A Minimalist Course in Photography

[photoguy99]

Knowing basics, like how shutter speed affects motion blur, and how aperture affects depth of field and diffraction, and ISO affects noise, etc... and most importantly, how it all combines and compensates, and concepts of equivalent exposure (and that HSS does equivalent exposures too)... these are details that are fundamentally important to know and use.

And if you'd read the original post, which you continue to demonstrate that you have not, you'd see that this is

exactly what it talks about and teaches.

Diffraction aside, because that's a pretty minor detail in most cases.

I see that you are being dismissive, but I honestly cannot figure out what it is you're being dismissive of, because you keep saying "no, that's dumb, you need to...." and then talking about precisely what the original post does. Are you in the wrong thread or something?

 

[Derrel]

The exercises in the original post are similar to the ones Nikon used to provide in a small booklet entitled something like The Nikon Guide to The 35mm SLR Camera, which was given away be photo dealers. It was periodically updated, I guess about once every five years, with newer photos that had more modern clothing styles. It covered shutter speeds, and stopping motion, using a bicyclist for some of the exercises, and showed how the shutter speed could be used to blur motion very heavily, blur it only a little, or freeze it totally. Had some depth of field exercises, from the then-normal 50mm f/1.8 lens at f/1.8, as well as the small aperture end of things. It was a thin booklet,perhaps 30 pages or so. I collected several of them, from different eras.

I have taught a few people, all adults, how to use an adjustable lens camera, using Nikon manual focus cameras. It's an interesting experience. My favorite thing to do though was to take them to a location, and then run them through the focal lengths, using prime lenses. 24,28,35,50,85,105,135,180,300. It's really a hoot for them to see the thrill of ever-narrower and narrower angle of view, and how it allows selective vision, which is something that most people have not experienced with a camera.

One thing you will find is that experts often make lousy judges of what beginners need to know. Many of them simply cannot see the forest for the trees, and they get hung up on the idea that arcane knowledge is essential for beginners. Teaching is often much more difficult than learning. There are many good students, and many bad teachers.

 

[otherprof]

A minor altercation in another thread has inspired me to write this up. This is based on a few ideas from here and there, and a few ideas of my own. I consider it a "first cut" and I think it might be interesting to see what other people have to say, modifications and other ideas.

The idea is: what's the shortest path to sufficient technical mastery of the camera to be able to communicate a rich range of visual ideas. Auto mode doesn't do that, I claim, because a "rich range" needs to be more than the placement of forms and objects into the frame.

Obviously there's room for discussion of what is and is not a minimum requirement for "rich range" but I think it would be really nice if we could generally accept some somewhat grey boundaries.

Note that, while I oppose the dogmatic use of Manual Mode, this course is based on it. It seems the shortest path, and eliminates a lot of discussion of metering comma what does it really mean and exposure compensation etc etc.

Without further ado, here goes:

Step 1.

Set your camera to Manual Mode, and figure out where the meter is in the display. Figure out when the meter is "zeroed" or whatever, indicating "correct exposure" and get some practice twiddling dials to make it do that. You should work out how to adjust these three things: Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO. Don't worry about what they ARE, just learn how to change them, and see what the meter does.

In fact, don't worry about what any of it actually means. Just wave the camera around, adjust things to "zero the meter" whatever that means. You're just getting familiar with controls.

Step 2.

This is in three parts. You will take 5 pictures in each part.

2a: find someplace where there are objects in motion. Cars or people passing. Running water, perhaps. Point the camera such that objects will go past it from time to time. Set the SHUTTER speed to 1/30 and then zero the meter with the two other controls. If you can't zero the meter, pick another shutter speed until you can, but let's assume you picked 1/30.

Take a picture.

Now without making any other changes, take the same picture at 4 more shutter speeds, two on each side of 1/30. DO NOT worry about the meter. Let the meter go. Move the shutter speed a click or two one way. Take a picture. Another couple clicks. Take a picture. Go back to the middle and go the other way now for two more photos.

