I love photography. I suck at it, but I love it. I like the way it trains your eye to see the world differently. I enjoy shooting odd things and then playing in photoshop. I have no desire or ability to make a profession of this! It is a creative outlet separate from the one I use in my art show biz.
My wonderful husband bought me a Canon Rebel Ti3 ( I thinks those are the numbers and letters) for Christmas and it is a beautiful thing. It is several steps up from the Nikon I have been using.
SO here is my question: My stepson, who is a very talented photographer and has lived with a camera around his neck since puberty, wants me to learn the camera by shooting in RAW and using only manual settings. I understand the basics and could learn to do that but it feels difficult to me at this point. The camera has a "creative auto" setting that lets you manipulate some things but is not so confusing. He thinks if I start with the easier settings I will have no desire to master the thing.
It would be nice to master the camera, but I really only want to have fun with it a this point. I think of I get comfortable with the auto settings, I can slowly move into manual.
What say you?
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I am a photographer who sells his work at art fairs. I don't consider myself a professional photographer even though people buy my artwork. I know enough about the camera to create the shot and then work on it.
I would definitely shoot RAW as it will give you a better quality image to work with instead of the camera deciding for you. JPG compresses the image to create a smaller file but by doing so it also eliminates a portion of your image. with RAW you don't have to worry about white balance (the color temperature of the shot) and will be able to print the photo at larger sizes without loss of quality.
As for shooting in Manual: it takes quite a lot practice to shoot well in Manual and I think you should definitely learn and practice that setting when you can allow yourself to experiment without potentially losing an important shot. But definitely get comfortable with the camera by shooting in Auto, Shutter Priority or Aperture Priority. There is nothing wrong with letting the camera calculate your ISO, shutter speed and opening while you concentrate on becoming proficient with composing a shot that tells a good story. That way you won't get overwhelmed with settings and possibly ruin a shot while trying to figure out your camera.
When learning to juggle, one starts with one or two balls and not several. That's how you can think about tackling one or two camera settings at a time until you understand what each does and how they affect your shot, then advancing to more complex combination of settings.
Your stepson is absolutely correct. You are thinking backwards by starting out in auto and moving into manual. If you start out only shooting auto you'll never learn even the basics of photography such as the relationship between aperature and shutter speed or how to control depth of field. These may seem complicated but they are actually very basic and it won't be long before they are second nature to you. I also agree with shooting in RAW if only because it allows you to change the exposure and white balance if necessary - this is one of the great benefits of digital cameras that was impossible using film cameras. When you shoot only JPEG the camera locks these in and they can't be changed. I would shoot RAW+JPEG so at least you have the RAW file even if you don't often use it.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jim and his wife during the Winter Park Sidewalk show this year, and see first hand a print of The Alchemist's Lair about which I commented to him that it is my favorite after viewing the work in his booth. I can't wait to see a real print of Honey, It's for You and Leave a Light in the Window. I'm pretty sure that Honey... will trump the others for me. I bet it's an awesome print.
Seeing these images online and then in an exhibit as a print are two different experiences altogether. I'd even like the print better if I could see it indoors in a proper exhibition space as well. Even more stunning, I'm sure.
THanks a million for the explanations, Jim. I have noted the software and will investigate it. WOOHOO@
I just had to come back here and plug Jim Parker a bit. CHECK OUT HIS WEBSITE HOME PAGE.
A couple of stunning new images are there. Very nice, indeed. But I didn't just plug them to be plugging. He might be inclined to elaborate a bit on his process for both of these North Dakota images since I'm betting it is considerably different for each. He might be shooting RAW for both of them. He might let us know how RAW improved them if he did. How much post processing was necessary for the interior image? Was RAW necessary for that one? Etc.
Jim Parker, UP!
Thanks for the plug, Barrie! There's a lot of post-processing behind what I do. Without being too specific, here's a synopsis.
"Leave A Light in the Window" was shot on a really raw day in late August. It was pouring down rain. I shot a number of images of the house and its interior. Back in the studio, I made a HDR composite of the house in Photomatix, and brought that into PerfectPhoto 9. I layered several other images together with the original capture, and then edited that composite in Lightroom to darken the sky, and take the brightness in the grass down a little. It was so complicated that I'd have a hard time duplicating it. I will say that the final image is quite a bit different than the original capture.
