Things you had to learn the hard way

If any of you have seen my critique threads you would know that I am new to photography. I was thinking that I should start a thread where you guys/gals post things that you had to learn the hard way or the most useful advice that you ever received. I would like it to relate to photography so that I can learn from others mistakes. But hey, if you have an interesting life lesson why not post that as well. Basically, if you know something that will help me out on my pursuit of becoming a good photographer please share.

LifeIn35mm said:

a thread where you gays/gals post things

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can straight men join in?

Well i guess mine is a bit of a rookie mistake.

I did my first try at developing b&w film. I was super excited and everything was going along fine. Until I opened the tank.

It was nothing on the roll, just a semi transparent purple piece of plastic. My conclusion is that the developer was dead and when I fixed it, everything turn to poop. So keep an eye on your chemicals people! I won't make that mistake twice.


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1) There is no magic bullet: lens / developer / camera / film combination that will give you wow results.

2) Job is done when you are holding prints in your hands, not looking scans on the screen.

pdeeh said:

can straight men join in?

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Damnit. Sadly that is not the first time I've made that mistake… Life lesson right there, proof read.

Forgetting to remove the lens cover from range finder cameras.

Thinking that originality can't be achieved by looking at the work of others.

Always make sure there's film in the camera before heading out the door.

momus said:

Always make sure there's film in the camera before heading out the door.

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+1

Jeff

there are no shortcuts.
learn the basics and after
you have a good foundation
dont be afraid to experiment
and break rules ...
also a hard lesson to learn is
a lot of people on the internet seem like experts
but often times they arent as expert as they seem
so take internet-advice with a large grain of salt.

jnanian said:

there are no shortcuts.
learn the basics and after
you have a good foundation
dont be afraid to experiment
and break rules ...
also a hard lesson to learn is
a lot of people on the internet seem like experts
but often times they arent as expert as they seem
so take internet-advice with a large grain of salt.

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+1. Sound bits of wisdom, all. Adding something more pedestrian: If utilizing an in-camera meter, always verify the ISO setting before the first shot. (My worst "rookie mistake," made after shooting for close to two decades: Kodachrome 64 shot at ISO 1600. I had shot university-level basketball the day previous).

There are no magic bullets.
Lighting is more important than any lenses/cameras/films/developers/whatever you might buy.
While competence with your materials is a necessity, it is not sufficient; you can be incredibly technically competent and produce worthless crap.
Emotion and thought and subject and theme and subtext in the image are more important than any of the technical details... but you generally need the technical things nailed down in order to express the important bits clearly and reliably.
You have to look at and absorb a wide range of other people's good images, and think about exactly why they're good.
Don't buy new equipment, you're just subsidising its next owner.
Your first 10,000 exposures are the worst.

When heading out, be selective about the gear you take with you. Nothing kills the fun of the outdoors when you realise that you are carrying way too much weight on your back and you are miles from anywhere.

polyglot said:

Emotion and thought and subject and theme and subtext in the image are more important than any of the technical details.

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polyglot,

You wrote a lot of good points, this is one that resonates with me.

LifeIn35mm,

Sometimes advice like this is difficult to carry out because it's abstract.

So a simple way to put emotion and meaning into your photographs is to photograph people and things you know well. Start with your friends and the things you do with them. If you are involved in any causes, bring cameras along. Pretty soon people will get used to seeing you with a camera and you won't have to explain it anymore...

Many photographers are lousy at business, and if you are employed by one, watch out for paycheques that bounce.

Clients will frequently choose the shot you like the least.

Don't rely on what most camera sales staff say.

Camera sales staff are way more reliable than a lot of their customers.

Extra batteries are your friend.

If you have a tripod with a removable plate that attaches to the camera, make sure you buy more than one and make sure you have at least one when you venture out with the tripod and a camera.

Things learned the hard way... Just about everything.

Some things that come to mind are things I keep re-learning!

