Friday, time to cleanse the palate.

Rant time. If I can't rant on my own blog, well where the hell can I?

After a long exchange from a supposedly established photographer who shall remain nameless, but has somehow avoided "going digital" but, since his agent is threatening to drop his ass if he doesn't switch...

AND, out of respect to all you out there who've worked your asses off TO learn how to shoot with digital, I offer this:

email from Ted...

...Ah, I was under the impression you wanted to actually know the process, not simply appear that you know it.

Sorry, but you had that coming.

First, I just spent, out of courtesy to ..., a great deal of time (that I cannot afford) with the distraction of trying to get in contact with you, and then putting together some of the best advice you will get, regardless of how much you did, or did not, want to hear it.

Second, I have spent a great deal of the last ten years of my career trying to do damage-control resulting from the ignorance of photographers who decide to shoot digital and don't know how to process or deliver files, only to blame "digital" for the outcome. The entire industry suffers from this irresponsibility. The capabilities of a full-frame sensor far exceed that of film, and all anyone needs to do to prove that is to know how to process the files. Now, if you work with a good assistant, or production team, as I suggested, you may be able to avoid that embarrasment, but my guess is you feel you don't need to take that step.

One more bit of advice you may ignore as well. If you feel that shooting digital is no more difficult and complex than moving from one film format camera to another, you have some very rude surprises coming.

Oh, and, frankly if, in fact, anyone out there is still paying in the neighborhood of the $7000 day rate you claim, then my vote is it should go to someone who has a commitment to the medium and has learned his tools. ..., for example. I know for a fact she's spent over $100K in education and tools to do what she does today.

I'm done.

Ted


This is in response to this line of emails, read them from the bottom up:

but what is the objective then?
my agent 2 decades ago told me I needed to get a hasselblad
I got one, never had used one before
4 days later I got the biggest catalog of the year at 49k from ...
It was booked in Africa and cancelled
I shot in a studio, my first time in a studio ever, and first job with a hasselblad
and my first time ever with my two assistants
at the end of the 2 weeks the art director said that he'd never had a job go more smoothly and that we must have worked together for years. they subsequently booked me for 10 years.
I've shot with those two cameras before. and have done epson prints, and downloaded the files. I did a 2 week modeling job all over S. America and watched the photographer shoot digitally and think that I could have by the end of the two weeks easil.

I think in a week with help I'd be able to do a $3500. a half day job and without it I won't.
and that is my point.
Thanks
...


On Jul 29, 2009, at 9:15 AM, ... wrote:

Thanks for your input.
Months and years?
...

On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 8:19 AM, Ted Dillard wrote:
Sorry, I don't think that is realistic. Our time issues aside, if you want to get up to speed on digital, it's not something that takes weeks, certainly not at the professional level. Think months, years, honestly. What a lot of photographers in your situation do is to hire a production/digital assistant who handles the cameras and processing, it's a great, hands-on way to learn. I'd actually suggest ... for that, she's among the best I've taught.

Ted

On Jul 29, 2009, at 8:11 AM, ... wrote:

Thanks
but
I need to do this now. The summer is the only time for me to make money. and I need to.
My photo agent needs new images and there a crews of models ready to come up.

On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 7:02 AM, Ted Dillard wrote:
beautiful work...

OK, I think we need to rethink this, since it seems we're unable to connect via telephone. For my part, I apologize, I've been simply buried, especially in meetings and appointments... I'm thinking we need to postpone this and try again when we both have more time, maybe in the late Fall? However, there's a lot of work you need to do before I can even make any worthwhile contributions to the effort. Here are a few suggestions-

Get a good digital camera, I'd suggest a full-frame chip, like a Canon 5D Mark 2 or a Nikon D700. If you want to make prints that are 4x6', that's what you need. Shooting with the Kodak is just going to give you a bunch of beautiful shots that you ultimately can't do anything with- it's just too small a file, not enough resolution.

Get Photoshop, and tear into it. Even if you want to save some money and get Lightroom or Photoshop Elements, you've got to dive in, and Photoshop is the language that digital photography speaks.

I'd suggest a good book to help you start learning Photoshop correctly. Mine, of course (RAW Pipeline), or any of the books that seem to strike a chord with you.

(I'd encourage you to start right off by shooting RAW files, by the way...)

Maybe pick yourself up a nice printer, like an Epson R2800 or something to make prints with.

Dive in the deep end, and try to learn as much as you can... then if you're looking for help, whether from me, or someone else, maybe ... you at least have a foundation to build on.

Again, sorry... bad timing, and I hope this doesn't feel like "take 2 and call me...", but I don't really see a practical way to get this rolling.

Best wishes, feel free to contact me with any questions along the way.

Ted