Well said, Mr. 'coil.

Now, you must choose: digital or silver halide?


Digital Photography Pocket Guide, Third Edition


The Camera

Pffft! Leica.

I present, the Lummox! Er, Lumix.

I'm usually too embarrassed to shoot film, because it means the guy at the photo develop will see them.

quote:

Originally posted by Pauline:
I'm usually too embarrassed to shoot film, because it means the guy at the photo develop will see them.

If you stopped taking dirty pictures of yourself,
this wouldn't be as much of a problem.

Please don't stop taking dirty pictures. It's the only incentive photo technicians have after a few months of being on the job to keep coming in to work. Plus, there wouldn't be nearly as many funny stories to tell the new people...

The truth is worse:

They're pictures of my cat.

Shame! Shame!

In any case, my current camera is a paper box. Not a lot of photos these days.

Ahh, good times!

I think Striv had the most interesting post here. She takes great pictures, and I'm surprised this is her first camera and she didn't print the pictures out till recently. There's definitly something to learn here.
On my first photography course, technical stuff played a huge part, from measuring the light to making the prints. And the camera geeks on the course filled all the breathing space with their sneaky questions to the professor, trying to look smart.
Still, I loved that course, and today, years later, I still take it with my students when it's their turn, I learn something new every year. And last year I was surprised to hear the professor said: buy a digital camera, use photoshop, and lets talk about the results right away. Come back and have private lessons in the dark-room if you want ;-) His point was, unless you want to be a professional photographer, the most important thing is to see, and to understand how to see through the camera instead of with your ears, your memory, your prejudice and all the other stuff people bring along with their eyes.

I don't know about books. Everyone learns in his own way. My favorite photography books are books with pictures I can look at and learn from. And they can be about all sorts of pictures, not just photography.

"Everyone thinks they're a photographer."

--bemused professional, 2005

Metro, it's one thing to make a living out of photography, another to have a hobby....

quote:

Originally posted by M:
I think Striv had the most interesting post here.

What I left out of that post was the fact that you guys maybe see 5% of what I shoot.

quote:

Originally posted by doggo:
Pffft! Leica.

I present, the Lummox! Er, Lumix.

[drools]

Hey, I may have to get me one of them! I suffer the exact same problem where my preferred lighting is natural and my preferred time to do it is dusk.

quote:

Originally posted by pauline:
The truth is worse:

They're pictures of my cat.

Shame! Shame!

Hey, I resemble that remark!

The whole point of digital is that one can throw away 95%.

Anyway, I strongly believe in professions, and in respecting the real work good photographers do. However, I didn't see Splitcoil (or Striv) planning a career move. But I might be wrong?

It reminds me of another issue, though. In all professions the worst problems are the lazy professionals. If you don't do your job right, it's easy for an amateur to prove he does it better. If housewives using MSword do better graphic design than real designers, who will pay for professional work?

Just something I thought of...

The only difference between professionals and amateurs is pros figure out how to get other people to pay for their hobbies...

And I agree with M, I prefer looking at pictures, not reading technical descriptions. The great thing about magazines is they usually have a wide variety of images to view and list a few technical details as well. This is where having a nice technical reference book helps; you can figure out what type of picture you want to create and look up the how to stuff for ideas to try out.

And there's the key: taking actual photos. Sitting around reading or thinking about how to take a picture isn't going to get you very far really...

True! Reading or thinking about things never gets you very far. There's entirely too much thinking going on out there. People need to stop reading and thinking and just do it!

Balance, young grasshopper. Balance in all things.

quote:

If housewives using MSword do better graphic design than real designers, who will pay for professional work?

foolish men

quote:

Originally posted by electric dragon:

Sitting around reading or thinking about how to take a picture isn't going to get you very far really...

I beg to differ. It's exactly what's gotten me where I've been in photography.

quote:

Metro, it's one thing to make a living out of photography, another to have a hobby....

Oh, of course! Hence Flickr.

I heard that quote from some bummed out pro photographer recently. He's exceptional, but the net culture has grown up "around" him, and now he doesn't have a website. So it's depressing to visit the sites of people billing themselves as "pro photographers," even offering classes, when their work is horrible. (Or borderline child pornography).

I'm by no means professional, but I very much enjoy photography. I like learning about the obscure, forgotten processes, like bromoil.

WGB does regularly yield amazing photography.

By the way, Splitty, I was recommending those two books as good examples for their respective formats.

But for the digital, yeah, it's a "pocket guide", but it's pretty comprehensive. An overview you can peruse on the bus, waiting in line, on the can.

From Chapter 3 How Do I... Tips and Tricks for Shooting and Sharing

"Take Great Outdoor Portraits:

... Get close. The tighter you you frame the shot, the more impact it will have. Extend your zoom lens and move your feet to create more powerful images. Once you've moved in close and shot a series of images, get closer and shoot again."

There's a 113 pages including the index in the second edition. None of it wasted. Concise. To the point. Valuable.

For someone who's been taking photos for years and is new to digital, it explains the digital hardware thoroughly, and reviews basic technique. For a beginner it takes off where the owner's manual's Engrish leaves off, and builds to solid photographic concepts and technique.

I also recommend Story's Digital Photography Hacks, for goofing around and getting out and taking pix with a project in mind.

For conventional photography, you can't beat Adams. I mean, it's Ansel Adams, for Pete's sake! I mean, gray card and a light meter! It doesn't get any more thorough than the zone system.

~~~ Get close. The tighter you you frame the shot, the more impact it will have. ~~~

With most standard lenses, the closer you get to a human face, the more the human's nose will appear larger than it really is.

I suppose that's impact too!

quote:

Originally posted by Trogdor:
~~~ Get close. The tighter you you frame the shot, the more impact it will have. ~~~

With most standard lenses, the closer you get to a human face, the more the human's nose will appear larger than it really is.

I suppose that's impact too!

Most digital, and 35mm "snapshot" cameras come with a zoom lens which covers a range from moderately wide-angle to a moderate zoom. The default position is full wide-angle. Wide-angle up close distorts in the manner you describe, Trog. So you need to zoom a bit to get closer to the traditional "normal" lens that most of us are familiar with 35mm SLR cameras.

You would want to zoom further to acheive the traditional 100-ish mm lens used in portraiture. This also helps to keep your subject from being intimdated by having a camera shoved in their face.