1) Without a glass carrier, negatives move at unexpected times
2) Spent Batteries leak when left in equipment
3) Rechargeable batteries become unusable if they are unused
4) ISO 400 film fogs even in the freezer and is not worth 'stockpiling'
5) Freeze/thaw of opened containers of film causes unexpected marks at unexpected times
6) 90% isopropyl alcohol removes lettering on some lenses
7) Cyanoacrylate glue fogs clear plastic
8) Poorly fixed negatives can deteriorate in a decade
9) The gray border on prints made on old paper look bad when compared to prints made on fresh paper.
10) Underexposed negatives can be difficult or impossible to print well
11) The smaller and lighter the camera, the higher the minimum hand-held shutterspeed
12) Uneven exposure (as in sluggish second shutter curtain and uneven enlarger light source) are very difficult to dodge or burn back to normal.

Watch the rewind knob contra rotating as you wind on.

Check the blad back film loaded indicator before you take the dark slide out.

Clear the double exposure permitted unless...

Don't open the back if you might have pulled the film off the take up spool...

Use the film speed reminder dial or Avery label.

Carry a dark bag.

B&W: when in doubt - overexpose. Better to overexpose and overdevelop then to have thin negative.

Constants aren't; variables won't.
Double check everything until it becomes a habit.

I don't think I'm adding any new points, but here are my lessons anyways:

Lessons that hurt
-Watch the rewind knob as you load the film. A small mistake at loading time results in 36 "missed" shots, at lease of few of which you'll be certain would have been your best shots.

-Even good labs make mistakes (like stapling your negatives, right through your favourite frame). Learn to process your own B&W, so when shit happens you have no one to blame but yourself.

-I've had two rolls of CR200 fall off the spindle inside the cassette. I'd love to say the resulting images made the recovery effort worthwhile, but they really didn't. If you're going to shoot slide film, pony up for the good stuff.

-Some labs that do enlargements from negatives are just scanning and then printing on cheap thermal dye printers. Nothing worse than seeing jpg artifacts in your 11x14 "film" enlargements.

Lessons that make it better

-A negative is a half way point, not a finished product. With a $200 scanner you get results comparable to a DSLR from 2007 (that would probably cost you less than $200 today). But, with an enlarger, you get magic. If you can't set up your own dark room, look for a community dark room, or failing that, find a printer who still uses wet printing and have them print your favourite negative, it'll be worth the money.

-RA-4 Metallic paper is amazing when done right.

-If you don't have a good way to view slide film, don't bother. Shoot Ektar have have it printed on RA-4 Metallic paper - it's not the same, but it is bloody brilliant.

-Get a bulk loader and load your own film. It'll cut your film costs in half and takes minimal effort.

-Sometimes cheap film is what you want. I love Porta & Ektar, but for small prints Fuji Superia is a great colour film and cheap as chips. I find Kentmere harder to load onto reels than HP5+, but once printed, I couldn't tell you which was shot on which.

-If you have access to an enlarger than can handle it, try Medium Format. 645 is much easier to print than 35mm and looks stunning at 8x10. 645 and 6x6 cameras are inexpensive and fun to use. Everyone should give it a try once.

-Learn the sunny 16 rule using cheap C41 or 400 speed b&w. Once you learn to guess what your exposure should be you open up a whole new world of light, portable, and fun cameras to use. Film is far more forgiving than you expect.

-Play with off camera lighting. Even a single 30 year old speed light and a 15' PC sync cord make your portraits ten times better than flash shot from the hot shoe.

I really have to second the tip to CHECK YOUR ISO WHEN YOU HAVE LOADED IN A FRESH FILM. This is the single most common mistake I have made, and it has cost me some good pix.

Never remove the lens elements from a shutter, anywhere near a tile floor. That could definitely cause havoc with your exposures.

"It's just a cold sore" shouldn't be taken lightly!

When shooting bright light and dark shaddow in the same shot expose for the highlights in digital and the shadows on film. Having learnt on digital It's took me a while to work that out and I still keep habitually underexposing film.