You're Using Your Camera Wrong...

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=175&v=ChKzHBLffho

The really sad part of this is I actually met a person who believed this process (or lack of it). I took a photography class at a university in the 1970s. I should have known better since it was through the art department. One of the art majors was so proud of the fact that she had NEVER looked through the viewfinder of her camera or even held it up to eye level. All photos were taken from the hip and just pointed in the general direction she wanted to shoot. To her credit she did set the focus using the hyperfocal distance and a high aperture so most shots were in focus. Exposure was a different story though.

 

[J-see]

It reminds me of the painters I met in the past that all were into abstract. Translated that means: I can not draw something even if my life depends upon it.

There's nothing wrong with doing your own thing but photography is a craft which requires some technical understanding.

Just messing around isn't art, it's messing around.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

My original mentor and instructor in Photography 35+ years ago favorite expression was "You must learn your craft before you can learn your art." I am a firm believer in that to this day. It is just like all the rules we have in photography today like the rule of thirds and the exposure triangle. So many people say they don't believe in rules and prefer to do their own thing. Breaking the rules is fine but you need to understand the rules first before you can break them correctly.

 

[RON_RIP]

My original mentor and instructor in Photography 35+ years ago favorite expression was "You must learn your craft before you can learn your art." I am a firm believer in that to this day. It is just like all the rules we have in photography today like the rule of thirds and the exposure triangle. So many people say they don't believe in rules and prefer to do their own thing. Breaking the rules is fine but you need to understand the rules first before you can break them correctly.

Your absolutely right Don. And this rule covers all crafts. I am a cabinetmaker and I had to learn not only the basics but advanced skills as well for any of my work to approach a plateau that could be considered artful. And every single day I practice my craft I am forced to master new skills and refine my old skills just to do a creditable job. I am sure that is true of potters, glass blowers etc. Any thing we set out to do we need to do as well as we possibly can. I am reminded of the Shaker chair makers who set out to build a chair as if an angel should come down from heaven tomorrow and need a place to sit. in our photography perhaps we should strive to be able to do justice to a portrait of an angel, should one ever call on us to do so.

 

[rocketman122]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=175&v=ChKzHBLffho

The really sad part of this is I actually met a person who believed this process (or lack of it). I took a photography class at a university in the 1970s. I should have known better since it was through the art department. One of the art majors was so proud of the fact that she had NEVER looked through the viewfinder of her camera or even held it up to eye level. All photos were taken from the hip and just pointed in the general direction she wanted to shoot. To her credit she did set the focus using the hyperfocal distance and a high aperture so most shots were in focus. Exposure was a different story though.

shooting from the hip is a technique not so much a photography rule. a dumb one but a technique.

I dont like chicks videos so much only because her videos are dumbed down. I didnt learn anything from the different videos she has and I saw quite a few. but I guess she aims her videos at newbies. but in photography there are certain rules you can bend (not break) and some you can change but thtere are clear rules you do and dont break.

one is body language direction. if the person body is facing left, you put him towards the right third of the frame. but in certain times its even nice when shooting a bride when shes facing left and shes at the left side of the frame. like this image by joe buissink



website with killer images here
???????? ??? ??????? (Joe Buissink)


1-rule of thirds is a must imo-specifically landscapes
2-horizon is straight in landscapes.

no way about it but these two are a must and any photographer breaking it for being different or creative is no photog in my mind.

in portraiture there are also clear rules you dont break imo.

for me specially, is the american shot where its cropped at the shins and the other is cutting the hand in a half body shot. the other is breaking the nose from the short side of the face. these are big nos in my book and paying attention to small details that tells me a photographers level and how he pays attention to small details.
[MENTION=31330]J-see[/MENTION] im happy you talk about technical understanding. I have worked with a few female photogs and none know anything about the technical side in photography. women have good eyes but dont know how to get the shot.

 

[rocketman122]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=175&v=ChKzHBLffho

The really sad part of this is I actually met a person who believed this process (or lack of it). I took a photography class at a university in the 1970s. I should have known better since it was through the art department. One of the art majors was so proud of the fact that she had NEVER looked through the viewfinder of her camera or even held it up to eye level. All photos were taken from the hip and just pointed in the general direction she wanted to shoot. To her credit she did set the focus using the hyperfocal distance and a high aperture so most shots were in focus. Exposure was a different story though.

shooting from the hip is a technique not so much a photography rule. a dumb one but a technique.

