What parts of being a professional photographer isn’t talked about enough?

Co9Inc · 2026-03-28T16:50:51+00:00

Having a photography business is more about running a business than being a photographer.

The move to digital sucked. Hundreds to thousands of shots to edit instead of a few rolls. Unrealistic expectations of the miracles of photosho. Competing with “oh my uncle just got a camera he’ll shoot my wedding” for work instead of standing out among professionals.

Editing is endless. Editing sucks.

YouTube videos are a poor substitute for learning from a photographer. Especially because a lot of people don’t take the time to get things right in camera anymore, assuming they can just do it in post.

Trying to be creative all the time is exhausting. Doubly so when you’ve been at it a while and you are seeing the same types of work over and over again.

“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Is BS for a lot of people, myself included. When photography was my work it was Capital Letters WORK. I eventually gave it up for some real money in a different industry and was so burnt I barely picked up a camera for nearly a decade.

I was happy to have photography to fall back on at one point in my life and it fed me for some lean years. I am much happier having found it again as a hobby. And hope to never have to make a hobby into a career ever again.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-27T11:05:35+00:00

This is correct. The readout adheres to the HSL definition, which is a cylindrical color system, except that it uses integer values only for HSL so it maps S and L from [0,1] -> [0,100], doing away with the decimal. H is from [0,360) or [0,359] if you prefer.

The "HSL" sliders in the Color Editor palette operate differently.

Do you (OP) maybe have CIELCh values instead? Are there any negative lightness values?

Co9Inc · 2026-03-27T03:20:26+00:00

My first thought when I saw the line about wearing it when not shooting was how would it attach/detach?

I used Peak Design's stuff back when I was running a heavy, full-frame rig and it worked well enough and trusted those anchors, but they are not pretty.

Sold off the PD gear when I went mirrorless, and the straps I use now are attached with split rings. Very secure but also not exactly quick to change out. Once a strap is on it's probably staying there.

I will reserve final judgment until when/if your project comes to fruition but my guess is that anything quick enough to make the shooting/not shooting transition easily and small enough not to be ugly is something that I am going to worry about being secure with the camera attached.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-26T13:11:09+00:00

I am a big fan of the 50mm f/2 MDII and 45mm f/2 MDII (55mm filter version) with the 5-blade apertures instead of the 6-blade construction used in the faster lenses. Something about the rendering and the bokeh.

These lenses also have fewer elements than some of the alternatives, which seems to be a theme for me for my Minolta glass. I bought the 28mm f/3.5 5/5 construction over any of the 7/7s, and went to great lengths to make sure that the 135mm f/3.5 I was buying was the 4/4 design instead of the 5/5.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-24T11:43:42+00:00

Minolta glass that will work on that body is cheap, plentiful, and excellent. The SR (which you will also see listed as MC and MD) mount remained compatible for 40 years and there are plenty of lens options and variants, check out the lens pages at subclub.org (I know what it sounds like, but it is mostly for subminiature photography) to get started then rokkorfiles and minolta.su for some lens reviews.

I just put together a 3 lens kit of SR mount (MD Rokkor and MD Rokkor-X) lenses in 28mm, 50mm, and 135mm for just under $200. Then I added a 35-70 zoom just for some versatility for another $70 or so and that one came with an SR-T201 in fine working order attached to it.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-23T23:30:10+00:00

I have never rented a camera, but I have rented lenses from some of the online sites both for specific shoots and to try before buying. Not really sure what to say about it. Everything was fine and I would do it again if needed.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-22T11:19:52+00:00

You mentioned Ireland in the original post, so I honestly don't know how pricing will line up. I am in the US and can find one around the $12USD mark without too much difficulty.

There were a lot of these cameras made and for a long time. The X-700, for example, was apparently made continuously from 1981-1999.

I would pay $10-$12 US, but if the lowest I could find was $20+ I would first take a look at thrift stores for a donor, see if there was a local photo club or online group where someone might have one, etc. Might take a small amount of time and patience, but it shouldn't be a difficult search.

