"Brainless snapping" aways is a per choice of response to trying your camera out and seeing
what it is doing. Quite frankly I have never read a manufacturers manual that was that useful.

My granddaughter was very young and she grabbed a point-and-shoot and starting shooting
around our house. She was shooting graphics closeups of some of art and asian furniture.
I went through them and thought their was thought process in some of the images and
they were pleasing to look at.

I think that some knowledge of the technical aspect of cameras and controls is good of course.
I will tell you how I approach projects. I was in marketing for years so I had a rudimentary understanding
of video/stills production. Now I shoot and edit. My first edit I loaded the video into Final Cut Pro.
Starting building a time line and used my creative instincts to make a different approach to a triathlon
event. As I went along I had one of those very visual concise books and looked up what I didn't know
how to do technically. I now have 50 videos online and have been hired again to shoot these sporting
events. Yes my experience with Mac and Photoshop etc was a help.

The best learning is youtube. Their are outstanding photographers and videographers who take the time
explain the important parts of the process on your camera and the real things that work and don't.

Did you ever see someone learn how to ride a bike with a book???

Sharpie,

Nice way to show off the NEW bridge! The use of lines and form are great.
I suggest as part of this story telling series would be the juxtaposition of the other side. A load of geometry, lines and shapes. But a very heavy composition versus the very light and airy NEW bridge.

Using line as a compositional element lends itself toward geometric "graphic" forms. That same set of lines composed at a shallow angle then becomes texture.

Great thread. All of my good compositions, including the neighboring 4th St bridge are still on film and Prints.

But, I'm in the Bay next week and I'll try to harmonize on this theme.

Absolutely agree with the need for this discussion. It gives me juice--or as DeWitt Jones says: "You got juice in your camera?"

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

This is a great wrap up of learning how photography works.Great post.
A young lady that was singled out for her imagery was interviewed about meeting some photo students.This was in a trade publication. And was asked about how to work.
She repled JUST SHOOT.

Shoot in automatic 100s of frames see what you and the camera do.
Then put the camera in manual and work on your settings and what you are shooting.
We now have cameras that preview what the shot will look like in the evf and LED.
Experiment if it is action be shutter wise. Look at depth of field and refocus the options.
What kind of color and exposure do you like? Proper exposure is the look you want
Not where the needle is.

I think I didn't see any posts in this forum that taked about the magic of today's digital cameras. A quality camera
will show you what you are going to get in the preview on the electronic viewfinder and the LCD. I have found that
images or video I shoot is really close to what I saw in the previews. You can play with the settings to get a look
you want. Their is no right exposure. Their is a look you want and the controls of todays cameras are great.
I worked with a good friend who was a DP on video jobs we did. Dan would look at the confidence monitor
we had all that gear and tune the look visually to match the shots etc. Another interesting way to setup is
to use intelligent auto (sony's settings) and see what the camera shows on LCD then tweak if you want a
different approach. Trey Ratcliff admitted that his camera did a good job in auto. Pro's don't admit they use
auto quite often. I shoot a lot of run & gun video (sporting events) now. In a triathlon things are happening
fast I use a 10 bit XDCam pro small format and have to use auto and AF most of the time. When I need
and adjustment WB exposure etc. I just adjust the setting. Their is not right exposure. It is the one you like.
Good luck.