JeffS7444
Well-known
While the concept can be grasped by anyone, I think "Seeing what's actually there" can be devilishly tricky in practice. At best, maybe I can do so 10% of the time while I'm shooting, and I'm pretty proud of that 10%!
Life's little (photo) lessons - what are yours?
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Richard G
Veteran
I heard a pianist on Instagram the other night playing Mozart and his runs up the arpeggios taking us forward to the next destination, musically. The pianist contrasted this to a short excerpt of Beethoven, maybe Op 109, where the beauty of where he (Beethoven) was is quite enough, and the destination in that passage was not important. I suspect Brendel, who wrote on Beethoven, would have vehemently disagreed. Nevertheless, the idea reminded me of photography, just the light and some shapes and no message required. Godfrey touches on that above.
Ray Kilby
Established
The best camera in the world is the one you have with you. We often get caught up in the obsession with gear and megapixels (myself included), but honestly, it's all nonsense.
If an image is beautiful, interesting, thought-provoking, inspiring—or simply makes you feel something—does it really matter whether it was shot on an iPhone or a Leica M11?
If an image is beautiful, interesting, thought-provoking, inspiring—or simply makes you feel something—does it really matter whether it was shot on an iPhone or a Leica M11?
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
I know that Thorsten Overgaard stirs opinions in us all. But his dictum of "Always wear a camera" is probably the best advice ever given about photography. No matter how hard you try you just cannot take a picture without a camera. ;o)
wlewisiii
Veteran
When I first got my M 240 I read through a lot of his material, especially his discussion of the 240. I did learn a few things, especially when I found I disagreed with him. He's a bit opinionated and can be a bit full of himself but I'll take him over Ken Rockwell!
And that is the single most important advice: I try to never go out the door without a camera in hand.
Vince Lupo
Whatever
One thing for sure I don’t do is pay attention to “the damned histogram!”
Dogman
Veteran
Same here. I used to but no more. The silly thing tells me nothing related to the photography I do. I just ride the exposure compensation dial until I feel the exposure is there.
I also don't pay attention to the curves in Lightroom. I look at the picture. Pictures tell me more than charts. I'm allergic to graphs and charts.
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Richard G
Veteran
The camera you have with you, with a 28 on it. And you wanted some length. You tried to get closer, braced the camera on a tree for a sharper picture. Compromises. As you trudge up the hill lamenting not bringing the bag, or at least putting a 50 in your coat pocket it suddenly hits you. An M9 and its high ISO limits and the slow 28 likely scuttled the mission. And all the while in your hip pocket was an IBIS special low light three lens camera with genius capability: the iPhone 11 Pro. Forgot all about it. Never entered my head.
Formerly presspass
Newbie
In a previous post on this thread, I forgot to add one of the most important - situational awareness. I learned this when shooting for weekly newspapers and honed it when I became the company photographer for our local volunteer fire company. Don't focus so intently on your intended image that you forget what's happening around you. With fire photography, it can be as inconsequential as errant spray from a hose line to a collapsing wall or falling electrical line. Pay attention to your photography but always be aware of what's happening around you.
wlewisiii
Veteran
My situational awareness and ability to look at the landscape quite carefully was honed by being, first in armor in the active army then in the scout platoon (reconnaissance) in the reserves. The vast majority of the job was about seeing things before they see you; noticing interesting (aka unusual 😉 ) landscape features; and so forth. Learning to care about what should be someplace vs what shouldn't. In photography, often that "shouldn't" is rather interesting...
Leon C
Well-known
What I've always done, use my DSLR's as film cameras, turn off battery wasting review, no point losing picture time looking at the pic, it's already in the camera, do it at home, it'll be wrong no matter when you look at it.... 🤪
ellisson
Well-known
It's almost impossible to go out without a camera now. Almost everyone carries their mobile phone, most with cameras included, wherever they go. Not Canon, not Leica, not Fuji etc and not DSLRs or rangefinder cameras. But they do take good digital photos. Sony has been supplying the sensors and LG Innotek supplying the camera modules for Apple iPhones. Looking at some iconic photos from news coverage, I see little that would not be achievable with a recent iPhone.
But of course, I've spent thousands of $$ on RF and other cameras and lenses and batteries and filters......
But of course, I've spent thousands of $$ on RF and other cameras and lenses and batteries and filters......
wlewisiii
Veteran
Speaking of using my digital camera like a film camera, I enjoy limiting myself to either 12 or 36 exposures in a given session, depending on if I'm playing 35 or 120 🙂
Godfrey
somewhat colored
I don't think of it as much of a constraint, but I tend to make about 8 to 25 exposures when I go out for a photo walk, no matter what camera I'm shooting with, film or digital.
This is one of the reasons shooting instant print (instax, 10 shots, or polaroid, 8 shots) or 120 ... 6x6 (12 shots), 6x7 (10 shots) ... feels so natural to me. When I load a 36 exposure roll of 35mm or Minox submini film, it feels like an eternity before I get through it. 🤣
G
chuckroast
Well-known
I bulk load a fair bit of 35mm and I find 12x to still be just about the perfect number.
I have way too much 220 frozen that I'm going to start having to work through which means 24x on a 'Blad of 16x on a Baby Speed with an RH8...
Leon C
Well-known
That is fun to do but I do get carried away depending on what I'm taking pics of, especially if the creative juices are flowing....so that extra breathing space is handy.
DownUnder
Vamoosed (for a while)
Good for you - but are you spooling thru a small fortune in leader film?
As for your 220, a passing thought - it's worth an impressive amount of $$ on Ebay.
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boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
There is a fellow who shot for NatGeo and is good who stresses the edges. I was at a Little League game a month or so back. Boring pics of the kids playing baseball. But a little less than boring of them in the dugouts and hanging around. The NatGeo guy is right. He did some great stuff on rodeos and cowboys, at the edges. FWIW
Archiver
Veteran
As someone who shoots a lot of sports, I always feel that the out of play images are at least 30% of an event, with 70% of the images coming from performance/competition. Crowd going nuts, people embracing or high-fiving, athletes in tears or screaming with joy, those are the documentary images that need coverage almost as much as the athlete in action. So a more general guideline is to shoot for emotion and scenes as much as action and performance.
Leon C
Well-known
When I used to do music stuff, sometimes off stage was more interesting than the bands!
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