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I don't agree with you because great photographers can also create nice pictures with a cheap camera. But: I also agree with you that when you want to go a ste

by pasta 8y ago

I don't agree with you because great photographers can also create nice pictures with a cheap camera. But: I also agree with you that when you want to go a step further you can use things like exposure to express your feelings even more.

colanderman 8y ago
But I'm not giving advice to "great photographers", I'm giving advice to beginners. It's kind of like saying, "a virtuoso can make beautiful music with an out-of-tune guitar". That's very true, but beginners should still tune their guitars. Feelings don't matter if you can't see the subject because your point and shoot exposed for the bright background. That's frustrating and gets in the way of producing a shot you're proud of (e.g. by using the framing techniques you suggest).
- pasta 8y ago
  Yeah but a perfect exposed picture with a bad composition is still a bad picture. I think most cameras today create great picture quality in auto mode. Lime a guitar with autotune. But a perfectly tuned guitar can still be played bad. So I think there are 2 simple rules that will give you a nice simple song: rule of thirds and space to look.
  - colanderman 8y ago
    I disagree. While white balance, focus, and even flash control have improved to the point that beginners can safely ignore them to focus on composition, in my experience exposure compensation has lagged behind. Take SnapChat for example. It's a great gateway into photography, because it's fun and accessible. But god forbid you ever pose a subject against a white background. You're just looking at a grey mess with a dark blob in front of it. At least the camera app on my Motorola sprouted a compensation dial a couple years back. That made me very happy, and comfortable enough just to carry my phone around for casual photography. To mirror your reply, a perfectly composed picture where the subject is just a black blob against a generic blue sky exposed to middle grey is still a bad picture. I'm not disagreeing with your advice; but I don't think it's either-or.

by pasta 8y ago

colanderman 8y ago

But I'm not giving advice to "great photographers", I'm giving advice to beginners. It's kind of like saying, "a virtuoso can make beautiful music with an out-of-tune guitar". That's very true, but beginners should still tune their guitars. Feelings don't matter if you can't see the subject because your point and shoot exposed for the bright background. That's frustrating and gets in the way of producing a shot you're proud of (e.g. by using the framing techniques you suggest).

pasta 8y ago
Yeah but a perfect exposed picture with a bad composition is still a bad picture. I think most cameras today create great picture quality in auto mode. Lime a guitar with autotune. But a perfectly tuned guitar can still be played bad. So I think there are 2 simple rules that will give you a nice simple song: rule of thirds and space to look.
- colanderman 8y ago
  I disagree. While white balance, focus, and even flash control have improved to the point that beginners can safely ignore them to focus on composition, in my experience exposure compensation has lagged behind. Take SnapChat for example. It's a great gateway into photography, because it's fun and accessible. But god forbid you ever pose a subject against a white background. You're just looking at a grey mess with a dark blob in front of it. At least the camera app on my Motorola sprouted a compensation dial a couple years back. That made me very happy, and comfortable enough just to carry my phone around for casual photography. To mirror your reply, a perfectly composed picture where the subject is just a black blob against a generic blue sky exposed to middle grey is still a bad picture. I'm not disagreeing with your advice; but I don't think it's either-or.