Ragarm

Technique. One could ask the same question about why photogs always seemed to mention pushing their film.

Reminds me of the time I was cycling and caught these two pro cyclists at a stoplight. I caught them right before they stopped, and of course they had been slowing. In fact, they had sat up to munch a snack while I huffed and puffed to catch them.

As I crowed about having caught them, I mentioned that at my age, a catch under ANY circumstances counts! One of them got the joke, the other got offended.

Point is, specific technical aspects can take on differing significance, depending on circumstances and characteristics. So, the question that pops into my mind is: Why fuss about the mention?

arteest Loc: Arizona since 2007

Woodworkers have those that only use hand tools, or oil painters have those that make their own paint or will only paint as the masters did. I guess photography has it's own macho(?) distinguishing methods.

twitcher32 Loc: North Carolina/Costa Rica

Great sense of humor, jjester. The subject was beginning to get a little frayed and needed that.

Emmett Loc: Onalaska, Texas

I remember a time, back in the 80's, a friend of mine had a nice color darkroom at home. He took a 200mm lens, Nikon FA, shot a picture of a tree at short distance, maybe 50 yds. This was in the winter time, when the trees were bare. He took one photos at 1/60th of a sec. one photo at 1/200th of a sec. Both on a Bogen tripod. Enlarged a section of the tree. The first photo showed fuzzy limbs, and the second one was sharp. Conclusion= The faster shutter speed helps get a sharper image. Hand hold if you want, enlarge it to 16x20, cut out a section and look at the fuzz.
This is not to rebuke andthing Silver said, or anyone for that matter, just food for thought.

hamtrack Loc: Omaha NE

Not hand held!

This Old House

artlover Loc: NM

No one else can walk in your shoes. You can't walk in theirs. You have technology today that differs from your beginnings. You had great cameras and you did wonderful things.

I never liked the tripod, or monopod, etc. I never do indoor pix
except for wife or friends, close family. Hold a camera up for
prolonged time and my arm ached. I learned how to use my
left arm for steadiness when shooting sunsets. Rest the camera
with the wrist strap on the hand and let the "auto setting" to the
work. I learned by doing and found out what worked and what
didn't. Amateurs cannot tell the difference between a 6.0MP from a10-14MP , except the for the enlarged resolutions.

Submitting photos to professionals, and we get pushed away
cause we didn't follow the rules.

Being a minor leaguer, as I am, does not bother me. I could
never become a major leaguer. I have sold "stuff" at local
"Farmers & Craft Market". Been turned down by competitive
juries cause my work was not properly described. The content
was fine but the prose was not.

I worked for a non-profit museum in SoCal for 11yrs. I saw the
great works of the best artists in this Fine Arts Museum. I see
places that call their work "fine art", and is mostly likely like
being in the "Triple A" baseball league. Many are copy cats and not doing original work. This state is known for Georgia O'Keefe". Over the past century many artists found their niche.

I look at work of others and after seeing the million $$$ works
just shrug and say "so what". When you see the greats in all
fields you don't want to watch the "untalented". Many of these
people have never been to the major museums or seen the
great works of Ansel Adams or Edward Weston, in silver gelatin,
B&W. You have, seen them.

When you grow up seeing the "hall of famers" in all facets of life
it is difficult to compare todays baseball - football - basketball
players to them. The great photographers who took all those
wonderful shorts during the 40's to the 90's. They made all the
magazine covers and were around the most important people
on earth. The greats in all fields is drying up. You may be one of them. Enjoy what you do and let the others enjoy their level.

I saw a photographer at the museum using the "hasselblad" (?)
and other great cameras setting up to take photos of the
priceless works of art. The long and tedious time endured before
taking 5-6 works and spending 6-8 hours working.

Do what works for you and let the others who don't have your talent learn as they go along. Not everyone likes school.

Have a great day, and a very Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year. Here's looking at you through the lens of life.
:-)

butch47 Loc: Garland, TX

Now I'm confused. I'm just getting into photography and several times I've seen references to Ken Rockwell. On his site in 2007 he states"If you're shooting a digital SLR, forget the tripod. The tripod only gets in the way and encourages the misuse of smaller apertures which soften images."

I'm learning with a Canon T1i and reading some. Spending too much time on this site instead of out using the camera.

hamtrack Loc: Omaha NE

Could not agree more. How many millions are shooting photos? How many are shooting for fun not competition? I think the answer may be many and most.

Roy Hakala Loc: Red Wing, MN

I don't think it is all that important to mention hand-holding a camera. However, most of my shooting is on family outings or walks with my wife, when it would be an imposition on the rest of the group to carry and set up a tripod for every shot. When I get a really good shot under those circumstances, I sometimes am proud of the fact that I managed it by hand-holding. Just a very minor type of bragging, I suppose.

Roger Hicks Loc: Aquitaine

There are plenty who would say, "If you're interested in photography, forget Ken Rockwell."

The thing about 'smaller apertures which soften images' refers to diffraction limitation of resolution at very small apertures, a moderately arcane technical point which explains why lenses don't stop down further than they do. If you're shooting at normal apertures, a tripod will normally do far more to improve sharpness than it will to harm it.

Keep shooting.

Cheers,

R.

suzip Loc: Houston

Exactly! Just an example of how I got the shot; like saying snapped it quickly with no preparation vs prepared my shot, set up tripod, camped out etc. No pride just info! As a beginner I find it useful to see you can get good shots of certain kinds without tripods and good shots of other kinds with tripods. Until now I didn't even consider ego came into it!!

JohnnyRottenNJ Loc: Northern New Jersey

I used to shoot (a handgun) competitively, and did quite well. But that was over 25 years ago, and between advancing age and usually too much coffee there is a perpetual "shake" when it comes to handholding a camera or a gun these days. Nothing neurological, but just not as steady. So, I use a tripod for any shots less than 1/60th of a second or a zoom lens out past 100mm or so. Tripod, Monopod, bean bag, rolled up coat anything I can rest the camera on or against works really well. It's been my observation, that especially with digital photography, photos become very "unsharp" and lose a ton of resolution before they actually get blurry. I wouldn't wear the "Handheld 300mm at 1/30th" monicker as a badge of honor. I would call it luck. Sometimes you'll get a good photo handheld, but all the time I get sharp images with the tri or monopod.

Roger Hicks Loc: Aquitaine

Well, I've been doing it 45 years, and I never really thought of it that way, either. People sometimes boast about how steady they can hold a camera, but once you've mastered a couple of simple techniques (slouch against a support, exhale gently while shooting), that's a bit like boasting about how tall you are or what size shoes you wear.

Cheers,

R.

dnaylor48 Loc: Charles Town, WV

I've been into photography for over 40 years, attended many classes and seminars, taken more than 100,000 slides and digital. 99% of my work has been on a tripod. I am very happy to get a quality shot hand held, but I know it's luck.

alann Loc: Virginia

When looking at a photo I never pay attention to whether a tripod was used or not. Does not matter to me. I know when "I" need a 'pod and when I don't. I do use it often but, does anyone out there really benefit from knowing this? Sometimes it seems that feelings on this matter may be directly related to experience levels.