What are “Gallery Size” prints

Obviously this could be anything.  An 8″ by 8″ print can look spectacular in a 16″ X 20″ frame.  Sometimes galleries even have 4″ X 6″ in enormous frames.  The style really depends on you and how you want to show it.  In general… if your photo is very busy and has a lot of details and things going on, you may want to print it bigger.  If it’s more simple you may want to have it smaller surrounded by a white matte to lead the viewers eyes into it.  Again, these are generalities.  Obviously having your work similar sizes will keep the flow of everything — you won’t want to have one 16 X 20 and then one 4 X 6 most likely.

On average — most photographers agree that 11 X 14 -> 16 X 20 prints are “gallery size”.  With an additional frame size.  Take into account the gallery in which it will be shown at.  My photos will be shown with many other photos.  Only photos in fact, no other kind of art.  Because of this, and the fact that my photos are quite busy.  I will propose them to be about 16 X 20 — and the frame size negotiated later.

Here’s what someone said on photo.net
This is how I present image sizes to my clients. I start with the largest, 40×30, then down from there.
A 16 x 20 I call a wall hanging print A 11 x 14 I call a piano print. Framed it would sit well on a piano.
What, no 8×10 prints? I say, “Yes I’ve got them. They are album prints.” I’ve got a selection in an album.
When they see the gamut of enlargements an 11×14 can look pretty small!
The rest that are smaller. You can have them printed & framed yourself.

Here is one of the proposed photos in the series.

Mianzhu, Sichuan – Day 2

Today we woke up around 5:00am to get the best light.  I went to the second lady’s house to take her portrait and the rest of the team went to the hospital/camp.  When I got there they had a ladder leading onto the roof of one of the buildings to get a shot of the surroundings.  I also took the opportunity to go up there and get one.  Also we now had someone from the Chinese government that would be following us for the entire trip (pictured in the slideshow reading a magazine).

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Mianzhu, Sichuan – Day 1

Acting as a photographer of G2 studios we took on a week long trip to the site of the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. After the earthquake a NGO called Handicap International settled there to help rehabilitate earthquake victims.

They’re still there now, training nurses and teaching people the benefits of rehabilitation. Our main objective was to create:

1. Short 1 minute piece on the importance of rehabilitation (a commercial if you will) for CCTV and the hospital.
2. A longer 4 minute version including the above objective but also on the social problems of people with disabilities (PWD) in China.
3. A longer 8-10 minute piece with the same objectives as number 2.

Basically the 4 minute will just be an edit of our long documentary.  We’re also creating an interactive website using all the video, sound, and photography that we capture there.  With us we have Antoine from G2 as well as Martin doing video.  Our sound guy Bruce from Chendu and me in charge of photography.

Day 1 we visited the camp which is a temporary hospital in Mianzhu. This hospital has been serving the towns and cities of Mianzhu county.

mianzhu temporary hospital with handicap international

After visiting the hospital we met 2 of the women that we would be interviewing.  These women were injured during the earthquake and can no longer walk.

Before the interviews and after I took these photos.

Our Team
1.  While they set-up I snap photos.
2. We interview
3. We film other footage and I take photos simultaneosly

A good clip on microphone for interviews / narration

Currently I use a H4N zoom digital recorder on site (highly recommended).

For a microphone I use a Sennheiser MKE 400.  Together with the H4N I get quality results.

This setup has done me well in the past and is great for on-site recordings.  The problem I have now is with my new Canon 5D mark II I’ve started recording video with my interviews… this means that I need to hide the microphone.  Using the shotgun mic I have to position it out of the shot which allows it to pic up a lot of extra noise (I record room sound separately).  So now I’m going to look up a few different clip on microphones and do the, “The _______ sucks!” test on google to see people’s bad experiences.

Clip On Microphone Research (from other people’s reviews)

What to look for (buying tips):

1. Low Impedance: quality won’t go down using longer chords

WHAT IS IMPEDANCE?
Impedance (Z) is the resistance of a circuit to alternating current, such as an audio signal. Technically, impedance is the total opposition (including resistance and reactance) that a circuit has to passing alternating current.
A high impedance circuit tends to have high voltage and low current. A low impedance circuit tends to have relatively low voltage and high current. (from impedance faq)

A microphone rated at 150 ohms to 300 ohms is considered low impedance. About 600 to 2000 ohms is medium impedance, and 10,000 ohms or more is high impedance. Most mics are low Z, and all mics with XLR (3-pin) connectors are low Z. A low-Z mic can be used with hundreds of feet of cable without picking up hum or losing high frequencies. A medium-Z mic cable is limited to about 40 feet without losses. A high-Z mic will lose highs and pick up hum if the cable exceeds about 10 feet.This high-frequency loss depends on the capacitance of the cable as well as the mic impedance. (from impedance faq)

So here is a simple generalization = Low Impedance = Good :: High Impedance = Bad

2. Directional Properties

This one I’ve already decided:  because I’m recording interviews… and I record room sound separately… I want a unidirectional.  I don’t want any other sounds except for their voice.

3. Frequency Response

High or low?  Frequency response is the the range of frequency that the mic can effectively capture.
I want a mic for recording the human voice…

The fundamental frequency of an adult male will have a range of 85hz -> 180hz
The fundamental frequency of an adult female will have a range 165hz -> 255hz

The telephone system considers the human voice to be between 300hz-> 3000hz
A lot of “voice” microphones I looked at had a frequency of 18hz -> 16KHZ

1. Olympus ME-15 ($20USD)

•	Small and discreet tie-clip/collar microphone
•	Wide 100-12,000 Hz frequency response
•	2.2 kOhm output impedance
•	3.3-foot cord for added convenience
•	Weighs only 11 grams

Mostly good reviews:  72 customers gave it 4/5 (average) on amazon.com.

A bad related review said: This product is okay. I bought it to use with the Olympus Digital voice recorder to use with video shoots. Our camera doesn’t have a way to attach an external or clip mic so this was a cheap alternative. Unfortunately, the recorded sound was very distorted and ended up not being used at all.

2. This Electro-Voice ULM21 (119USD) is more what I’m looking for.

It’s unidirectional and made to handle voice frequencies.  It’s also has a condenser mechanism which makes for a flatter curve and in turn… better sound.

18 -> 16 KHZ

A good lavaliere microphone for recording interviews/narratives would be:

1. Low Impedance 150Ω->300Ω
2. Frequency response of 18-> 16KHZ
3. Unidirectional

Travelers Forum – Novoltel Peace Hotel – Beijing

French businessmen met on Friday, April 16th at the Novoltel Peace Hotel, Beijing for the “Forum Traveler’s Ensemble.”  Company CEOs and representatives met each other in a series of meetings in order to Network and sell their business.

Photographs were for G2 media for their creation of a website.