Recent content by Big Dog

I need a new printer. I've been using an Epson Stylus Photo R1800 for about 3 years but it's dying. Whilst I've been happy with the prints, the printer itself has been nothing but trouble, with regularly blocked nozzles and other problems. I need a printer that is reliable and produces great...

For fear of being ridiculed - yep, I've used a mannequin to try lighting solutions out. I used one from a firm called 'Dazzling Dummies', was fairly expensive at the time but unlike the cheap versions used in shops, the skin time etc on this thing was excellent.

I've been using the 70-200 VRII on the D700, at times with the newer 2x converter. Both produce the most amazing images - with no vignetting whatsoever.

I'm using Phase One's 'Capture One 5 Pro'. It's great.

Must admit that I never upgrade mine either - works fine as it is so why risk any problems that may occur during an upgrade

I was well impressed with the bargains to be had. Picked up a Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VRII for £500 less than Greys of Westminster want for one. Also picked up the new TC 20 E III for a saving of over £100. I would agree though that this years show was more of a market and didn't seem to have as...

Absolutely agree with the above. For the first year I bought most of the magazines but you soon realise that between all the publications, they print the same stuff year after year. In my opinion, once you've got the basics sorted, you'd be much better off spending the money on a half decent course.

Well pleased - been shooting local bands of late - just been told that one of my images is being used for a CD Album Cover and several others are being used on the back of the disc case. I'll get full credit for the images on the cover.

I've done a couple of the courses run by John Clements - I think they are the same as the one's running in Kingston. I thought that they were pretty good and worth attending.

Check out 'Neat Image' instead - really cool.

I signed up for the AP Course just over 2 years ago - I was very disappointed and thought that it was a complete waste of money - my opinion is that you could learn more from a book and get more feedback and critique from photographer friends and your local photographic club. My advice, don't...

Hi all I need to get a proper portfolio sorted, so I've been looking for a high quality leather bound portfolio with 20 inserts to facilitate 40 images. Needs to be leather that can be embossed with my name and must be designed to take the photographers industry standard 11"x14" prints...

Probably been asked before but which colour profiling device is best. There are so many that I'm confused. There are Spyder's, Colorminki's and more. I want to ensure that my screen is as accurate as possible and that the images I print are the same as what I see on the screen - apparently the...

You haven't read the post correctly - the 3:1 ratio is between the main light and the Fill light, not the main and the background. The basic set up that I described is the one taught succesfully by many professional photographers at their lighting workshops. I use it for virtually all my...

Not quite right. The aperture setting of the camera should match that of the Key/main light. Once you have metered your white High key background at 1.5 to 2 stops more than the key light, you would then give consideration to your Fill light. This is where you have to start thinking about...