I dont like chicks videos so much only because her videos are dumbed down. I didnt learn anything from the different videos she has and I saw quite a few. but I guess she aims her videos at newbies. but in photography there are certain rules you can bend (not break) and some you can change but thtere are clear rules you do and dont break.

one is body language direction. if the person body is facing left, you put him towards the right third of the frame. but in certain times its even nice when shooting a bride when shes facing left and shes at the left side of the frame. like this image by joe buissink

View attachment 156176

website with killer images here
???????? ??? ??????? (Joe Buissink)


1-rule of thirds is a must imo-specifically landscapes
2-horizon is straight in landscapes.

no way about it but these two are a must and any photographer breaking it for being different or creative is no photog in my mind.

in portraiture there are also clear rules you dont break imo.

for me specially, is the american shot where its cropped at the shins and the other is cutting the hand in a half body shot. the other is breaking the nose from the short side of the face. these are big nos in my book and paying attention to small details that tells me a photographers level

[MENTION=31330]J-see[/MENTION] im happy you talk about technical understanding. I have worked with a few female photogs and none know anything about the technical side in photography. women have good eyes but dont know how to get the shot.

 

[Woodyg3]

I disagree, Rocketman. As far as landscapes, here's an Ansel Adams picture I like quite a bit that does not follow the rule of thirds at all:


View attachment 156201

And as far as women having technical knowledge of getting the shot, I think Annie Leibowitz has a pretty good grasp of the technical side of photography, and I don't think she's the only one.



View attachment 156209

 

[Rick M]

I think the above Ansel shot does follow the rule of thirds, at least my interpretation of it?

 

[Michael J.]

I disagree, Rocketman. As far as landscapes, here's an Ansel Adams picture I like quite a bit that does not follow the rule of thirds at all:

View attachment 156201

And as far as women having technical knowledge of getting the shot, I think Annie Leibowitz has a pretty good grasp of the technical side of photography, and I don't think she's the only one.

View attachment 156209

Now the photos vanished

 

[carguy]

If she didn't use the sex angle, she would have a bit less people following her

 

[Woodyg3]

I think the above Ansel shot does follow the rule of thirds, at least my interpretation of it?

The horizon is about a quarter of the way down from the top, and the central focal point is dead center long that horizon.

 

[Blacktop]

I'm happy to know that there was nothing wrong with my out of focus BIF shot. It was art.

 

[RON_RIP]

I'm happy to know that there was nothing wrong with my out of focus BIF shot. It was art.

Yes it was.

 

[Woodyg3]

I'm happy to know that there was nothing wrong with my out of focus BIF shot. It was art.

LOL, like Don, I had a photography "teacher" many years ago whose first assignment was to take a picture without looking through the viewfinder and guessing at focus. The critique sessions in that class provided me with a great deal of amusement. This "professor" also thought that more than about a half inch of mat around a photo was a "waste" and looked unprofessional.

 

[cbay]

I've shot from the hip on a lot of things in life, but not with a camera. I had to go back and do it right most of the time.

 

[Blacktop]

Yes it was.

I'm glad you understand. I was feeling out of focus all day, and I expressed my feelings through the art of photography.

 

[RocketCowboy]

I'm happy to know that there was nothing wrong with my out of focus BIF shot. It was art.

Like we say in music ... if you make a mistake, do it again and call it jazz. No one understands jazz. Or art.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

The video I posted was all tongue in cheek but the problem is that there are people out there like that.

 

[Woodyg3]

Like we say in music ... if you make a mistake, do it again and call it jazz. No one understands jazz. Or art.

Yep. I've changed a lot of Rock songs into "Jazz" tunes in my time. When I do it playing at church, it was divine intervention.

 

[RocketCowboy]

Yep. I've changed a lot of Rock songs into "Jazz" tunes in my time. When I do it playing at church, it was divine intervention.

Mine where at weddings ... that's the same, right?