ABC TV "Master Snap"

[Poisson Du Jour]

Ugh—!

My vote would have gone to Peter for his waterfall along the Myrtle Gully Track (there are about four falls along there). I saw no symmetry or technical finesse in the other two images other than what the camera itself did. I am not prepared to give any of the photographers any real credit as promising "professional photographers" after just 4 hours. Oh please! Who ever on earth came up with the suggestion that they are now "promising professional photographers"!? Give a guy a 5D, and after 4 days or so, presto! He's a professional. It's a mad world. The ABC is I think conveying a terrible skewed, overly simplified and distorted representation of what is involved in dedicated landscape photography. They weren't even properly equipped for exploring such a hazardous place as Mount Wellington (especially the Organ Pipes Track where many people have come to grief on the icy rocks).

 

[SMBooth]

Oh lighten up its a TV show.

 

[Yamaotoko]

I just caught up with the portraiture episode yesterday afternoon. What I thought was interesting, was that when they went to the prints, the host stated that the shots had no post work done whatsoever. Is it just me, or was there some very obvious colour adjustments happening there? Dick was warmed up a fair bit compared to what they'd shown earlier, and the circus girl looked a bit desaturated, and what looked like auto white balance when she was shot, looked very, very fluro-ey in print...? I guess colour correction isn't really 'post work' so much as regular practice... But do you reckon the contestants sat down and did it themselves?

 

[tomtraubert]

I am just speculating, but it's possible that the printing system they used has an "auto-levels" type of adjustment, or something like that.

 

[Yamaotoko]

...I reckon they also got a bit of help with lighting, which is fair I guess, a bit daunting if you've never used them before (I remember my first time using a studio setup, I coldn't get the protectors off the heads!). There's a real difference in lighting from before and after the judges first visit, and in one scene someone is moving lights around in the background while they're interviewing the contestant.

On one hand, as my partner pointed out, it did reinforce that it's not just a matter of buying a fancy camera, there's a lot more to know too. But then, as Gary said, a lot of that 'background information' (lighting ratios, posing techniques, hiking safety, more 'involved' composition etc) aren't looked into, which almost does say 'fancy cameras take good photos', 'expensive pots make a nicer stew' etc...

 

[LJH]

I'm not knocking it (just) because of its lack of photographic merit; it is just a beige show.

There is no technical information, so you don't learn anything. There is no suspense as to whom is going to win (same as most "Reality" shows), so turning over is a real option. And, I cannot connect to any of the contestants, especially as they change each week, so there is no human connection.

I suspect that Community TV knocked the pitch for this back before the ABC took it on...

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I am just speculating, but it's possible that the printing system they used has an "auto-levels" type of adjustment, or something like that.

A Doctor friend using a 5D MkII (which no doubt will be joining us on a grubby Alby Mangles-type jaunt into the Otways this Sunday) tells me that pics 'don't need any work at all for printing'. "Just connect the camera, transfer to the computer and print!". But he's a doctor, not a photographer in the strictest sense (though he is a darned good bushwalker and chaff-cutter...). I suspect it was auto-everything at the post stage.

The printed image of the Myrtle Gully Falls hanging before the judges looked like it had come down with a bout of cyanosis, compared to the preview in-camera. All that said, Mount Wellington is a beautiful place to explore in winter, just getting up the one-car-at-a-time road is a challenge. Oh, and you can eyeball the palatial dig of the late, great Peter Dombrovskis in Fern Tree at the base of the ginormous long haul.

 

[Nige]

I liked the 'winning' pic much better than the waterfall (which could have done with some cropping to get rid of the awful overexposed sky IMO). Amazing changing conditions if that was all filmed over a single 4hrs.

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Oops, I forgot to watch it last night. I thought it was okay the first week and especially enjoyed Dick Smith's comments about how it would be better with film.

