Originally posted by EyeSpy No wonder i set my P3n on auto. I can't imagine going through the calcs. to take a shot of a setting sun or a galloping horse in morning light with fog. I desperately needed a hobby but not one that requires a mathematics degree. I'll just stick to the art and remain an amatuer; and try not to lose my lunch on the science. oohh boy.
Oh, we generally don't do much calculation. What we'll mostly do is look at a scene and think, that's going to need a fast or slow shutter, or a wide or narrow aperture; and we'll pick the priority we want on the camera and make that one setting and let the camera do the rest. Chimp the picture and if it doesn't look right, tweak the settings and shoot again.
After a bit of experience, the numbers involved with each setting, and their consequences, become ingrained. When I first REALLY learned photography, it was with the most primitive of film cameras -- the very first 135 cartridge camera, with a (sharp) 50/3.5 lens, exposure and focus controls, and no rangefinder. (No, it wasn't new then -- I ain't THAT old.) I used a light meter, but after a few months I'd learned to judge light and distance and make the camera settings automatically.
It's much easier with digitals. There are more controls to master, which means you have more control over how the final picture looks; but much of that is learning how to tell the camera your preferences, and overriding the camera for specific shots. Again, you look at a scene and think, this will need spot-metering, and I want to focus HERE and not THERE, and it's back-lit a bit so I'll spin the EV wheel a little. No math other than multiplying or dividing by two. Some people DO go into detailed calculations, but that's their choice, not necessity.
Put down the slide rule, pick up the camera, and SHOOT!
Last edited by RioRico; 03-24-2010 at 08:27 AM.