My Neighbor Says I Used The Wrong Shutter Speed!

ClaremontPhoto

ClaremontPhoto

Jon Claremont
Local time
8:16 PM
Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Messages
5,214
I recently had a photo of athletes published, with very significant movement blur. I recall I used 1/30.

When my neighbor next saw me in a bar nearby he told me I'd done it wrong, and patiently explained that I should have used 1/1000 or so. That way the athletes arms and legs would not be blurred.

He told me that he knows all about this because he just bought a megapixel something or other and he's read the manual and bought some magazines.

I explained that I had intended the movement blur, but he just smiled and repeated that I should have used 1/1000 or so.

So I let the matter drop, but he carried on explaining to everybody else present...

After all, he's got a new camera and he's bought some magazines so he must know what he's talking about. Right?
 
*sigh*

Next he'll get a crack at PS. I hope you have ear plugs when he explains to you how to get that sky so blue, the grass so green, and the little girl so red. :p
 
Find a different bar.

Tell him to bugger off.

Or just smile and say, "Wow, I never thought of that."

I've got a friend who, every time he sees me with my Bessa R, says, "Gee, Ted, you could be doing so much more if you would just get a digital camera."
 
It didn't help that the Head Barman's son (the guy in the bar, not CameraQuest) joined in and told me that I needed a 'Carlos Sainz' lens like he has on his Nokia phone.

Only later I realised that he meant Carl Zeiss.
 
Jon Claremont said:
...When my neighbor next saw me in a bar nearby he told me I'd done it wrong, and patiently explained that I should have used 1/1000 or so. That way the athletes arms and legs would not be blurred...
Click to expand...

You should have said, "Hold on neighbor, buy me a beer first and then tell me again."
You might have to get him to repeat himself a few times until you are properly educated, so just repeat the line above.

Michael
 
Jon Claremont said:
So I let the matter drop, but he carried on explaining to everybody else present...

After all, he's got a new camera and he's bought some magazines so he must know what he's talking about. Right?
Click to expand...

:)
Chances are, many of the others he was talking to were suffering the same as you...or just being polite to him...you did the best thing - smile politely and look confident and completely unfazed by the discussion.

I love the enthusiasm of the 'instant experts' but it can get a tad wearing at times. Lucky he didn't have an album of his own work to illustrate his points...
 
Good one!

Good one!

Jon Claremont said:
It didn't help that the Head Barman's son (the guy in the bar, not CameraQuest) joined in and told me that I needed a 'Carlos Sainz' lens like he has on his Nokia phone.

Only later I realised that he meant Carl Zeiss.
Click to expand...

Jon,
That's a good one! :p

Well, don't bother.
Didn't we all start in a similar way?

Give the bloke the time to develop his artistic skills - if any.

Best regards,
Uwe
 
It depends whether you want to spend the time educating the person and on whether or not they are receptive to your opinions. You're the one with the published photo (congratulations, by the way). They are the one who doesn't understand how to use the camera beyond a wrote reading of the rule book.
 
If your friend got his information off the internet, his point would have much more creedance. rolleyes:

Congratualations on getting your photo published.

Eric
 
Bring a Leica screw camera with a collapsable lens mounted on it into the bar with you one day, or maybe an Ikoflex/rolleicord with no meter, and hand Mr. Expert the camera (lens in/hood folded) so he can take your picture along with all your buddies for you in the bar. May wanna bring an analog meter in with you like a big ol' lunalux in case he's not confident with his exposure guessing.
 
You guys are right. Thank you.

And to think that when people like this show me their new toys I always look and then say something like: "That looks just great for photos of the kids and vacations. Nice little camera."
 
Twenty or so years ago, one of the pictures I took of an aunt now deceased, a classical singer, was focussed on her hand strumming the accompanying instrument (a tanpura, or drone) about a foot in front of her face. With little depth of field, only the hand was sharp and the strings could be seen vibrating. She did not look at the photograph for more than two seconds. "My face is not clear," she said. She could not understand why people telephoned to compliment her when it was published.
 
Apparently, you not only used the wrong shutter speed, but also the wrong camera. Just don't let it happen again - go to another bar.
 
I once knew a photographer who shot a photo of a restaurant's dining room for a weekly restaurant review. As they're done weekly, you've got to do something different once in a while, so she used a slow shutter speed to blur a server walking through from the right. The page layout editor cropped out the "blurry person" and made the rectagular photo a square. When the photo editor saw this, he asked the page editor why this was done.

"I had to crop out the blurry person"

The photo editor explained that this was done on purpose, and that it is a common technique used by photographers in some situations.

Page editor: "I hate when a photographer makes a mistake and tries to say they did it on purpose."

Made my blood boil just hearing about it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom