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Things to photograph in Las Vegas? (Professional Photographer)

R

Ruger22C

Golden Member
My title is slightly misleading: I'm a portrait photographer, but I do not want to shoot portraits if I go to Vegas.

My only good lenses are 50, 85, and 135mm.
What should I shoot with that? Note: places which offer free entry or require only a minimal fee, please.
 
85mm is my main lens of choice, which is amusing because it's a portrait lens as you know and you don't want to shoot portraits. That said, I use it as my main street art lens, and I am sure you can find a lot of weird shit in Vegas to shoot that way. Obviously you need something wider for murals, but there is all kinds of cool wheat paste or sticker art, posters etc.

I hesitate to recommend you go check out the abandoned neon sign collection (which is actually pretty badass and one of the only good things to do if you're in that fucking cesspool nightmare of a city), but you really don't have anything wide enough to capture a lot of it. Maybe you can eek by with the 50mm.
 
Platypus said:
85mm is my main lens of choice, which is amusing because it's a portrait lens as you know and you don't want to shoot portraits. That said, I use it as my main street art lens, and I am sure you can find a lot of weird shit in Vegas to shoot that way. Obviously you need something wider for murals, but there is all kinds of cool wheat paste or sticker art, posters etc.

I hesitate to recommend you go check out the abandoned neon sign collection (which is actually pretty badass and one of the only good things to do if you're in that fucking cesspool nightmare of a city), but you really don't have anything wide enough to capture a lot of it. Maybe you can eek by with the 50mm.
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Thanks for that.

85mm is my main also; I have both the Otus 85 and the Art 85.

I want to get a 14mm, I think Vegas would be a great place to use that. But, I'm a perfectionist and the one I want costs $1,500. So, that won't be for quite a while.
 
Platypus said:
I hesitate to recommend you go check out the abandoned neon sign collection (which is actually pretty badass and one of the only good things to do if you're in that fucking cesspool nightmare of a city), but you really don't have anything wide enough to capture a lot of it. Maybe you can eek by with the 50mm.
Click to expand...
I was going to suggest the same thing but it's a minimum of $22 to get in with photography tours at $50.

Never been to Vegas but the strip at night should be amazing. The fountains at the Billagio and Fremont Street Experience "Glitter Glitch" would be cool.

Maybe you can rent a wide angle lens if you need one.
 
balloonshark said:
I was going to suggest the same thing but it's a minimum of $22 to get in with photography tours at $50.

Never been to Vegas but the strip at night should be amazing. The fountains at the Billagio and Fremont Street Experience "Glitter Glitch" would be cool.

Maybe you can rent a wide angle lens if you need one.
Click to expand...

Ah thanks, I forgot it cost money for that tour.

I also second the suggestion to just rent the ultra premium you lens you want. It would be worth the cost for sure.
 
balloonshark said:
Maybe you can rent a wide angle lens if you need one.
Click to expand...

I considered that, it's a good idea and I might, but probably not. My sister lives in Vegas, so my travel and lodging expenses are only $150.
Renting the lens I want would cost an extra $120 (Sigma 14mm ART).
 
Ruger22C said:
To what end? Without a model release, I can't do much with the pictures.
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I don't think that you really need a model release for the girls in the huge outfits that stand outside of the casino. It's basically their job to pose with the tourists and take goofy pictures.

I bet that you could get some cool reflection style shots from the light show as well.
 
Ruger22C said:
To what end? Without a model release, I can't do much with the pictures.
Click to expand...
Are you shooting for fun or to sell? You don't need to spend that much for a decent f2.8 wide zoom. Street photography is more fun than just shooting the outside of building (which nobody will buy, anyway) and you don't need a release if you only intend personal and/or editorial usage, so long as you are in a public place.
 
Midwayman said:
Who said you had to include their faces?
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Meh, I'm not smitten by the girls. I've even shot full nudes, and it was so boring that I'd rather have had my head in a textbook. I don't understand the appeal, it's not like you get to do anything with the models.

Paladin3 said:
Are you shooting for fun or to sell? You don't need to spend that much for a decent f2.8 wide zoom. Street photography is more fun than just shooting the outside of building (which nobody will buy, anyway) and you don't need a release if you only intend personal and/or editorial usage, so long as you are in a public place.
Click to expand...

I'm a perfectionist. For example, I'm not even satisfied with a Zeiss 15mm Distagon due to its soft corners.
 
Ruger22C said:
I'm a perfectionist. For example, I'm not even satisfied with a Zeiss 15mm Distagon due to its soft corners.
Click to expand...
I'm not familiar with that particular lens. All I've ever shot was Canon and Nikon equipment, starting back in the prehistoric film days. But, if all you've got as a professional photographer is a bag full of telephotos then you are severely limited in what you can shoot and the money you can make. In the moderately wide range, my cheapo Tamron 17-50/2.8 is plenty sharp enough to produce images for any client I sell to these days, being that I'm semi-retired and living out in the sticks.
 
Platypus said:
85mm is my main lens of choice, which is amusing because it's a portrait lens as you know and you don't want to shoot portraits. That said, I use it as my main street art lens, and I am sure you can find a lot of weird shit in Vegas to shoot that way. Obviously you need something wider for murals, but there is all kinds of cool wheat paste or sticker art, posters etc.

I hesitate to recommend you go check out the abandoned neon sign collection (which is actually pretty badass and one of the only good things to do if you're in that fucking cesspool nightmare of a city), but you really don't have anything wide enough to capture a lot of it. Maybe you can eek by with the 50mm.
Click to expand...

you use that on a crop body or on 35 mm?
 
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