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Things I've Learned Or Is the Internet Time Travel
10 years ago
Hello, and welcome back to my past, as I type to you long after I should be sleeping, well into your waking hours [Or so we hope!]. Did you rest well? have I? It's my present, that should be past [Because sleep is like leapfrogging time!]... It's your present, that will be future.... The internet, it collects things, I shouldn't be awake, though my level of coherency is debatable, and I should have gone to bed after I typed half of this once before... and well my video card crashed. I did a lot of typing previously, this all actually started at 8:53 this morning, and it is now 9:27/ I mention this because I may yet go back to sleep.... and perhaps not finishing typing, but right now i am burning up. Earlier I was an ice cube... and i think I have a fever... Did I just ramble for no apparent reason when I didn't even bring up why I'm typing?
CAMERA STUFF! That's why. I want to give a basic rundown of things I have learned in my last year of shooting, improving, changing and growing my ideal of what photography is and isn't. It's not revolutionary by any means, but I feel it might be able to help others, but we have to go back to the basics right? What are the basics of photography? Some of you went to school for this, or read the books.... lets talk about it.
Rule of Thirds. The Golden Ratio.... I bet this one came to mind right away, everyone knows about it, what it does, how it works. Right? Essentially you break your frame down into thirds, and cut those into thirds. like a grid. Nine points, you frame your subject using one of the corners, and use it as a focal point. The Golden Ratio works different, but basically it's the same thing, you create a focal point. It's supposed to catch your viewers eye.
Leading Lines... Self explanatory, except for this [Because I didn't get it at first :p] Leading lines exist to draw your viewers eyes through a photo, or too a subject. They are awesome! Always use leading lines!...Right?
Fill the Frame! Another self explanatory one.... What is it? I mean you click the shutter button, that frame is filled.. .Of course that's not right, you're trying to control how much information is in that frame. You want to capture your subject, foreground, background etc. God... these rules... so awesome, they'll for sure make you awesome!
Except no. As it turns out pretty much all photography books go through this, and they are fundamentals. Well, there you go, consider yourself informed. [I think I'm either being amusing, or harsh, and pretty sure, fever.] What we have here is a bunch of rules to teach you how to explore image composition, except unless you're in a controlled environment getting any of those to work right can in point of fact, be a nightmarish endeavor. So you have your focal length, or you're shooting prime in which case you're fixed.... You get your subject framed up in the rule of thirds.... these lines rolling through the top, the frames filled.. . fek those lines are going the wrong way, the subject doesn't look right up here in the top, lets move them to the bottom.... crap those lines are power lines merging in the subjects head.
Ok soo all that is crap, but we have all been in that situation. So what do you do? We start working the scene maybe, walking back and forth, up and down, circling your subject, trying low, high, angles, even different lenses, get different focal lengths... [I need more lenses D:!!! Mmm... tylenol...] What's that even mean? Photographers see their shot, they go straight to it, take the picture and leave right?..... God if it were that easy....
Early this year I went wandering through the Parkway scenery chasing. Ended up finding a Thunder storm..... hundreds of pictures later I get one poorly taken example of lightning. awesome. It's not bad for someone starting out, but really the photo is crap. I never realized I had a square mile to wander around because I set up and didn't move. Horrible, now I would go back and leave the tripod in the car till I found a few angles. Tripods are Anchors, we set them up, and they prevent us from moving. [Even at night I wander around snapping shots, even if I use a flash, or a flashlight, no you will never see them :p]
Focus points... I end up shooting in manual focus a lot. Nature of night photography really. So I have begun adjusting my cameras idea of focal points [God it was a miracle when I finally realized I could do that!] Sure in auto focus mode your camera selects its focus points [You can tell it not to I have found]. But you're the photographer, why are you letting your camera tell you anything about your exposure? Does the camera even matter? does the tech matter? [YES DAMNIT!!] Nope.... Sure shooting at night with a cellphone doesn;t work well, but really my new smart phone has a native ISO of 1600 :o! and full manual control!!! [And I'm never going to use it cause I'm too good for that] I'll try it out some, I can't take my X-T1 everywhere. [Ok... fine....]
White balance... God I used auto white balance for sooo long I ruined so many shots... just because my camera doesn't understand what I want it to see. Because I shoot a Fuji, it picks up green better than anything else... So, I did a lot of color editing, a lot of my new shots where I Choose my white balance, I almost never alter the color. Because at the end of the day the camera can adjust your color, but it doesn't see the scene!
This is what it boils down to guys, I have spent the last year researching, and shooting. I think maybe I've improved. What does that mean? Did I get better? I don't think better is actually the word here. I think the truth is I became more aware. And worse, I'm right now chipping at the tip of an iceberg so vast even the titanic would have noticed. What this journal entry is, is my way of trying to exhaust myself so I can go back to bed peacefully, while still sharing a small modicum of knowledge to my fellow photographers..... most of which are people who have been at this longer, and know way more than I do...... so...yeah... It's now 10:01, Signing off.
