Thanks, John for this new forum, and congratulations and thanks, Gary for taking on this position. I could really keep you busy with questions! Your images really inspire me to do better. Too bad we don't live closer to the lights! I'd like to post some pics. but I have virtually no eguipment or knowledge. What would it take to get started? Thanks!

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Bud Schrader

Bud, it is a shame you don't live closer. Sharing the lights in my "backyard" with anohter enthusiast would be a lot of fun!

If you shoot print film, a flatbed scanner will allow you to get your images into digital form... they're reasonably inexpensive. If you're shooting slides, some of the flatbeds have 35 mm slide adapters but I don't know how well they work. A decent slide scanner will set you back about $400-500 with higher end scanners pushing $2000 for 35 mm format and considerably higher if you're into medium format.

Once you have the image in digital form, you'll need a piece of photo software. Microsoft gives you MS Photo which would be OK to start, but you'd outgrow it in about 2 weeks. Beyond that, there are two good and affordable programs that I use - PaintShop Pro 7.0 and Photoshop Elements - both are about $100 and will give you most of the image manipulation capability that you'd want. If you want to go further, then there's Photoshop 6.0, but that's BIG bucks, around $650 and, in my opinion, not terribly user friendly, unlike Paintshop Pro and Photoshop Elements, both of which are.

That's sort of the initiation process and price. As for questions, ask away, that's what this forum is for!!!! If I can't answer them, someone on the Collector's Forum probably can.

Gary

Thanks, Gary- My last trip I shot Sensia 400.I would probably take my best slides to prints and scan them. I'll start my search for a scanner, if I have any more questions, I'll keep in touch. Thanks!

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Bud Schrader

Gary, Isn't it better to scan the slides -- if that's what you have -- rather than scanning the prints? Most of the images I've seen on the various photo websites that I've become acquainted with since June 2000, the prints usually leave something to be desired as far as getting good scanned quality: sharpness, color, etc.

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Terry (Teresa) Forrest

While I'm thinking of it, is there anyone who is now using a digital camera, who has a lightbox with tubes of 5000k that they might want to sell? Having changed to shooting slide film (Fuji Provia 100F, 400F and Velvia) at Gary's recommendation, I'm looking to buy one so that I can see my slides better, rather than to continue "squinting" at them by a light to see them and not fully able to see which are the best ones to scan. I find this isn't working well and I'm scanning slides that if I could have seen them better on a lightbox, I wouldn't have bothered wasting my time!!

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Terry (Teresa) Forrest

Terry, you're right, I strongly prefer scanning from slides rather than prints. My only reason for mentioning a flatbed scanner is the cost differential, coupled with the fact that many people have flatbeds already. It ends up being a less expensive way for people to get started.

Another alternative is to have some of your good slides scanned for you Bud. Most professional photographic labs offer this service, but you do it too many times before you'll be asking yourself why you're not buying a scanner. I don't know what the norm is, but I would suspect that somewhere in the vicinity of aboutr $5/slide scanned would be about average.

It's also worth mentioning for those that aren't aware of it... computer monitors have a display at 72 dpi (dots per inch). If you scan something for eventual web display, you don't want to scan at very high digital resolution as you'll loose too much in downsizing the image to get it to the web. While the slide scanner that I use will go to 4000 dpi, I only scan at that resolution when I want to eventually do a very large print, like 12x18 or larger, of the scanned image. I typically scan at 700, 2000, and 4000 dpi. The 700 dpi files of a scanned slide gives you an image typically of ~1.5 Megabytes which can be resized to 72 dpi and converted to a jpeg file for web posting. The 2000 dpi scans I use for prints up to about 8x10; 4000 dpi scans I use for larger prints.

I hope that this reply helps some. As cruise director for this forum, I'm glad to see the questions and happy to provide what information and help that I can for those wanting to get their lighthouse images out to this or any other forum or the web in general. Keep the questions coming and anyone and everyone who has answers to any of the questions feel free to jump in and respond to folks. You won't hurt my feelings in the least. The more participation the better as far as I'm concerned!