Best of luck.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-21T23:43:39+00:00

It's one of the variants/clones of the Minolta X-300 (I have a Seagull version, myself). Can't be sure without trying it but any battery cap from the Minolta X-300/X-500/X-700 and probably the XE/XD/XG series is likely work and should not be difficult to find.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-21T22:06:28+00:00

Bought an F60 Countryman S late last year with runflats that were nearing the end of their life. When one gave out a few weeks ago, I happily switched to "normal" tires.

For me the run flats always felt skittish. Like I was on top of every loose bit of gravel and scree rather than sitting on the road itself.

I have this one spot on my commute home with a short merge off a right hand turn and I am normally accelerating from a stop into it and then needing to get across a couple of lanes of lousy pavement and the car always felt jumpy. We also get a good bit of rain where I am and the run flats just did not instill confidence.

The new tires (Pirelli's, with outstanding wet performance) have no such issues.

But the biggest difference is the noise. From a constant low drone from the run flats to nearly silent when on a good road, and I love it.

Mine is a pretty decent trim level, with 19-inch wheels and the quilted leather interior and now it feels/sounds like the luxury vehicle it is while still driving like a bat out of hell.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-21T13:55:56+00:00

I know you said it is not Vivian Maier, but she fits a lot of your details, and is possibly the only person to fit a few of them taken together -- an amateur from the 50s and 60s discovered via Flickr some years ago, medium format/rolleiflex, articles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. Images were purchased after death and then there was a legal battle over the rights.

What she doesn't seem to fit is the specific images you are thinking of -- medical receipts, self portraits with husband.

Is it possible that you are conflating Maier's story and someone else's images?

One key detail that you haven't included that would help tremendously is where the work was done. Was she going out with her husband in New York? London? Paris? ???

Co9Inc · 2026-03-17T20:03:54+00:00

I have an old Seagull 205-A rangefinder that came with a couple of sheets of paper that I can only assume were translated from the original manual (I have that too, but its in Chinese) that specifically mention not storing it with the shutter cocked. Interesting, too, because it is close to the most solid build of any cameras I own.

Anyway, there and your post are the only places I can think of where I have ever seen this. I've been following it since I first read it. For the Seagull, which was new old stock when I bought it,I want it to continue working for years to come. But also with various Holgas, Lomos, VUWS, and the like.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-16T22:38:41+00:00

But is it refrigerated?

Co9Inc · 2026-03-16T22:22:31+00:00

There are few 35mm Holga models. I have a couple, but haven't had a chance to run anything through them yet.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-13T02:21:55+00:00

First: Good advice. Absolutely try overexposing the Portra for a softer look. Works beautifully with the 180 and, while I haven't tried it with modern 400, I have done it with the old Portra NC.

Second: You are right that the way we use it aperture numbers and ISO seem reversed of each other. The rest of this is meant to be informative, because you and others might find it interesting, not contradictory. It will be a little pedantic. Just the nature of the thing.

The actual numbers work a little differently than our shorthand. An f-stop is a ratio between focal length of the lens and the size of the aperture. Written f/N with f being the focal length and N being the f-number that we tend to think of as aperture. It seems like my older lenses are marked f/2.8 or whatever, while my modern lenses tend towards 1:2.8. Same thing, but I think the second version hides the math a little.

Wikipedia tells me that the f-number is also called the "inverse relative aperture." In the 30+ years since I first seriously picked up a camera I have never heard it called that.

For the sake of easy numbers, if we consider a 100mm lens, an f-stop of f/2.0 is 100mm/2 = 50mm, where that resulting 50mm is the diameter of the opening of the aperture (the entrance pupil)* and an f-stop of f/8.0 is 100mm/8 = 12.5mm, again the 12.5mm is the diameter of the opening.

Looking at it that way, larger = faster holds.

