Fort Wayne

Photographers Club

1-28-11

I am in the process of transferring a lifetime of slides to my computer.  I would than like to transfer them to DVDs. 

There are many programs on the market and I am not sure which one I should get.  

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Reply: I just downloaded Picasa and I am very impressed-  For a novice like me it seems to be very user friendly,

Before you start scanning your slides you will need to decide what your intended use is for the digital files.

If you simply want to create a high quality digital archive of the image, then you can scan them at a high resolution and burn them to DVD's. These may or may not be viewable on a DVD player, depending on the DVD player.

If you mainly want to see your pictures on your TV, you can scan your slides at a much lower resolution, then burn them to DVD's, which again may or may not be viewable on a DVD player.  

In either case there is no particular software required over and above the scanner driver (included with your scanner) and the DVD burning program (included with your computer), both of which I'm sure you already have. If what you want is an actual slide show, you could just use Windows Movie Maker for that. As far as organizing images is concerned, I've heard a lot of people say good things about Picasa, free software from Google.

From the "How to Clean a Lens" video, does it matter if the alcohol is 70% vs 91% pure alcohol?  The pharmacy sells both.

There is no consensus on this topic. Some say 70% isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) is fine. Some say that the water in this is not pure, hence may leave streaks. Rubbing alcohol may contain other ingredients (such as lubricants) that would be inappropriate for lens cleaning. Some say use only 90+% isopropyl alcohol. Some say use only ethyl or methyl alcohols.  Some say don't use any alcohol at all, it may damage the lens coatings. Since I  am not a chemist, I recommend what works for me - commercially available lens fluid (like Promaster Opticlean) and a microfiber cloth. I have never had a problem with scratching or otherwise damaged lens coatings

Also, since going digital I have a huge problem with my portraits being washed out. Faces turn out glowing white. Do I have something set wrong? It does this no matter what the ISO is set on.

Many factors effect picture quality: lens quality, camera sensor, image exposure, tripod, and more. A new camera body might give you a better image, but it won't be the additional pixels that are responsible. 

 - Bill Christie

I am an aspiring photographer, who mostly takes pictures of my family and some landscaping.  I have done 2 senior portrait sessions, and was fairly happy with the results.  However, I was recently asked to take portraits for a couple’s wedding in April.  I am really nervous, and am looking for some tips and/or somebody to meet and mentor me for a little while.  I know that many portrait settings use an ISO of 400 and the largest aperture available on your camera.  I just have some troubles with taking pictures that are fine one moment and then out of focus or underexposed the next.  I’m not sure if its my camera or I just don’t have the right setting.  If someone can point me in the right direction, that would be great.

I am not a portrait photographer but here are a couple of tips. I would recommend a ISO setting of 200 and use the smallest "f" stop number for your lens - like 2.8, 3.5 etc. Also, I would recommend using the spot focus setting for your focus setting as the normal focus setting may be trying to focus on the background instead of the subject. Lighting is very critical for portrait photography and it is not uncommon to have three different light sources - main light, fill in light and backlight. Location and background also have a major impact for the portrait. Since it is for a wedding, clothing and setup (single person / both people etc) are also a consideration. You might also try Dawn Haney, Kim Ross, Denise McQuillan or Dan Scheerer as they are involved in doing commercial photography or have their own services.