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01-26-2014, 01:27 AM - 4 Likes   #1
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40 Tips to Taking Better Photos




01-26-2014, 01:42 AM   #2
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Thanks for posting.
01-26-2014, 04:10 AM   #3
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Good stuff - I know some of these but regularly forget to use them. I have bookmarked this.
01-26-2014, 04:17 AM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by interested_observer Quote
40 Tips to Taking Better Photos
Thanks for that an interesting read.

01-26-2014, 07:25 AM   #5
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I agree with 99% of that article. At a lecture years ago, someone asked the speaker what the secret was to seeing great photographs. He said, "Leave your camera at home. You'll see them everywhere." LOL LOL
01-26-2014, 08:00 AM   #6
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That is exceptional good list
01-26-2014, 08:53 AM   #7
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My only problem is with the "no chimping" rule. As someone who shot nothing but slides for almost 40 years....where there was no fixing exposure problems or cropping problems, it seems crazy not to take advantage of one of the primary advantages of digital...instant feedback.

01-26-2014, 09:19 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by TaoMaas Quote
My only problem is with the "no chimping" rule. As someone who shot nothing but slides for almost 40 years....where there was no fixing exposure problems or cropping problems, it seems crazy not to take advantage of one of the primary advantages of digital...instant feedback.
I'd have to agree, particularly when using flash. Especially manual flash, I consider it an absolute must!
01-26-2014, 02:25 PM   #9
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Bearing in mind that these are just "tips" - general statements that
may or may not be applicable to the way you work, two jumped out at me.

21. Shoot with your mind

Even when you’re not shooting, shoot with your mind. Practice noticing
expressions and light conditions. Work out how you’d compose a picture
of that scene over there that interests you, and what sort of exposure
you might use to capture it best. — Leah Robertson

Yes.
I find myself often looking at scenes, with or without a camera in hand,
and thinking about what I could make out of it photographically. I
remember being in my dentist's waiting room with a window out to a
small little Japanese garden in the back . I spent the half hour
waiting just shifting my head back and forth trying to get the best
framing, using the window frame. and and thinking about FL, lighting,
ISO etc and what would work the best. You would be surprised at how
much you can learn about photography without having a camera in hand.
In fact sometimes a camera in hand is the worst time to be thinking
about photography because you end up obsessing about hardware rather
than esthetics.

32. Don’t spend too much time post-processing

The key is to get it right in the camera first, so you don’t HAVE to
spend time editing. Over working a photo in editing software very rarely
looks good, unless you are trying to achieve a super-artsy effect. If it
takes you longer than ten minutes to alter your photo, maybe think about
going back out into the field to re-shoot it. ??

NO.
As a broad general statement this is nonsense. First of all you can't
"get it right in camera". The control of the final image that a camera
allows is just too limited. Using just the camera you may get it more
or less right but only by sheer dumb luck will you ever get it really
optimum. In any case why throw away all that latitude shooting jpg just
for the sake of saving a few minutes.? On the face of it it sounds
idiotic to me.
01-26-2014, 08:24 PM   #10
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I have a bone to pick with #17 Shutter speed. 1/160 of a second is fast enough to freeze the cleats on someone playing sports, 1/250 will capture an elite sprinter. A ball or puck frozen in space is meaningless in sports photography; other than auto racing, there is no point to using shutter speeds of 1/1000 or faster. 1/500 for shooting kids playing? Get serious. If they are throwing dirt or food at each other, a little blurring tells the story better. When I was shooting film, and my kids were playing high school sports, I got away with 1/125. Just because the high ISO capabilities of modern sensors make it possible to use ultra fast shutter speeds in normal light, doesn't mean there is a good reason to do it.
01-26-2014, 08:28 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by RGlasel Quote
I have a bone to pick with #17 Shutter speed. 1/160 of a second is fast enough to freeze the cleats on someone playing sports, 1/250 will capture an elite sprinter. A ball or puck frozen in space is meaningless in sports photography; other than auto racing, there is no point to using shutter speeds of 1/1000 or faster. 1/500 for shooting kids playing? Get serious. If they are throwing dirt or food at each other, a little blurring tells the story better. When I was shooting film, and my kids were playing high school sports, I got away with 1/125. Just because the high ISO capabilities of modern sensors make it possible to use ultra fast shutter speeds in normal light, doesn't mean there is a good reason to do it.

It depends on exactly what you're after. In general I tend to agree with you, but there are certainly photos I've taken that I think have benefited from a much faster shutter.
01-26-2014, 10:27 PM   #12
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#32 has some merit but I would say it differently.

Get as much as you can correctly in your camera and remember what the vision was.

Ansel Adams was the king of dodge and burn which would be the equivalent of today's digital post processing. I thought he would print and reprint a shot many, many, many times until he got it just right. It burned him out though.

The 10 minute rule seems silly to me. I have spent a lot more than that sometimes trying to craft my images because I know what I'm looking for is in the digital data somewhere! What I don't always know is all the sliders and checkboxes I need to manipulate to bring it out.

Also, we can't always go back to where we were and reshoot. Sometimes logistics stops us. Other times you can go back only to discover the light is different because the weather has changed day to day.

I load my pictures into Aperture right away and I start deleting what I know are duds. That's day one. Day two is spent flagging the shots I think are worth post processing. Day three goes to the quick and easy shots. Day four is spent on the hard ones. Day five is the ones I want in B&W if there are any - and lately I've been going to day 5 here. Day 6 through 10 is spent deciding which ones go on Flickr.
03-24-2014, 01:01 PM   #13
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This is great reading. Thanks!

QuoteOriginally posted by interested_observer Quote
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