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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
11-18-2012, 01:49 PM
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In general that is normally true, unless the software you are using is designed to utilize your GPU for enhanced processing. Many NIK plug-ins are now able to utilize the GPU for faster processing. In that same scenario, more graphic memory is also desired. Other than that exception, you are quite correct about general photo display not needing high end graphics cards.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
11-18-2012, 07:47 AM
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My Specs from the 'puter I built a few years ago now... before photography was a priority. I am due for an update but that means Mother Board RAM SSD and CPU which costs money lol
Plus I am waiting for DDR4 RAM to get into the system, no point buying DDR3 motherboard and CPU at this point as it leaves no upgrade path really.
Processor: Intel Q9450 2.66Ghz Quad Core, If I am doing something demanding I'll overclock to 2.9-3.2GHz
Ram: 4Gb DDR2 800Mhz
Motherboard: Asus P5Q Premium
HDD: Gskill 64GB SSD, Segate 1.5TB in the Box plus about 5TB of drives I swap through a dock.
Case: Antec 900
Graphics: ATI Radeon 5870 1Gb
PSU: 800W Thermaltake
OS: Windows 7 ultimate N
As for the sluggishness, when your run programs that are intense such as PS and LR there are a number of choke points. In no particular order and divided into upgrade options or maintenance/Tweaking options:
Upgrades:
- your HDD is probably one. I would look at getting an SSD to run your PS and LR from separate to the operating system, they have next to zero latency and significantly faster read/write speeds. if you wish to stick with this you can improve it's performance... See Maintenance.
- RAM is another. I only have 4GB and will occasionally max it out when doing some stacking with LR and PS open + I use Firefox which is a little more demanding than chrome on the Ram side of things. 16GB should last a while, and is one of the best bang for buck performance upgrades.
- Graphics. This is important if you are running a monitor with large colour gamut as some cards don't produce enough bit depth in the colours for decent monitors. the GB's are not a huge thing at this point nearly all cards come with at least 1gb which is plenty.
- CPU should be ok if you do your maintenance.... see maintenance.
- PSU.... or Power supply unit, if your have gone along and made updates, GPU especially, you might find it sucks more juice than your current one can supply and make for some stability issues.
Maintenance/tweaking:
- if you have a disk drive (not solid state) then regular defrag is essential to performance. Defragging SSD will shorten their life.
- remove the junk programs, it will reduce the number of processes running in the background.... I like CCleaner (aka Crap cleaner). It allows you to do most important stuff from the one place. Also let you scan the registry and clean up all the traces left by programs when you uninstall them (it's free).
- you can go down the line of Overclocking. CPU RAM, motherboard GPU but you will need to know what your doing otherwise you can fry stuff. I think this is unnecessary for you.
- Clean inside the box to keep things in there cool and prolong their life . A can of compressed inert gas (not air) will do. compressed air has moisture. Moisture + computer innerds = BAD.
- Back up everything to external drive
- Back up everything to external drive
- Back up everything to external drive or cloud... just encase you forget!
There is probably a whole bunch of things I missed by this is just a start.. and it's 1:45am :asleep: so I am probably a zombie by this stage... no quite sure though.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
07-09-2011, 01:42 PM
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Bonjour,
OK, you may have already seen this, but I wanted to share some good news concerning the DSLR that I hope to buy in the future. The June/July edition of "Chasseur d'Images" French photo magazine gave its "top ten" DSLR list for this summer, and the K-5 received top award of "5 stars" and a "best choice" designation. Also, the K-r received the same, 5 stars and best choice as well (which made me happy since I have one).
Here's a summary of the other 8 DSLRs:
- Canon EOS 1100D = 5 stars & best choice
- Canon EOS 600D = 5 stars & best choice
- Canon EOS 60D = only 4 stars
- Canon EOS 7D = 5 stars & best choice
- Nikon D3100 = 5 stars & best choice
- Nikon D5100 = only 4 stars
- Nikon D7000 = ONLY FOUR STARS ...
Bottom line, as I wrote first in the K-r Forum: PENTAX = 100% success (2 top-rankings out of 2) ... 3 top-rated DSLRs for Canon, 2 for Pentax and only one for Nikon.
Also, here's the rough-cut translation of the editor's summary for the K-5: "The Pentax K-5 inherits all of the qualities of its predecessor the K-7 improving on all of them (reactiveness, autofocus) and additionally benefits from a 16 Mpix sensor which delivers excellent image quality. To date, the K-5 is by far the best DSLR ever produced by the brand: ..."
You lucky K-5 users ... Please go shoot some great photos and don't worry too much about Ricoh ... enough said ... "Salut et bonne journée", John
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-29-2011, 07:04 PM
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Grey cloud cover is your friend when shooting portraits outside.. the light from the sky is less harsh as the clouds become one big softbox. If it was a bright sunny day, there would be harsh shadows on the faces of your subjects.. one of the reasons why shooting in the early morning or evening during the golden hours is that the sunlight is not direct and harsh like it is when the sun is higher up in the sky.