Look at the pictures. The brighter ones should be blurrier, and brighter. The darker ones are sharper and darker. What's blurry? What's not?

2b. Same experiment, but you're adjusting APERTURE. Instead of moving objects, find somewhere where there are nearer objects, and farther objects. Set the aperture to about f/8.0 (but anything will do, as long as you can go up and down from the setting. Zero the meter and take a picture. Change the aperture several clicks one way, and then several more. Go back to the middle and go several clicks the other way, and then several more. Let the meter do what it will, and leave the other controls alone.

As an added tweak here, it might be best to set the lens on Manual focus. Focus as best you can and then leave it alone. The put it back to Autofocus, if such a thing exists on your camera.

Look at the pictures. Some will be darker, some brighter. More things in the frame will be sharp in the darker ones, and fewer things in the brighter one.

2c. Same experiment, but adjust ISO. Your location should ideally be colorful and have quite a bit of detail. For some reason people always use bookshelves for this one. Start with an ISO of 800, zero the meter, take a picture. Go one click down, then another. Back to 800, one click up, then another.

The brighter ones will, probably, be fuzzier and grainier/noisier. The darker ones less so.

Step 3.

You now have 15 pictures which tell you pretty much everything there is to know about shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Study them. Think about it.

Go repeat the experiment, if you like. Did you use cars for 2a? Try it with people. Try moving the camera. Did you use a tabletop for the near/far in 2b? Use a landscape instead. Did you do it in daylight in 2c? Try it indoors.

Study the pictures.

There's an afternoon used up. If you're new to this, you're going to want to pull these photos out from time to time and stare at them, or re-do the experiments from time to time, and stare at the results, until it's just second nature what the actual visual effects are.

A final tip: all these effects combine in the obvious ways. For example, changing the shutter speed one way makes the picture too bright, but changing the aperture the other way will darken it back down, and you will get BOTH of the visual effects of the shutter speed change and the aperture change.

Whatever shutter speed and aperture even are. Who cares?

----

Probably something on getting into a useful AF mode would be good, but that's pretty camera specific, isn't it? I don't trust modern AF systems to do the right thing if left alone, but I am possibly just a curmudgeon.

A case can be made that at least an approximate understanding of white balance ought to be in even a minimalist toolkit. What's a good short path to that? On the other hand, AWB's pretty good.

A stronger case can be made that an understanding of the fundamentals of flash photography ought to be in there too. Anyone care to devise a 2-hour program that gets your foot in the door?

I like the idea behind this project, but I I think you have to get at least a little into the

A minor altercation in another thread has inspired me to write this up. This is based on a few ideas from here and there, and a few ideas of my own. I consider it a "first cut" and I think it might be interesting to see what other people have to say, modifications and other ideas.

The idea is: what's the shortest path to sufficient technical mastery of the camera to be able to communicate a rich range of visual ideas. Auto mode doesn't do that, I claim, because a "rich range" needs to be more than the placement of forms and objects into the frame.

Obviously there's room for discussion of what is and is not a minimum requirement for "rich range" but I think it would be really nice if we could generally accept some somewhat grey boundaries.

Note that, while I oppose the dogmatic use of Manual Mode, this course is based on it. It seems the shortest path, and eliminates a lot of discussion of metering comma what does it really mean and exposure compensation etc etc.

Without further ado, here goes:

Step 1.

Set your camera to Manual Mode, and figure out where the meter is in the display. Figure out when the meter is "zeroed" or whatever, indicating "correct exposure" and get some practice twiddling dials to make it do that. You should work out how to adjust these three things: Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO. Don't worry about what they ARE, just learn how to change them, and see what the meter does.

In fact, don't worry about what any of it actually means. Just wave the camera around, adjust things to "zero the meter" whatever that means. You're just getting familiar with controls.

Step 2.

This is in three parts. You will take 5 pictures in each part.

2a: find someplace where there are objects in motion. Cars or people passing. Running water, perhaps. Point the camera such that objects will go past it from time to time. Set the SHUTTER speed to 1/30 and then zero the meter with the two other controls. If you can't zero the meter, pick another shutter speed until you can, but let's assume you picked 1/30.

