On 13/3/20, Olga Iona Custer, discombobulated, unleashed: >Picture of Larry was more intentional. Picture of Kate was more >opportunistic - I just saw nice light on her face. Larry and I also >cropped him out of picture of Kate in postprocessing. I wondered at the >time if adding another person with a camera added to a story.
Hmmm. When I approach a photograph at the taking stage, sometimes I see 'the story' right away, sometimes I see the story about to happen, but sometimes I don't see the story at all. Taking the last category first (as I do tend to do things ass-backwards) not seeing 'the story' (or call it what you like) is not a bad thing. Sometimes I *think* I see something, and other times I think that maybe there is something there that I can't 'see' now, but might 'see' later. In any event, when later looking through the images, I'll know right away by seeing them on the screen in front of me. More in a moment about my selection process. Here's an example of a shot that I simply grabbed as I was walking and had no idea if it would work or not. Only when I saw it later, I realised I liked it and there was a story there: <http://www.seeingeye.tv/PESO/001.html> When 'sometimes I see the story about to happen' is when the elements of a would-be photo are taking shape, and about to happen, but haven't happened yet. A classic example would be that you've found a wonderful scenario in front of you but it just needs a little something 'extra' to make it work better. Say, you find some graffiti on a wall next to a walkway, so it might be better to wait for an added element (say, someone walking past) before you push the shutter button. But it might not. Pressing the sutter at the right time is 'the decisive moment'. Here's my humble offering: <http://www.seeingeye.tv/PESO/027.html> And seeing the story right away is the obvious one. You can see it happening in front of you, sometimes looking through the lens, sometimes not. Mostly not. What I would define as a 'good photographer' is being aware of what is going on around you, being aware of what is likely to happen, and being aware of what your own preferences are. The story you want to tell. Don't forget that a photograph isn't just a representation of what is going on in front of you and your camera, but a representation of your interpretation of the story that is going on in front of you and your camera. How you tell that story is how you select the lens, how you select the shutter speed and aperture, how you position yourself with the light - or indeed if you bring your own light. It's your blank canvas to tell that story, to convey that scene, to photographically describe what you see and later present it as part of your art. <http://www.seeingeye.tv/PESO/019.html> And finally, just a word on selection. If you take a LOT of pictures (I'm naming no names here!!) it can be daunting to look through endless thumbnails in search of that keeper. We all do it slightly differently. All I can tell you is how I do it. When I pop the memory card into my computer, I drag across the folder with the images in onto my desktop, and eject the card. Then I open the folder with the images and open the images in a basic frontline photo viewer, in my case, on a Mac and with 'Preview'. I then go through each image, one by one, and right away, if I don't see 'the story' then it's 'cmd' + 'del' instantly. Yes, I delete them into the trash there and then. Each pic, as I look at it, right away, if it doesn't hit me right away with a 'this pic definitely has something to it' or a 'hmm this pic might have something to it, maybe look again at it later', if none of those 2 criteria are met, it's trashed. This is because I feel comfortable looking at something and getting a gut reaction. That thins out the crowd by probably 50 percent or so. Later, I will look again at the rest, and from those I will reverse the trend and pic out those I like, those that stand out of the crowd and sing to me. But I won't delete the rest, they'll get saved in an archive. Who knows, I might change my idea of style, or look again at how I interpret a scene, or at the very least give me something to do in those years to come when I am less mobile and more likely to sit on my butt all day! I hope this gives you some insight into another way. There is no right and wrong way, there's only your way :-) But please, do keep posting images - that's what this group is all about. cheers -- Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ UK Shoot / Edit || (O) | <www.seeingeye.tv> ---------- _____________________________ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
