Originally posted by 35mmfilmfan some may find helpful. Is anyone ... willing and able to provide a simple low-level explanation of these points
I would be happy to contribute something. What does Adam think?
Originally posted by biz-engineer .... focusing on camera settings, how to use a camera are mostly "missing the plot" with regards to photography as a graphical art. ..... So, my number 1 recommendation to beginner photographers ... would be to forget about equipment, forget about camera settings and learn about graphical arts, human vision, distances, perspectives, and compounding elements to create images.
It is not an either-or situation. A good photographer needs to understand and recognise art, and also needs to understand the technology. I believe that is what makes photography fascinating, a rare combination of art and technology. If we want to forget about camera settings etc, what are we on this forum doing with such expensive and capable cameras? Should we only use the green button mode?
Understanding aperture, ISO etc is an entirely different issue from being obsessed with gear and delusional thinking that a different camera will take better pictures.
I am an engineer (like yourself by the sound of it) and I have written thousands of pages of technical specifications and reports, and have worked on the building of big ugly power stations and ships. But I also write poetry and have a strong interest in the histories of art and architecture. Similarly I am quite active in the technical discussions here on PF but also post pictures for the pictures' sake. I don't see a conflict, and I don't find either gets in the way of the other. Those old master painters
did think and talk a lot among themselves about their techniques, and they served apprenticeships - they did not just walk up to a canvas and start daubing (although I do realise that is a style in itself). Similarly, those master builders of medieval cathedrals did not just pile up stones : as apprentices they had learned and understood many of the same structural principles that we understand today, although it is now easier to run the numbers.
Originally posted by Roadboat24 I have to agree with biz-engineer... It's like a writer focusing on the pencil instead of the story.
I don't see a pencil as the analogy of a modern DSLR. That would be a phone camera