Ripley

I rang one yesterday around Sydney and they take anyone and offer basic and prestige printing services. Last night I converted them all to 8 bit jpegs and put them on a stick for her. I thought, whatever, I'll know next time. She emailed me to say that if she wants to get one blown up, she will ask me where is the better lab. The one I rang are at Waterloo in Sydney. If she likes the rest of them as much as the two I sent her (I gave her the same photos done in a few different ways re post processing, she said she will ask me to photograph her 2 teenage sons and if she does, I'll charge for it. Thanks for all your input

I don't want any money, just that if she wants enlarged prints, which she does, she will let me choose where they are printed and pay the print costs only. My friend also wants a copy of a few of them, but she is different, she'd be happy to pay me the print costs from the lab of my choice. I also took some pics of my friend's dog for her, but am happy for them to be printed wherever as with dog photos, I don't spend much time on them in PS. I've sent her an email anyway, saying I'll send her the smaller jpeg files to print standard mini lab size 6 x 4 but I'd rather that if she wants enlargements, she let me print them at the lab of my choice and she can pay the printing cost. I certainly don't want any money from her, I just want the cost of printing at a pro lab reimbursed. Are they expensive? I'm going to get a website up (eventually, I have so much to go through) just for my personal interest and friends/family/work colleagues who always ask me if I have one yet. I have so much to go through and OH doesn't like me on the computer at night as it's the only chance we get to spend time together, as we both work full time. I don't want to get into portraits or dog photography, but it's ok doing it for the experience. I happen to like taking pics of wildlife and travels the most.

The first 2 pics I sent I reduced them but they were larger than 6 x 8. I've got to convert them all now to jpeg anyway. it's ok, I can take it. From now on I'm only taking photos for ME.

She's not a friend and annoyed me a bit by pestering me for the photos a few days after I got back. I sent an email saying my other personal photos I've taken take priority and I'd do them in a month for her - I've finally done them. If I knew she had this sense of entitlement about it, I wouldn't have taken the pics. I've already said I'm not doing the family photo thing for her, I'm not interested and she wouldn't pay as she doesn't have the money - very understandable. However, there are plenty of pro places near where she works she can go to for a family portrait. OK, how I feel about it is, I've put a lot of effort into making them look nice. I've done different versions of them to taste. I don't want her to print out large versions of them at a mini lab so I will now send her the smaller sizes where she can print them out standard 6 x 8 or whatever it is and any larger prints she wants, she can email me, pay me for the print costs only so I'm not out of pocket and I can get them printed at a pro lab and have them sent to her. Thanks for the feedback, kja. If I ever do this again, I won't charge for the session but I will for prints at a better lab. It's not something I want to get into, but someone else from work wants me to take pics of their baby and I'm avoiding it. It's not a privilege to get asked to do that if you aren't getting paid, it's a pain in the butt. I'm not remotely interested in children, maybe that's it.

Brief email went something like, "Can you take your good camera to Melb and take some shots of her?" Me: "All right" Then I sent her 2 pics, she raved about them and wanted me to do more. I spent a few hours making them look better, converting some to b/w and adding a few mild effects and doing different versions of each as not everyone likes what I like. I don't do people pics so this was my first time, I didn't know she'd be so happy with the 2 I sent her and now want high res files of them all.

Thanks kja. So if you took photos and spent time editing them for an acquaintance, you would charge them the printing and send them to her after emailing small jpeg sizes for her to look at or would you hand over the high res files? I am thinking I don't want to hand over high res jpegs for her to do whatever with. I don't want her to show around crappy prints from the corner lab and she wants to put them in some photo book she is doing for her family. I've printed some of my pics at 2 diff labs in the city and the difference in quality was amazing. Harvey Norman were better than the photographic place downstairs who sell cameras and pride themselves on being a good printing corner store but then I printed some more at a different Harvey Norman and they were wishy washy.

Yep, I've made my decision. I'm not going to be a pushover and considering the time I spent on them, she's not gettting high res files on a stick to print at Big W or similar corner place. I've found a pro lab at Waterloo so I will use them if she wants some prints done. If not, she can get the smaller sized printed whereever but won't be able to blow them up. eta: Can someone explain the diff with 16 bit and 8 bit and you can only convert 8 bit to jpeg right? I don't have a home printer so have no idea. I want the best colour I can for my own photos of wildlife I want to print out, where colour is everything.

I save as psd files for myself, sometimes tiff in case I want to go back and re-edit. I should have saved them as jpegs but it was so hot last night, I think my brain was foggy so I dumped them on a stick and that was it. The more I think about it though, you are right. I took the pics as a favour after she asked me if I would take photos. I am not charging her for them and I spent a few hours editing them. I sent her two of them in high res and she is now pestering me for the others and raving how much she loves them. It was just a favour as she asked me for some shots of her child, I didn't think she'd love the two I sent her so much. So I think I will email her small sized and any she wants I'll print at a pro lab, normal size and she can pay me for them. She does has a sense of entitlement about her and expects them all large sized on a stick to do whatever with. She's not a friend, but I've known her for many years due to her being the ex of a friend of mine. The more I think about it, the more I want to kind of protect what I've done so I might send her small jpeg size of the photos, she can say which ones she wants printed and I'll just charge her printing costs. I've given them some b/w treatment with different tints and done some PS work on the colour prints so I don't want them to look crappy printed at Harvey Norman or similar. She'll get the poos about that but too bad. That sounds fussy but it's just how I feel. She's already sent me an email asking if I've left the usb stick in my letterbox as she is coming around. Thank god I'm at work.

