A "learning thread." What was your "A-Ha!" moment in photography?

[amolitor]

I'm still waiting for this "aha moment" thingie...

Does it hurt when it happens???

If it doesn't, you need to pay the girls more money or find more competent ones.

 

[thunderkyss]

My aha moment was when I realized the connection between exposure & the exposure meter in the viewfinder.


Sounds stupid now, but I always wondered how a person knew when they had the "right" exposure settings when there are several combinations that should get you there, but no set "number"

When I realized what that little meter in the viewfinder was telling me, then adjusting shutter speed, aperture size, & ISO made all the sense in the world.

Then I found that meter represented on the LCD of my camera as well.

Don't get me wrong, I read my manual a couple of times, but what I was reading never clicked until I realized what it was saying.

 

[unpopular]

For me it was when I was processing 4x5 in hangers for the first time. I had a really hard time understanding how this was going to work - but in the dark there with the dim glow the timer being my only reference, I really had no other option but to imagine what was going on around me, so I imagined the film being developed out, first starting with the areas of greater exposure and then finally the areas less exposure until the halide is entirely exhausted and the shadows begin to fog. At that point everything clicked, how exposure, processing and printing is one continuum of the same thing.

At that point photography stopped being something that had a sort of laundry list for. It opened a lot of creative options.

 

[otherprof]

Aha! moment: When I realized that my camera thought everything should be 18% gray, but it was wrong. I followed up with a Zone System dial for my Weston Ranger 9 meter. BTW, I just had another Aha! moment. It came in the form of a question: Why do I shoot in auto mode so often these days?

 

[FstopRocker]

I can't think of 2 off the top of my head.

firstly, "Metering in Manual" as a fellow Tog told me one day.
I was shooting festival downtown, and found myself next to a very knowledgeable local Photographer. We talked about his 5D mark II for a minute or two, and the benefits of possibly upgrading to the Mark III..... went off shooting for awhile, then when we bumped into each other again, he said something along the lines of; "By the way, a quick tip: try metering off the band members faces. With such shadows on the band, and direct mid-day sunlight on the background, it's challenging to get the exposure right. I've found that Metering in Manual is the best way...."

I didn't realize you could meter in Manual before that. I thought that was a AV/TV function. So when I got home, I Googled manual metering, and found that the little line in the viewfinder at the bottom, with the tic marks and numbers was the meter! -Hot Diggity! I immediately got quicker at getting proper exposures.

the other was, when I was starting out, I felt like it was cheating to use any sort of Auto mode. so for the first few months of shooting, that dial stayed on M. no Autofocus either. (though the lens I was using did have a bit of a hunting issue....or perhaps that was operator error.... in fact, I'm pretty sure it was)
After shooting for awhile, I started trying to teach myself how to use all the tools available. AV/TV, Autofocus and the various methods, metering, exposure comp.....
and then it dawned on me. A pro will use all the tools available to him. and won't excuse Priority modes as cheating.
I wouldn't change how I learned. I feel I have a decent understanding of all the things going into a proper exposure. but now I can get the same results in a much much faster fashion.

Sorry, I find myself a little long winded sometimes....

-RW

 

[EmmaBproductions]

Mine was when i realised on my bridge camera if i half pressed the shutter the picture would look really good! I'm ashamed to say that was about a year ago!

 

[thunderkyss]

I didn't realize you could meter in Manual before that. I thought that was a AV/TV function. So when I got home, I Googled manual metering, and found that the little line in the viewfinder at the bottom, with the tic marks and numbers was the meter! -Hot Diggity! I immediately got quicker and getting proper exposures.

Pretty much what got me.

I've visited several forums & I guess I just didn't ask the question right. But for all the rehash (no offense intended) of the exposure triangle, you'd think someone would mention that there is a meter right there in the viewfinder.

 

[Awiserbud]

My "A-Ha" moment was realising years ago that if you remove the lens cap, it lets more light in!

 

[IByte]

My hA-ha when I finally understood the THEORY of the triangle, but applying it is still a work in progress.

 

[ronlane]

I had a movement, I mean moment this last week. Working on portraits and lighting with Charlie's help, it just sort of clicked and I was able to understand, if I do this, then this will happen and if I want this, I need to do this.

 

[Robin_Usagani]

When derrel liked my portrait work

 

[ronlane]

When derrel liked my portrait work

A good feeling for sure and he only said mine had decent lighting. Oh I forgot to credit Derrel and Robin with helping me last week.

 

[nmoody]

The balancing act of the exposure triangle as most here have mentioned was the biggest a-ha for me.

Other minor ones include, understanding depth of field in relation to aperture and the advantages of raw file editing vs jpeg.

 

[jwbryson1]

Bitter "liked" one of my comment before.....huh huh huh....

That was cool....

Huh huh huh...:thumbup:

 

[KenC]

I'm with Sparky re understanding raw files, and also bit depth in digital files and how it relates to processing. There wasn't a specific moment, but it started happening gradually about three years ago. Some of the raw files I processed before that could have used some improvement.