at what point do you just take the photograph

[jtk]

The process of making an image starts when I make the decision to set up the camera and ends when I frame the print. I do not mentally break up the process into steps other than for convienance.

Many traditional archers (like me) use a similar approach. Others break the process down into conscious steps and used them as a sequential "mantra." In the end the arrow is the test. However ...the photographic test is only that absolute with Polaroid film.

 

[warden]

I like that a lot. How large have you printed it, and did you tone it?

Thanks. I haven't printed any from this series in the darkroom yet, but I did have Adorama print a dozen or so mounted to foam core at 12x12" for display at the venue. The quality (first time I'd used Adorama to print anything) was surprisingly nice and I'd not hesitate to use them again. Huge time saver.

 

[jtk]

Thanks. I haven't printed any from this series in the darkroom yet, but I did have Adorama print a dozen or so mounted to foam core at 12x12" for display at the venue. The quality (first time I'd used Adorama to print anything) was surprisingly nice and I'd not hesitate to use them again. Huge time saver.

One of the local Costco stores apparently does a great job with 20x30 so long as you're after bright renditions. I intend to have Staples print much bigger on a fabric banner with grommets in corners for hanging...have seen a couple of examples in a fine bakery/espresso place...better than the usual tourist snaps.

 

[slackercrurster]

One thing is for sure, if you don't press the button you wont get anything. Many times I've looked at a photo op in the making, thought about it for a second or two before putting the cam up. Then it was gone before I got it framed. Now I commonly shoot halfway up before the cam every gets to my eye. It is just insurance. If I don't get the shot while viewing I got something before eyeballing it. And if it was a fail too, so what, I would not have got anything otherwise.

 

[jtk]

Thanks. I haven't printed any from this series in the darkroom yet, but I did have Adorama print a dozen or so mounted to foam core at 12x12" for display at the venue. The quality (first time I'd used Adorama to print anything) was surprisingly nice and I'd not hesitate to use them again. Huge time saver.

Saw somebody's 11X14-ish aluminum prints in a nearly-standing-room-only coffee house (not Sbucks)...cheap and cheerful, bright and decorative. No need for framing, some kind of piece in the back for hanging. I don't like the look myself but maybe it makes sense for difficult viewing situations....

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

This is one of the reasons why I've gotten very into working with my Lomos - they take most of that calculus away from me - the LC-A only lets me focus, by zone, and the Belair lets me focus, and choose between f8 and f16. Otherwise it's just compose, and click.

 

[macfred]

Beautiful photograph - thank you for sharing this gem!

 

[jtk]

Much of my photography is very deliberate. When I did studio work, most of the fun was in the setup, including visualization and planning. Results were what paid the bills. It was a lot like Japanese raku pottery sometimes as well: beauty in courted accidents but no careless use of well developed skills or inferior tools.

By the way, I'm not bragging about any of that. It was the norm. In my experience with commercial photo peers, we were all that way...there was no latitude for slop or funky equipment and I think we all considered ourselves to be artists.

 

[warden]

Beautiful photograph - thank you for sharing this gem!

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Saw somebody's 11X14-ish aluminum prints in a nearly-standing-room-only coffee house (not Sbucks)...cheap and cheerful, bright and decorative. No need for framing, some kind of piece in the back for hanging. I don't like the look myself but maybe it makes sense for difficult viewing situations....

I would be interested to hear why you do not like the look. My friend who worked for Kodak for 25 years does not like them either. Please illuminate me.

 

[jtk]

I would be interested to hear why you do not like the look. My friend who worked for Kodak for 25 years does not like them either. Please illuminate me.

I don't know how somebody who worked for a dinosaur is relevant to why I don't like the look of aluminum prints. I didn't like prints made on Kodak's Type R either, but I loved their Ektachrome and the ability of fine professional internegs made by fine custom labs to make Ektacolor prints. .

I've recently been enjoying Canon's extraordinarily glossy Pro Platinum and Epson's gloss-semi-gloss "Satin-.Finish/Smooth Finish" Legacy Baryta both of which can seem almost illuminated, but the aluminum prints I've seen, despite accuracy, may take "garish" a little too far for most viewing situations.

 

[faberryman]

I don't know how somebody who worked for a dinosaur is relevant to why I don't like the look of aluminum prints. I didn't like prints made on Kodak's Type R either, but I loved their Ektachrome and the ability of fine professional internegs made by fine custom labs to make Ektacolor prints. .

I've recently been enjoying Canon's extraordinarily glossy Pro Platinum and Epson's gloss-semi-gloss "Satinum-.Finish/Smooth Finish" Legacy Baryta which are both perhaps too-bright, but the aluminum prints I've seen, despite accuracy, may take "garish" a little too far for most viewing situations.

The metal prints look very commercial, like a backlit bus stop. Nothing beats them if you are a sharpness freak though.

 

[jtk]

The metal prints look very commercial, like a backlit bus stop. Nothing beats them if you are a sharpness freak though.

Yes. And I never liked Ciba prints either, until just before their final death rattle somebody used it to make wonderful almost-mural-size prints from 8X10 chromes using B&W masks to control contrast.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I usually just take the shot. The moment might not happen again. I took this shot know knowing whether it would turn out.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mainecoonmaniac/21557295316/in/dateposted-public/

 

[Cloudy]

I wish I could shoot as quickly and naturally as the people who responded to this thread...I'm super awkward when I shoot with manual focus film cameras, it takes me forever to focus and more often then not I end up with out of focus pictures anyway. Don't get me started with 5x4...my poor models...

