The god skills in photography, are they worth practicing?

[nickzou]

My old photography teacher was a walking light meter. She had been shooting for 30 years and could just tell us what correct exposure was for almost any situation. The other skill, sniper hands. Are these things that photographers should actively try to pursue or are they just god given gifts to lucky individuals?

 

[oldmacman]

Like you said, she was drawing on 30 years of experience. The more you shoot, the more you'll guesstimate what your settings should be. Not sure what sniper hands are. Is that steadiness or knowing where all the buttons are without looking?

 

[D-B-J]

Much less necessary with todays in camera meters. Shoot, check, adjust, shoot again. Or shoot in aperture/shutter priority. Or bracket. Knowing the exact exposure would sure be nice, but not really that necessary in my opinion. My camera's light meter can tell me the same exact thing.

 

[dxqcanada5]

I think the ability to visualize the image exposure is a great skill.
Yes, the camera can tell you what it is programmed to tell you ... but it may not be the exposure you have visualized.
Yes, you can shot, view, shot again, view ... but I think there is something important about "knowing" the visualized exposure and shooting it only once.
The exposure meter is an asset coupled with the human calculated exposure.

 

[Ryan L]

How long does it really take to look at your meter? You can estimate pretty close, then chedk your light meter and fire. If you metered correctly, you can shoot away.

 

[djacobox372]

It doesn't take long to learn how to judge exposure from sight, although I don't think it adds much to your skill-set. Your time is better spent learning about composition and lighting design.

 

[g-fi]

Much less necessary with todays in camera meters. Shoot, check, adjust, shoot again. Or shoot in aperture/shutter priority. Or bracket. Knowing the exact exposure would sure be nice, but not really that necessary in my opinion. My camera's light meter can tell me the same exact thing.

I don't agree with my camera's light meter, especially in difficult lighting situations. Even shooting in shutter/Ap you need to know where to start at least, the restrictions of the light you're in and how you can modify it with the tools at hands to get what you're looking for. The bottom line is that if you're a serious photographer, both business-wise and skill-wise, you really don't need to be wasting your time in Lightroom or PS or whatever your file management system is throwing away half your pictures or modifying all of your pictures needlessly. I almost ALWAYS modify anything that isn't a snapshot, but my goal is always to get as close to what I want in camera so I don't spend five hours in post processing, wasting my valuable time. If you charge $50/$100 for a shoot, and you're spending more than 3 hours total, shooting to proofing, you are LOSING MONEY. And it's easier for me to be lazy if I am not tied to my computer for hours.

I know where I have to shoot around to get the exposure I want on the light meter, and it's rarely dead center. The point of progressing as a photographer is to not need the training wheels, but use your tools wisely to help you get a better product faster.

 

[PatrickCheung]

In the last year of shooting film with meterless cameras, I've come to rely more on my eyes than any meter, mostly because of habbit. I prefer not to use my camera's light meter, especially in shadows or low light. I just find setting the settings myself a bit more intuitive. Every once in a while, however, I do like checking the meter for certain situations like when I'm using an ISO I'm not too familiar with. I feel as if it's pretty important to learn, made shooting a bit quicker for me!

 

[Derrel]

"god skills?" Are you kidding???? Both the skills you mention are well within the capabilities of almost anybody who can tie his or her shoelaces.

Try this: for the next two weeks, when you are taking photos, ESTIMATE the exposure, and SET it on the camera, and then shooting in MANUAL exposure mode, shoot the picture. Do not even look at the light meter, just SHOOT the picture. Do not cheat yourself on this. Estimate exposure, set exposure, take picture. Then, and only then, use the meter to arrive at its suggested exposure, and then take a picture. Then, review the two frames. The estimated exposure and the suggested, metered exposure. Then, make a third exposure, using the histogram and your own judgement as to how closely to follow the meter's suggestion, or how widely to deviate from the meter's suggested exposure.

If you try this method of estimating, then setting, then shooting, you will soon teach yourself what the right exposure is in each of the roughly 16 different light levels you will encounter during a typical North American day.

Can you recognize 16 different NBA players? Can you recognize 16 different soda pop brands at the store? Can you recognize 16 different potato and snack chip brands? I bet you can!

As for developing a steady shutter release--practice makes perfect. There are some methods that are available on-line and in photo books. I'd suggest looking into those. I'm short on time, or I'd write about it.

 

[EPPhoto]

My in camera meter us hardly ever what I shoot at. I'll throw it in aperture priority just to get a start point, then throw it in manual and get the exposure that I want.

 

[Ryan L]

So everyone has broken light meters on their camera...or just not set correctly for the situations. I go for the latter.

 

[MissCream]

I always look at my meter, ETR, shoot then adjust it to what I really want it to be...

 

[EPPhoto]

I always look at my meter, ETR, shoot then adjust it to what I really want it to be...

Exactly what I do! The in camera meter doesn't know what you want exposed properly. It's just a start point to me.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I always look at my meter, ETR, shoot then adjust it to what I really want it to be...

...and in some situations you would have missed the shot, lol.

So yes, it can be useful to be a walking light meter in some (but few) situations. However, if I have time I would much rather check the light meter in my hand.

Sniper hands? No idea what that is.

God skills is not what I would call those things however. Each profession has a certain set of skills and that includes photography. Some of the skills are very useful and some are more like parlor tricks but all of them can be learned through a bit of practice. When I taught photography I used to amaze students when I mentioned shooting blind, the art of framing and focusing a shot without bringing the camera to the eye which can be quite useful to PJs and street shooters. Students who really were interested in the skill learned it very quickly...

 

[MissCream]

...and in some situations you would have missed the shot, lol.

So yes, it can be useful to be a walking light meter in some (but few) situations. However, if I have time I would much rather check the light meter in my hand.

Sniper hands? No idea what that is.

God skills is not what I would call those things however. Each profession has a certain set of skills and that includes photography. Some of the skills are very useful and some are more like parlor tricks but all of them can be learned through a bit of practice. When I taught photography I used to amaze students when I mentioned shooting blind, the art of framing and focusing a shot without bringing the camera to the eye which can be quite useful to PJs and street shooters. Students who really were interested in the skill learned it very quickly...

I usually only have planned shoots but I could see how that could make you miss a shot. I guess knowing automatically what I want to be shooting at will come with time