tmd. Loc: Berea ky

Absolutely I agree with you 100%. I love reading about what settings were used on different kinds of cameras,and lenses, I have learned so much here that way. Thanks to all who share..

davyboy Loc: Anoka Mn.

Stop worshipping Ansel Adams!!

davyboy Loc: Anoka Mn.

Not quite seeing the info from someone else helps give you ideas to better hone your skills. I love seeing the numbers from someone else and thinking wow I think I’ll see where this leads

James Slick Loc: Pittsburgh,PA

IKR? Not "dissing" Adams,but F.L. Wright wasn't the only architect either! We have this "problem" here in Pittsburgh: We had a famous photographer: Charles "Teenie" Harris (a seriously good press photographer.) Today, he's the only one likely in this city to be mentioned as documenting it! What about Luke Swank? It seems that everyone has forgotten him who is under 80 years old. Ok, to be fair Swank's work influences me to this day.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

But mentioning him gives me another example of how we can learn from others. Suppose "Weegee" Fellig had never said anything, but had just posted pictures; by examining his work, his "EXIF data", we would eventually have come to understand the value of using F/8 consistently.

James Slick Loc: Pittsburgh,PA

Also, does anyone know what gear 'ol Ansel used to start his Photographic journey? IIRC it was a "Vest Pocket Kodak" (if true that's a 127 format folder”.!)

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Kodak Brownie Box camera in 1916 - the year of his 14th birthday.

Toment Loc: FL, IL

We learn from each other...

rplain1 Loc: Dayton, Oh.

Now I'm confused. Earlier in this post someone said that any true photographer had software on their computer that would extract the EXIF data. So why would a true photographer waste their time with something that is so useless?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Your EXIF data is useful to you. You were there. More than for anyone else, EXIF data can help you understand why an image works or doesn’t work.

It may, or may not be useful to a third party.

BebuLamar

That's someone said. I didn't say that. The EXIF data is not something useful for learning.

Bill_de Loc: US

The thread linked to below shows why giving the data isn't so useful, even to many people who think it is. Given the ISO, shutter speed, and apertures for two shots that equate to the same exposure with the camera in aperture priority, numerous people said the reason the shots look different is that the photographer pointed the meter at a slightly different spot. Read through the thread and see how many people understand the numbers when they see them.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-504831-1.html

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rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I've already provided example of my learning from EXIF - I'm sorry you're limited in that way

aellman Loc: Boston MA

gessman Loc: Colorado

I don't see anything wrong with sharing the information about a shot, equipment used, settings, etc., and in terms of an overall saving of "man-hours," no longer than it takes a person to list the information in a post, it would seem to be pretty beneficial to do that rather than having several hundred people go to the exif data for the information. I feel it can be extremely useful and enlightening to see what another photographer uses and does to capture an image, especially a motion shot. Careful analysis can remind one of some fundamental technique and can even allow another photographer to improve upon what was done previously if nothing else. In fact, I think it's very beneficial for a beginner but I also think the more a person knows, the more he/she can derive from careful analysis of an image and then the specs that went into making an image. It never hurts to review and hone ones technique and admiring and fully appreciating the work of others has an extremely positive effect on future outcome. Now, if you are a person who shoots only one subject over and over and has no aspiration to be more versatile it does limit what others can glean from your work so there'd be little use in studying some photographers work repeatedly since it doesn't change. But in today's climate of the ability to experiment inexpensively as many of us choose to shoot a lot of different subject matter, it can be very beneficial to study what others do in various genres and it certainly helps even an experienced person to be able to analyze the works of others with an eye toward improving their own efforts. It's like many other areas of life, the more information you have, the more you can learn and know which leads to the expansion of your talent. You never know what another person gets from knowing what you did in making an image. Inspiration is a strange and elusive thing but many of us are inspired by those around us and it would clearly be disingenuous to deny that.