Digital Photography Questions with a Pro Photographer
I was chatting with a Pro photographer recently at a party and as is usual when I meet someone who makes their living from photography I pumped him with questions for a good half hour. I did so for two reasons:
- firstly I learn a lot when I do it
- secondly I thought it might be an interesting learning experience for the DPS community. I obtained his permission of course.
The results of his conversation were quite insightful - so over this week I thought I’d share a number of his answers to my questions as a mini-series. I tried to keep things to a beginner to intermediate level.
By the way - this photographer works mainly in portrait photography - but majors in kids with a few weddings. He does mainly on location work (ie very little studio work).
I’ll start off with a pretty quick and simple one.
What mode do you mainly shoot in?
Do you want the ‘I’m a Pro Photographer’ answer or the ‘Real’ answer?
The ‘I’m a Pro’ answer is that I never leave full Manual Mode but the real one is that I generally live largely in Program Mode (P) and Aperture priority Mode (A).
I tend to use Program Mode when I’m doing spontaneous photography. For example if I’m out and about taking candid shots or am photographing kids where they’re running around I ‘cheat’ and switch to ‘P’, choose my ISO and start shooting.
If I have more time and my scene isn’t changing I’ll generally switch to Aperture Priority mode and shoot from there. I use Aperture Priority largely because I’m big on controlling depth of field and find it can make or break a shot.
Read more on the different modes on your digital camera and aperture and shutter priority modes.
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November 14th, 2006 at 5:26 am
Hi… i am working on a project at school and i need to ask ou a question… how long do photographers have to go to school??
lauren
November 17th, 2006 at 7:09 am
Thanks for the truthful insights from your professional potographer..made me smile because that’s the way I have always taken my photos (for the same reasons).
I bet more professionals do the same than are willing to admit it. It is common sense!
PS(I am new, creeping up to intermediate, in photography)
November 17th, 2006 at 7:11 am
There are basically two types of schools, technical or college. My is a medical photographer. He has a four year B.A. degree from Rhode Island School of Design. When he graduated, about 30 years ago, only about 5% of the photographers had a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Photography. Incidently, he was hired six months before he graduated. He was hired over a large number of applicants from the Kodak school in Rochester, N.Y., a technical school, but was very good and respected at that time. I understand UCLA has a good variety of photography courses. Its close to the movie industry.
November 17th, 2006 at 7:38 am
I appreciate the honesty. Good pictures of often fleeting and the photographer doesn’t have time to fiddle with settings. I never bought into the idea that photographers shot full manual all the time. Perhaps they did once upon a time, but that was before sophistication took much of the load off the shooter. Hey, if we want to make things more complicated, let’s go back to licking flash bulbs.
November 17th, 2006 at 9:50 am
With the new cameras, i.e. Canon EOS digitlas, it’ easy to adjust for aperture or shutter speed from within Program mode. You get the best of both worlds! If shutte speed or DOF don’t matter you can shoot without changing the automatic settings.
November 17th, 2006 at 11:26 am
Sorry for my ignorance but why on earth would anyone ever have felt the need to lick a flash bulb?
November 17th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
Back in the days of 35mm photography and hand held light meters I would set my camera on 1/125 and whatever aperture setting I got from reading light on an 18% greyscale card. I would then set my (usually wide angle) lens so that the depth of field scale on the lens ring focussed on infinity at one end and noted the distance on the other end. This way, if I needed to grab a spontaneous shot I would have a pretty good chance of getting an acceptable shot. Nowadays I still tend to do the same thing with my digital camera, but it’s nice to be able to flick to Aperture Priority and really set up a shot.
November 17th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
Why, Fred, don’t you just rely on the autofocus? I find it really fast - so fast that my 5D will take sharp pictures of birds in flight.
November 18th, 2006 at 4:55 am
Dear Andrew: As I never feel an honest question is silly, I’ll overcome the temptation to say ‘because they tasted good’ and tell you that: in the days before built-in flash you bought flash bulbs along with your film. By licking them, you were wetting the connection, thereby insuring a better one. You wasted fewer bulbs and got better flash.
And to Lauren: You attend classes as long as you think you are learning something, but hopefully you never stop… taking classes and learning. A really good professional is always learning and sharing. And a really good student can learn something in almost every situation. We never know it all!! Good luck!
November 19th, 2006 at 9:09 am
For Lauren: You might want to give BetterPhoto.com a look. Great 4 and 8 week courses, professional photographers as instructors, many are famous, gentle critiques and a lot of learning not to mention fun.
November 21st, 2006 at 7:36 am
Philip, if I had a 5D I would probably be able to take sharp pictures of birds in flight too!
Seriously, setting my camera that way is partly force of habit (it should be set to SOMETHING) and partly because I often, particularly when taking candid shots, don’t even look through the viewfinder and simply point the camera in the general direction of my subject. Nothing can spoil the spontaniety of a moment quicker than seeing someone actually aiming a camera at you - it turns a natural shot into a posed one. Under those circumstances the autofocus sensors are likely to focus on the wrong part of the picture.
December 5th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
I shoot in the “P” mode for the most part, but I keep the “A” setting af f8, and the “S” setting at 1/500. Therefore with a minimum of fuss, I can move quickly from one to the other depending upon the need for DOF or stop action.
November 11th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
I have a question hopefully someone can answer me. I was wondering if you could explain the theory behind why the foreground, of a picture I took blackened out. It wasnt as dark outside as the photo would suggest. Some of the other photos I took form the same spot , at the exact same time turned out totally different. I think the affect that was achieved was amazing. Unfortunately I’m a very analytical thinker and need to know why? lol I am thinking it has to do with the shutter speed but am unsure.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:49 am
I am trying to take pictures of my daughter running track. I have been using the auto running mode but when it starts to get dark the quality of my pictures change as well. If I was to use one of the manual modes what would be the best setting to get quality pictues?
Thank You
April 4th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Hi! I am a new photographer just starting out. I love to outdoor portraits due to the fact that indoor lighting scares me. I am recentally starting to get asked to do indoor family portraits…My question is…Is there any good setting for indoor shooting? I currently own a Canon 30D and also own a 430 flash. I seem to never get the lighting right! Therefore it makes a crapy portrait. Help!