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Old 06-08-2016, 01:30 PM   #2481
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Here is an article that puts into words exactly why I was so happy to switch from film to digital.

Why You Should Take Bad Photographs

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You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take. — Wayne Gretzky
Back in the day, I could go through a 36-frame roll of film in about ten minutes before I even got rollin.
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Old 06-08-2016, 02:34 PM   #2482
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Back in the day, I could go through a 36-frame roll of film in about ten minutes before I even got rollin.
For most of my life I simply could not afford to ignore the cost of film and processing, which is why I shot mostly slides at the time. And I paid attention to each frame.

It wasn't until about six years ago that I could afford a nice camera and later some strobes. I was late going to digital because I kept seeing pixels in published photos and I hated that, it being (to me) the mark of a poor quality camera. Then I wasn't seeing pixels in even point 'n shoot camera shots and I knew digital had "arrived".
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Old 06-09-2016, 12:23 PM   #2483
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That's a good article Ron - thanks for posting it. I think I first found it on Facebook, as I follow PetaPixel there. I read it again when you posted it here and it affirms for me the things I like about digital.

One of the criticisms I used to hear leveled against digital was that the cost per frame was so low, you could take a lot of pictures, in the hope that one or two of them would be good. Therefore, that line of reasoning went, you no longer had to be "any good" to take good photographs, as you could just go out and buy a digital camera. I'm really not interested in parsing all the arguments in detail, but if you have little or no sense of composition, dynamics etc - all those elements that make a "good" picture, then you can take a thousand frames and none of them will be memorable. Like Walt, the cost of film, paper, and chemicals when I was young, was too much to allow me to shoot profusely. I take more chances with digital, and I like that.

I've been shooting at political rallies and protests recently. The first two went well. I found my groove, was "in the zone", and got some worthwhile images. The third event didn't go so well. For some reason, I never hit my stride. I now think I know why, though the reasons are a bit complicated. If I had been shooting film, I may well have given up and stopped trying but because I had enough storage space on the SD card to shoot many 100's of images (far more than I actually did shoot), I kept trying, and did end up with 2 that I quite like. Man, there were some great subjects there, and I shot many poor images of some of them. Those duffer images were hard to look at, and think about, but I remind myself that you have to fail in order to succeed.

Here's one of the OK ones. I'd be very wary of posting many of the images from the other events, as I wouldn't want to attract the attention of Porky, but this one is benign. I go to these things to people-watch, and they provide great opportunities for that.

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Old 06-09-2016, 12:57 PM   #2484
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Here's one of the OK ones. I'd be very wary of posting many of the images from the other events, as I wouldn't want to attract the attention of Porky, but this one is benign. I go to these things to people-watch, and they provide great opportunities for that.
Another "tip" to add to the tool box -- shoot in the opposite direction of where the action is. (Notice all the other cameras.) Nobody notices (attention is focused elsewhere) and you get great "non-posed" expressions. A keeper for sure.
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Old 06-09-2016, 01:27 PM   #2485
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Good points Major Tom. Back in my pre-retirement days when I was shooting sports with a Canon 1D3 which could shoot 10 frames/second a newspaper photographer who I became friends with told me to shoot single frame and learn to anticipate the movement and when to press the shutter. He also said if you see the picture you wanted in your viewfinder then you missed it. After a bit I got pretty good at shooting peak action. Got a few ball on bat shots.
Also keep both eyes open. That way you may not miss other things going on around your subject.
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Old 06-09-2016, 04:56 PM   #2486
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Old 06-11-2016, 10:29 PM   #2487
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Another comment about the article that Ron posted, specifically, the part in the beginning where the author talks about how, as we progress, we become afraid to take bad photos, and to shoot just for the fun of it. We spend so much time applying mental filters before shooting, that we lose the sense of simple engrossment and joy. That rang true for me.