I was about to ask whether you post process your images or not but it looks like you do.. the reason I wondered about that is because in the boat photos, the white balance looks quite off to me.. everything has a bit of a purplish tinge to it. I can't tell whether that was your intention or not. I like the composition of #2 and 3 though.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-29-2011, 07:29 PM
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Radical option #1) Clear $400 from that 18-250 (just checking used sold prices on ebay), buy a Tamron 28-75 for $430 (topbuy.com.au and hope it's a good copy), add $80 for a 18-55 (ebay) to cover the wide end, you have a 100 & 135 to cover long. Assuming all those costs are right it would need $110
Radical option #2) buy the 28-75 before the event, sell the 18-250 immediately after the event. This way you don't need the 18-55 but you need to somehow float the $400ish for a couple of weeks, but that's what CC's are for right?
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-29-2011, 08:13 PM
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It will be tough to use the 18-250 indoors I'm assuming because of the slow apertures. Flash isn't really an option at the longer focal lengths either, because it is not going to reach out to 250mm.... It's also very hard to get good candids and not disturb everyone when you are using flash.
You may try using a couple of fast primes and walking around. These will give you fast shutter speeds, so you can shoot in the low light. I try to keep my shutter speeds at AT LEAST 1/60 for people, because even slight movements can cause motion blur at slow shutter speeds.
FWIW, I use a two camera setup with a 17-55 f/2.8 lens on one and a 70-200 f/2.8 lens on the other. This covers everything I could really want to shoot and keeps me from missing a shot (especially if I'm the only shooter). Both of these lenses are f/2.8 throughout the range and stabilized (I shoot Canon). I usually am at ISO 400-800, depending on the lighting. You are going to have to boost the ISO A LOT with an f/6.3 lens.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-12-2011, 09:58 AM
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I am not a corporate events/functions photographer by any means - however, I have been to a few. Saw some great images, and some mediocre images from them. I also have heard comments from management over the years about the various results. So.....
- Have you asked the customer for their expectations?
- What do they really want to see in the photos?
- How do they plan to use the photos?
- What do they want the images to show?
- Do they want candid images of all (or most) of the attendees (important customers, employees, etc.)?
- Do they want to show how big the event is, or how friendly the event was, or that the event showcased their product line, or their management, or ?????
- Will it be inside, outside or both?
- Will there be a lot of meeting in side rooms, or large (drink the koolaid) presentations.
- You may want to go to the venue and see the setup, ask the venue management for photos of past events, so that you can see how some past events were photographed. Are there particular views or vantage points that would showcase the event (a balcony), that other have used (and how do you get there). Take some test shots and see how they turn out with your gear. You might need a wider lens, or a better flash, or ......
- Ask the venue how this particular event is going to use the venue (how the customer asked the venue to set it up for this particular function). You might also want to get there early or the night before when the venue is setting up so that you are familiar with the layout and where everything is. Also, the person who hired you will probably be there directing the setup activities and that is a good point to go over any last minute directions, changes, etc.
- Is there going to be a famous guest speaker that the attendees (and management) would like pictures with....
- Do you have a time line of the various activities within the event (and where within the venue), so that you will be in the right place at the right time, and manage your time accordingly.
- Is there an area that you setup a laptop and dump your images, and maybe take 30 minutes with who ever hired you to make sure that they are getting what they wanted. You can also use this area to have spare batteries recharging, etc.
- Do they have your cell phone number so that if you are in one area and they have an immediate need they can re-direct your activities......
- Preparation is 90% of the task.
I probably would not only emphasize one single aspect to the exclusion of the others, but it would be nice to understand what they desired, intended and wanted, so that at least that aspect was covered adequately.
:cool:
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-14-2011, 08:52 PM
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Excellent list. I added a reputation point. The only thing I would add, having done this for a couple of years, is find out who needs to be photographed. If there is a list keep it with you and check off names as you go. It's very easy to focus on the most photogenic people and forget the ones who are less so.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-28-2011, 08:44 PM
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I recently shot a 2.5 day event that involved everything from energetic stage presentations, sports, nightclub/socializing, a formal dinner, and high profile corporate keynote speakers.
What sort of gear do you have and will you be the only photographer present?
Personally I find it really helps to have 2 camera bodies with me at all times, so that you can have a wide range of focal lengths covered. Whether you're shooting with primes or zooms, you need to have your bases covered because a situation will come up where you have to suddenly switch from telephoto to wide.. for example, you may be picking someone off in the distance with a telephoto for a candid but then a group of people much closer to you will ask you if you can take their photo - you can't say "hold on a sec while I switch lenses", right? Please don't tell me you'll be using an 18-250mm! :)
If you're working with other photogs, you need to coordinate where and what you're shooting so you don't trip up on each other.
Also, with such a long event.. do you have enough memory cards and backup methods in the field (like laptop or portable hard drive)?
With regards to style.. mysticcowboy already asked if you know what the customer's expectations are. But if they're hiring a photographer to cover the event, they most likely want you to document events as they unfold. It's easy to hang back and take candids.. but don't be afraid to approach a group of people and ask if they want their picture taken.. people generally will say yes, especially if they know that you're the "pro"!
Wear some comfy clothes and shoes but look professional, have a method of carrying various lenses/flashes, bring extra everything (batteries, mem cards, etc), shoot raw, and enjoy the opportunity. Post some pics when you're done with the editing!
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