What....

[Bill Pierce]

The one thing all photographers have in common is cameras. Essays, evaluations and test reports of new cameras abound on the internet. Lenses probably get the number two spot, as well they should. Cameras don’t work without them and, in many cases, a good lens will outlive the camera body it started on.

But what then? Camera bags? Tripods? Film or memory cards? Darkroom gear or processing programs? My guess is that different photographers want different information. I was a darkroom freak; so, now I’m a computer geek. When I first came to NYC, I survived as a lighting designer and electrician in the first “off Broadway” theaters. It left me with a love of lighting gear and head shots.

Outside of cameras and lenses, from your perspective what gear should we be talking about? Maybe there are a couple of things that dominate our “need to know” or maybe not.

 

[x-ray]

Bill the internet is full of equipment discussions and opinions but there are very few real photographers that have the kind of portfolio you have. Rather than more gear discussion I'd love to see images you feel are your best with your account of what inspired the image and your thoughts that led to the way you executed the shoot. I'd love to know your feelings about subject, what you felt would be the best lighting and how you interacted with your subject. What's the story behind the photo?

In addition I'd love to see a scan of your raw neg with no dodging and burning and then the final print with comments on why you dodged, burned and bleached the image as you did. Your selection of paper, toner and such all play a part in how you visualized the final image.

Please consider doing this.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

To me, the most important accessory is a good handheld meter.

It amazes me to see so many people who will spend $500 for a camera bag but will skimp on a meter, buying the cheapest thing they can find. I use a Sekonic L-758DR, which was Sekonic's top of the line until recently when it was replaced by a newer model. It was a $600 meter, plus the $130 it cost for the calibration and profiling target that lets you profile a camera for exposure accuracy.

That's a lot of money, but it was worth every dollar. A properly exposed image, whether shot on film or digital, is so much easier to edit and print. A good meter is a time saver that improves the quality of your work far more than any high-end bag or fancy strap or whatever.

 

[michaelwj]

I think the most difficult decision to make is tripods. I hate buying a new tripod. There are so many models from so many brands at so many price points. Unlike cameras and lenses, the barrier for entry for a manufacturer is low (they aren't that complicated). Unlike bags, the quality of the tripod will influence the results (in many respects, if it carries your gear, the bag is okay). Unlike film, darkrooms, post processing, printing, a tripod doesn't really influence the art - it should be an objective decision. A tripod will in many cases outlive both cameras and lenses, but it's so hard to find objective reviews. All the manufacturers give their own limits which can't be directly compared, and everyone has an opinion - usually the model they use; it's not like people go through that many tripods do they?

I suppose lighting would also fall into the same category (apart from flashes which may be brand specific), but I'm not a big lighting user...

 

[michaelwj]

Bill the internet is full of equipment discussions and opinions but there are very few real photographers that have the kind of portfolio you have. Rather than more gear discussion I'd love to see images you feel are your best with your account of what inspired the image and your thoughts that led to the way you executed the shoot. I'd love to know your feelings about subject, what you felt would be the best lighting and how you interacted with your subject. What's the story behind the photo?

In addition I'd love to see a scan of your raw neg with no dodging and burning and then the final print with comments on why you dodged, burned and bleached the image as you did. Your selection of paper, toner and such all play a part in how you visualized the final image.

Please consider doing this.

When I was the librarian at our local camera club, the most checked out book was "50 Portraits" by Gregory Heisler, which is exactly this. An excellent book. There is definitely a desire for this type of image creation discussion.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

My most participated after cameras and lenses thread is - do I need UV filter on my digital camera? And then - will airport x-ray damage my film?

 

[retinax]

Bill the internet is full of equipment discussions and opinions but there are very few real photographers that have the kind of portfolio you have. Rather than more gear discussion I'd love to see images you feel are your best with your account of what inspired the image and your thoughts that led to the way you executed the shoot. I'd love to know your feelings about subject, what you felt would be the best lighting and how you interacted with your subject. What's the story behind the photo?

In addition I'd love to see a scan of your raw neg with no dodging and burning and then the final print with comments on why you dodged, burned and bleached the image as you did. Your selection of paper, toner and such all play a part in how you visualized the final image.

Please consider doing this.

Yes, this would be wonderful!

 

[x-ray]

Not trying to hijack Bills thread but we have one of the great photographers of our time right here on this forum and all people want to do is talk gear. Unbelievable! Tap this mans mind and experience. Learn! Get inspired!

 

[back alley]

Bill the internet is full of equipment discussions and opinions but there are very few real photographers that have the kind of portfolio you have. Rather than more gear discussion I'd love to see images you feel are your best with your account of what inspired the image and your thoughts that led to the way you executed the shoot. I'd love to know your feelings about subject, what you felt would be the best lighting and how you interacted with your subject. What's the story behind the photo?

In addition I'd love to see a scan of your raw neg with no dodging and burning and then the final print with comments on why you dodged, burned and bleached the image as you did. Your selection of paper, toner and such all play a part in how you visualized the final image.

Please consider doing this.

i'd love this as well.
a respected voice of experience sharing his 'image thoughts' would be spectacular.

 

[zuiko85]

To me, the most important accessory is a good handheld meter.

It amazes me to see so many people who will spend $500 for a camera bag but will skimp on a meter, buying the cheapest thing they can find. I use a Sekonic L-758DR, which was Sekonic's top of the line until recently when it was replaced by a newer model. It was a $600 meter, plus the $130 it cost for the calibration and profiling target that lets you profile a camera for exposure accuracy.

