Rants & Raves - Monday, March 8, 2010 18:00 - 17 Comments

Do You Know Your Camera Well Enough to Master Your Craft?

A sorta Rant and sorta Rave:

Knowing your instrument in music means knowing it so well that you can pick it up and play whatever note you want to play. There isn’t a hesitation at all in the choice of keys, or fingering, or hand position. With a piece of music in front of the musician, he/she can play it perfectly the first time they see it.

In Jazz, we have improvisation… the making of music without any written notes. The musician listens to the chords or harmony and creates their own melodies or lines over them. That takes incredible mastery of the instrument, and a total inner awareness of the music as a whole. Something nearly autonomous takes over. The music flows from the jazz soloist through the instrument and into the ears of the audience.

There is no time to think about the ‘notes], or where the fingers go. None.

The same with photography. The instrument is different, but it does require an intimate knowledge of the workings of the camera, as well as what the relationship is between the operation and the making of images. The images should flow through the camera as music flows through the musicians instrument.

Basic tools and knowledge lead to basic imagery. Some photographers could put their camera on “P” and end up with well exposed, nicely focused, sharp photographs. The modern cameras are nearly flawless in presenting an image that is ‘acceptable’ on the basic criteria of the amateur photographer. Like beginning band; they can play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” pretty well after practicing it for a couple of months… but that doesn’t make them musicians with a capitol M. Not yet.

But there is a time when the musician gets more and more familiar with the instrument they are playing, and starts to understand the chord structures, rhythm, and scales that are part of the genre of jazz. They start to improvise… a little tentatively at first, but eventually there becomes… Bird, Miles, Monk, ‘Trane, Ornette, Elvin, Tony and so many more.

They know their instruments so well that it becomes an extension of what they feel instead of what they think. They hear the music and it plays through their instrument.

Photographers have cameras. All kinds of cameras. Some cameras do things other cameras wont. Or they do the same things differently. My small cameras are Nikon and Canon. Canon is the digital, Nikon is the analog. They focus manually in different directions. They load film differently, change ISO differently, mount lenses differently.

But they both take photographs the same way. I look through the viewfinder, make a billion instant decisions and trip the shutter. That is the art of photography… making those billion instant decisions and getting the synapses to recognize what the hell is going on and transfer some energy to my right index finger. Really fast.

The camera is my conduit for getting what I see onto a capture or piece of film. It is a tool that should be as well known to me as Bird’s alto, or Tony’s Gretch’s were to them. The tool needs to be an extension of me and my vision, and is simply what I use to capture what I see.

That means knowledge of what it does in relationship to what I want to do… and I think there are too many photographers who take that for granted. They don’t know their camera well enough to not have to think about it when they are working. It can be an impediment instead of a conduit.

When I go to make an image, I am seeing that image completed in my head already… sometimes I see the finished image before I even get the camera up to my eye. I start to ‘feel’ the image – or hear it… yeah, images make music to me. I hear different pieces when I am shooting… a rhythm from here a melody from there… it all plays into the image taking process for me.

I rarely have to think about my camera and the settings or the dials/switches and such to make it work. I learn that stuff through taking the time to familiarize myself with the camera so well, I can do many things without looking at it. I don’t want to play with my camera gear, I want to make photographs.

I see so many photographers struggling with their cameras while the moments of amazing images tick by them. Looking for this or that, trying to find the menu that does whatever they need – sometimes without knowing what it is they need to begin with. A devastating unfamiliarity that puts the camera at odds with the photographer instead of being an extension of their vision.

And yeah, sure the camera manufacturers sometimes make changes to the newer models so where something was is now moved to somewhere else. Arghh.. yeah. So what? Learn the new tool and work it into your system so that it isn’t ‘new’ any more. It isn’t a ‘new camera’ after it becomes ‘your camera’.

Can you imagine working a wedding and not knowing your camera intimately? The action moves real fast, and there are no do-overs. Or a photojournalist who misses a once in a lifetime shot because he forgot which setting his camera was on? Or a fashion photographer who forgot that you had to advance the film back by hand on an RB67 because it isn’t automatically advanced like the RZ67 that you had been shooting for a couple of months so you shoot about 20 shots on one frame and missed a couple of good shots that I… err… well, you get the point.

Every item on a camera deals with the reality of making images. Aperture and shutter speed and ISO combine for exposure. All three are integral in knowing what you want and how to get it. You can change the focus areas on the screen, and from center-weighted exposure to spot. Do you know which is which? Choosing an aperture controls the DOF that you will get with the image… and that is based on the distance of the focus. How do all the tools of the camera work toward making the image you see in your head? They work in tandem with the knowledge of photographic principles that have been ingrained into your psyche.

They have been ingrained… right?

We discuss the concepts of photography on this site a lot, but for now let’s discuss your ‘axe’, that camera that is hanging around your neck all day. That tool that you use to instantly make the images you see in your head is your extension of creativity.

Here is the challenge: And of course, there is no way we can no if you cheat. But, except for that moron from Redmond, most of you will not cheat.

Here is a list of 10 things I want you to do or answer instantly. No thinking… if it takes you more than a half second, mark it down. And then you know what to work on.

Set your camera at f-8, ISO 200, and 1/250 shutter speed, and manual.
Without Looking at your camera:

1. Identify where the ISO menu is. Bring it up and change it to ISO 100.
2. Change the current shutter speed to 1/2000.
3. Take the lens off and change it out without looking at the camera.
4. Identify where the focus spots control is.
5. Change the aperture to f-22.
6. Identify where the Card Format control is, and bring it up.
7. Change the lens from auto-exposure to manual exposure.
8. Identify the custom white balance tools/method.
9. Change the camera from Manual to Aperture Priority.
10. Change it back to the original settings above.

Here are a few more things that will help you to become intimate with the tools and craft of photography.

11. Can you recite the apertures of your lenses in whole stops? Can you do it in 1/3 stops?
12. Where are your cards kept in your bag? No searching…
13. If your flash is on 1/16 power and you want it to be two stops brighter, what would you change the power to?
14. What is the highest shutter speed your flash can sync with?
15. How would you guesstimate the aperture/speed setting for a person being side-lit by the sun with ISO 400?
16. Which would give you deeper DOF… f6.3 on a 24MM lens or f8 on a 200MM lens from the same spot?
17. If you wanted to increase the perceived area around a subject would you move back with a telephoto or move close with a wide angle?
18. If you were shooting a sunset portrait on a beach and wanted your flash to be more ‘warm’ without changing the color of the sky would you gel the camera or the flash? With what?
19. If the flash is set to f-8 on the subject, and the ambient reading is f5.6 @ 1/125, will the subject match, be lighter than or darker than the ambient at an exposure of f-8?
20. In the above example, what happens to the subject exposure (f-8) when I change the shutter speed to 1/160?

The answers for the second set of questions are after the jump.

There are few ways to increase your photographic ability more than shooting a lot of pictures… all the dang time. Of course there are more ways to get your tools to be an extension of your vision, rather than getting in its way, but this should start you thinking about automating it… in your mind.

Being able to shoot without thinking about the tools is like being a jazz player taking a solo on “Green Dolphin Street” – and bringing the house down.

Thanks for dropping by. You can follow my every move on Twitter, and please leave comments if you agree, disagree or simply have a question.

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