Take a picture.

Now without making any other changes, take the same picture at 4 more shutter speeds, two on each side of 1/30. DO NOT worry about the meter. Let the meter go. Move the shutter speed a click or two one way. Take a picture. Another couple clicks. Take a picture. Go back to the middle and go the other way now for two more photos.

Look at the pictures. The brighter ones should be blurrier, and brighter. The darker ones are sharper and darker. What's blurry? What's not?

2b. Same experiment, but you're adjusting APERTURE. Instead of moving objects, find somewhere where there are nearer objects, and farther objects. Set the aperture to about f/8.0 (but anything will do, as long as you can go up and down from the setting. Zero the meter and take a picture. Change the aperture several clicks one way, and then several more. Go back to the middle and go several clicks the other way, and then several more. Let the meter do what it will, and leave the other controls alone.

As an added tweak here, it might be best to set the lens on Manual focus. Focus as best you can and then leave it alone. The put it back to Autofocus, if such a thing exists on your camera.

Look at the pictures. Some will be darker, some brighter. More things in the frame will be sharp in the darker ones, and fewer things in the brighter one.

2c. Same experiment, but adjust ISO. Your location should ideally be colorful and have quite a bit of detail. For some reason people always use bookshelves for this one. Start with an ISO of 800, zero the meter, take a picture. Go one click down, then another. Back to 800, one click up, then another.

The brighter ones will, probably, be fuzzier and grainier/noisier. The darker ones less so.

Step 3.

You now have 15 pictures which tell you pretty much everything there is to know about shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Study them. Think about it.

Go repeat the experiment, if you like. Did you use cars for 2a? Try it with people. Try moving the camera. Did you use a tabletop for the near/far in 2b? Use a landscape instead. Did you do it in daylight in 2c? Try it indoors.

Study the pictures.

There's an afternoon used up. If you're new to this, you're going to want to pull these photos out from time to time and stare at them, or re-do the experiments from time to time, and stare at the results, until it's just second nature what the actual visual effects are.

A final tip: all these effects combine in the obvious ways. For example, changing the shutter speed one way makes the picture too bright, but changing the aperture the other way will darken it back down, and you will get BOTH of the visual effects of the shutter speed change and the aperture change.

Whatever shutter speed and aperture even are. Who cares?

----

Probably something on getting into a useful AF mode would be good, but that's pretty camera specific, isn't it? I don't trust modern AF systems to do the right thing if left alone, but I am possibly just a curmudgeon.

A case can be made that at least an approximate understanding of white balance ought to be in even a minimalist toolkit. What's a good short path to that? On the other hand, AWB's pretty good.

A stronger case can be made that an understanding of the fundamentals of flash photography ought to be in there too. Anyone care to devise a 2-hour program that gets your foot in the door?

I think you have quite a good start on this projected minimalist course, but there is at least one "why" question that I think has to be answered if the practical results are going to satisfy the student - "What does it mean when the meter is zeroed?" If you don't bring in the concept of what a standard correct exposure will be - and that means talking about 18% gray, etc. - the student is likely to zero on snow or sky, for example, and think the project is not very practical because the results are "wrong" even though they have followed the few suggestions given.
Many years ago I tried to help out a beginning photographer who was getting bad exposures and couldn't understand why. Did she have a light meter? "Of course." Did she set the proper ASA in the meter for the film in the camera? "Of course." Did she have an idea of what to aim the hand meter at? "Of course. A middle tone." And yet nothing worked out as it should. I suggested she show me how she took a photo. She proceeded to check the ASA of the film, make sure the meter was set properly, and then meter the object she was most interested in. Then she picked up the camera and shot. After all that metering, she did not use any information the meter gave her, and picked up the camera and shot as it was. I think someone forget to tell her about the last step after metering and before snapping.

 

[photoguy99]

I don't think it's necessary to talk about 18% grey, but *some* compressed notion of metering modes is probably something you're going to want to know.. fairly soon.

