That's interesting about shooting loads of frames, with slight angle
changes, of each subject. Depending on the subject, I might just get two
off, or a roll.
If it's something like a tree - my submission to this month's PUG - in
fact it was two frames. In retrospect I might have taken half a dozen
more, but I viewed the scene through the lens, moving constantly until I
was satisfied with what I was seeing, then bingo. Total time at tree: 30
seconds. To be honest, I love landscapes, but actually loathe taking
them: I should be sitting there on a little stool, medium format camera
on a tripod, waiting patiently for the subtle light changes to come and
go. In reality, I'm impatient and as soon as I see something, and I know
it's what I want, I'll grab it. Handheld. To hell with it. I'll get bored
waiting around - so if it isn't there, well, easy come easy go. Maybe
another time.
With portraits it's a little different. For my own use, a dozen shots of
a face, no problem. The face is constantly changing with all those
muscles creating the most amazing expressions, some so slight that it
isn't always possible to say why one shot looks better than another,
when, for all intents and purposes, they are identical. If it's a client
(part time portraits by word of mouth) I'll usually commit one roll per
subject, per situation. So if it's someone draped over a bannister (!)
then that's a roll, if she's then draped over a dining room table (!!!)
that's another roll. I know some use LOTS more than this, but personally
I see no point - in fact once I know I'm starting to repeat myself, I
stop. In fact once I know I'm starting to repeat myself, I stop.
I admire wildlife shooters the most - they catch the most beautiful
images, and what incredible patience to achieve those! Nature and
close-up stuff, again lovely, but I just couldn't bring myself to put the
camera on a tripod and hover over a flower with things like ringflash and
all that malarkey. I can just about manage the patience to get the 70-200
onto a monopod (ahh - quick release mech - bless it).
I know this lack of patience is probably ghastly to some, and years ago I
would probably have agreed. I know where it's come from, what's happened.
It's fifteen years of working in news. Everything has to be done very
quickly, right away. If we go to a car factory, say, to get some shots of
a new model production line or whatever, the PR people always say, 'shall
we wander around first and then you can decide what you want to film?' I
did this once, big mistake. Over the years I've accustomed myself to
shooting it as soon as I see it, and so wasting 20 minutes touring an
area that I will then have to come back and film means all the fabulous
things I'm seeing for the first time, all the impact of the scene loses
it's punch the second time around. I'd much rather go in tooled up and as
soon as I see something - bosh, the tripod goes down, the tv camera
slapped on, got it. (This is probably why I loathe tripods in stills -
nice to get away from them in my own time.)
Sorry this has turned out a bit long - but if it helps one person to
understand the way different people do things, then I'm happy. I always
say that the main rule is that there are no rules. (Other side slapping
sayings: Reply to hasty journalist who demands we must move quickly due
to impending deadline - "I only work at one speed: 'Excellent' " and
reply to 'How's it looking, everything okay?' : "Every frame a Rembrandt,
unless I've been on the beer the night before, in which case, every frame
a Picasso..."
;-)
Interesting thread, Sheldon. Cheers.
Cotty
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