 

[Vaughn]

Cloudy -- do some reading on hyperfocal distance with the idea of knowing what distance and aperture settings will create the DoF you want to work with. Zone focusing is it in use, I believe. Most of my roll film usage has been with Rollei TLRs and that is sort of the idea behind playing with the DoF markings (distance vs aperture) on the focus knob.

LF cameras are a different beast, as you mentioned. Nothing beats a lot of time under the darkcloth. Sounds like working with RC paper could make getting solid feedback easier.

 

[Cloudy]

Cloudy -- do some reading on hyperfocal distance with the idea of knowing what distance and aperture settings will create the DoF you want to work with. Zone focusing is it in use, I believe. Most of my roll film usage has been with Rollei TLRs and that is sort of the idea behind playing with the DoF markings (distance vs aperture) on the focus knob.

LF cameras are a different beast, as you mentioned. Nothing beats a lot of time under the darkcloth. Sounds like working with RC paper could make getting solid feedback easier.

I shoot medium format handheld and I tend to prefer wide apertures and close up shots, that's probably why the DOF is paper thin and if I move a centimetre I end up focusing on the hand instead of the face of my models (or the nose instead of the eyes...so frustrating).

You are right that I should use smaller apertures and hyperfocal, but I am also terrible at judging distances #hopeless

 

[removed account4]

hey cloudy

my comment in the original post about the family reunion actually happened to me.
one summer I did this whole group photo thing with with both sides of the family 2 different picnics
when we used to get together. i was shooting a 5x7 camera in both situations.
it really didn't take me long to focus or do any of the fiddly stuff. open shade I had already done my meter reading and was OK with over exposing a little bit. focused on the 2nd row and IDK f11... maybe ? took IDK less than 2 or 3 minute and for 4 exposures and still the people were complaining it was taking too long. thinking back it makes me laugh a little because if I had just put my d100 on self time self focus self meter read click. probably the photo would have not had the same je ne sais quois of everyone looking confused about their cousin under a dark cloth with this olde tyme looking camera fiddling around with the lens. all I needed was some flash powder.
I know what you mean though about razor thin focus and shallow DOF sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders and throw caution to the wind.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Same here. Acquired most of my cameras in 60s,70s and early 80s. Speaking of automation, i don’t remember two of my late friends, Bernie Boston ( then dean of White House photographers) or Louey Stettner ( a major retrospective show right now at San Francisco Musem of Modern Art until May 26) ever using a meter. Me, I’m a little less skilled and use a meter, but still prefer the computer in my head, even if some believe it’s historical.
On the other hand, I put my digital camera on full auto, otherwise the plethora of choices only slows me down.

When I go on vacation, I take my Sony RX100M4, a pocketable digital, and put it on P and shoot 99% that way. I let the camera do the technical work unlike when I shoot 4x5 or MF. My back has been telling me to keep it simple, and light, but I don't want to listen. I think my back is right.

 

[Auer]

Fleeting moments require swiftness
Take your time when it's given to you
There are no rules

 

[markjwyatt]

When I am walking around, I try and monitor the lighting situation. In bright sun it is easy, but meter in shadow areas so if a shot turns up there you can change fast. If I have time, I fidget a little with exposure, aperture, shutter speed, etc., but I try and have the camera ready to point and shoot if an occasion presents itself with little time to fidget (i.e., a hawk dives 20' from me and picks up a snake, would be nice, but I am often ready....).

 

[SomewhereLost]

I have a full frame F0.95 lens. I focus and then hope I get something by the time the fps peters out. No time to really think, just shoot and hope.

 

[benjiboy]

Ran into this the other day at the park. After spending a couple of hours walking the streets looking for photo opportunities, and finding a few, I was returning to my car parked at the City Park. As I walked through the parking lot I noticed a small family group gathered for a group photo near one of the old ranch wagon exhibits. A young lady had a digital SLR set up on a tripod and was working over it evidently trying to get ready to take the picture. This must have been going on for a bit because one of the gathered group, seeing me with my K1000, yelled at me to take their picture as I got a bit closer. So I did. I walked up, raised the camera, framed the group stepping a bit closer, then snapped the shot. I then waved and walked away. Took about 4 seconds at most.

Later, developing my roll, I found the photo had turned out great. I should have gotten their address so I could have sent them a print.

I think some people are paralyzed when faced with too many decisions, or are overwhelmed by the technical aspects of their digital cameras, and somehow afraid to just take a shot for fear it won't turn out.

Of course I had the advantage in that situation. There aren't a whole lot of decisions to make with a Pentax K1000. Once you have chosen the film you are going to use, you get the needle settled in the middle, make sure the composition looks decent, then push the button. That is pretty much all there is to it.

You gotta love it!

Photography is a very simple process and many novices, whatever medium they are shooting in, are over-cautious in applying the knowledge they have gleaned to the practical application of it.

 

[benjiboy]

But there are times when I am traveling and will not be able to work on art as I grab my two Nikon AF cameras with color and black & white and just enjoy the trip.

I tried once, to carry two bodies one with color and the other with black and white, but it didn't work for me because I found I couldn't "See" in both mediums at the same time, and what made a good color picture didn't make a good monochrome one.

 

[Dusty Negative]

Out at the king tide today I took pictures of waves. I sensed that the interesting time wasn’t the crest of the crash as I always used to do.

This reminds me of the saying [which I’ll paraphrase and probably butcher] “your first 10000 photos are your worst.” It seems like you have to take several, walk away, and then suddenly return with that flash of “inspiration” born of previous experience.