Originally posted by Digitalis Especially the Sigma 30mmm f/1.4 EX...
LOL, had to get that in!
Originally posted by Digitalis Coincidentally, this [the mall portrait studio] is also the place where I would expect to find a photographer who thoroughly hates their job.
Yeah, I could see that. It's kind of like assembly-line photography. Very repetitive and without any technical challenges or problem solving.
A few years ago, I took the wife and kids to "The Picture People" in the mall for a simple family portrait. I took a peek at the strobes (AlienBees) during the session, and I was surprised to see they had duct tape over the controls to keep the "photographers" from changing any of the settings. It seems like the only change the employees are able to make is the backdrop since I never saw them touch any of the lighting equipment any time I ever went there.
Originally posted by Digitalis If purgatory is mall portraiture photography, then Santa photography is a fully populated lion pit....I couldn't imagine a worse hell than that. Being good with babies and kids has very little to do with being a good photographer.
Funny you bring that up. When we visited Santa at the mall this year, I declined to buy a photo because the lighting was so bad. They had a single umbrella facing straight into Santa's face, and reflecting off the wood of Santa's chair creating a white glare. I saw pictures from people ahead of us, and it didn't look any better than an on-camera flash. I was so impressed with how lame it was, that I even snapped some pictures of it:
The picture I got from 30 feet away and off to the side with my little GX7 and no flash was much better. Sure, I could have used a little more depth of field for my daughter on the left, but the lighting was pretty dim in Santa's shack and I was already at ISO 3200 with the lens wide open. But I wasn't about to spend good money on the crappy looking photo they would have given us.
Last edited by Edgar_in_Indy; 02-01-2016 at 07:23 PM.