Difference of Opinion - Many clicks vs. Few clicks

[Krs_2007]

This has been a fun read. The original "controversy" between my wife and I is more out of fun. When we went to the zoo I shot 139 shots to her 400. I told her she would have to take a week off just to get her through her photos.

The upside is she really enjoys herself. However, the REAL controversy in the house is her putting butterscotch chips in CHOCOLATE chip cookies. That is an unforgivable sin!

We are all waiting on samples.... I keep checking the mail, but nothing. I can't agree with the unforgivable sin till I have tried them.

 

[snaphappy]

I used to spray and pray a lot (refer to my forum name...) but now I usually am so focused on lining up focus point and adjusting my settings to remember to move off single shutter. I do use it when I try to capture birds (none here at the moment except rotten ravens and crows). Trying to get that perfect movement/moment and freeze it in time is sometimes impossible with single shutter and we can't rewind time. I've learned to shoot the non perfect moment and then wait patiently prepared for the right moment.

The reason I continued to learn and prepare better was because capturing those shots and getting it right is so much FUN! If it wasn't fun and exciting would we continue to push ourselves and learn I wouldn't. Delete is a simple thing and unlike film costs nothing. I think we learn more from bad shots than good shots anyways. This summer during storm season my hubby and I did some serious spray and pray as I tried to learn to capture lightning LOL Had no idea how to use slow shutter speeds so we tried to be quick enough on shutter to capture as it flashed LOL so many black shots to delete. But it got me researching to figure out how people actually do it and then we sprayed and prayed in very slow motion haha with slow shutters to try and capture the lightning and then I learned about bulb. Each time we capture that moment or almost capture that moment pushes us to learn and try harder so I think anyway you get the shot is correct.

Backdoorhippie I really enjoyed that link and I won't feel so bad now when I have a few photos to go through... Wow hauling that D4 and 600VR to get that shot must have been a hardship but one I'm certain I could overcome to have a try at it

Moab man if you don't like cookies make your own! My family always moan and groan when I try something different but magically they disappear and they disappear VERY quickly considering the moaning and groaning LOL

 

[Moab Man]

OMG not the Butterscotch vs Chocolate controversy!!!! I suggest you compromise and add both, double the pleasure and everyone get something they want. Now toilet paper roll...over or under?

You don't stand on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the ole Lone Ranger and you do NOTHING THAT ALAN SAID! Mix them?! You have got to be kidding? Is nothing sacred in life or chocolate chip cookies?!

We live with a divided cookie sheet. On one side we have real chocolate chip cookies and on the other we have something hideous that should have never seen the light of day let alone taste buds. Although none of this has to do with it being butterscotch. ANY chip that is not chocolate does not belong in a chocolate chip cookie.

 

[snaphappy]

Au contraire Moab man Soft gooey white chocolate (ok granted not really chocolate but then neither are choc chips) macadamia nut cookies mmm so yummy

 

[RON_RIP]

Oh, Moab man, I am not even going to tell you about my cookies made with chunks or real Belgian chocolate. It would probably just depress you.

 

[Moab Man]

Oh, Moab man, I am not even going to tell you about my cookies made with chunks or real Belgian chocolate. It would probably just depress you.

I can go out on a limb all wild and crazy... so long as the Belgian chocolate is chocolate then you're all good. I will even go so far as to accept chocolate chunks so long as it is chocolate. I know, pretty crazy to go that far out on a limb, but I am a very accepting kind of guy.

 

[RON_RIP]

You are indeed gentleman and a scholar and show much good taste in your choice of cookies

 

[Bob Blaylock]

So I have a question for everyone, Is it better to take a whole lot of shots for that off chance that you might caught that spectacular image or do you set up the shot so it is absolutely perfect than take your photo?

My opinion is that you can be a rapid clicker and sometimes you end up with miraculous shots. However, Moab man, who has been doing longer than me says that a true photographer waits for the perfect shot.

There probably isn't one answer that is always right.

Surely there are some times when you'll get the best picture with a fair amount of planning, setting up, and waiting for just the right moment to take the shot.

Just as equally surely, I think, there will be some shots that you will best get by simply taking large numbers of shots very rapidly, and picking the best shot out of those later.

This is certainly something that has changed greatly with modern technology.

A century ago, working with wet plates and huge view-type cameras, our forbears had no choice but to put a great deal of thought and planning into every photograph that they took. It took several minutes, at least, to set the camera up to take a picture, perhaps a few minutes of actual exposure time, and then several more minutes to prepare the camera for another shot; not to mention the time and expense for the chemicals, materials, and processing.

