Harvey Loc: Pioneer, CA

Enough bickering from me - I know I stirred up too much stuff with my flash reading and reply s.

I can truly say I probably will never learn and retain all I need to know to produce the quality of shots some post on here. My shots so far have been mostly in the auto mode on my Lumix FZ18 bridge camera - I am however working on putting into use a couple Canon SLR film cameras that will allow me to use manual setting on these fantastic relics - also soon to be getting a hand-me-down Nikon d200 with a couple kit lens which will all so allow decent manual setting that the Lumix FZ18 does but not easily done with my fumbling fingers & it's tiny buttons & knobs.
Harvey

Bruce with a Canon Loc: Islip

Every mode is a tool. Used with in their respective limits they are equally valuable.
I love to shoot moving water, falling water. Some shots require 30 sec exposure. Manual is the only way to capture
the intended result. Shooting birds I prefer Apeture Priority, sports shutter priority.

Anyone that claims " I only shoot manual" or " I don't use post processing" is cheating themselves out of dimensions of the art and restricting their photography quality

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

Hear! Hear! Well said. The clue is to try them all and learn their benefits and limitations. Anyone who has failed to do this should not be advocating that others do it 'their way'. Manual mode, like manual focus, has its place for sure. But for me its a narrow place, squeezed into the corner by Aperture mode. But I don't advocate anyone else use Aperture mode. I advocate they learn and choose for themselves which mode suits their style.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Two excellent posts, each complementing the other.

rts2568

To Harvey
From rts2568

Harvey, you are the classic photographer, aiming to achieve good results from those things you enjoy seeing. Now that's what photography is all about, getting results. Improve your technique, as and when you can, when you notice that improvements can be made. Don't get too involved in the gadgetry, the gadgetry isn't what takes the photos, its your use of the gadgetry. Concentrate on capturing the images, assess those images and figure out, or ask how they can be improved. A step at a time.

rts2568

Harvey Loc: Pioneer, CA

The first things I think of when I see something that catches my attention is "How does that look better? standing here- over there - how is the light the best?"

Now using my auto bridge I set the "mode" and shoot the shot.

In the past I with my SLR would do almost the same except - out would come the light meter and quite often the tripod. Take readings, set my lens & camera - then bracket my image.

My plans for the future use of a DSLR is pretty much the same as in the film days.

My plan for the DSLR is to use it on my serious shots & my Bridge as it has been - a never out of reach camera.

Harvey

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Harken ye back to the days of the Kodak Brownie. In which mode were we shooting. Certainly not in Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority, for we had no such functions to control; ergo, neither could we shoot in a (controlled) manual mode. Nor could we adjust ISO (then ASA) for we had no choice of film. We were shooting in a mode preset by the maker of the camera and film. I posit, therefore, that we were shooting in a mode which had been AUTOMATICALLY pre-selected even before the time we acquired the camera and film. Chemists and engineers had preset the parameters of exposure, and the only options we had, as photographers, were those permitted by nature, i.e., time of day, position of photographer, position of subject, etc. we actually learned to shoot in Green Zone before we learned to manipulate our photographs. And yet, as Yoda might have said, "Not bad our efforts were."

rts2568

To Harvey
From rts2568

Sounds like a perfect attitude that should lead to successful photographs Harvey. When will we be seeing the results then? Show us how, when and why etc and everyone can learn from your careful assessments so that we too can try out your techniques to put our successes that follow, under our belts of experience.

rts2568

rts2568

To Mogul
From rts2568

Yoda might very well have been right if he'd said that, though he might not have meant the quality of the photograph though, rather the quality of the effort? A wise old fella was he.

Yes, the old Kodak Brownies of various models. Yes, indeed they had, even then, in those good old days:
Shutter and/or aperture controls. Yes indeed:
They had manual settings. Yes indeed: they had:
ISO/ASA (the same either way) variables. Yes they had
Depth of field control. Yes indeed they had:
Shutter control and priority. yes indeed they had:
Manual contol. Yes indeed they had:
a wide choice of film available and in different sizes and, colour or B&W or transparency. And yes, they had:
Point and shoot alternatives as well….

Wow, how do we cope these days with all these digital complexities which do nothing much more than emulate those good old days – they knew how to do it then, didn’t they Mogul; those engineers and chemists? So memorable those sound, droppable boxes of metal and Bakelite, they really were magic boxes that revealed to all; who were the photographers and who were just the story tellers who gassed on about the ones that got away. Gee, haven't things changed?

Whoops Mogul, sorry but I have just reread your offering of history and I seem to have misread everything you’ve stated and consequently contradicted everything you wrote. I’m so sorry. I’ll slap my wrists and go away before I contradict everything else you pointed out so informatively and promise myself to read history lessons much more carefully in the future. I’ll just never learn, will I!

rts2568