It's not as simple as "point and push the button" anymore
Dec 7, 2011 11:13:41 #
naturalite wrote:
As some of you know, I'm an old film guy. I've bee... (show quote)
Not speaking to anyone in particular, the basics of photography have gotten wrapped up in, indeed, lost in, and confused by the new necessity to wade through all the choices about which we often know nothing, to learn a sophisticated and complicated combination camera/computer, a computer, software, and the Internet all at the same time, AND do your day job, interact with your family/friends and it has become overwhelming for many, if not most. If you're planning on a career, be prepared to work your tail off, indeed starve, and if you're not, shooting on AUTO will get you a usable picture of your kids, your dog, or your cat about 85-95% of the time. If you're cut out for this, it'll come to you naturally and if you struggle with it, you probably should go with just "shoot AUTO" and forget the safari to Africa or the jungle of Costa Rica. If you want wild animal pictures, go to the zoo. Just do it! If it's not your budding career, and you want to be better, read casually when time permits and don't let this interfere with your life. Not many of us will rise to the top.
Dec 7, 2011 11:41:57 #
Learning to produce good photos is called, practice,
practice, practice. You can always erase your mistakes.
practice, practice. You can always erase your mistakes.
Dec 7, 2011 12:05:04 #
senad55verizon.net
Loc: Milford, NJ
First camera? 1945, and I don't remember the brand or model, but it was pretty cheap and used 120 roll film.
It was a day of simple black box cameras, and Kodaks that had a shelf that unfolded, revealing a bellows and a tween-the-lens shutter that focussed by riding in and out on a rail. It was a day of the ground breaking Leica model G (1939) that was originally designed to use 35 mm movie film. (My first "real" camera) I remember the Zeiss Contax and its razor-sharp lenses. Voigtlander and Exakta. Viewfinder cameras, soon with manual rangefinders and their superimposed images. Rollieflex twin lens reflex, and not much later the glorious and parallax-free single lens reflex.
Film was what it was all about. Most of us were stuck with the regular routine trip to the photostore or drugstore, and the subsequent "Some day my prints will come..."
There was Kodachrome with as ASA of 10!. In bright sunshine, f8 - f11 at 1/60th of a second. What you got back were transparencies with the most vivid colors you could imagine. Then Ektachrome in a variety of speeds, for all your color print needs.
It was a rare bird who did his own B&W darkroom work, and even rarer the guy who developed and printed his own color film. For everybody else, real photography ended at the moment they pushed the shutter button.
For the ordinary guy like you and me, that kind of photography lived on a very small planet.
We are now ridding the rocket of computerized digital imagemaking into an almost infinite universe. Postexposure processing is now available to all, and has become just as important as everything that happens before click of the shutter. The photographic process is now a whole new ballgame. The need to learn and understand the medium and its many facets has expanded at the same rate as our ever more rapidly expanding photographic universe.
You can love it or you can hate it. So much to learn, so little time. For me (one who had a B&W darkroom), the ability to sit in comfort in frot of my compuer and enhance my images is an unmitigated pleasure. No more film to buy, or trips to the photo store. No more chemicals, black curtains or ghostly red lights. Hey, it's just fabulous.
Enjoy it, brothers and sisters!
It was a day of simple black box cameras, and Kodaks that had a shelf that unfolded, revealing a bellows and a tween-the-lens shutter that focussed by riding in and out on a rail. It was a day of the ground breaking Leica model G (1939) that was originally designed to use 35 mm movie film. (My first "real" camera) I remember the Zeiss Contax and its razor-sharp lenses. Voigtlander and Exakta. Viewfinder cameras, soon with manual rangefinders and their superimposed images. Rollieflex twin lens reflex, and not much later the glorious and parallax-free single lens reflex.
Film was what it was all about. Most of us were stuck with the regular routine trip to the photostore or drugstore, and the subsequent "Some day my prints will come..."
There was Kodachrome with as ASA of 10!. In bright sunshine, f8 - f11 at 1/60th of a second. What you got back were transparencies with the most vivid colors you could imagine. Then Ektachrome in a variety of speeds, for all your color print needs.
It was a rare bird who did his own B&W darkroom work, and even rarer the guy who developed and printed his own color film. For everybody else, real photography ended at the moment they pushed the shutter button.
For the ordinary guy like you and me, that kind of photography lived on a very small planet.
We are now ridding the rocket of computerized digital imagemaking into an almost infinite universe. Postexposure processing is now available to all, and has become just as important as everything that happens before click of the shutter. The photographic process is now a whole new ballgame. The need to learn and understand the medium and its many facets has expanded at the same rate as our ever more rapidly expanding photographic universe.
You can love it or you can hate it. So much to learn, so little time. For me (one who had a B&W darkroom), the ability to sit in comfort in frot of my compuer and enhance my images is an unmitigated pleasure. No more film to buy, or trips to the photo store. No more chemicals, black curtains or ghostly red lights. Hey, it's just fabulous.
Enjoy it, brothers and sisters!
Dec 7, 2011 12:54:10 #
I learned on film...but trying to explain the fun of it to my wife ...its like trying to explain fuel injection to her...but she has got the best eyes for composition I have ever had the pleasure to be around....
and she just presses the shutter release...and gets great shots with her little Nikon cool pix.
and she just presses the shutter release...and gets great shots with her little Nikon cool pix.
Dec 7, 2011 14:50:24 #
I got a kick out of that fella that said "I want to shoot weddings." "What camera should I get?"
YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN THE REST OF THAT THREAD!!
YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN THE REST OF THAT THREAD!!
Dec 7, 2011 16:16:48 #
gonate
Loc: sacramento,calif
always glad to read about us old guys , 25 years of pics and still having a great time , i up graded my camers and will do it again . i am now shooting a cannon power shot sx 30 and love it. easy to use and can go from p to s to m without a problem . have fun keep shooting thoes pics.
Dec 7, 2011 18:22:15 #
Good thread all...
And as always Gessman comes through with what I am thinking!!
My first camera was a Kodak Browning, then when I ended up in Viet Nam I bought a 35mm Konica at the base exchange. It was a revelation to me as to what lay ahead!
I am still learning after 55 plus years and will until I can no longer push the button. but it has and will be FUN!!
And as always Gessman comes through with what I am thinking!!
My first camera was a Kodak Browning, then when I ended up in Viet Nam I bought a 35mm Konica at the base exchange. It was a revelation to me as to what lay ahead!
I am still learning after 55 plus years and will until I can no longer push the button. but it has and will be FUN!!
Dec 7, 2011 18:38:31 #
I'm saving up for a DSLR. When I get a new camera, I read the manual from cover to cover. I'm not saying I absorb everything that's in there, or that I even USE everything that's in there. But that gives me a foundation to go back and try things, especially when I see or read about what others have done. When I stop learning, I will have stopped. Period. Whether it's about lighting and composition, the ins and outs of a particular camera, or the software I use on what comes out of the camera.
Dec 7, 2011 19:11:43 #
RMM wrote:
I'm saving up for a DSLR. When I get a new camera, I read the manual from cover to cover. I'm not saying I absorb everything that's in there, or that I even USE everything that's in there. But that gives me a foundation to go back and try things, especially when I see or read about what others have done. When I stop learning, I will have stopped. Period. Whether it's about lighting and composition, the ins and outs of a particular camera, or the software I use on what comes out of the camera.
A better bet is to get one of the aftermarket books about your camera model. They are much more user friendly. Official manuals are much more technical and sound like they were written for engineers.
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