light work


workmen, originally uploaded by Pin Shy Avenue.

The trouble is with digital, you get lazy and, unconsciously perhaps, expect the technology to do the work.

I'm trying to get back to basics, ready for using more film when, inshallah, I get my hands on my Russian rangefinder. So I've started to regard the D50 more as a learning tool. Actually, the flexibility of digital, the fact that it records all of your settings, is great for that.

This photo is a good example of a good photo spoilt by not thinking carefully about the light. (Actually, I did think about it, but I could hardly haul these blokes 50 yards away to where it was better).

Light, light, light. In photography, everything comes second to it.

Maybe that's the difference between a snapshot and a photograph, and why people throw "snapshot" around as an insult on Flickr. A photograph needs to be thought about. And the thing you most need to think about is of course the light: especially in the scarce light of a night-time street, or, as here, the unforgiving near-overhead light of a North African midday.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSun Apr 27, 10:49:00 pm BST

    Hi Garry - I may be teaching my granny how to suck eggs here and forgive me if I am, but a lot of detail in the shadows can be recovered with the Image/Adjustments/Shadow/Highlight function in CS3.

    I just tried it out of interest on this shot and even at the default values it does 'rescue' the shot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Garry NixonMon Apr 28, 05:14:00 am BST

    Hey Al, thanks. I didn't know about that - what I don't know about Photoshop could fill a book. That's really useful, ta.

    Your granny sends her love, and says: have you got any more eggs for her to suck?

    ReplyDelete

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