Happened just yesterday.
A woman calls, says she runs a business selling some kind of food supplement and that she needs an endorsement portrait of a female bodybuilder from another state she's going into business with. But she's not calling to hire me. That would be "too expensive," she's already decided, what with the flying that would be involved.
"So what is the best camera for this sort of thing?" she asks.
Taken aback, I mutter something about pro gear, no point-and-shoots.
"You should probably hire a pro, someone who knows what he's doing," I then say, coming to my senses. "Doesn't have to be me. I could help you find a professional photographer in that person's state."
But she persists. Says the bodybuilder's husband is going to have a crack at it. Urrgh. Writes down "SLR" and what SLR stands for -- first time she's heard the term. Inquires about irrelevant stuff she doesn't know anything about: the number of megapixels required, mostly. As if there's a good answer to that. Depends on what she'll be using the photos for, I guess, but I don't want to get bogged down in THAT discussion.
Then, still trying to be helpful (why, I don't know), I say to remember to shoot RAW. I briefly touch upon the difference between JPEG and RAW, which is meaningful in post-processing -- "mostly to pros," I hint again. Then, of course, she asks me what post-processing is. Could have seen that coming.
I finally get her off the phone, not putting much credence in the blurted-out half-promise that she may need some product shots someday and she might call back then. She's clearly just trying to justify picking my brain for free.
Two minutes later, she calls again. "So how do you spell RAW?" R-A-W, ma'am. "So that's like JPEG, right? Is that the same thing?" No ma'am. It's a different photo format.
"And when you say format," she inquires, "do you mean size"?
I wonder if my neighbor, an emergency-room nurse, gets many inquisitive calls from people who've been in kitchen mishaps, looking for a few quick tips on reattaching their nearly-severed digits themselves.
Actually, I think I know the answer.
