Sunday, February 7, 2016

4 Lies They're Telling You About Your Photography!

With the explosion of the power of the Internet, not only is there more advice out there than you could possibly home to read in your lifetime, there will only be even more advice every dingle day.  Ten years from now, you won't even know who to believe, assuming you know that today.  Given those facts, it does seem a tad ironic that I'm going to refute that advice by giving you advice... over the Internet.

It's not my intention to make things confusing for the budding (or experienced) photographer.  The whole point of photography, at least from the perspective of the person behind the lens, is to find something magical, pleasing, or somehow moving.  To take a picture that will be memorable, for whatever reason.  To capture a special moment, and transfer that emotion to the viewer.  So whenever you read something confusing, or something that will make you stop enjoying taking pictures, ignore that piece of advice.  You've got better things to do, like treasuring the moments around you as you explore new places.  If enjoying those moments means you need to put down the camera, or even leave it at home, then do that.  The experience of being in the moment is why you're alive; don't forsake that in favor of a bunch of little pictures.

So here are some ways people are lying to you, trying to get you to fit your pictures into their tiny world:

1.  You should only take pictures during the "golden hour," which is when the sun is just a tiny bit on top of the horizon, either just before sunset, or just after sunrise.

Simply incorrect.  There's no doubt that shots can look wonderful with that light, but it depends on what you're shooting, and the look you're trying to achieve.  For example, the shot below was shot during Golden Hour:

Keystone, copyright Craig Patterson
Keystone at The Edge of Night

 I was trying to catch the lights of nighttime skiing, but still get the detail of the trees, visible only during the day.  As you can see, the shot is a disaster.  There's no contrast, no shadows, and no interest.  Here's another in the same series of ski area shots, this time from Breckenridge:

Breckenridge, copyright Craig Patterson
Breckenridge, 11:00 AM
This one was taken at about 11:00 in the morning on a cloudless day, when there were harsh shadows.  This is easily the most popular shot I've ever taken, with incredible detail, contrast, and smooth lighting even under direct sunshine.  Don't forget that even at Noon in Colorado, the Sun isn't directly overhead even in the middle of Summer, so you don't need to worry about straight overhead lighting.  Your positioning relative to the subject will make much more difference.

Golden Hour is great.  Use it when you can.  But don't ever think the rest of the day (or night) is inferior.

2.  Invest in a set of prime lenses, and zoom with your feet.

This one started because primes will generally give better image quality than zooms.  But modern zoom lenses are so good and so versatile, you simply won't see any difference unless you're printing your images really, really big.  But the larger factor in the demise of this myth is the fact that a shot done at 35mm will look completely different than the same framing at 100mm.  It's beyond my understanding why any photographer would further this ridiculous myth. Let's do an experiment:

Below is a shot of a generic SUV (my current vehicle), shot from about sixty feet away, at 120mm:
120mm
 Once I took that shot, I "zoomed with my feet" to about five feet from the car, and shot it again from the same elevation at 24mm:
24mm
 You'll notice that the two shots are radically different!  In the first shot the background has been brought into the frame by virtue of the longer lens.  We can also isolate the focus of the subject more effectively with a zoom, which may or may not be desired.  And that's what this boils down to - not that one way is inherently better than the other, but that you will need to decide what distance to pick, based on what you want out of the shot.  The 120mm shot shows the true lines of the car, and makes it fit into its surroundings better.  The 24mm shot gives the car more attitude, and draws your attention to it, even though the car takes up precisely the same width in both shots.

You want to zoom?  Do it.  Walk forward, and get a radically different shot?  Do that.  But the whole point of you making that choice is because you know the shots will be very different.  We can't pretend that walking forward or back is any substitute for zooming.

3.  Pros only use Manual Mode, so You Should Too.

In the studio, sure.  There's no reason to use anything else.  But Very few pros use Manual when doing travel, scenic, or motion shots.  When you're in the wild, conditions vary dramatically and quickly, and you'll rarely have time to experiment, or use the meter.  So instead of going completely Manual, use Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority.  Aperture Priority lets you define the depth of field by setting your own aperture, and then the camera figures out how to achieve ISO and shutter speed within your parameters.  Shutter priority, useful for reducing (or accenting) motion blur, lets you decide what shutter speed to use, and the camera figures out the rest.  Leaving the camera on full automatic (or Program, for Canon users) is often frowned upon because of the reasoning that the camera may guess wrong under certain lighting conditions.  But those exposure guesses would be wrong in both Shutter and Aperture Priority anyway, so if you're more comfortable letting the camera figure it all out, don't be afraid of that either.  You'll miss a few shots, sure.  About 3%.  So stop worrying.

4.  You should only take five lenses and two cameras on your trip.

Yes, I actually read a blog by a respected photographer who said he had lightened his kit to "just" five lenses and two cameras.  When the day comes that you're being paid to fly somewhere and shoot something, you won't need anyone to tell you what gear you need. You'll know what's required for that shoot.  But until that time, take TWO lenses AT THE MOST, and ONE camera.  Your backup camera can be your iPhone, which has a better camera than it has any right to have anyway.  Take a versatile zoom, and maybe a wide-angle.  Or even just the versatile zoom, and then you only have to deal with one lens.  Start concentrating on getting good shots, and you'll have a lot more fun.

Your mental power should be devoted to exploring for shots and enjoying your trip, not hassling with gear or waiting for light that may never come.  You can wait for that light when you're taking a trip specifically for photography.  Until then, learn to find the shot, and your future photographer self will thank you for that experience.

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