 

[Yamaotoko]

A Doctor friend using a 5D MkII (which no doubt will be joining us on a grubby Alby Mangles-type jaunt into the Otways this Sunday) tells me that pics 'don't need any work at all for printing'. "Just connect the camera, transfer to the computer and print!".

I guess if you don't care about how sharp your print is (...or isn't), the sure, go for it!

 

[wotalegend]

Ugh—!

.......... I am not prepared to give any of the photographers any real credit as promising "professional photographers" after just 4 hours. Oh please! Who ever on earth came up with the suggestion that they are now "promising professional photographers"!? Give a guy a 5D, and after 4 days or so, presto! He's a professional. It's a mad world. The ABC is I think conveying a terrible skewed, overly simplified and distorted representation of what is involved in dedicated landscape photography. ..............

What? You need to spend a few days with a DSLR before you can call yourself a professional? But there was a full page ad on the back of MX last week from either Dick Smith (the Woolworths-owned company, not the man) or JB Hi-Fi which said that simply buying one of their entry-level DSLRs would make you a pro. Is that not so?

And I know someone who recently bought an entry-level DSLR, did the free basics course offered by the retailer, and now offers herself as a wedding and children photographer. Is she not a real pro?

<painfully extracts tongue from cheek>

 

[Ross Chambers]

I liked the 'winning' pic much better than the waterfall (which could have done with some cropping to get rid of the awful overexposed sky IMO). Amazing changing conditions if that was all filmed over a single 4hrs.

Me too. Sometimes I consider heading off to the bush around here (Blue Mountains) which is not to be taken lightly when you're not a fit young bushwalker. And then I see a multitude of postcards, calendars and prints of Blue Mountains waterfall settings and wonder what I could do that was unique of that rather over covered subject.

The winning photograph conveyed cold and bleak to me. It was interesting to see the woman attempt to overcome the brightness range problems and get that rainbow shot because the cinematographer caught it nicely every time; I guess he or she is not allowed to help.

And I could not see any point in focus in the "macro" ice crystal shot. It didn't help that I'd read a piece on The Online Photographer site which was critical of what the writer believed to be a current and questionable vogue for bokeh and the problems of achieving it with small sensor cameras.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Ross I'm sure there is room for your, and others' many and varied creative intepretations of the well-beaten tourist path attractions in the Blue Mountains, like Wentworth Falls, and another, smaller fall (you may know it: has an ugly water pipe over it?). When I visited a place in Katoomba, it was selling small postcards which had a mysterious, ethereal glow and astonishing beauty about them. When I communicated with the photographer (who's name I can't recall clearly, a she, because my visit was in 2006), I was told they were multiple exposures (same frame), on film: the same scene, with different light throughout the day overlaid. To be successful as photographers we often have to find ways of being different, even exploiting mistakes to turn them around and make them successful and appealing. I wonder if all the photographers on ABC we've seen so far have actually contiinued to actively explore the genré, develop skills, refine technique and aim for the best they can produce (never relying on the camera to do it for them). Methink not much, other than the occasional guest photographer noted as being an active photographer in some sort of discipline, such as Peter.

 

[hoffy]

I have just watched it - yes, this week was painful compered to last week.

Looking at it at face value, the photo the judges picked met the brief the best. I didn't mind it and was what I would have chosen as well. It certainly portrayed what was there and the conditions of the time. I do agree with what Andrew said that it would have been better to get in closer to the spikes and use that as the feature. To me, the waterfall was a bit to cliche and showed the deficiencies in either the technique or the camera (or both) - lost shadows and blown highlights. The icicle shot wasn't the brief and lost out because of that.

I do suspect that next week will be train wreck TV - weddings...ye Gods...

 

[Yamaotoko]

I do suspect that next week will be train wreck TV - weddings...ye Gods...

yep, we both have a feeling it's going to be very cringe-worthy over here!

 

[SMBooth]

Who in gods name has a tattoo of a lens grouping on their rib cage.....

Anyway the show works, were talking about it.

 

[Yamaotoko]

Anyway the show works, were talking about it.