"Honey, It's For You", the interior, was shot in Scenic, South Dakota, one of my favorite "sort-of" ghost towns. It's a three exposure RAW capture, merged into a composite file in HDR EFX Pro (Nik/Google). It is pretty much the way the kitchen looked at the time. The odd colors and shapes juxtaposed with the red tile is what caught my eye.
A couple other shots that were made using multiple passes:
The Morning After
The Alchemist' Lair
I absolutely need RAW for the latitude it gives me in modifying the image later, whether I'm using Photoshop, PerfectEffects, an HDR tool or Lightroom in post-production. And I will generally shoot using a tripod, and bracket exposures, even when I know what the proper exposure is, especially on the interiors. I try to keep the HDR composites just under the not-believable threshold. Sometimes I'll miss that.
Many things are possible in Lightroom without using HDR, plug-ins or other third party tools. But I'll use whatever it takes to get beauty out of truth.
Do what you like. Yes RAW can be hard at first. It's like a new computer, takes time to learn. Question you have to ask yourself, and only you can answer. Do you want to learn this, or just take pictures? And Larry is spot on by the way!
Pat,
another way to learn is to find a photo you like, something that really captures what you're interested in today, and try to reproduce that look.
it's a bit like reconstructing a car accident. you'll have to think about how this photo was possible and then recreate the scene as much as nature will permit
frankly this is my only art so I'm light on what goes on inside the heads of painters and garment makers etc but it seems to me this hobby happens between the ears and your body just gets you to the locations
Street photography is my forte. I'm a people photographer. This one's from New York City, early 1990's. They struck the pose so fast, it was over in a few seconds. Normal focal length lens, done with a Mamiya C330, a square medium format camera with 80mm lens. That's normal focal length for medium format. It was nearing dusk, so exposure was f8 at 1/8 second and TMax 400 film. Eventually my main setup was a 28mm wide angle on a 35mm format camera, mostly. Soon I'll I upgrade to a full FX sensor camera, I'll be back in 28mm wide angle business again. I also did plenty with a 50mm on 35mm camera, though. Rarely used 85mm. Liked the f2.8 180mm for some things, but rarely for my art.
Your camera will shoot RAW, JPEG, or a JPEG/RAW combination. So you can set it to do both at the same time. You might try that for a while, just so you have the RAW files on hand. Be aware that it will take your camera longer to recoil and process the large information your 18 megapixel camera will be transmitting to your image card. Plus you'll need a handful of cards just to store all those big files from one outing. You'll also need terabyte storage to dump it all into. Maybe something on the I-cloud?
Telephoto lenses compress space. They usually isolate a subject and remove the surroundings. I use them sparingly since I like to be in the action. But I never use a zoom for my photographic art work. I'm a fixed focal length lens user for that. With a fixed focal length lens, you will begin to learn how close you need to be to your subject to get what you want. You'll begin to see the scenes in front of you based upon the lens you have on your camera. You'll see the angle of view in your mind before putting the camera to your eye. But sometimes you'll have to adjust by physically moving a few feet this way or that. Pay attention to what's happening around you. Begin anticipating things.
Get a tripod, but don't use it for street photography unless you also get a Graflex 4x5 large format camera or something. Just exporing with your camera will train you to slow down, or to just be quick enough to get the shot. You'll miss some shots, but there'll be more just around the corner. Shoot at a higher ISO, like 400, even in the daylight. Your camera will most likely not have very much noise distortion at that ISO. If you take your camera indoors (and you should) like in public building and whatnot, raise the ISO to 800 or 1600. You don't need to print everything real big, anyway. You'll miss good opportunities for grab shots if you take the time to set up a tripod and have slower shutter speeds and wider lens apertures.
I cringed the other day when you said you would wait for the weather to get better and then you'd get out and take some pics with the new camera. Then the next day you said you'd just go ahead and get out there. Great photos happen all the time when you are prepared to see them. Good weather. Bad weather. Just shoot some pics! WOOHOO!
Awesome advice, Barry! Thank You. We are having freezing rain so I thought it might be a little dangerous for me to go schlepping around in it. Some of my favorite photos are ones we took on a frozen Lake Erie beach. Maybe tomorrow!
and I love the photo!
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