People Cover

[Al Goldis]

Thom Hogan posted a message over in the Pro Digital forum that sheds more light on magazine printing issues.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1014&page=1&message=1457612

My point being, you can't really tell based on one magazine image.

My goal in posting was twofold: to confirm the camera will work for
me (I tend to think it will work very nicely for me) and also
curiosity about what caused the lower grade People magazine images.

 

[Mark Richards]

I'm going to make one post.

I am photographer that shot the cover and inside art (2 pictures).

1. The Lens is sharp. The photo editor had her name on the line on this assignment. She was more than happy with the outcome. People is just one of many magazine clients that have been very happy with digital.

2. The cover and inside photos (2) were shot in about 30 min. With a lawyer and others watching the entire shoot.
3. Do to deadline I had to edit 300 images and send to New York via e-mail

within about 2 hours after the shot. This includes the drive down Sunset Blvd, while I edited on the laptop in the car (my assistant was driving).

4. The inside photo is 2 page spread is BETTER than film, the picture is only 50% of the frame. It had to be cropped due to layout. If the original picture (the full frame) were made to the size that was cropped to the spread it would have been 16x20 inches.

5. I shot day in and day out with the D-30 on assignment, I ether get the shots I am required to get or I don't continue to work on assignment.

6. I love the camera, but the camera doesn’t make the pictures that get in magazines, I do. It is the person that matters. I have made pictures on assignment with pinhole cameras, " amateur cameras, etc.
Use the camera, but use your mind more.

Good Luck

Mark Richards

 

[LMC54]

You tell em Mark!

I'm going to make one post.

I am photographer that shot the cover and inside art (2 pictures).

1. The Lens is sharp. The photo editor had her name on the line on
this assignment. She was more than happy with the outcome. People
is just one of many magazine clients that have been very happy with
digital.
2. The cover and inside photos (2) were shot in about 30 min. With
a lawyer and others watching the entire shoot.
3. Do to deadline I had to edit 300 images and send to New York
via e-mail
within about 2 hours after the shot. This includes the drive down
Sunset Blvd, while I edited on the laptop in the car (my assistant
was driving).
4. The inside photo is 2 page spread is BETTER than film, the
picture is only 50% of the frame. It had to be cropped due to
layout. If the original picture (the full frame) were made to the
size that was cropped to the spread it would have been 16x20 inches.
5. I shot day in and day out with the D-30 on assignment, I ether
get the shots I am required to get or I don't continue to work on
assignment.
6. I love the camera, but the camera doesn’t make the
pictures that get in magazines, I do. It is the person that
matters. I have made pictures on assignment with pinhole cameras, "
amateur cameras, etc.
Use the camera, but use your mind more.

Good Luck

Mark Richards

 

[Tom Wilson]

congrats Mark on a great feat ...Best wishes

hope Canon sends you the pro for all the publicity you gave them

 

[Scotty B]

Definately congrats on this shoot, Mark!!

I hadn't seen the magazine until last night. The shots are superb!

Scotty B.

I'm going to make one post.

I am photographer that shot the cover and inside art (2 pictures).

1. The Lens is sharp. The photo editor had her name on the line on
this assignment. She was more than happy with the outcome. People
is just one of many magazine clients that have been very happy with
digital.
2. The cover and inside photos (2) were shot in about 30 min. With
a lawyer and others watching the entire shoot.
3. Do to deadline I had to edit 300 images and send to New York
via e-mail
within about 2 hours after the shot. This includes the drive down
Sunset Blvd, while I edited on the laptop in the car (my assistant
was driving).
4. The inside photo is 2 page spread is BETTER than film, the
picture is only 50% of the frame. It had to be cropped due to
layout. If the original picture (the full frame) were made to the
size that was cropped to the spread it would have been 16x20 inches.
5. I shot day in and day out with the D-30 on assignment, I ether
get the shots I am required to get or I don't continue to work on
assignment.
6. I love the camera, but the camera doesn’t make the
pictures that get in magazines, I do. It is the person that
matters. I have made pictures on assignment with pinhole cameras, "
amateur cameras, etc.
Use the camera, but use your mind more.

Good Luck

Mark Richards

 

[jim kelly]

Mark,

The D30 pictures are fine, better than acceptable, but compared to the Jennifer Lopez picture on the cover and the half page Condit picture inside they are far less crisp. This is not a criticism of your work but is an observation of the camera's capabilities from another who is considering moving to a digital SLR for a non-professional non-income producing purpose.

