Moles Loc: South Carolina

Dave, unfortunately my experience has shown that there are always Lighthouses, or their ilk willing to ruin things for those of us who are trying to learn in good faith.

LarryN Loc: Portland OR & Carbondale, CO

I think Lighthouse is enjoying "jerking our chain." And apparently has nothing better to do. For a person with "No Fixed Abode" what should we expect. In the future I recommend that we not play his game.

BillieG Loc: Oklahoma

This is an example of the reason I don't like to ask questions anymore. I admit I am an amateur. I admit I need help. That's why I try to find answers on this board. I am too old to learn by taking hundreds of thousands of photo's in every type of light and every imaginable camera setting to figure something out that someone who knows could willingly just tell me. I have taken the photography classes that are available to me that I can attend. I thought this was a board to come to to ask questions.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

BillieG, you are absolutely correct. This IS a place you can come to ask questions. Many of our members are more than happy to help you by answering questions, offering tips to better your photography knowledge or just talk about things photography related or otherwise. Believe me, we do have some talkers here who are more than willing to demonstrate their knowledge anything you can imagine.

But there are others who feel that since questions regarding the exposure triangle, for example, have been answered so many times in the past, that it is useless to go over it again when you can simply click on the Search box at the top of the page and possibly a thousand previous threads will come up telling you all you need to know about the exposure triangle. That is all true and the information is there. But what they forget is that if you are a new member you may not have any idea how to navigate the site itself. I personally had a problem with clicking on, "Quote Reply", to answer a specific person. Now when I see a new person who obviously doesn't know about that feature I try to pleasantly inform them. It helps everyone.

Other people, even though they may know about the Search box just want a simple answer rather than perusing a thousand previous posts. What does it hurt for a few members to give their opinion? Nothing at all. For most of us it is a pleasure to answer and help out. For others, like lighthouse, it might be better for all of us if they would simply click on the next topic. Nobody forces them to post an answer. Apparently people like that simply want to be the, Take Charge, type and answer by not answering properly or rudely.

Please be assured that if you post a question or comment most of the members will be happy to get right back to you.

Dennis

RRS Loc: Not sure

Well I wasn't going to do this and will most likely catch hell for it but I've got to put in my dollars worth because 2 cents won't cover it. I wondered about this post too. Lets see, if we were still all shooting film I could understand some of the questions here on the forum, but we're not. It doesn't cost anything except maybe time to go out and shoot a couple of 100 shots to see what a lens or flash can do. I don't think it matters what anyone here does for a living unless you work in the photographic field. Reading the post I was impressed that the OP shot in manual, think about it, how many out there shoot that way. I do all the time in the studio and sometimes out in the field, I'm from the old school. I also wondered if the OP had maybe gotten in over his head as many aspiring photographer have done because someone sees their camera and the next thing they're shooting a wedding. Now Holy Batman how am I going to pull this off?. I too questioned what kind of light would he have or not have and my original reply covered that and that alone. The response from Lighthouse may have seemed brash, no evidently it did touch a nerve with many, but it did and does have merit. Could it have been worded better, yes. He gave his opinion and got hammered for it. All through this thread I read that if he was upset with this just go on. My question to most is if you didn't like his reply why didn't you follow your own advice and ignore his reply and just offer advise to the OP? A heated discussion it was with gas thrown on by many, surprised that it wasn't thrown up to the attic. I don't buy the old adage that there are no dumb questions, I hear dumb and even stupid questions from news reporters almost every night on the news. Lazy questions too yes right here on this forum. If you bought a used camera and didn't get a manual ask away or download it.If you read something and tried it and are stuck then ask but for your chance to learn something new all on your own try it, it feels good. It's good for the forum to have people that think outside of the box like Lighthouse, he makes us think. When I was teaching photography I'd give an assignment to the students and looked at their shot and told them it was terrible even when it wasn't. Why you ask, I wanted them to tell me what they saw, what they were trying to say and then we went on to see what could have been done to make it better. I only lost one student but not because of that.

There's a wealth of info here and also a lot of opinions too. As a daily reader it didn't take long to differentiate between the two. Won't it be great when "Searcher" from the UK returns, got a question on PS of any kind, He's your man. There are others here that excel too , please take the time to read and reread what they say. All questions get answered here.

Hey for me it's Good Friday, for others it just might be another Friday. What ever it is, enjoy, have a nice weekend!

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

I wanted you to know I agree with and appreciate almost all of your post. Yes, I agree. I also wanted you to know why I wanted to give lighthouse my opinion and why I thought he was wrong.

Take a look at the number of new members in the thread. Lighthouse, by his post, cast a negative response that wasn't needed and by doing so he made it appear that most UHH members felt the same way he did. In reality it is the very opposite. Almost all UHH members are happy to help, some typing paragraph after paragraph about information just so a new member can try to understand what is going on with their camera.

