Ayash Kanto Mukherjee wrote:
> Most of the time, I use metered manul mode in
> my camera but while making candid street
> photographs, I am forced to switch to aperture
> priority mode and let the camera take care of
> the exposure.
Why are you "forced" to let the camera take over?
> Of course, I don't learn anything about
> exposure while making those photographs.
So why not take the time to go fully manual and learn. You may make
some mistakes, but you'll learn from those errors.
> On the other hand, I concentrate only on
> the composition to catch the right moment.
And how are your photographs? Are you satisfied with their quality?
> I think that I don't have the sense of
> understanding light and therefore I couldn't
> perform well, even in metered manual mode for
> candids.
May I suggest reading a few books about light and exposure. While
many people feel that Ansel Adams' Zone System is an outmoded method
of exposure and development, I believe it offers great insight into
how film works and can give one a good understanding of light and
proper exposure technique. I also feel that working with B&W
negative film, and processing your own negatives, will help you
understand more about exposure than shooting with color film.
> But I readily agree with you about the
> control of exposure in a photograph provided
> that the photographer has feel for light.
Then you must start working with it. Perhaps if you got a spot
meter and carried it with you all the time, and used it to measure
light in the scenes you see, even if you're not making photographs.
Bill Robb of this list impressed upon me the value of a spot meter,
and his comments motivated me to get one. I bought a Pentax
Spotmeter V and took it everywhere. I pointed it at trees, at
shadows, at faces, at the sky ... I measured everything and was
surprised at the results. For weeks I never took a picture, I just
used the Pentax meter, and since i already had an understanding of
the Zone System, what I was learning from the meter made sense.
Soon after that I got a completely manual, meterless camera, and it
took a few months of shooting almost every day to become completely
comfortable with it and the spot meter.
You will never learn if you keep falling back on your automatic
camera. You must allow yourself to make mistakes, and learn from
them.
Good luck ... and keep at it.
Cheers!
--
Shel Belinkoff
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"... there is no point in pressing the shutter
unless you are making some caustic comment
on the incongruities of life" - Phillip Jones Griffiths
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