Zen and the art of photography
Digital photographer Stephen Johnson has said that digital photography is still in its Stone Age. Ways of working are still being discovered and are in turn driving design potential. The image may look the same through a digital camera as through a film camera but the LCD screen coupled with the histogram readout are a new way to meter and a new way to previsualize your photo. To say “the camera never lies” has always been a bit of a misstatement but without a negative to verify an image who is to say and how do you prove, what is truth in a photograph? A personal point of view in a photo may now be more important than ever.
Remember:
- Rendering is content; the technical aspects of you photo are also part of its content. Use with intention. (thank you A.D. Coleman)
- Regard the whole frame; not just the center.
- Don’t forget to turn around; the photo you’ve been waiting for might be behind you.
- Light and time are the two inescapable ingredients of a photograph; use them both, always.
- The size of a light source relative to the subject is the key to its quality; large=diffuse, small=contrasty.
- The sunny f-16 rule; to shoot in manual without a meter start with an exposure (based on a sunny day) use the nearest shutter speed to your iso. ex.ISO 100 would be 1/125th@f16.
- F5.6 and be there; the old journalist’s adage reminding us the moment captured may be more important than the exposure and focus. (thank you Robert Capa)
- Use the LCD as a meter; review and refine exposure.
- Use the LCD screen as a sketchbook; review and refine your composition.
- Look at great photographs; to take great photographs.
- Chance favors the prepared mind.
- You are also the content of your photos.