What is Gary Fong talking about?

[tecboy]

You have to take Gary Fong as a grain of salt. That is his signature way. Even you don't understand him, you don't have to follow his method. There are plenty photographers out there don't make any sense. There is one photographer doesn't like dslr and prefer compact p&s camera. There are others hate raw file format and think jpeg is far better picture quality. Their ways are based on opinions, and they are not always right. You can try Gary Fong, other approaches, or your way. You will find something that works best for you. I changed saturation, sharpness, and contrast other than 0 for my personal reason. It is just easier for me to process in Lightroom even it is in raw files. I do less tweaking that way.

 

[hamlet]

You've refined your photography is what you're saying? I'm not at that stage yet in my life where i can instinctively feel how i want my photographs to look in post processing. I'm still trying to find my own way. In any other hobby i've set out to do, i've learned to feel the things i'm doing. Just like a farmer can tell you if something is ripe or not just by looking at the fruit for a second or two.

 

[amolitor]

I like saying ARGB! ARGB! ARGB!

ARRRRGBBB!!

 

[robbins.photo]

I like saying ARGB! ARGB! ARGB!

ARRRRGBBB!!

What is it Lassie? C'mon girl.. tell us.. did Timmy fall down the well - again? I mean is that the most uncoordinated kid on the planet or what?

 

[robbins.photo]

You've refined your photography is what you're saying? I'm not at that stage yet in my life where i can instinctively feel how i want my photographs to look in post processing. I'm still trying to find my own way. In any other hobby i've set out to do, i've learned to feel the things i'm doing. Just like a farmer can tell you if something is ripe or not just by looking at the fruit for a second or two.

Hamlet,

It's great that you are trying to learn as much as you possibly can about photography - in the end though I think you'll find the best teacher is going to be experience. When you get advice like this, test it out yourself and see if it works for you.

A long time ago a guy when I first started getting interested in photography my father taught me how to use the A mode setting - now granted this was back in the days of 35 mm but the principle remains the same even on todays newer digital. Now my dad, he shot A mode for everything, and I do mean everything. I don't. I also sometimes make use of the camera's S mode in certain situations. It works well for me personally. I've had more than a couple of people who shoot the same kinds of pictures I do (wildlife) scoff at the idea of using S mode. All I can do is just smile and shrug, because I know I've gotten shots that way that I would have missed had my settings been different.

So really you have to find what works for you. So yes, read and learn and ask questions - but take everything you hear and learn and try to put it into practical use. If it works well for you, keep it - if not discard it and move on.

 

[tecboy]

You've refined your photography is what you're saying? I'm not at that stage yet in my life where i can instinctively feel how i want my photographs to look in post processing. I'm still trying to find my own way. In any other hobby i've set out to do, i've learned to feel the things i'm doing. Just like a farmer can tell you if something is ripe or not just by looking at the fruit for a second or two.

You were asking what Gary Fong is talking about? You got various answers in this thread and not everyone agrees with him. It is all about choice and making decision. Gary Fong doesn't explain why he set everything to zero, and why he has to shoot in evaluative metering. There are other options like set to landscape or portrait. It doesn't have to be evaluative metering. You have other choice like center weight or partial metering. You were asking us for opinions. Finding things in your way is all up to you.

 

[amolitor]

Something I feel like we don't see enough of in places where we "learn about" photography online is pictures placed side by side for comparison. I read tons of books with tons of pictures like this one:



There are twelve pictures here, and every one of them is different. The keywords on each row tell you about the differences between the three pictures on that row. Beginning photographers, I am convinced, literally do not see some of the differences, or at any rate don't see that the differences are interesting or important.

Study this sort of thing, put into your own words how each picture differs from the others, and then fool around in your editor to see if you can change your pictures in the same ways. The goal isn't to fix this picture, or make your pictures look like Gary Fong's, the goal is simply to learn to see pictures.

 

[pixmedic]

everyone has different ideas on what the best techniques and equipment are for different tasks.
the best thing you can do is put aside some time to shoot. decide what you want to shoot in that time. research some different techniques for shooting it. then try them all until you find one that you are comfortable with and gives you the results YOU want. Then make a YouTube video about it.

 

[amolitor]

My youtube videos are all pretty much just me digging around in my nose. This works for me, but I really don't think it's going to translate into pictures that you personally find very satisfying.

 

[robbins.photo]

My youtube videos are all pretty much just me digging around in my nose. This works for me, but I really don't think it's going to translate into pictures that you personally find very satisfying.

Personally on that one I think your Fong. Dead Fong.

 

[TCampbell]

If you shoot film then your camera is a "camera" and the images are processed in the darkroom or lab.

With a digital camera shooting JPEG, you have to think of your camera as BOTH the camera AND the processing lab all in one package. The camera doesn't just take the image... it processes it by applying all those things you just asked about. BUT... it ONLY does this when you shoot JPEG.

If you shoot RAW, your camera is "just a camera" again... and YOU have to deal with any processing you want back on your computer.

sRGB is simply the "safe" setting because it works everywhere. ARGB will be better if your entire workflow can support it. In a nutshell, that's basically what Gary Fong said. If you don't know for sure if your workflow can support ARGB, then working in sRGB is the safe bet. Gary made it very clear that yes, ARGB really is better... it's just not more universal.

I somewhat agree with his comment about putting all settings to neutral. You should at least be doing that in the beginning while you get to know your way around. I do everything in RAW (and I think you said that you plan to do everything in RAW too) so those settings won't actually affect anything.

I've often thought it was a bit odd to read camera reviews which talk about the color vividness of cameras... as if more is better. The saturation levels somewhat go with the emotion that I want the image to convey. When I shot weddings on film, I specifically used Kodak VPS (Vericolor Professional Type-S) -and- printed on matte finish paper. This is because the film provided somewhat muted or softened colors -- you can think of it as giving just the gentlest hint of pastel into the colors -- but that's because I wanted the images to convey a tranquil beauty because they were, after all, wedding photos. If I wanted to convey high-energy then I might go for stronger and more saturated colors and probably print on gloss. So when I see people comparing cameras based on the contrast or colors, I tend to downplay the credibility of the writer... as if some some level of color and contrast is THE level. These are subjective and readily edited to taste when post processing the images.

In the same way that you can use light to convey a feeling or emotion in a image, you can also use color as yet another factor. So there is no "best" color -- the color needs to suit the intended effect you're going for.

SO... by just leaving everything neutral (which is what you're going to get out of a RAW), that means you're going to adjust all of that in post.

 

[tecboy]

Gary Fong said the color gets muddy red in ARGB. I don't see that in my photos unless I increase the saturation extremely high.

 

[robbins.photo]

Gary Fong said the color gets muddy red in ARGB. I don't see that in my photos unless I increase the saturation extremely high.

From what I understand it is possible for this to occur on ARGB depending on the workflow, I guess some folks using both DxO and Lightroom have experienced it and it generally is caused when they don't reassign the camera profile in lightroom.

Thou shall not doubt the Fong. The Fong is good. The Fong is wise..

lol