thomasw_ said:
What a handy trick! Thanks Tom!!! Any other handy tricks you just do by habit?
you can also use that on a M4. As for other handy tricks, we all develop our own way and style of shooting with time. Some tricks only makes sense to the 'trickster" but anything that removes unneccesary steps from the process of taking pictures is good.
Couple of other that I use: Always leave the camera at f8 and 1/250 and at infinity when you put it down (you can adjust that to your filmtype of course). Now when you grab the camera you know in which direction to turn focus/aperture ring and speed dial without even looking at it.
Always (and I mean at ALL TIMES) have a camera loaded with a favourite lens and handy.
NEVER leave home without a camera! Initially people around you are going to be suspicious, but after a while you become part of the "wall paper" and nobody notices.
Standardize your film! Once you got it done, the meter becomes less important and you quickly learn to "see" exposures and do automatic compensation. It is not a bad idea to carry a small, handheld meter and look at a scene and guess the esposure and then double check with the meter. just file it away for future reference.
Wherever you go, carry one more roll in your pocket. Murphy's law will guarantee that when you just finished the roll, something will catch your eye and you will miss out. There is a reason why the pockets of most photographers are bulging! Spare film!
Always rewind the exposed film all the way! Nothing more frustrating than finding out that the roll you just shot, already had gone through the camera!
I use a simple process. unexposed film goes in my left vest pocket and exposed in my right. I know that some people mark film cassettes with tape or markers as exposed, but I also know that in the total darkness, you cant read it! The tape you can feel and that can work, as long as you only change one thing with the tape.
One of the most important things. If you promise a print, deliver on the promise! Even if you screw up this will give you a chance to re-shoot as the subject will be inclined to trust you.
One time I forgot a 21 finder while on the job. I was faced with guessing the view and resorted to borrowing a childs protractor and marked out roughly 90 degrees on the top plate of the M2 with red nail polish (it was a black M2) and used that as a guide. It worked surprisngly well although when I tried to remove the nail polish with aceton, most of the paint came off too. Didnt really matter as most of the paint had worn off everywhere else.
Sometimes when you feel "stale" photographically. I will take 5 or 10 rolls of film and decide that come hell or high water i will shoot them over a preset time (24 hours, a week end or some other short time span). just work around the neigbourhood and click away. Engage yourself in conversations with other people, pat the dogs you meet and belly rub the cats. Then take their picture! You might only end up with 2-3 shots that are good, but when it 'clicks" you can really get some pictures. Dont go to "new" areas, just use the familiar surroundings. There are times when I have decided to shoot 5 rolls only at closest focussing distancee and on the negs show up things you have never seen before, mainly because it is too familiar!
Photography is essentially a "side line" activity. You become an observer and you keep looking for images. You might not trigger the camera but the potential for an image is embossed on your brain.
Occasionally when you set out to shoot, be it for a commercial purpose or for yourself, you get into "the zone" and your eye/finger co-ordination works faster than your brain. Your brain tells you to take the shot and you have already done it! That is when I find that the best shots get taken.
Anyone else have these tricks or other ones, please post them.
