Tips You Had to Learn that Nobody Taught You

[unpopular]

^^^ I am not totally convinced that optical CC filters are totally out either. Even RAW files have to compensate, and my suspicion is that they do so destructively ... Just a hunch, tho.

 

[frisii]

^^^ I am not totally convinced that optical CC filters are totally out either. Even RAW files have to compensate, and my suspicion is that they do so destructively ... Just a hunch, tho.

I'm with you, Quasimodo... CC and gradual color filters for me too.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Thirty years ago, I was invited to shoot with an important professional photographer. We shot many frames and he taught me a lot. It was like a one student master class. When I got home, I rewound the film, opened the camera back. There was no film there. I had forgotten to load the camera! He later asked me how my photos came out. I had to tell him the truth. Now, thirty years later, when ever I pick up my camera to start a shoot, I get red-faced again. Tom Beard

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!




People skills. You can't teach people skills.

 

[WesternGuy]

Shoot something the first time you see it - you won't get a second chance, for example, I was out driving around in the "back country" one day and saw this cat walking along the railings on a farm fence and I thought...just another farm cat, what I neglected to see, until I was well past the scene and looked in the rear view mirror, was that all the cows in the pen were watching it - would have made a great shot...

and patience...if you are shooting wildlife and landscapes you have to have a lot of patience - patience to wait for the wildlife to do something interesting, if they ever do and for landscapes - patience to wait until the light (sun) and clouds (if any) are right...sometimes you can come back...my 0.02¢...

Cheers,


WesternGuy

 

[joealcantar]

Get a camera strap that will hold 2 CF Cards to do the job. In case you hike a trail and go to find out you have no card/cards. Learned it from someone else and could not see myself doing it.
-
Shoot well, Joe

 

[Derrel]

Learning how to "work through" a shot, or a sequence, or an entire session. Knowing when to move on, and when to keep plugging away until you've "got it" is something one has to learn on his or her own.

 

[Quentin_Moyer]

This might sound stupid, but I had to find out that exposure compensation didn't just magically make the picture lighter/darker.
So many blurred, overexposed photos.......

 

[RauschPhotography]

How to stay within range of a skittish subject! I've always been one step too close!

 

[Village Idiot]

Remember to look behind you when backing up to get the "right" shot. Especially when you are near a set of cement stairs. Whole wedding party watched as I fell backwards down 5-6 steps. Managed to hold my camera safe... The rest of my body not so much.

Fighter pilots call it situational awareness:

‪Wedding Photographer Falls Into Water Fountain‬‏ - YouTube

Know your venue.........

Sport bike riders have it too.

 

[Village Idiot]

This applies to most things in life. Don't claim and attempt to be a professional at something if you know that you can't show up and deliver, regardless of whether or not the conditions favor you.

 

[Mike_E]

Shoot first, ask later.

Shoot a little fat in case you want a different format.

Know yourself. Know what you like and what you don't, what you want to say. Know what you would like to have said so you can go ahead and say it.

Go on long walks and have longer talks with yourself about what's important so that when you happen across it you'll recognize it and if you shoot first, photograph it.

The Big one: Always, always, pet the cat because you never know if you'll see it again.

 

[gwlaw99]

Why do you meter the highlights?

When I first started taking digital photos, I was never quite sure how to expose. I went back and asked some of my past mentors and college professors, but I never quite got a satisfactory answer. While with film exposure techniques are pretty well established, digital photographers often are confused about where to meter from. As a result, the spot meter is often neglected or under-utilized. My first approach was to treat it like b/w zone system, thinking of curves as development time, but then I started learning more about the advantages of "exposure to the right of the histogram". This technique encourages the photographer to over expose as much as possible, and then compensate in post. The technique provides as much light as possible to enter the sensor such that useful information is more likely to drown out noise. As a result, I slowly started approaching digital photography more like color slide film.


Certainly I could meter at the mid-tones and expose uncompensated, or I could expose at the shadows and stop down three times. However, if I did that, the exposure might be "good", at least according to the histogram, but the data would not necessarily be. Depending on the scene, such an exposure might be a bit noisier and less flexible as a result of decreased signal to noise ratio, especially in the shadows. Overall S/NR would decrease than if I increased exposure. This is why many photographers "expose to the right".

Because I know my camera can handle hilights four and two thirds stops above meter without blowing out, placing hilights at EV +4.6 ensure that the exposure is pushed as far as possible to the right of the histogram without blowing out. Consistently, even one third stop more exposure will result in blown out hilights.

Likewise, because zones IIX through IX are placed at the outer limits of my camera's latitude, any shadows at this point that block up would be beyond my equipment's capability. I could provide more exposure to obtain greater shadow detail, but doing so the hilights would then blow out. The only solution would be to take multiple exposures and combine them.

(I'm sometimes not so great at explaining this stuff, if you have any questions, feel free to PM me)

I thought I knew how to properly expose once I learned the zone system, but just read an article on luminous landscape saying the exact same thing about exposing to the right. I am going to try it.

 

[ghache]

I had a maternity session this weekend, i did 15+- shots and noticed the red DEMO on my lcd. I lost 2-3 good shots. i always format my cards while packing for a shoot and make sure i have all my cards. but was in a hurry so i didnt both slots were empty.. its never going to happen again trust me.

 

[480sparky39 38]

I figured out a long time ago that images never turn out the way I remember the scene to be.

 

[theothercoolhandluke]

Remember to look behind you when backing up to get the "right" shot. Especially when you are near a set of cement stairs. Whole wedding party watched as I fell backwards down 5-6 steps. Managed to hold my camera safe... The rest of my body not so much.

I did pretty much the same thing in the ice and snow, but it was only in front of one person. Thankfully, I kept from ruining the camera, and other than a week or so of pain, I was alright too.