That's a lot of money, but it was worth every dollar. A properly exposed image, whether shot on film or digital, is so much easier to edit and print. A good meter is a time saver that improves the quality of your work far more than any high-end bag or fancy strap or whatever.

Oh rats! I’ve been using my $9 used Gossen Pilot and ‘Kentucky windage’
to determine exposure for my old film cameras. That and bracketing if I’m not sure. (Your too far north in Indiana to use Kentucky windage Chris, but I grew up just across the river in southern Indiana ’ kentuckyana’ they say locally, so it’s okay for me.)

 

[BillBingham2]

Me, I'm a lighting freak, I love off camera flash, but I have to agree with the perhaps looking at setting up some sort of portfolio library that people could load into a central part of RFF so that we can all look, comment, and learn.

I look at this as an expansion of what we have already, not sure how to implement it. Perhaps section of the gallery or a different gallery. I think the segmentation/separation is critical for ease of use.

B2 (;->

 

[Franko]

Another vote for how and why from Bill.

Modern gear comes, goes and is forgotten with astonishing speed but great photographs can live forever.

 

[farlymac]

When it comes to gear talk, Bill, for me it's "When is a full kit too much?". Is it when you have half a dozen platforms to support, or when you haul it all out on a shoot, and use three items?

As for non-gear talk, I'd like to know what it was like to work for W. Eugene Smith.

PF

 

[shimokita]

In my experience the number 3 gear issue is lighting, followed by repairs / maintenance. Non-gear issues for non-professionals seem to be post processing and motivation.

 

[Rayt]

I travel with at least one light meter a Sekonic 308 and of course the phone meter app. For large format I also bring the Pentax spotmeter. Last week I left my Sekonic at home. 12 frames into the roll I realize I set the camera to iso400 film when I was shooting Silvermax. I remember when I was young and extremely poor and had to scrape together money for film I had to train my eyes to read the light and guess exposure. At the time I could guess aperture/shutter speed setting within a stop. Last week it took me 12 frames to realize the light was too low to be shooting at f8 and 1/60. Use it or lose it!

 

[RichC]

The one thing all photographers have in common is cameras ... Outside of cameras and lenses, from your perspective what gear should we be talking about?

We shouldn’t be talking about more gear! Once we’ve got the important stuff, we should just use it!

What follows getting a camera isn’t more gear but learning - mechanical skills, such as camera control and darkroom/computer development, and “soft” skills, such as visual communication (pictorial composition, graphic design, colour theory, etc.) and learning about visual culture (art history, etc.). And what and how you want to photograph.

The first category is self-evident. You need to know how to use your tools.

The second: well, no picture created by us exists in a vacuum. However random a photograph may seem, there will have been some human agency in its creation. And our culture has a massive influence on how we take photographs: Western, Indian and Japanese photography each have very different and distinctive hallmarks, for example (e.g. Indian studio photographs often have the flattened perspective characteristic of Mughal painting - unlike Western photographic portraits whose ancestral DNA is European Renaissance art). British photography is different from American photography. And that’s before we add ourselves to the mix.

Some photographers are uninterested in all this “baggage” that unconsciously and consciously goes into every photograph they take, but if they learn - and talk - about it, they will make better pictures.

In my case, I bought my first decent camera about 15 years ago, and decided to learn to use it properly. I first enrolled on an evening course, which taught me the basics, after which I joined the local camera club. The club was brilliant - I was around a bunch of folk with similar interests, and I learnt a lot about what makes photographs tick and how to take them. Crucially, looking at, studying and talking about photographs, I slowly became aware of what I wanted from a photograph - which led to me leaving the club. Why did I leave? Camera clubs tend towards traditional “pictorial” photography, but I became drawn to contemporary and conceptual photography. After leaving the club I went on to do a master’s degree in art photography (the university accepted me despite my only art qualifications being gold stars from the camera club!).

So, what should come after getting a camera is learning, not more gear!

 

[Contarama]

When toys become tools. It was not easy for me.

 

[JoeLopez]

I much prefer to read about how to use the tools (camera, lens, etc) to create better images. Good point about light meters, but more about how they are used efficiently.

 

[karateisland]

I much prefer to read about how to use the tools (camera, lens, etc) to create better images. Good point about light meters, but more about how they are used efficiently.

I second this.

I recently got some of this when I shot a roll of Portra in my Rolleiflex, and ran into quite a few complications using an incident meter. I started a thread to ask about developing, and ahe responders offered a lot of advice about proper metering--advice from experience that I couldn't have found elsewhere on the net. The more discussion like that, the better.

(That being said, I'm also on board for more discussion of images from the greats.)

 

[jsrockit]

To me, the most important accessory is a good handheld meter.

It amazes me to see so many people who will spend $500 for a camera bag but will skimp on a meter, buying the cheapest thing they can find.

I don't know. You have to work a certain type of way for a handheld meter to be useful right? Slow and methodical.

Many built in meters are good enough once you learn how they react. If you work quickly in changing light, the only choice you have is the built in meter or guessing.

In modern digital, I feel that I can expose for the highlights and bring up the shadows in post most of the time. Is it the perfect exposure? Maybe not. Does it get the job done and allow me to get fleeting moments? Yes.

There are many ways to do the same thing and we don't all photograph the same things the same way.