...and that's what it's really about, isn't it? Like, approve, enjoy, endure it or not, they've done something right on some level, I haven't heard anyone talking about the photographic art hung in 'The Block'

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Who in gods name has a tattoo of a lens grouping on their rib cage.....

Anyway the show works, were talking about it.

I did find the lens element tatt to be an uplifting behind the scenes peak at how one immortalises his favourite lens. Maybe I'll ger one of my TSE lens on my backside. It might just work: if some wag goes to kick my rear end, the tatt will remind him//her to do it gently lest the glass breaks...

(sent from Samsung Galaxy 4G /Apollo Bay)

 

[Ross Chambers]

I believe that wedding photographers are probably (behind war zone press folk) the most courageous of the whole craft and business.

There have been a few pieces posted here and there on the 'net about the unreal expectations of the wedding couple, the attempts by relatives to steal prints one way or the other, the lack of any consideration of the photographer and his/her assistant (one photographer, when not offered any sustenance of any kind but being expected to not leave the scene, sent out for pizza delivery)

Not to mention gear failure, the difficulty of tactfully getting Uncle Arthur and Aunt Flo to get out of the bloody way when the bridal pair are posing for their after wedding formal portrait, hassling with the vicar about where the photographer can set up and maybe using flash...

Once more: I'd like to see that.

 

[Yamaotoko]

I believe that wedding photographers are probably (behind war zone press folk) the most courageous of the whole craft and business.

There have been a few pieces posted here and there on the 'net about the unreal expectations of the wedding couple, the attempts by relatives to steal prints one way or the other, the lack of any consideration of the photographer and his/her assistant (one photographer, when not offered any sustenance of any kind but being expected to not leave the scene, sent out for pizza delivery)

Not to mention gear failure, the difficulty of tactfully getting Uncle Arthur and Aunt Flo to get out of the bloody way when the bridal pair are posing for their after wedding formal portrait, hassling with the vicar about where the photographer can set up and maybe using flash...

Once more: I'd like to see that.

Tell me about it! I'm on the tail end of finishing up some post work from a recent wedding, it just reminds my why I'm very selective about which jobs I take! I'm lucky that it's not my bread & butter, a couple photographers I work with semi-regularly have been career wedding/portrait photographers, does NOT sound like my cup of tea, especially not now that the market is flooded with people like Wotalegend's friend!

...I've just culled a whole bunch of shots because 'Aunt Flo's' enormous Sto-Fen is protruding into the wide andle field of view... I swear the cow was using my shoulder to rest her camera on sometimes... and as for my poor 2nd shooter, he brought back a decent number of pics of the back of her head, because she spent most of the ceremony muscling him out of the way!

 

[ezwriter]

The Photofinish link worked, thanks! Seems like a cool show. Is PF the same show as Master Snap?

 

[Ross Chambers]

The Photofinish link worked, thanks! Seems like a cool show. Is PF the same show as Master Snap?

Sorry, smart alec header from me, punning on the popular "Master Chef" endless series. I could called the thread "My Darkroom Rules" perhaps.

 

[Yamaotoko]

Sorry, smart alec header from me, punning on the popular "Master Chef" endless series. I could called the thread "My Darkroom Rules" perhaps.

I've only seen a couple half episodes of my kitchen rules, but from what I picked up, I reckon My Darkroom Rules would actually be a fun series to watch!

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I think it's weddings this week is it?
No interest. Besides which, I'll be gleefully far, faw away from a telly set (but not Facebook <*grin*>) Thurs, Fri, Saturday and part of Sunday. Cuppla little chestnuts to be pursue with all manner of cameras in the snow in NE Victoria.

 

[Yamaotoko]

I'll be gleefully far, faw away from a telly set (but not Facebook <*grin*>) Thurs, Fri, Saturday and part of Sunday. Cuppla little chestnuts to be pursue with all manner of cameras in the snow in NE Victoria.

Sounds GREAT! Wish I could be there