Beyond Phototips

Three weeks ago, my MacBook Pro crashed. It had seen a year of good service, and because it was my first ever Mac, I’d just about set it up to workexactly the way I wanted it to; and it crashed. The Apple service provider in my city said that the logic board had died, and they would fix it in a jiffy. The “Jiffy” turned into a 3 week ordeal that I will not describe here, but the Mac is back, and Oh! What a joy it is to have it back.

Photo: Mitra Mirshahidi

Now, this is not a Mac Vs. PC thing. What I’m trying to push here is customisation and familiarity of your equipment and how that affects the ways in which you use it.

You see, in those three weeks, I had to go back to my PC, running windows; a computer that I’d not used much in the last year, except to play a game or two. Now, I was forced to re-set it to work the way I wanted it to. And it was a pain. The pain of re-familiarisation and customisation.

Almost everyone has faced a similar issue some time. So, now pause to consider this from the perspective of your camera usage. 

Do you shoot in Manual exposure mode? Do you have a favourite lens? and on that lens, do you have a favourite aperture that you move to more naturally than others? Yes? I know that I do.

I have a favourite aperture: f/2.8 and focal-length: 24mm (so far). I have a favourite lens: the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L which suits that preference (and it may have had a serious influence on me towards forming that preference). And I shoot most often with aperture priority though I do shift to manual exposure when things get rough.

I guess what I’m saying is…

It pays to know your equipment

1. It pays to know where your equipment is good, and where it’s not so good. 
2. It pays to know what you like best from it, and how to set it up to get what you want withough much thought.
3. It pays to try out all the settings on your camera. You’ll discover features and capabilities that you never knew existed.
4. It pays to read the manual so that you know the heart of your camera just as well as you know it’s body.
5. It pays to buy equipment that you’ll love and use frequently. Don’t buy it because it was available at a great price. Buy it because you’ll love using it.
6. It pays to work out how to best set up your equipment. Do you prefer a tripod, or a monopod, or even a bean-bag…? Try them all out, and choose the one (or ones) that suit you best.
7. It pays to be open minded… and that’s the biggest one of all.

Photo:Vincent Boiteau

Black & White photography is obsolete. It is antequated, and exists for no reason at all, save our desire to see the world as we can’t see it. In Black & White.

Of course, history has it’s reasons why Black & White photography had to come first. Even when Colour Photography was first invented, there was good reason why photographs were still taken with Black & White film… It was cheaper.

Photo: Pete Carr

But it’s not the same today… Today there’s no cost involved in choosing between Black & White, and Colour Photography. So why then, in this day and age, when our photographs are taken in 36 or 48 bit colour, almost by default, why do we still have a desire to see the world in simple Black & White?

Could it be that Black and White Photography is Timeless? Or maybe it reminds you of a time gone by, in which everything was perfect? or is it just our desire to see things as they are not… as they never will be?

Do you have an answer? or something more than an answer?

Yes? Please, do share it with us…

Edit: Genaro responded with this post on his blog.

Photo By:Bruna MirandaYesterday, I upgraded and I downgraded. I upgraded from a standard Free Flickr Account to a Pro Account, and I downgraded from my Canon 5D with L series lenses (stats) to my old Konica-Minolta Dimage A2 (stats) dSLR-like camera. So what’s the deal?

I’d found that I was restricting the images that I posted on Flickr to a great degree. Now, while that is a good thing to do, and while it does give you the compulsion to show off only your best work, it also makes me restrict my images to under 200 in total and I’ve not been posting much because of that. Now that I’ve jumped in the pool (with a measly $25), I’m going to have to post photographs more frequently, and of course, keep increasingly my image quality.

I did say “Increasing My Image Quality” just now, didn’t I? So why am I downgrading my camera? It seems illogical even to me. However, I do believe in this little post I made some time ago entitled “Its the photographer, not the gear” Where I boldly stated that a better camera does not equal a better photograph.

I’m going to put that statement (and my photography skills) to the test. In the next few months I’m going to re-explore my photography and put up photographs taken for the most part on my trusty Konica Minolta Dimage A2 (even though I have some brilliant Film Cameras and two Canon 5D bodies at home).

Why?

Its going to be an exercise in seeing differently. True, seeing things on a dimly lit LCD based viewfinder system, but its a restriction that I want to work with. It means that I wont be able to see the picture I’m taking properly in broad daylight (the LCD sucks in daylight, so I’ll have to use its measly LCD based viewfinder). It means I wont be able to change my lenses much. But again, why all the pain? Afterall, a Canon 450D or even a Canon 40D is quite affordable.

Here’s why

My work over the last few months has undergone a dramatic change. From mostly taking photographs alongside my Dad, I’ve moved to making websites.

Why would anyone choose websites over taking photographs? Because its a new challenge for me, and one that I’ve been wanting to explore for years!

Well, its resulted in me sitting in office and slouching over my computer for days on end. Its taken a toll on me (and by extension, this blog). I’ve not been seeing much of the outside world :-P.

I’m still going to be huddled over the computer for a great portion of my day, but I’ve decided that at least a part of it is going to be dedicated to photography and the outdoors.

What can you expect?

Well, I think you can expect me to be thinking of photography a bit more in the months to come. Hopefully, I’ll also be able to get down to posting my thoughts about photography and some of the new insight I gain in making the shift from Pro photography, to lay photography (strange deal, dont you think).

I hope you’ll stay with me through this odd journey to share my strange world.

You’re welcome to check out my Photographs before the deal on flickr.

If you come by later on, here are my most recent photographs on flickr.