You have been in photography for a long time and have used the old manual film cameras so you know how things work. I have too, having owned and used Nikon, Canon, Leica, Hasselblad and many others. But take a very new person who has never owned a camera before. It isn't quite as simple as we had it. Now the cameras have a menu, no film but formatting, auto focus, auto everything and on and on. Mastering the camera is one thing but to also master the computer workings inside the camera is something else again. I think possibly lighthouse forgot all of that.

In some ways I agree with lighthouse and tried to say that. It is annoying when somebody asks a question such as I own lens A and B. Which one is sharper at this setting on my Canon 5D3? My first reaction is, "Why ask us. Put the camera on a tripod, set up a subject to photograph and do it with each lens at the setting you asked about". When I see questions like that I usually (not always) just click on the next topic. It is a dumb question that we can't possibly answer as well as the owner of the camera and two lenses. But when I do answer I politely suggest the owner do just that and inform him why it is better if he does it himself; what is important is his camera and his lenses are not necessarily the same as my camera and lenses.

I hope this gives some insight into why lighthouse got some flack.

Dennis

canon Lee

The higher the ISO the higher your shutter can be, to avoid motion smear.

RRS Loc: Not sure

I understand what your saying. I have even gone one step better by PMing a poster and asking what I thought were the correct questions such as; were you hand holding (blurry) ISO, too high/low and etc. and making suggestions to help. We seem to forget what we thought was good when we first started with this hobby/ profession and what we are able to do today. Some people on the other hand benefit from a jump start and I do think that Lighthouse was trying to help the OP do just that, think on his own.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

I wish he had used much different wording then. When dealing with children that wording sometimes might goad the kid into getting out but if most of us are adults I don't think we appreciate the, get out of my face and do it yourself type of teaching.

I appreciate your comments,

Dennis

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

But we weren't talking to someone who had never owned a camera before, we were talking to someone with pro class lenses who is comfortable working in manual.

Dennis, I love helping people improve their photography.
I do it all the time.

I happen to very very strongly disagree with the statement you made above though.
AND it does not apply to the situation that the Op put in front of us. The OP said he was comfortable working in manual. To me, that means that he knows how to set his exposure triangle manually, so the menu systems are understood well enough to do that.

It is much much simpler to learn than we had it.
It is so much easier to learn quickly these days.
The immediate feedback available from our instruments/tools today is what enables this to happen.
We have preshot histograms available to us, preshot exposure live view, aftershot histograms, immediate review, and embedded exif data.
I estimate the potential learning speed available to a beginner today is almost tenfold to what it was "in the old days", and so, so ,so much cheaper. Zero dollars per shot.
But if you aren't going to get out there and press the shutter, how is this ever going to happen?

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

I am getting tired of this so I will just say that your attitude and your wording said more than enough. If you only take a look at the entire thread you will see others who feel as I do. We can't all be wrong in our feelings can we?

I know you know much about photography and I applaud your knowledge. But you are assuming that someone knows something because of the equipment he has. Even if he is a world class photographer he still has a right to ask whatever he wants. My beef is you didn't have to say a word.

Dennis

Harley Man Loc: Atlanta, Georgia

The 80-200 2.8 is a good choice. The range keeps you out of the action which is helpful as it is in the first dance at a wedding reception. If you have a flash, have it on TTL and bounce some additional light into the inside shots.

Disregard those that have nothing more productive to do than criticize. If they don't like the question, they can always move to the next. Best of luck to you and have fun!

Harley Man Loc: Atlanta, Georgia

Make that the 70-200 2.8.....

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

"....he still has a right to ask whatever he wants??..."
Yes, he has a right to ask, and I have a right to reply in whatever way that I think could help.
Have you ever heard the saying that "you have to be cruel to be kind sometimes?".
And regarding other people in thread supporting your viewpoint.
Warren Buffett paraphrasing Ben Graham.
http://refspace.com/quotes/Warren_Buffett/Q1043
"You’re neither right nor wrong because other people agree with you. You’re right because your facts are right and your reasoning is right—and that’s the only thing that makes you right. And if your facts and reasoning are right, you don’t have to worry about anybody else."

And i wonder, in the three or 4 days this thread has been going, has the OP taken any photos with any of these lenses to mimic his photo taking situation? Has he practiced for the event?

LarryN Loc: Portland OR & Carbondale, CO

So after a couple of days of a long thread, please give us an update. What have you learned, other than there are helpful people on this forum & some that are unkind. Have you decided how you are going to shot this event? When is the event? Are you going to share a shot or two that you take with us. There are a lot of people here who are hoping you get some great shots, I know I am.