Gary

Actually computer monitors vary from 72dpi to over 100 dpi, the 72dpi has been the agreed to standard for most images posted on the Internet. There has been talk recently that "they", whoever "they" are, are thinking of raising the standard to 100 dpi since most monitors being produced today scan at or above 100 dpi.

[This message has been edited by engbrady (edited 02-13-2002).]

Terry, I bought my lightbox from Archival Image,PO Box 3776 Ocala Fla. 34478 - 1-800-688-2485. It came with a 5000k bulb, but it wasn't packaged very well and I had to buy a new bulb from Wal-Mart. You could just build a box. If I knew Wal-Mart had the bulbs, thats what I would have done. The box was like $47.00.

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Bud Schrader

Bud: You said I could build a box? How would I go about doing that? Besides being artistic in other areas besides photography (might post some of my lighthouse photos this weekend from my 2 trips to Michigan last year taken while photographing with Gary), I'm also pretty good with hand tools -hammer, screwdriver, saw, pliers. By the same token, with all the long hours I'm working at work lately because it's our busiest time of year, it might be less aggravating to just buy one. In the Light Impressions catalog, they go from $83.95 to $399.95. I don't need some big, expensive one - just one where I can more easily see my slides so that I won't waste my time needlessly scanning slides that I should pass by. "Squinting" up at them in the light just doesn't effectively work and I've got WAY too many to scan right now to be doing that.

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Terry (Teresa) Forrest

Oh, btw, Bud, Gary is as great in person as he is online with help, encouragement and support with photography, especially lighthouse photography; more so in fact. And lest anyone think he's only good at lighthouse photography, that's VERY FAR from true. His "Reflections of a Pastel Morning" - a colorful sunrise reflection shot of reeds in water - won him an Honorable Mention in Popular Photography's International Contest a year ago January. We first started becoming friends from our mutual posting of our photos on a photographic website somewhere around July or Aug. 2000, and prior to our final meeting each other in person along with our respective spouses in Sept. 2001, we became very good friends. I can't begin to tell you and other people the enormous amount of help he's given me that has helped me become a better photographer (but I'll give it a shot), nor the great recommendations on photographic equipment including filters, lenses, tripods, slide film (Fuji Provia 100F, 400F and Velvia 3 top choices) and where best to buy it, help with starting to learn how to do low light photography, where best to focus on bird and swans shots (focus on the eye(s) and heads), how to get good reflective building shots (study the building by walking around it, checking views through the viewfinder to see what's there - studying angles, perspectives, etc., before taking the photos), and so much more. When Gary couldn't come out to New England to take photos of lighthouses around here last June because of his work's travel schedule and I found out he was going to have a gallery show from Aug.-mid-Sept. (later extended until the end of Oct.), I checked with my husband (he was agreeable) -- because I didn't want to wait until who knew when to meet this great individual in person!! Naturally part of the intention of going to Michigan was to photograph together as well. To say that he was generous with his time and expertise while we were there was putting it very mildly. He took us and me (when Dan, my husband, went off to see the Air Zoo and do other things by himself) EVERYWHERE and was EXTREMELY GENEROUS with both his time and expertise. I learned a great deal from him in the short time we were there. He says he didn't really show me that much -- just a few exposures, but I feel with the encouragement and support he gave me, I gained a great deal of confidence in myself and my abilities photographically and in more confidence in using my equipment. Now, before I bore you and everyone else to tears and make Gary blush even more than I probably have already, I'll close this for now and tell you more at a future time!!

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Terry (Teresa) Forrest

Terry, my light box is about 18" X 12" and has a white "plastic" covering. Back in the days of stencil burning, we made a box out of 1X6 or 1X8, fastened a small fluorescent fixture in it, made a small ledge near the top to hold a piece of regular glass, just plugged it in when we wanted to use it. It was VERY basic. My $47.00 box really isn't bad for no more than I really use it. Thanks for the biography on Gary. He sure does seem like the helpful sort, and I've really been picking up a lot of helpful suggestions from he and others on the forums. Good luck on the lightbox, what ever you decide to do.

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Bud Schrader