Howie Coombe said to Bob Gearhart at 05-07-04  14:56
 Subject: RE: IS THIS ECHO STILL

 HC> Dear Bob, in regards to this message to me.
 
 HC> Aha, and fair enough too, actually i was not referring to there
 HC> "genealogical history" so much as there country of
origin, and/or style
 HC> of origin.

 I can't see a difference unless they are taking pictures of the Orient
 and that location is obvious.  That alone though wouldn't necessarily
 identify them as Chinese.  Although I believe Wayne is of Chinese
 extraction because he spends a great deal of time there, but then he
 could be a Scandinavian who is working for Sony or other firm based in
 that region of the world.  How they take pictures is as varied to my
 eye as anyone else.  Your G'Day pretty much says you are Australian or
 English, but you may very well be of Malaysian descent.  Having never
 seen any of your photography I can only use that single item, as an
 identifying characteristic.

 > In that environment I believe I would have to think hard to separate the    
 > makers of the pictures I like, from the pictures I like, based on their     
 > countries or origin.
                       
 HC> Er, or styles?.

 Styles, yes, I can separate by styles, but the question was asked about
 Chinese pictures and I don't recognize that as a style, but as a
 nationalistic character.

 > And I don't like to think to hard.
 
 HC> Me either, unless absolutely necessary.
 
 > It could become a habit and ruin a fine personal history of rebellion in    
 > thinking. 
 
 HC> Er yes it could, although it could also make said reputation bigger
 HC> and better, particularly if it is done in an eccentric fashion.

 Na, takes to much thought to be eccentric today.  There are already
 many eccentrics with which I would have to compete.

 HC> I think it might depend on your definitions of "Natural",
"Family",
 HC> and "Fantasy", mine are more "21st Century" and
definitly "Above the
 HC> waist".

 Sorry, old dude here doesn't stay in that area.  Not when photographing
 women where I might need tweezers to remove things that become
 embedded in portions of their anatomy.

 > Old guys are kind of funny you know.
                                       
 HC> So are young guys.

 Young guys are still developing their funniness, old guys have it
 nailed.

 > Somewhere in or around the mid fifties, a loaf of bread, a jug of wine and
 > thou, turned back into a bag of burgers, a six pack and a quick roll in the 
 > grass from my youth.
 
 HC> Aha, you can still have all that in my vision replaceing the alcohol
 HC> with non alcoholic options and Sexual activity's with non sexual
 HC> activitys.

 If you say, but under those circumstances, where would I find a use for
 the Swiss Army Knife's tweezers.

 > HC> PS: Have read any good Photography Books Lately?.
 
 >  Only the manual for my new Coolpix 8700..


 HC> Aha.

 Yes, I found out how to disable the focus assist pop up, now it's
 perfect.

 > I sent it in complaining that it was mangling tapes on rewind.
                                 
 HC> Aha.
 
 > I had a suspicion that it wasn't really the cameras fault, but mine for     
 > being so cheap and reusing tapes so often.
 
 HC> Aha, you bad man.

 The darn things cost ten bucks each, and are only used for 60 minutes
 of video.  Seemed a waste to me not to reuse them once the video is
 transferred into the computer for editing and saving to DVD afterwards.

 > The Mack people sent it back to the manufacturer, where the entire tape     
 > drive assembly was replaced with new, all the electronics were replaced     
 > with new, and even the LCD monitor, which I had screwed up rubbing it too   
 > hard trying to remove a spill, was fixed.
 
 HC> Damn, that is what you would call a thourough fix up.

 Very, it would have cost me a grand at least without the extended
 warrantee.

 > That coupled with the chance to finally finish off a video project that had 
 > been cluttering up 50 gig of hard drive space since last November.
 
 HC> Aha, What about?, Any Good?.

 Oh yes, a collection of videos, mostly family oriented that had been
 saved to VHS tape and I wanted archived on DVD, a more durable medium
 with menus to select from and such.
 
 > It is spring outside and the world is a lovely place, and I have a new toy, 
 > the 8700 and a reborn old toy, to record it with.
 > Doesn't get any better than this.

 HC> No?, what if you have nothing to shoot?.

 I always have things to shoot.  I recently printed my first pictures
 from the new 8 megapixel camera in a large size, 13 x 19 inches.  My
 Coolpix 990 with it's 3.4 megapixel CCD has always pleased me, and
 been satisfactorily sharp, but was just a bit lacking compared to film
 when reproducing broad expanses of singular color.  The pictures I made
 with this camera are as good or better than anything that ever came out
 of my film darkroom.  Not just 35mm films either but roll and sheet
 films.  The smooth tonality of the color areas is as  fine as I could
 ask for.  A child's cheeks in a close up shot of head and shoulders
 created a picture so lifelike it was almost like looking through a
 window.

 I set my monitor up for Photoshop by taking a picture out my window
 with the digital 990 long ago.  Putting that picture on screen then
 adjusting my monitor and video card to replicate what I was seeing
 looking out the window made it pretty good.  Next I created profiles
 for the printing paper I use, to create a print that looked like my
 monitor. A pretty well refined setup for sure.  Holding up a picture
 of the child while seeing her standing next to it, It would have been
 easy to think it was twins.  The camera does that well at color
 reproduction with a very long tonal range.

 Take Care

 Bob 4





... Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.
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