Shel Belinkoff wrote:
> That's the thing ... I don't feel I'm using any technique.
[...]
> I just put the camera on automatic, point it at the subject and bracket
> a bit on either side of the meter reading, and that's it.
[...]
> IOW, it's like putting the plane on autopilot, or driving down a long,
> straight highway with the car on cruise control. My input is minimal.
Shel, I really hope you don't treat your cruise control like an
autopilot, and I'm pretty darned sure you're not using your camera
as though it were on autopilot.
Sure, you're not thinking as much about speed, but you're still
deciding where to point it and making sure it stays pointed that
direction and travelling on the right side of the double yellow
line.
You may not be thinking about exposure in the detailed way you're
used to doing, but you still have to choose your subject, and
where to stand, and how far to zoom if you're using a zoom, and
all that other composition stuff. That's not technique? That's
not your input? That doesn't involve your skill? Without that,
all those perfect-exposure skills you're not using at the moment
would be worthless anyhow.
I'd be shocked if it turned out that getting the exposure right
was your only skill and everything else was just from luck so far.
Actually, I wouldn't waste time feeling shocked -- I'd simply
fail to believe it.
(BTW, one of the bits I elided above:
> I'm shooting
> some close up stuff, which is not what I usually shoot.
may also be a big part of the reason you don't feel as "involved".
you're not getting as much artistic leeway in the "where to stand"
part of the equation.)
I'll agree that for many of us, fiddling with all the fiddly bits
is part of the pleasure -- driving isn't *just* about getting from
Baltimore to Boston, it's _also_ about enjoying interacting with
the machine and feeling like I'm "doing" something ... cruise
control is a good thing for helping me arrive less fatigued, but
thrilling it is not.
I still have to know when it's apropriate to use the cruise
control and when not to; be alert enought to notice when the
long, straight highway finally reaches a curve, or when I'm
approaching another car; and have some idea where the Hell I
wanted to go in the first place. Yeah, it's not as much of
a test of my driving skills as trying to find that perfect
line through a corner on a back road in West Virginia, or
working the gas & clutch just right to get up to highway speed
quickly but in a way that still feels really smooth to my
passengers, but it's still _driving_, not taking the bus.
When I use an A lens and the AF280T on the Super Program loaded
with C41, I can trust the cruise control ... uh, I mean the
autoexposure and TTL flash ... to keep the right amount of light
hitting the film, but I still have to know when that's going to
fail -- when to use the exposure compensation dial or frob in
a bit of fill flash -- as well as where to point the darned
thing and when to press the shutter button. There may not be
as much "I'm in control of all the details" thrill as there is
with the vintage roadster with the great suspension, manual
transmission, no modern conveniences, but a great feel and
responsiveness ... uh, I mean the Pentax H3 ... but they're
still _my_ photos, not "the camera's photos".
Yeah, the way you're using colour film is _different_ from
the way you've been using BW film (and you've got every right
to not _like_ one as much as the other), but you're still
holding the steering wheel and reading the roadmaps, not taking
the bus.
-- Glenn
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