Keep up the good work!

Jim
--

I hadn't seen the magazine until last night. The shots are superb!

Scotty B.

I'm going to make one post.

I am photographer that shot the cover and inside art (2 pictures).

1. The Lens is sharp. The photo editor had her name on the line on
this assignment. She was more than happy with the outcome. People
is just one of many magazine clients that have been very happy with
digital.
2. The cover and inside photos (2) were shot in about 30 min. With
a lawyer and others watching the entire shoot.
3. Do to deadline I had to edit 300 images and send to New York
via e-mail
within about 2 hours after the shot. This includes the drive down
Sunset Blvd, while I edited on the laptop in the car (my assistant
was driving).
4. The inside photo is 2 page spread is BETTER than film, the
picture is only 50% of the frame. It had to be cropped due to
layout. If the original picture (the full frame) were made to the
size that was cropped to the spread it would have been 16x20 inches.
5. I shot day in and day out with the D-30 on assignment, I ether
get the shots I am required to get or I don't continue to work on
assignment.
6. I love the camera, but the camera doesn’t make the
pictures that get in magazines, I do. It is the person that
matters. I have made pictures on assignment with pinhole cameras, "
amateur cameras, etc.
Use the camera, but use your mind more.

Good Luck

Mark Richards

 

[Jay Abend]

Here's my bi-annual post-

I shoot with two D-30 bodies on a daily basis. For my work, mostly corporate and advertising agency work, the D-30 has totally replaced 35mm transparency film. 100%.

It has NOT replaced MF and 4x5 film, nor has it caused me to stop using my Megavision back or my Betterlight back or my drum scanner. Whenever Canon comes out with a higher res body I'll buy one, but it will most likely occupy the exact same place in my arsenal- as a replacement for my 35mm work ONLY.

Like the other D-30 owners I'm consistently impressed with the incredible images this camera can produce instantly, and also sometimes dissapointed with some of the downsides. It's like that with everything. I have 20" x 30" posters on the studio walls shot with the D-30 that consistently impress clients and convince them to let me shoot with the D-30.

About Mark's use of the Tamron 28-105 f 2.8 for the People assignment. No offense Mark, but I used to use that lens for film work, and it seemed pretty good. On the D-30 it was VERY VERY soft up to f8. I went out and bought a brand new lens, which was the same. I bailed and replaced it with a Canon 28-70 f 2.8 L which is INFINITELY superior wide open. Not close, but DAY and NIGHT. I was as surprised as most of you will be to read this, but there has got to be something about the D-30's CMOS sensor that makes it a poor choice for this lens. In fact I had a bunch of other Tamron zooms that I used only for snapshots and they were awful with the D-30. I bought similar Sigma lenses and the results, while far from my "L" glass, were way better. For clients I use only "L" glass- I thought it was BS that they were noticeably beter but from f 2.8 to f 5.6 the difference is undeniable. I also find that AF performance when using the CF button for focus and "L" glass is pretty damn good now.

Anyway- I have shot tons and tons of national ads, brochures, catalogs etc with D-30s and I have not had ONE CLIENT ask for anything better. I shoot RAW with everything set to "low"- contrast, sharpness, saturation. I convert using Canon's software, which sucks but it's the only thing that I find delivers the really pure, natural colors. I resize each image to 3400 x 2200 pixels, do my tonal adjustments (I usually desaturate the yellow channel a lot for people stuff) and charpen agressively (usually 310%, .6 pixel, levels 3) and then selctively blur stairstep edges. This allows me to deliver a 30MB CMYK file to the client, 9" x 13" at 250 dpi. While the digital artifacts are noticeable at 100% on the screen, in most cases they are no more objectionable than film grain and dirt. Great looking CMYK images are almost always about perfect color and contrast anyway, so as long as I do my job correctly the client is happy.

IMHO the People shots were too soft. I have D-30 shots that have run full page and are substantially crisper than that. Then again, nobody cares but us digital weenies. I have had film images that were way too soft still be used by clients who just didn't care, they liked the image. If the Condit photos were tack sharp it wouldn't have made any difference to newsstand sales, I'm quite sure.

Just my 2 cents.

jay

http://www.abendimaging.com