Today, we have DSLRs that can easily take several shots in a second. It costs us nothing to take large numbers of pictures. No reason not to take advantage of this.


The scene at the following link is NSFW, but it seems to make a point that is very relevant here. Follow this link at your own discretion:

Suan Sarandon, topless, in Pretty Baby — I already warned you that it's NSFW

Perhaps somewhere out there, there is a more G-rated scene that makes this point as well, but this is the one I knew to look for.

A fictional depiction of an early-20th-century photographer taking a picture of a prostitute. What stands out to me about this scene is that in the entire scene, the photographer takes only one photograph, at the end of the scene, after several minutes of fussing around and setting things up. A modern photographer, with a modern camera, put into this same scene, would surely have taken dozens of photographs, including some that would be much better than the photograph that was finally taken.

 

[RON_RIP]

I gotta tell you Bob that agree 100% with Moab man. I have tried it both ways and the only photos that I am proud of were achieved only after long deliberation and careful planing. Even then Murphy's law will sometime intervene. But in the long haul I will carefully set up my shot and patiently wait for the right moment. Besides that leaves a lot less files to process.

 

[Alan]

you don't stand on superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the ole lone ranger and you do nothing that alan said! Mix them?! You have got to be kidding? Is nothing sacred in life or chocolate chip cookies?!

We live with a divided cookie sheet. On one side we have real chocolate chip cookies and on the other we have something hideous that should have seen the light of day let alone taste buds. Although none of this has to do with it being butterscotch. Any chip that is not chocolate does not belong in a chocolate chip cookie.

lol.

 

[john*thomas]

For me if I have to think about it too much it's no fun. Now I understand that someone who takes pictures for a living will have different needs.

I simply like grabbing the camera and going for a walk (Which is why I've taken very few lately, it's too cold). If I see something I like....click, maybe click, click, click. When I get back and see something maybe a little off, I'll try again on the next walk. My wife goes with me some times for the exercise and if I dither around too long she gets bored.

 

[iamntxhunter]

I am going to answer this question setting limits around the amount of control one can have of any situation - so this would apply to situations where you are shooting wild life, sports, and news events or street situations where you have no real control over your subject, just some level of control over your relationship to the subject. (If you can control the room then one shot should be enough)

Off the top, I need to say that there is (can be) a huge difference between "spraying and praying" and firing off a 3 second volley at 6 fps, though it's not always apparent to anyone but the photographer. To know the difference you have to pay attention to everything they did in the minutes/hours before the shutter was pressed. I shoot a lot of wild life, and birds primarily. When I get to a new location that I've never shot at before, I do my best to assess 1) where the birds will be coming from, 2) where they might be landing (if anywhere), and 3) where the sun is, and then do my best to stick myself as close as I can to somewhere between locations 1 & 2 and location 3. After that, it's prep time, setting the camera the way I want it (mode, ISO, (min) shutter speed, focus and metering mode), having the right lens on, deciding if a monopod is appropriate, and waiting. For birds in flight, it's scanning the potential flight path, camera in hand, and firing a volley when something finally shows. Yes, spraying and praying - but with the prep work I've stacked the deck and am more likely to get an answered prayer, because I'm getting a bird that's flying towards me, in good light, and that might possibly land with wings fully extended and feathers displayed, captured at a shutter speed that won't blur them.

Now, when the subject is a little more stationary, there will be fewer volleys, but the prep work remains the same. Knowing where to be is again just as critical. This is where knowing your subject comes into play. In a concert setting, knowing how and when one musician reacts to another will allow you to grab the great "guitar face" photo, or that smile on a lean in, instead of just a shot of a couple blokes with guitars. In a news setting, knowing that a real long lens from that empty corner over there will allow you get the shot of the politician getting out of the car rather candidly before they approach the mob of photographers positioned near the building entrance. For animals perched in a tree, knowing the slight movements that signal a stretch of their wings or a jump from a branch will aid you in getting the moment of jumping and not just something falling thru the air. But in every case, you're damn straight I'm in continuous mode and will squeeze out more than one shot.

For me, this type of study has come at the cost of a lot of wasted shutter clicks and wondering why I keep only 3% of shots from 2 hours walking around a reservoir. Truth is, a lot of the waste is knowing when not to bother raising the camera because you've already missed it, so just watch and file the moment away so you don't miss it next time.

X2

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