I did a quick search but can't find it. I've saved 16 bit files in psd format to a usb stick and there is nobody around Sydney who can print them, not even Ted's cameras or the photo lab downstairs. I've called about 4 places. They all only accept 8 bit jpegs. What is the name of that pro lab people were recommending? The photos are for the partner of a friend. I spent a lot of time editing them and I don't want her to just run off and print them at BigW and have them looking like crap. I've put them on a usb stick but should I be printing them at a pro lab for her and sending them off? I'll charge her for printing only, but she wants them on a stick and I don't want my hard work unravelled by Big W or Harvey Norman quality prints, which is where she will go. Should I hand over the high res files though? I shot them in raw and they are all 16 bit tiffs at home.

I don't use flash for what I do but once in a rainforest I popped up the in camera flash and used a white tissue I had in my pocket to diffuse it and dialed in - exposure for it and the result was ok.

Don't some people buy plug ins and just run them in the actions menu? That would speed up time but then I guess if you didn't like the look, you'd have to adjust each layer.

I went to this yesterday as I work in the city (it's quiet at work so had the time). Cost was $17 entry. It was bigger than last year's. Agree, there were some amazing photos. I like reading the story on how they were taken - camping out in a hide for over a week in Finland during the middle of winter is dedication for you! So manyt the photos involved that kind of thing, but there was a lovely one of a sole tulip taken in France that some bloke snapped on his afternoon walk. There was even one there taken with a 10D - proof that you don't have to have the latest DSLR. Most of the wildlife shots were taken with a 1D or Nikon though. A few film ones too, especially in the b/w category. Stunning b/w film shot of a male lion's head, all grainy and it really made me linger over it. One thing I noticed on close examination is the photos aren't all super sharp. In focus of course, but they state on their rules that sharpness is not everything. The wolf shot was pretty amazing and looked like a painting. I bought the mini booklet which was about $15 of all the images. This was the lion one I really liked (a film shot). all the pics are here: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/tem...y=2&group=1

These ones? Them be the ones! Gorgeous, gentle boy. He sure was a handsome boy and still is. PRS, he does love the girlies. Especially little fluffy females. He's met Millie.

That's a shame. We miss you at lunch

I don't find time, kja. That's the problem. I work full time and don't get on the computer at night if I can help it as it gives me insomnia and OH gets the sulks. He's the one who wanted me to have a hobby, now he resents the time I have to stay on the computer editing. I have so many photos to go through, some from an overseas trip in late 2008 that I've culled, but not processed. Trouble is, I know more about PS now (been reading a great Scott Kelby book plus there is google) so want to go back and re-edit some photos before putting them on a website. This weekend I'm going to sit on my butt and do more editing and culling but to be honest, I find it very boring. I like taking photos but don't like the time processing them. I'd rather be out doing other things. One tip someone gave me was if you are travelling, take a laptop with you and load and cull as you go, delete the crap, convert the raw files and sort into folders for processing later and do this daily, at night after you take pics. Also another tip: treat the digital camera like a film camera and don't snap away at anything and everything. Trouble is, my OH's laptop isn't calibrated properly and he won't let me stick my spyder on it. eta: with the wild bird photos to post process takes less time. I convert from raw into tiff and then a slight selective colour boost (not all colours) and sharpen is all that is needed. Sometimes if the exposure is off, I'll do a layer mask or subtle shadow/highlights adjustment but I prefer to get it right in camera so fiddle with the camera a bit during taking the pic. Landscapes take more time. Dogs can take more time too.

Rex is the reason I now like Dobes. If my OH would allow, I'd mind him anytime but he doesn't like dobes. He'd be fine with my parrots too. Here is the birthday boy, taken about 18 months ago now. where is that photo of rex with the bunny, Mon?

double post

Gorgeous, westielover. Hey, you still working in the city?

Never heard of them. I'll check it out, thanks tess. Slowly and slowly I'm sorting through stuff but am still behind. Trouble is, I know more about photo editing now, read a lot of stuff over Christmas, so I want to go back and edit older photos I took and that is going to take more time.

I'm deleting flickr soon and setting up pbase just for personal use as it's more suited to what I take photos of (wildlife and landscapes, few people, few dogs). Thanks for your input, everyone.

It's shabby chic - my work colleague would love it, she is into all that. Great pics everyone.

how cute is that mouse? Gorgeous. This is very boring as I've been doing other stuff today. Went to the shops yesterday and bought this maxi dress in the sales.

nice action shots tlc. Here's another with the 50mm because I've been editing all afternoon. What was that other thread saying about vignettes? eta: sh*t, just noticed I forgot to clone out the little scar on her lip. Ah well, she'd a bit of a tomboy anyway.

I whacked the 50mm on my film camera and took a few landscape photos with it once but I wasn't good at zooming with my feet, so great composition there with the landscape images! Today I'm finishing some photos I took of a friend's daughter and am experimenting as I took a few pics. I've given this one an old faded 70s look in Photoshop.

TD, you see some amazing landscapes, beautiful light. Today I didn't do much so plonked the parrot in front of a darkish wall with the curtains open to get a black background. He's almost finished his moult and his beak is still peeling a bit. I was going to take a pic of Millie but she spends all afternoon sleeping, she's getting old.