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Re: Why are photographers so helpless?

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 8:51 am
by ditto1958
I don't think photographers in general are helpless at all. For the most part, though, the ones who spend too much time hanging out on forums tend to be gear-heads who want to spend more time talking about expensive new toys than they ever spend using them to take pictures. Of course there are notable exceptions on the photography forums. I have met some really nice people there. In general, though, good photographers are probably not the ones asking idiotic questions on forums. They're out taking pictures.

Re: Why are photographers so helpless?

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 2:46 pm
by Madman
Voldenuit wrote:
Then again, I never touch P mode because I don't trust the camera to do what I want it to.

Well, I mostly use P mode, it's either P or M.

On the 400D at least P is pretty cool. You lock the ISO, camera calculates default shutter speed vs default f-stop, but you can override it by turning the wheel. Each step changes the f-stop and the shutter speed is adjusted for non shaky picture again.

Works pretty good if you have to take photos in dynamic environments.

titan wrote:
The expression on their faces when I tell them that I don't edit the photos, I just do it right. P. R. I. C. E. L. E. S. S.

Digital photography without editing them? That's unpossible!

Still, good post processing can be beneficial. I know professional photographers who scan the negatives from film cameras at insane resolutions and post-process them later on. Professional sharpening can still do wonders.

JustAnEngineer wrote:
Changing the ISO on the EOS 40D just requires pushing a dedicated button then spinning the top wheel. You can see the ISO displayed on the top LCD, on the rear screen and in the viewfinder. No menus are required.

Not very ergonomic on 400D :( But a great tip nonetheless, thanks! 8)

Re: Why are photographers so helpless?

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 2:55 pm
by titan
Madman wrote:
titan wrote:
The expression on their faces when I tell them that I don't edit the photos, I just do it right. P. R. I. C. E. L. E. S. S.

Digital photography without editing them? That's unpossible!

Still, good post processing can be beneficial. I know professional photographers who scan the negatives from film cameras at insane resolutions and post-process them later on. Professional sharpening can still do wonders.

There's post-processing and then there's fixing. In this context, it's fixing that I don't have to do. Post-processing can be quite fun and give amazing results. But, I don't do that for a couple hundred photos that need to be taken and presented in two hours.

Re: Why are photographers so helpless?

Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 5:27 am
by Voldenuit
JustAnEngineer wrote:
Changing the ISO on the EOS 40D just requires pushing a dedicated button then spinning the top wheel. You can see the ISO displayed on the top LCD, on the rear screen and in the viewfinder. No menus are required.


The problem isn't that there is no quick access to the ISO (pressing the ISO button on my GF1 also allows me to scroll thru ISO values with the wheel). It's that when you're changing ISOs, the camera does not update its exposure reading until you're done. The Canon behaves the same way - I just tested this with the EOS 40D as well. While you can change ISOs with the main wheel (once you have the ISO button depressed), you do not get a real-time exposure update as you would by changing aperture or shutter speed. The EV needle will move with the latter two, but when you change ISO, it won't update until you half-press the shutter to take a new exposure reading.

This tells me that the paradigm is still working on the assumption that ISO is a fixed quantity while shutter speed and aperture are your controlling variables, which is what I'm saying needs updating with today's digital sensors. Then again, I hear that Canon's intermediate ISO steps are push/pulls of the 'base' ISO steps, so maybe Canon is quietly trying to get you to stick to the base ISO?

@ Titan. Sometimes, the 'proper' way to take a shot is to expose incorrectly, then PP. For instance, I might underexpose a bright scene to preserve highlight detail, then adjust the curves/exposure in PP. If one were to expose "correctly", that might mean blowing out the highlights and losing the information there. It was the same in my film days, when I would expose to get the most information I could in the scene (I'd like to be able to say I used the Zone System, but in reality I was always too impatient and usually just guessed :p), then run a set of timing prints and burn/dodge as necessary in the print. I also don't always trust the camera's exposure meter, or even histogram, but experience with the camera has let me anticipate how it behaves (for example, my GF1 likes to overexpose in bright scenes and underexpose dark ones - ridiculous, I know - so I can fix that by dialing in +/- 2/3 EV as needed). Although I'm quite impressed that the latitude of digital sensors is approaching (and in some ways exceeding) that of film these days.

Re: Why are photographers so helpless?

Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 4:07 pm
by Madman
Voldenuit wrote:
@ Titan. Sometimes, the 'proper' way to take a shot is to expose incorrectly, then PP. For instance, I might underexpose a bright scene to preserve highlight detail, then adjust the curves/exposure in PP. If one were to expose "correctly", that might mean blowing out the highlights and losing the information there.

Yep, although if you shoot in raw underexposure is less critical. +/- 1/3 adjustments are pretty sweet.

I just love how you can take a 3 year old photography that was taken in RAW, in a place where there are extra bright and extra dark objects, post process one with -, other with + and combine into a normal image later on.

Sometimes scenes really are that ungrateful, with bright and dark objects next to each other.