[Leica] opinions on tools & techniques

[Dave Munroe <dmunroe@vcd.hp.com>]

Alan Hull wrote:

> I repeat my opinion that when a photographer throws the background out of
> focus to emphasis the main subject he is guilty of LAZY technique.  A
> photographer that cares about the final image will search for diagonals and
> lines and light and shade and many other devices to get his message across.
> To simply point the camera and rack the lens is LAZY.

The way I see it, it is just one technique that may
be used out of convenience ("laziness" or lack of
creativity) in some circumstances and it may be entirely
appropriate in others.

I've never really understood the animosity between the
f/64 crowd and the narrow DOF approach.  I shoot landscapes
where I like having everything in focus from infinity to
as close as I can get it.  That's just the way I like it.
For other subjects, I deliberately like to have just the
subject in focus and the background as out-of-focus as I
can get it.  With certain subjects, that's a style I like.
I see a variety of techniques, none of which in isolation
are right or wrong, but depend on the photographers vision
of what he's trying to produce.

Similarly, I find the recent postings here and in magazines
on the use of only a 50mm lens amusing.  When I first started
serious photography, all I could afford was a 50mm lens and
this bugged me.  I thought about it and said to myself that
I will first become as expert as I can with the "normal" lens
and then, once I felt I mastered it (hah!), then I would feel
justified in spending the money for a different focal length.
Well, I shot with that camera and its normal lens exclusively
for over 15 years (and still have it), before I tried something
different.  I think I learned a lot from this experience and
it helps me, but there are situations where a wider or a
shorter focal length *is* appropriate to the vision or the
situation and walking around, moving closer or away, doesn't
produce the desired result.

So, focusing techniques and use of different lenses are just
tools to be used when appropriate.  Who would have just a
10mm wrench (UK: spanner) in their toolbox?

- -Dave