Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/07/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ted Grant wrote: > Do you folks run all these techie number things through your > minds when you're shooting? Yes. I think about whether my plane of focus is on the subject (entire subject: head, back, feet, etc.), about whether I'm losing color saturation from flare, I pay attention to exposure so I don't blow out highlights, I watch the lighting conditions to get an optimum balance between light, shadow and color, I pay attention to background color, tone, and clutter so the critter doesn't get lost in the background, and depending on the lens I'm using I watch for bad bokeh effects. I'm also watching shutter speeds carefully: I want the speeds fast enough to get sharp photos with my long lenses, fast enough to elimiate most subject blur, yet I detest bright sunlight 'cuz of the harsh shadows and I demand slow fine-grain films 'cuz I like to make big prints. I do all this stuff while the critters are dancing around in and out of focus, in and out of light and twisting and turning, presenting me alternately with good and crappy poses. Whenever I can I simplify the exposure-time techie stuff by choosing equipment that makes these calculations less important. I prefer lenses with good bokeh effects so I don't have to watch backgrounds as much, lenses that are nearly optimum at full aperture so I can use faster shutter speeds and still get sharp pictures in poor light, lenses that resist flare like Jean-luc Picard resists the Borg so I get all the color, a camera that lets me see the entire plane of focus in the viewfinder, not just a focus point, a camera with stepless shutter speeds with manual exposure so I can use the lens' maximum aperture w/o blowing out highlights or losing shadow detail. I ALWAYS keep the techie stuff in mind - and sometimes I'll change the way I shoot in order to use a different post-process technique. Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html