CAMERA STUFF! That's why. I want to give a basic rundown of things I have learned in my last year of shooting, improving, changing and growing my ideal of what photography is and isn't. It's not revolutionary by any means, but I feel it might be able to help others, but we have to go back to the basics right? What are the basics of photography? Some of you went to school for this, or read the books.... lets talk about it.
Rule of Thirds. The Golden Ratio.... I bet this one came to mind right away, everyone knows about it, what it does, how it works. Right? Essentially you break your frame down into thirds, and cut those into thirds. like a grid. Nine points, you frame your subject using one of the corners, and use it as a focal point. The Golden Ratio works different, but basically it's the same thing, you create a focal point. It's supposed to catch your viewers eye.
Leading Lines... Self explanatory, except for this [Because I didn't get it at first :p] Leading lines exist to draw your viewers eyes through a photo, or too a subject. They are awesome! Always use leading lines!...Right?
Fill the Frame! Another self explanatory one.... What is it? I mean you click the shutter button, that frame is filled.. .Of course that's not right, you're trying to control how much information is in that frame. You want to capture your subject, foreground, background etc. God... these rules... so awesome, they'll for sure make you awesome!
Except no. As it turns out pretty much all photography books go through this, and they are fundamentals. Well, there you go, consider yourself informed. [I think I'm either being amusing, or harsh, and pretty sure, fever.] What we have here is a bunch of rules to teach you how to explore image composition, except unless you're in a controlled environment getting any of those to work right can in point of fact, be a nightmarish endeavor. So you have your focal length, or you're shooting prime in which case you're fixed.... You get your subject framed up in the rule of thirds.... these lines rolling through the top, the frames filled.. . fek those lines are going the wrong way, the subject doesn't look right up here in the top, lets move them to the bottom.... crap those lines are power lines merging in the subjects head.
Ok soo all that is crap, but we have all been in that situation. So what do you do? We start working the scene maybe, walking back and forth, up and down, circling your subject, trying low, high, angles, even different lenses, get different focal lengths... [I need more lenses D:!!! Mmm... tylenol...] What's that even mean? Photographers see their shot, they go straight to it, take the picture and leave right?..... God if it were that easy....
Early this year I went wandering through the Parkway scenery chasing. Ended up finding a Thunder storm..... hundreds of pictures later I get one poorly taken example of lightning. awesome. It's not bad for someone starting out, but really the photo is crap. I never realized I had a square mile to wander around because I set up and didn't move. Horrible, now I would go back and leave the tripod in the car till I found a few angles. Tripods are Anchors, we set them up, and they prevent us from moving. [Even at night I wander around snapping shots, even if I use a flash, or a flashlight, no you will never see them :p]
Focus points... I end up shooting in manual focus a lot. Nature of night photography really. So I have begun adjusting my cameras idea of focal points [God it was a miracle when I finally realized I could do that!] Sure in auto focus mode your camera selects its focus points [You can tell it not to I have found]. But you're the photographer, why are you letting your camera tell you anything about your exposure? Does the camera even matter? does the tech matter? [YES DAMNIT!!] Nope.... Sure shooting at night with a cellphone doesn;t work well, but really my new smart phone has a native ISO of 1600 :o! and full manual control!!! [And I'm never going to use it cause I'm too good for that] I'll try it out some, I can't take my X-T1 everywhere. [Ok... fine....]
White balance... God I used auto white balance for sooo long I ruined so many shots... just because my camera doesn't understand what I want it to see. Because I shoot a Fuji, it picks up green better than anything else... So, I did a lot of color editing, a lot of my new shots where I Choose my white balance, I almost never alter the color. Because at the end of the day the camera can adjust your color, but it doesn't see the scene!
This is what it boils down to guys, I have spent the last year researching, and shooting. I think maybe I've improved. What does that mean? Did I get better? I don't think better is actually the word here. I think the truth is I became more aware. And worse, I'm right now chipping at the tip of an iceberg so vast even the titanic would have noticed. What this journal entry is, is my way of trying to exhaust myself so I can go back to bed peacefully, while still sharing a small modicum of knowledge to my fellow photographers..... most of which are people who have been at this longer, and know way more than I do...... so...yeah... It's now 10:01, Signing off.
Does some of my photography just by chance fit rule of thirds? Maybe. But I don’t sit there and think "oh this won't fit rule of thirds so I can't post this image as its rubbish now"
I look for interest. Does the photo tell a story? Does it make you feel like you are experiencing something? Is it colorful, sharp or vibrant? If it fits any of these THEN its a good photo to me... not because it has an imaginary geometric triangle I can draw between the trees....