Paul Lester Photo

Autumn Ivy: From this morning’s shoot

Seemingly, for as many ways as there are to take a photograph, there are an equivalent number of ways of displaying it! For our home, the preferred method is gallery style without a frame, as shown above, except that all of the pictures that I’ve hung so far are B & W. Mind you, using self-adhesive foam core board is NOT the museum/gallery/archival way of doing things. Of course, these boards are acid free and of archival quality, but there is no glass protecting the picture from the rays of the sun or pollutants. I figure, if it starts to fade, etc. I’ll just print another one! Also, I mount, on the back of the board a couple of Velcro tabs and mount these to the wall. This is a sure way, if not removed correctly, to have to paint in the future! However, the tried and proven method for removal is patience and a blow dryer to melt the glue.

Anyway, since I’ve been asked a few times to sell my prints, now I have to start thinking about:

• Papers (Luster, high gloss, plastic film, fine art paper)
• Sizes
• Mats
• Mat boards
• Prices
• Shipping containers
• How to sell: Customized, 3rd party (Photoreflect, for example), by request, Paypal, etc.

Geez! When you are printing for yourself, only, none of these things really matter. You can do it however you want!

I’ve decided on a couple of things, I think:

Sizes: 6 x 9, 10 x 15, 12 x 18, 16 x 24. As you can see, all of them are full-frame size, not the common types of frames that you’ll find in the grocery store. When I shoot, I shoot for the entire frame (2:3 ratio), not for a 4:5 cropped ratio.

Mounting: More than likely conservation mounting where the photo can be removed, without damage, and placed into something else. So, I’ll probably use precut mats and mat boards that I found here, a place that I finally found after searching high and low for 13 x 19 mats, etc.

Pricing: Who knows. I’m seeing that this is rather expensive to even get a single print out of the door. I’ll have to consider ink, paper, mats, mat boards, tape, etc. It all adds up rather quickly! No wonder prints cost so much! There’s a lot of work involved!

In the photographic work flow, if the end result is the web, things are a lot easier! If you want something to hang on your own wall, a little more difficult, if you want something to sell to someone, a lot more difficult!

I know that there are a lot of you who sell prints and, as usual, I welcome your input regarding any of the above mentioned items, especially shipping containers and materials.

Morning Moonlight: Nikon 18-70mm @ 31mm, f/8 15 seconds

Last night, I got a camera upgrade! No, I didn’t buy a new D2xs or a D3, but I finally downloaded and installed Nikon’s firmware update for the “D2″ series of cameras, which can be found here.

The upgrade is fairly significant for the D2x. Although it has been out for more than a year, I am just getting around to upgrading. I don’t know how I found out about it, or which paths led me to it, but I’m glad that I did!

The top picture is taken (almost) directly from the camera. I’ve adjusted the levels just a little bit and added some sharpening. What’s so important? It’s in B&W, or rather gray scale, straight out of the camera! Big deal, you might say, my camera does that too! Well, until October of 2006, when this firmware upgrade was released, the D2x didn’t do this!

Many times when I’m out, I want to photograph something with a black and white print in mind. Well, taking a color picture and then imagining black and white is quite different than taking a black and white picture, viewing it, and then continuing to make adjustments. When I had my Minolta DiMage A1, I used the black and white mode a lot. I’ll have to experiment with this a bit to see if the output is different between taking it in ‘native’ B&W or if it is better to convert from color. I can always use these as ‘proofs’ if it turns out that the color conversion is better. Having multiple shooting banks makes this very easy to do. With a push of a button or two, I can have my camera configured a completely different way. Currently I have 3: Normal, B&W, and Sports.

There are some other features, like increased auto focus sensitivity/capability, but I probably wouldn’t really notice a difference. It’s pretty good at the auto focus anyway. Perhaps I’ll notice when I put on my 80-200mm and try to focus on some smaller items, which is where the auto focus usually has problems.

Fun with multiple exposure. Not new, but still fun

Nikon have also squeezed in a couple of ISO numbers between 800 and H1. If your camera is set up in 1/3 EV increments, you can now get H 0.3 (1000 ISO), and H 0.7 (1250), before you get to H1 (ISO 1600). Not a big deal, but it is still cool what they can do with software!

Anyway, it was a great upgrade and one that I’m sure to enjoy.

I’ve not had much to post lately, but I have been out and about shooting. I’ve been going to Reedy
Creek Park and having a look at the last few leaves that remain on the trees. Winter approaches, though this is not a bad thing. I rather like the soft light and the nakedness of the trees in winter.

As I was out in the park early in the morning and it was about 26 degrees F, there were no people around. This is an excellent opportunity to not only see autumn, but to hear it. All around I could hear the leaves falling to the ground. Not only is autumn a visual feast, but it is wonderful time of year to bask in the smells and sounds of the fall. I took several pictures of the leaves falling from the trees; unfortunately, on the size that I’d have to use for the web, you can’t see the leaves well at all, but at least it was a fun thing to do.

Fall – In progress
Soon, all of the leaves will have fallen and nothing will remain except the bare limbs and trunks of the deciduous trees, leaving the evergreen trees to stand in stark contrast to the emptiness of the others. I hope to make it to Asheville, or perhaps Boone to capture some snow and ice! This year I’d like to hike up the parkway a short way, as the roads are usually closed because of snow and ice.