The program does assume that the camera will default to some sort of center-weighted evaluative kind of thing that will tend to produce reasonable average exposures, close enough that twiddling a couple stops one way or the other will produce the desired result, whatever that it. If you get the camera stuck in some spot metering mode, it's going to act in a pretty confusing way, straight off.

If I were teaching someone hands-on, I'd set the camera metering mode to something sensible, and tell them that metering modes come later.

 

[dennybeall]

Perhaps you could rename the Course "How to take pictures almost as good as the Automatic Mode of your camera."

 

[Overread]

This course is rather like auto mode. It will work in good lighting in simple situations most of the time. As soon as something outside of good lighting and simple situations is presented (like shooting in snow) its going to fail totally and the beginner won't have much if any tools from the tutorial to fix the problem.

Yes any new learning has to be done in small steps (although of course some people can take bigger strides than others), but any tutorial worth its weight has to build upwards. What you have here is a beginning, but not much more. There is no depth, expansion, construction on ideas - in fact there is little to really inform and provide a nice base of knowledge.

Yep this will work for day 1 - but you'd need to come back for day 2 and 3 and 4 etc.....

Also sometimes when you strip out detail you can end up stripping out so much that what you have works only if the person using the information is not questioning or trying to think beyond the instructions (or dealing with a situation outside of them). This can end up giving more confusion since they'll try to "learn" the simple aspects and when more advanced lessons kick in they'll already have poorer habits - eg common ones are keeping the ISO too low (because you should 'always keep the ISO low' - or poor metering because 'you should always zero the meter')

 

[photoguy99]

Why wouldn't it work in snow?

"Click. My picture is all grey! Snow is white, not grey! Luckily, I know three separate controls that will make the needle go >that way< that makes the picture brighter, and since I've done photoguy's exercise a few times, I even have a pretty good idea how how far I want the needle to go. Oh look, my snow is all lovely and white now!"

Digital is a game changer here, because you can just look at the image and make changes as necessary. No, obviously not for sports or whatever. We're talking about people learning here, not people who are trying to shoot football or weddings.

 

[Overread]

Because all you've taught them is that proper exposure is when the needle is in the middle at the 0 point.

The only point at which your guide deviates from that is when they are playing with shutter speeds and other settings, and then you're only showing them what those settings do (which is going to be confusing when they start looking at the ISO).

Like I said you've cut out way too much info. You've done pretty much the polar opposite of what you hate; and just like too much information is bad, so too is too little.

This is a nice day 1 guide, but with nothing to build from it its incomplete and won't be all that useful in the great scheme of things. Without further lessons; without the opportunity to go deeper you won't teach anything.

 

[photoguy99]

Because all you've taught them is that proper exposure is when the needle is in the middle at the 0 point.

What? I have taught them no such thing. That is to completely miss the point. The attentive reader will note that I am completely silent on the subject of "proper exposure". I don't believe in it, and neither should you.

Honestly, it seems like everyone is reading about halfway down, through Step 1, and decided 'oh he's just teaching needle-match manual mode' and then slapping the reply button.

ETA: and before some clever chap pulls out the reference to "correct exposure" please note that it is placed inside quotation marks for a reason. I put it in there to help you find what I am talking about in your camera's manual, which is likely to have some such verbiage, NOT (I think, clearly) because I think that's the correct/proper exposure.

 

[Overread]

The only times you mention exposure are when zeroing the meter or ignoring the meter and exposure. This thus presents the idea to the beginner that the correct way to expose IS to zero the meter.

In fact the way you set it out reinforces that because when you tell them to ignore the meter they will get dark and bright shots so they'll (assuming normal even daytime lighting) instantly go "ok so these settings do funky things and to expose I zero the meter - got it."


You've cut out way too much and when you're reading it back to yourself it makes sense because you're mentally filling in the gaps yourself with what you already know. That's pre-knowledge that a beginner won't have.

 

[photoguy99]

I think you're reaching pretty deep here.

 

[Overread]

You mean like thinking of snow - in winter?