t there?

I solve this dilemma by admitting that I will never be quite finished with my studies, any real photographer would say so about their own career as well; it’s a journey. So I hope you’ll forgive me.

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Police Work

I love Leonard Freed’s comment regarding his contact sheets in Magnum Contact Sheets “Police Work”:

“Contact sheets are mostly a waste of money, I find. 99.9 per cent of the frames on the contact sheet are mistakes one makes while photographing. Because it is a waste of money, I love them. There are things in life we must do just because we find them unprofitable”.

I couldn’t agree more.

 

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Marking the Way

Saito Hisao’s article “Marking the Way” in latest Yokohama Seasider moved me. The people I’ve met in Dark Room Intl. never seize to surprise and humble me. Like Mr. Saito said in his article, some of us beginner photographers are lost, and some don’t even see that they are lost. Myself I know certainly how lost I am, so I think in that sense I’m lucky; I know I’m standing somewhere, but don’t quite know where, and that’s really terrible, huge problem for me.
I certainly, deeply hope that instructors in NYIP are honest and make their best effort to show me my location, like a GPS satellite. I can draw my own roadmap but in order to do that, I need to know my coordinates.

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My Kind of Image

You know the word  “utsukushii” 美しい , in Japanese. The word is composed of Chinese letter that has a component of sheep.

I love this word. It’s as lovely and big as music of Vangelis, it’s innocent and pure like a white sheep lying down on green meadow. It is a word I want to use to describe women, the wonderful creatures who live on this planet despite it’s horrors.

I have always believed in feminine aspect of humans, even men are kind of women, you know, kind of like ocean. Like Björk would sing in her song Mutual Core, perhaps the planet itself is feminine, trying to manage the tectonic plates to counteract distance..

Our beautiful, beautiful, feminine planet..

Yes, I think Japan needs more mature imagery of femininity; and I predict that advertising machine in Japan is going to change to reflect the need. I think I’m speaking for everyone if I say; we are crying and dying for something more spiritual. The need is there and it’s huge.

I would like to be there when the change happens.

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We Heard Music

I had pleasure to shoot formal profile photo if baritone Inoue san in Shinjuku park. This one turned out to be the best.

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Important Thing

Probably all would agree that equipment management is crucial for working photographers. It’s not very professional to arrive to set and notice your battery is empty or even worse, missing.

Canon’s camera manual advices you to make test shots before important shoots, or even take camera to be checked up by Canon’s authorised service professionals for check-up. Sound advice, I say.

I have a principle to always have backup for everything, including the camera body. Even though modern DSLRs have sensor cleaning mechanisms, it is possible that something gets to the sensor, piece of hair or skin for example. Bulb blower is a must have, but sometimes even that doesn’t help. Bring extra body, just in case something goes wrong. And camera’s shutter has always a limited lifespan anyway, so sooner or later it’s going to break. Extra camera body might save your day and reputation.

And after the shot, take super good care of that memory card. It’s like your digital negative. Now that we have tools like iPad, it’s very handy to have one of those camera connection kits (especially with Retina display iPad) with you. It’s great for on-location previews and backups.

There are some theories that large memory cards might be more prone to failure than smaller ones. I am still shooting with 16GB card and it’s unlikely that I would ever get larger card than that. And if you split the shoot to two cards, even if one of the card fails, you wouldn’t lose everything. So far, I have never had memory card failing on me, but I have heard many horror stories.. especially after someone has shot a multi-million-yen wedding.

Rather than deleting photos from memory card, I would recommend formatting it. I have heard this reduces the chance of getting some kind of (eh, I don’t really know what I’m talking about) logical error in the data of the disk.

So, the lesson here is that pro or semi-pro photographer must take very good care of his/her gear. That gear is probably expensive (and if you are sports photographer VERY expensive), and it’s your lifeline really, much like parachute is for skydivers.

If you do pro shoots daily, my advice is to keep every necessary item in your camera bag always when you are in home or studio. Then you will get into the habit of never forgetting anything, and basically just recharge batteries and format memory cards in advance, and then take that bag and you’ll be ok.

Good luck for shooting!