Comments on: Just a Camera and a Subject. Simplicity Can Be Fun.

By: Kevin Camp

Kevin Camp — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 04:11:58 +0000

I consider it another part of my repertoire at every shoot. I use my light, I use ambient light. I like the very shallow depth of field that is hard to get using a strobe. Thanks for posting this Don. There are many that get locked into one style or other. The “Only Shoots Ambient Light” crowd and the “Only Strobist Crowd” and there is nothing wrong with either of them, but it is far more liberating to change on the fly, use the light, enhance the light and over power the light to get the variety and creativity I need.

By: Elizabeth Councill

Elizabeth Councill — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:48:33 +0000

After reading this article, I decided to unpack the Mamiya 645 and a ton of film and my light meter and just get out to shooting with just a subject and available light. It was a blast. Images look stunning to boot. Great advice here. There’s a time to get back to basics and simplicity for all of us.

By: jimmy

jimmy — Wed, 26 May 2010 04:38:15 +0000

Curious: When I look at the heavily illustrative work of this or that pro shooter, who, as a rule, is performing the heavy illustrative work? The photographer? Or a team of post-processing digital artists? Just curious.

By: wizwow

wizwow — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 23:27:55 +0000

No, you do not need a lot of gear to make good photographs. Just shoot and shoot and shoot. I use very little gear. If you hit the home page today, you will see a downloadable book shot almost entirely with simple gear… really only one body and two lenses. Natural light, strobes and more. Keep it simple. Keep it yours.

By: William Walicki

William Walicki — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 23:23:02 +0000

Great stuff and book also , I myself is struggling with lighting , I am in this mindset that you need alot of equipment and this proberly why i don’t shoot alot now , I will do alot thinking now about Natural Light , and also two other drawback do you need a view camera or anything larger than 35 mm , I seen lots of great shots with large format and meduum format , some only with 35 , I shoot with film and digital

By: jamesrdoe

jamesrdoe — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:24:55 +0000

Great article. Some people use flashes to create a WOW shot much like shallow DOF, fisheye, HDR or any other special effect can be used. These effects are useful parts of photography but shouldn’t necessarily be the main focus. I don’t enjoy setting up lights so usually I don’t even bother. Natural light is amazing the trick is being able to harness it because it’s not always predictable and it’s not always enough. I’d like to be using more flashes but at the same time I also want to find better ways at harnessing what’s already out there.

By: wizwow

wizwow — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:40:06 +0000

And you will find in my lighting essentials workshops that I am all about lighting… not about gear. Great use of light – from natural to strobe to mirrors to whatever. I teach “Subject Centric Lighting” – in other words, what do you want the subject to look like, then decide on the tools that you want to use.

By: Doug Smith

Doug Smith — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:15:41 +0000

Great article. I think a lot of people get into photography as typical snapshot shooters (not everyone, but many) and as skills improve there is this feeling that real photography is all of the gadgets. I prefer natural light or minimal use of flash. I am, however, looking forward to taking one of your lighting essentials classes (that is how I happened upon this article). I figure the more I can learn about lighting the better I will get with my natural light or minimalist flash photography. Actually, I have been thinking of dusting off my 35mm SLR and going bact to basics, film, at least for one roll.

Thanks

By: Jeff n

Jeff n — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:42:40 +0000

Great Post Don,

Would love to hear all you have to say about film.

I have a MF camera, but its just so easy to pick up the digital when you want it now. However, its always a pleasure when I get my transparencies back. It just has that timeless look about it.

Have to confess, sometimes when I shot film, (with strobe) I’ll chimp with the digital, but then, that what Polaroids were for right?

Great work!

By: Peter Dixon

Peter Dixon — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:02:58 +0000

After many years of on/off photography with film cameras I had my first serious play with digital the other weekend. I borrowed a friends Nikon and took a couple to a alleyway to do some portraits. The lighting was primarily overhead with the sky quite cloudy. Learning to really look at what the top light was doing and how it shaped the face really made me stop and think. Although we had some flash units with us the best tool was a home made reflector from rip stop nylon (sunbounce impersonation). The natural light was soft and flattering to the female yet retained the masculine look for the male. Gear is simply stuff to carry. Natural light is free and learning to use it properly is a wonderful challenge. Getting exposure spot on in camera is the real art, not post processing.

Love your posts, they present a good balance and challenge us all to constantly look at both our techniques and motives. Keep up the great work.