A fairly prolific street photography blogger who I read from time to time, mentions this. His suggestion is to put your camera in P mode as a way to free you up to walk around and simply shoot anything that looks interesting, without thinking about the camera settings. This can be counter-intuitive because most of us think of these automatic modes as "beginners modes". I think it's a worthy experiment.
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Old 06-12-2016, 07:20 AM   #2488
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[QUOTE=Major Tom;1743464]His suggestion is to put your camera in P mode as a way to free you up to walk around and simply shoot anything that looks interesting, without thinking about the camera settings. /QUOTE]

That's the way I have always done it. Another situation is with the camera that I have within easy reach while in the vehicle -- not that I take shots while actually driving (well, rarely) but those times when driving in city/towns. There are many interesting thing one sees while at red light/stop signs that timing precludes "getting the settings just right." On further reflection, there are a couple other situations also.
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Old 06-12-2016, 07:23 AM   #2489
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The real inside scoop -- an enlightening four minutes:

Quote:
I [Tom Harmon] strapped a GoPro to my camera for an entire wedding to show you my point of view. What you see is the actual seconds I am taking the photo, using several different lenses and lighting techniques.
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Old 06-20-2016, 05:53 PM   #2490
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Half Dome, Yosemite National Park


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Old 06-20-2016, 06:49 PM   #2491
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Half Dome, Yosemite National Park
OMG! What you must have gone through to get that shot. I am in awe.
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Old 06-20-2016, 07:00 PM   #2492
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OMG! What you must have gone through to get that shot. I am in awe.
Ron - it wasn't too grueling - Glacier Point across from Half Dome in Yosemite - We took a half hour drive from the main road, and maybe a 2 minute walk. Some people do hike it - a 4 mile hike with a 3000' ascent up from the valley.
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Old 06-20-2016, 07:31 PM   #2493
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Beautiful light, Ronstar. Fantastic image!
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Old 06-20-2016, 09:59 PM   #2494
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Ron - it wasn't too grueling - Glacier Point across from Half Dome in Yosemite - We took a half hour drive from the main road, and maybe a 2 minute walk. Some people do hike it - a 4 mile hike with a 3000' ascent up from the valley.
Oh! I was convinced you had hiked it... and at sundown too. You should have left my dreams intact. <chuckle>
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Old 06-20-2016, 10:25 PM   #2495
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Beautiful light, Ronstar. Fantastic image!
Thanks - I barely made it there before dusk. It took forever to get there.

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Oh! I was convinced you had hiked it... and at sundown too. You should have left my dreams intact. <chuckle>
It would have taken me until sundown to hike there - if I started at sunup.
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Old 06-28-2016, 05:26 PM   #2496
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I found some Ansel Adam's photos online after we returned from Yosemite. He took a photo in 1935 from a similar viewpoint that I shot from last week. Mine is left. His is right. Yosemite hasn't changed much in 80 years.
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Old 06-28-2016, 07:20 PM   #2497
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I found some Ansel Adam's photos online after we returned from Yosemite. He took a photo in 1935 from a similar viewpoint that I shot from last week. Mine is left. His is right. Yosemite hasn't changed much in 80 years.
Fascinating to see them together. I suppose some of the mature trees in your pic might actually be saplings in Adam's pic?

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Old 06-28-2016, 10:11 PM   #2498
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Fascinating to see them together. I suppose some of the mature trees in your pic might actually be saplings in Adam's pic?

-ERD50
Probably. There was also some logging that went on in early Yosemite, but I don't know if this was the area. I took the shot at a road turnout where thousands of photos have been taken. First turnout into the park - right after a long tunnel so the big view catches your eye as soon as you exit the tunnel. The roads were probably in the same location in the 30's. Adams probably just pulled to the side of the road about where I did. But Ansel would have taken his shot like this:
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Old 06-29-2016, 08:49 AM   #2499
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Piedra falls in San Juan National Forest.
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Old 07-03-2016, 02:25 PM   #2500
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A bit more on Garry Winogrand:

The History and Photography of Garry Winogrand

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The energetic and restless Winogrand incessantly captured daily life in New York City and America from the ’50s to the early ‘80s, and his body of work defined the post-World War II era America, filled with opulence and power, but mixed with a deep underlying anxiety.
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