I am on a black and white list that all the talk is about this different developer, and this exposure and that filter. It has its place, but in the last year I don't think I have seen many if any thread on composition or lighting.
Others talk all the new digital stuff, and again it has its place. This new body, that new software and all the new features it happens to provide.
I once read a book that Ansel described the taking of a scene. First driving along the road he recognized that the landscape was wonderful, but he also realized that he had at most 15 minutes of light. Considering he was using one of the view cameras that he knew would take some time to set up, he stopped and began to set up.
While setting the camera up he looked and pre visualized what he had in mind for the print and how he was later going to process it in the darkroom. He decided the zones, took an estimate at the exposure, decided a filter, and calculated in the exposure factors all while setting up. Once the camera was in place he began with the focusing while working on the composition. A quick check with the meter to confirm his estimate, insert the plate and va lah another Ansel Adams treasure.
To him it was easy. To us it likely would be extremely difficult.
Just as the musician does not get the luxury of time in many cases. They do get usually the benefit of preparation. Some notes on the French Horn I could play maybe 4 different ways or more. Some were the most common. Others had uses, and some were more less used only as practice aids. Which one was usually selected ahead of time, but that didn't mean that I didn't have other things to consider while playing that one note. It is the ability to deal with all those considerations and use them to create that prize winning photo or a musical performance to be remembered is the test of the master.
Herschel Mair <herschelmair@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So Mario,Are you saying that if I let them get in the way, they will? So It takes a concious effort on MY part to keep them out of the way?Must I think about doing this when shooting?herschel
Mario Pires <retorta@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:Only if YOU let them get in the way!
On 19/07/07, Herschel Mair <herschelmair@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The topic was whether rules, formulae, statistics and technical knowledge of all things photographic could ever, conceivably, get in the way of taking a great photograph.
--
Mário Pires
retorta@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.retorta.net
http://esteticafotografica.netHerschel Mair
Head of the Department of Photography,Higher College of Technology
Muscat
Sultanate of OmanAdobe Certified instructor+ (986) 99899 673
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