Old Timers vs New Timers

[Reed]

Please don't this as a criticism. What you do is what you do.

I've been using SLRs for almost 40 years (am I really that old?). For 37 of those years every photo I took cost me money so I was very careful when taking the shots. Now with "free" digital, it seems like some shooters use the "tackle everyone in backfield and throw each out until you find the one with the ball" approach.

Years ago I worked on office equipment and one of my accounts was NatGeo. I remember walking into the photo editors office and seeing 20 - 25 boxes of 36 slides (remember those) from a months long assignment and drooling. Now I see where people are doing that on a one day wedding shoot.

So, I'm curious, do the old timers still take the care with each shot or have you gone to the "backfield" approach. I have 8gb cards and I haven't come close to filling one. If I take a shot and end up deleting it, I am disappointed with myself.

[Phoenix_Jackson]

Originally Posted by Reed

...If I take a shot and end up deleting it, I am disappointed with myself.

I don't know about the old timers. But a number (if not a lot) of us beginners feel the same way about shutter speeds. In a flickr group where I belong, almost all of us were victims of the "you get great pictures if you get an SLR" notion. But despite realizing it's not that simple, "a shutter click from an SLR should provide great images" is still embedded in our thoughts. Though this time, we know it's more about skills.

It gets worse with some in the group where they think PPing is cheating. So it adds more pressure to them where they'll really have to think a lot before clicking.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by Reed

So, I'm curious, do the old timers still take the care with each shot or have you gone to the "backfield" approach. I have 8gb cards and I haven't come close to filling one. If I take a shot and end up deleting it, I am disappointed with myself.

I think I see a problem in the above bolded part of your post. You assume that none of the newer photogs are selective shooters so I think your differentiating between old-timers and newbies (my word, not yours) is faulty to begin with.

I was a shoot them all and sort it out later type in the beginning and now I find I shoot very little. I think it's a mentality thing rather than a technology thing. If your goal is to always and only try to get the very best shot you're going to spend more time and be selective in your shooting.

Having said all that, I'm still sure I'm shooting more digitally than I would have analog. But I think it's for a positive reason. With digital I feel more free to experiment and try new things instead of making sure I 'got it' using what I know. I find that many 'old timers' feel freed up because they feel less pressure to get it right with the limited resources and are open to try new things and experiment.

My response is not a criticism, but more to highlight how I think your question is predisposed to presume certain things that might not (or might) be the case.

As a last point, I have a very good friend who used to be "film only" hardcore (I call it narrowminded ) who now shoots many more frames digitally per outing than I do. Easily.

[Woody]

I have to agree with Al.

I've received my first camera when I was thirteen in 1959, I was fortunate that my dad worked for Ilford and we got a lot of freebies, film, paper, hypo etc.
Even with that I was very frugal with my shots. A twenty four roll of ASA 400 would last over a week. Now I'm a gulper, I take photos of everything and everyone. I never delete in camera and I shoot raw, so I take a lot of large photos.

If I could just click away with my original old Yashika and not be concerned with the costs nor outcomes and get instant feedback, then I would have done so.

I can do that now, so why not. I still compose, focus and plan my shots but I err on the side of the bulk is better theory.

Cheers,

John W

[RLucas]

I am still real bad to be frugal with the number of shots I take. It's kind of a throwback for me as well. I am getting better about it, and trying to experiment more, but it doesn't mean I think about the shot less.

[sk66]

I tend to take not enough shots. Particularly with fast action scenes.
I think "too much" about it being a "good picture"......but I hate sorting thru a ton of crappy images.

So, no. I'm not of the "Spray and Pray" school.

[kirbinster]

Well back 40 years ago I had a B&W darkroom and processed all my own stuff. I was just a kid and this stuff was expensive and time consuming, so I did not shoot that much. I was always envious of the pro photographers you saw on model shoots with their power winders that just went click click click and sounded like a machine gun when they took pictures. If only! I always felt like a cash register was ringing each time I pushed the shutter button. So, today I take many many more shots, as there is almost no cost associated with taking the picture. Sure when I import into lightroom I throw many away - but there is no cost. Many times I will take a portrait and a landscape image of the same item and decide later which I like better. Why not shoot more if there is little cost and you may likely end up with some really great shots by doing this.

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by Reed

I have 8gb cards and I haven't come close to filling one. If I take a shot and end up deleting it, I am disappointed with myself.

I'm asking this in good faith: have you considered the possibility that your work will improve if you allow yourself to play and experiment more?

[Biomech]

I'm not an old timer, but when shooting important things I do go nuts, but I'd say I was using a feature of the camera rather than spray and pray. I still try and think about the shot.

[Quo Fan]

There are times when I shoot a lot of pictures, and there are times when I shoot only 1 or 2. If I'm shooting a group photo, I'll fire off 3,4 or even 5, because the first one or 2, people are blinking, or kids are moving around and not smiling. By the 4th or 5th shot, everybody has settled down and smiles are there and all eyes are open.

Shooting landscapes, I stand and study, and compose, and fiddle with the camera to get everything the way I want it, then take one shot, or shoot the bracket for the HDR I'm planning.