Practice vs Theory

[EchoingWhisper]

I realised that I'm always criticised for being to practical. I've always commented about the theoretical side of everything and it quite often clashes with their point of view. They'll then fling their baseless argument on me saying that I'm always on theory and never practice. I've always replied saying that theory wouldn't work if it didn't went with practice. Then they get angry. That's the side of my story, I don't know about their side and I've always been quite a stubborn person. I find this place a much better place to discuss about this, with mature people. What's your point of view?

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Bump before I sleep!

 

[Dr_Totenkopf]

One thing I have picked up it take a hundred photos and hope one comes out to be really good.

 

[Overread]

You can't fully understand theory without practice - this is oft because many things don't always make full sense until one experiences/tries them. In addition most theories are written with a specific intention and often leave out subtle parts that don't become apparent till you put the theory into practice. Furthermore most theories work within the confines of the ideal situation - whereas reality often results in restrictions and limits which means that one must use the theory, but adapt it for the situation.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Guess I'm wrong, will have to step down from my ego to apologize!

 

[Patrice]

I trained and worked as a licensed engineer and I firmly believe that theory and practice, or maybe I should say real world application of theories and observation of the results, go hand in hand.

Theories can not be evaluated and refined without observation and evaluation of results and on the other hand observed phenomena cannot be explained and quantified without theories to explain them.

Development in every field, scientific or not, comes from the combination of theory and objective observation, which necessitates putting theory into practice.

 

[tacticdesigns]

IMHO, photography is a balance between art and science.

There "can" be a very technical side to it. If you understand the technical details of how a camera works and how the different components work to affect the exposure triangle, I believe it really helps to understand the different ideas and approaches out there to be learnt.

I personally believe that my spending the time to learn how this stuff works inside the black box is helping me out. When I get into trouble, I can kinda guess what the camera is trying to do, theorize why its going wrong, and then change the settings to get what I am going for. I really do think this helps get you where you want to go. . .

The camera is a tool to take pictures. Understand the tool better, and you "can" take better pictures.

But the technical aspect will only take you so far. (Again . . . IMHO)

Then the art side of photography kicks in. Composition. Rule of thirds. Back lighting, side lighting, focal length side effects, story, dialogue, story telling, etc.

Yeah. I know. It's kinda a non-answer. But everything doesn't need to be black or white. Sometimes things just are . . . <grin>