Digital Film

When I shot film, most of the time I would load up with a general purpose slide film. Fujichrome 100 was my choice. It was fine for landscape, architecture, still life, travel and portrait work. But it was probably not the best choice for any of these. Even though I shot a fair amount of film, one roll could contain shots from several of the disciplines listed above. If I knew that I was going to finish a film on a particular shoot I could load my camera appropriately - Velvia for landscape, etc. But this was fairly rare. And portraits on Velvia are interesting to say the least! Hence, the general purpose film.

With digital cameras this has all changed. I can effectively use a different film for each shot. I can increase the contrast and saturation for a landscape shot or decrease the saturation and contrast for a portrait. I can do this on a shot by shot basis. There are two ways of doing this. I can change the in-camera settings before shooting or I can change most of the setting during RAW processing. I prefer the second approach for several reasons. I have far finer control during RAW processing. For instance, in-camera I have five settings for saturation; during RAW processing I have about 100. Also, I can change the contrast, saturation, etc far more easily during RAW processing. If I were shooting JPEGs and selected the wrong settings in-camera before shooting, that could mean a lost shot. This is not the case with RAW. In short, RAW gives far more options and far more control. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
¶ 14:30 1 Comments

  Routine

I was looking at a photographer's work today. He showed me several nice pictures. There was one in particular that looked great except for excessive noise. I asked him about this and he explained that he had mistakenly left the camera on ISO 1600 from a previous shoot. It was an understandable but unfortunate mistake that could have been avoided with a proper shooting routine.

Whenever I finish shooting, I always reset my camera to my own defaults. I put the ISO to 100, exposure mode to aperture priority and the aperture to f/11, turn the autofocus on, and so on. This means that the next time I pick up the camera I will know how it is set up. I may well want to change these defaults but at least I know where I am starting from. Also, once my shots are uploaded to my computer and checked, I format the memory card and recheck my defaults. This way I give myself the best chance of avoiding the situation descibed above.

With some cameras this is not so much of an issue because they allow you to set your own defaults and recall them easilly. Sometimes these 'presets' take the place of 'scene' modes. Each preset will store the metering mode, exposure setting, exposure compensation, ISO, colour space, etc. In short it stores all the settings necessary to make an image. When the camera is switched on, the presets are activated; it does not go back to the last settings used - which can cause other problems.

 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
¶ 21:25 0 Comments

  Misty Autumn

Late autumn is a time for mist and mist can really transform a scene. Often it will simplify it by obscuring unwanted detail. Luckily mist usually forms at the beginning and end of the day when the light is on the warm side. These two effects combined can be well worth the effort to capture. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
¶ 19:33 0 Comments

  Only with Digital

There are some shots that you take that are risky. I don't mean that you risk physical harm, I mean there is a high chance of failure. The shot above is one of them. I would love to say that I got it with one frame but that would be a lie. It took more like a dozen. One of the big advantages of digital equipment is being able to review shots instantly.

Using the inforamtion I got from reviewing my efforts I could refine my set up. First I adjusted the lighting until I had a set up I was happy with. Then It was a case of keeping shooting until I had a frame were the guitarist's fingers were in a pleasing position and where there was an appropriate amount of blur. I doubt very much I would have tried this shot on film - let alone got a satisfying result. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
¶ 22:29 0 Comments

  Professional or Amateur?

There is no doubt that the very best photos that I have ever seen are by a select band of professionals such as Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Martin Parr, Elliot Erwitt and Charlie Waite. Beyond this top tier of truly great photographers, the majority of the most compelling images that I have seen have been created by amateurs. I am not talking about the kind of person who picks up a camera at Christmas and during their annual holiday. I am taking about people who don't earn their living from photography, but for whom photography is their real passion. These are the people who exist to make images on their own terms.

In many ways these true amateurs have an advantage over professionals. They are not working to deadlines. They can choose what to shoot. They can take time to develop their own personal vision and it does not matter if no-one else likes what they are doing. In short, they can afford to take risks because they will still eat if they produce rubbish. Because of this freedom they can be truly creative and make original and exciting photos

Of course there are professionals who also create stunning pictures. But often professionals are forced by their clients to produce technically excellent images that are very mundane or even boring. For every National Geographic photographer there must be dozens of pros doing pack shots for catalogues.

The division between professional and amateur is an artificial divide that does not do anyone any good. If someone cares about the images he is making, he is a photographer. That's it, pure and simple. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
¶ 16:00 0 Comments