Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/03/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Don, Thanks...As to the 14-year-olds, I deal regularly with classes full not of average students, but of literally brilliant students - most with little or no photographic experience. Most of them are now shooting digital. And they are initially producing the same kind of crap the 14-year-olds produced a decade ago with film cameras. They still need to learn about shutter speeds and f stops; they still need to learn about filling the frame; they still need to learn what a frame is and why it matters :-); they still need to learn that not everything they see is worth photographing. Do they need to learn how to manually focus? No, but they sure need to learn how to make sure that the autofocus is focusing on the right thing. And the more they shoot, the faster they learn the essentials, the more quickly they learn to separate the total crap from the vaguely interesting crap, and the faster they move toward actually making a few worthwhile images. B. D. On 3/22/06 8:49 PM, "Don Dory" <don.dory@gmail.com> wrote: > B.D., > You are a talented and experienced photographer. Take your average 14 > something year old just starting out. Hand her your Oly330 and watch her > shoot a card full of properly focused on something and correctly exposed by > some standard images. What is good, it all looks good. Why is it good, > well they are all in focus and I have whites and blacks so the exposure is > just fine. > > With the limitations of manual and a limited number of opportunities the > newbie will have to think. Yes, a lot of the first images will be trash, > but the newbie will know they are trash and look at what works. With some > understanding of why you want a particular shutter speed and why an > aperture > causes certain effects then the automagic camera becomes a valuable tool. > Otherwise you are in P and your images look just like everyone else with a > zoom and a pop up flash. > > Don > don.dory@gmail.com > > > On 3/22/06, B. D. Colen <bdcolen@comcast.net> wrote: >> >> Sorry, Don, but horse hooey. The more one shoots, the more chance one has >> of actually improving. And if digital provides anything, it is freedom >> from >> the economic and time constraints imposed by having to pay for, and wait >> for, each frame of film. I am doing infinitely more personal work than I >> used to do, and could never have afforded to do my subway project with >> film. >> ___ >> Sent with SnapperMail >> www.snappermail.com >> >> ...... Original Message ....... >> On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 22:19:13 -0500 "Don Dory" <don.dory@gmail.com> wrote: >> "Larry, >> "In an ideal world you are correct. But in a Zen like way, sometimes it >> is >> "better for it to be hard. With a digital work flow, a beginner can shoot >> "two thousand images and then not have the ability to edit that to >> something >> "that is good or even interesting. Back in the bad old days, when you got >> to >> "frame 20 on your last roll, you started to think about what you were >> taking >> "and you concentrated on what you wanted to finish with. In a digital >> work >> "flow you just delete some images based on a itty-bitty screen and move >> on, >> "no thought involved. >> " >> "Especially when you are learning something, there should be some >> discipline >> "involved. There should be some conscious choices about what you are >> doing >> "and why. It can be done in the digital work flow, but you have to be a >> lot >> "more mature and work against some of the true benefits of the digital >> work >> "flow. >> " >> "Don >> "don.dory@gmail.com >> " >> " >> "On 3/21/06, lrzeitlin@optonline.net <lrzeitlin@optonline.net> wrote: >> "> >> "> >> "> B. D, Colen wrote: >> "> >> "> << Give a beginning photographer a cheap camera >> "> with inferior optics, and you may get different results than if you >> give >> "> that same person an easy to use, well designed camera with superior >> optics >> "> - >> "> and I don't mean a Leica M because many beginning photographers really >> "> struggle with rangefinders. :-)>> >> "> >> "> ------ >> "> >> "> There is much truth in this. I am one of those mossbacks who learned >> "> photography in the Jurassic age of total manual control. As a stringer >> for >> "> the Boston Globe in the early 50s I was handed a scruffy well used 4x5 >> Speed >> "> Graphic, six film holders and a Heiland flash gun and I was sent out on >> "> assignments to sink or swim. >> "> >> "> Over the years I learned how to estimate focusing >> "> distances with reasonable accuracy, how to judge the light, the shutter >> "> speeds that were necessary for stopping various kinds of action, what >> "> filters to use to get the effects I wanted, etc. In due time I gained >> "> sufficient experience in the technology of photographny that it became >> "> >> "> second nature and I could concentrate on the esthetics of the picture. >> "> >> "> Then the manufacturers encapsulated all my hard won knowledge in a >> "> silicon chip the size of my little fingernail and made cameras >> "> automatic. Now any boob could possess what I had learned by plunking >> "> down a few bucks at the camera store counter. Like most phiotographers >> of >> "> that era, I resisted the change. It negated my years of experience and >> "> forced me into direct competition with newcomers who would be totally >> lost >> "> if their batteries died. >> "> >> "> And, of course I was wrong. Photography isn't about technology. It is >> "> about creating images that others want to see. The neophyte with a >> mistake >> "> proof camera is free to concentrate on the scene on front of the lens, >> not >> "> the camera settings. Artistic interpretatikon is something totally >> apart >> "> from technical proficiency. Fortunately for the real artists amongst >> us, >> a >> "> very good quality camera encapsulating all I learned in 20 years is >> "> available for less than the 1954 pric >> "> e of a Leica IIIf. And I venture to say that in the hands of an average >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information