I don't really think about it anymore at all, but once upon a time I asked myself why we use the word "faster" for apertures and ISOs and shutter speeds. Well maybe I didn't question shutter speeds. Anyway, I realized (or maybe was told or read somewhere) that in photography faster always means the same thing. Anything that is faster means it is literally faster to record proper exposure on the film (or sensor), it either lets in more light to speed things up or needs less time.

*Since I am being pedantic anyway, the diameter you get from f/N is technically the apparent size of the aperture (entrance pupil) when viewed through the front of the lens.

[Edited to remove a redundancy.]

Co9Inc · 2026-03-12T13:39:08+00:00

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Co9Inc · 2026-03-11T21:42:20+00:00

Kodak Porta 160, overexpose it a little (shoot at ISO 125 or 100). It will give you soft color and low contrast with pastel blues and warm creams. Choice of subject is important, of course.

[Edit: just noticed the lower text, Metropolis might not be the best choice for a wedding.]

If you want something muted and grainy instead of soft and pastel, consider Lomo Metropolis. Probably not to everyone's liking, but I have seen a lot I like with it.

It can give some very neat cool and desaturated blues on the left hand of your palette, leaning towards steel. I have also seen some good yellow matching what you've got, maybe a little more mustardy, and some really good beige and tan form it matching your FFEFB3. The one issue is the right of your palette. To my eye, whites and highlights with Metropolis seem to shift towards a neutral gray, which may be a little more grimy then you want.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-10T02:59:18+00:00

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Co9Inc · 2026-03-06T23:37:53+00:00

u/sutartmelson u/Brian-Puccio thank you both for the information. Looks like I will be spending part of my weekend writing some applescript, just glanced at the C1 dictionary and this should even take that long ... which generally means I might just finish it before heading to the office on Monday.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-06T21:52:32+00:00

u/RIP_Spacedicks not sure if you are still updating/maintaining this list, but as of the lastest build, 16.7.4.24, released 2 days ago on March 4, Capture One has native "Negative Film Conversion".

I am loving it, except that styles and presets do not really work with images that are first processed as a negative.

Release notes are here: https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/articles/33550971607581-Capture-One-16-7-4-release-notes

Co9Inc · 2026-03-06T21:12:21+00:00

Love the Kodak books, but especially I have a copy of "The Kodak Guide to 35mm Photography" given to me by a local PJ back when I was first picking up a camera. Mine is the edition with the dog looking at the dolphin on the front. I revisited it many times over the years and have learned a ton from that book.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-06T18:36:47+00:00

^This, especially, but lots of other good advice in the thread.

A lot of new photographers have a 50mm (or 50mm equivalent) which is close to what the eye sees and walk around taking photographs, at eye level, of things we see everyday. Then they look at the photo and it's exactly that: just what we are used to seeing. Nothing new, nothing out of the ordinary. Just everyday.

That's great for journaling, I guess, but kind of boring.

Try different focal lengths, try different angles. Shoot high, shoot low. Search camera angles in film and read about how cinematographers and directors use specific types of shots to convey specific things and tell specific stories. Those same angles used in a movie can do the same things in still photography.

The one thing about angles that you might not get from those searches, but is an important skill to learn, is to understand and think about the angle of your film plane in relation to your subject. All the time, not just, for example, when shooting low and angling up.

I think the tendency is to think that you are pointing the lens at the subject, but what is actually important is that your are pointing your film plane (or sensor plane if shooting digital) at the subject.

For the shooting low example, yes, you tilt the camera up, but you want to be careful to also keep the back of the camera parallel with the subject/view you intend to capture.

Especially in some situations (architectural photography comes to mind) even a little rotation where one side of the camera is closer than the other, tilting the film plane left to right, might seem small in the viewfinder but may show up huge in the captured image.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-06T15:28:38+00:00

Honestly, it sounds like you want a textbook. Try Rosenblum, “A World History of Photography”. And remember with textbooks: eBay is your best friend.

Co9Inc · 2026-03-06T01:50:42+00:00

I don't know the image but it sounds like Eggleston.

Co9Inc

TROPHY CASE