Exposure/aperture/settings log. Tips?

[hammy]

I need to start writing down my settings and things as i'm shooting. But I need a good way. Anyone have a certain system they use? I'm just too lazy I think, but I know I could really improve my shooting if I started documenting. Any tips or advice? :thumbup:

 

[ksmattfish]

A small notepad and pencil in your camera bag? I've been trying to get myself to take good notes for years. I'll do it one day, and then not do it the next shoot. I have several small blank books that were supposed to be my photography journals. Not just the technical stuff, but photo ideas, notes on the weather, what I'm thinking about, etc... Maybe a mini audio recorder?

 

[wharrison]

Hammy:

I think that your intentions are good, but my own many decades of photographic experiences tend to make me a believe that your efforts will be rather useless - simply because there are far too many variables.

I also carried around a pen and a small writing tablet in my camera bag for some time, but nothing was ever put into writing - except for someone's address, phone number, email address, etc.

Good luck in your photographic endeavors. Sorry, I couldn't be of better assistance.

Bill

 

[AlmightyWa]

I've got an old dictaphone from uni that I use. It's only really used when noone else is around though, as i feel like a bit of a idiot talking into it in the middle of the street

 

[hammy]

Hhhhmmm... Thanks for the responses. Yeah, I understand about feeling like a crazy idiot talkin' to yourself

Well it seems everyone is like me...
Does anyone keep a log?

 

[Marctwo]

I really wouldn't bother on a day to day basis.

It's a question of learning how to predict the results that your equipment/settings will give you. The best way to achieve this is by concentrated benchmarking of one subject with various settings but the same conditions.

Spend a deliberate afternoon shooting a couple of subjects with many different settings and note everything down. When you get the results you'll be able to see exactly what difference the settings have made.

 

[Middlemarch]

I have only shot a few rolls so far, but I was getting confused with the different combinations of settings. When I picked up my prints, I couldn't remember the settings for a particular image. Why did one shot come out so awful and the next one not so bad?

So I made this logsheet last week. However, a copy still sits in my camera bag. It seems like too much work. I do intend to use it with at least one roll, just to see if it helps. Then I can tweak its columns, etc. as I feel necessary.

However, I see Marc's pov...

It's a question of learning how to predict the results that your equipment/settings will give you. The best way to achieve this is by concentrated benchmarking of one subject with various settings but the same conditions.

I think this is what I'm leaning toward. Still, if I took a whole roll of photos of an apple using different settings, I'd like to jot down those settings just once, just to see.

Feel free to use, adapt, or burn this...

 

[ksmattfish]

Does anyone keep a log?

I keep a good darkroom log. I record my printing times, settings, chems, paper type, contrast filters, etc... I sketch out the photo, and mark where I've dodged and burned, and so on.

 

[AlmightyWa]

I went out today, and in the spirit of this thread, wrote down my first exposure settings.

Granted, I only wrote down the first frame out of 3 rolls, but it's a start

 

[terri]

I have an exposure log sheet similar to the one posted above, and when I am going on a deliberate location shoot, I carry one. It doesn't always get completed from start to finish, but I try to make the effort. :mrgreen:

And I keep a darkroom log of every print I've made. F stop, lens, filtration, paper, time, where I dodged/burned and for how long....sorta like Matt's, though I'm not near cool enough to sketch out my print like he does. I just hope to understand my own notes later.