Reply To: Jasmine Star "borrowing" copy

[cameraclicker]

I think this is interesting:

Ms. Star’s blog says:

A nice trick I use is to compose the shot with my subject blocking the sun, adjusting my settings, then quickly sidestep or shift my camera to recompose the photo.

Mr. O’Donnell’s blog says:

A huge concern with photographing into the sun is the damage and strain it can cause to your eyes — you definitely shouldn’t spend an extended amount of time composing your shot with the sun in your viewfinder without some kind of protection.

A good way to get those stunning backlit portraits is to compose your shot with your subject blocking the sun — once you’ve got your settings down, sidestep quickly and take a few shots.

I definitely prefer Mr. O’Donnell’s paragraphs because he tells you why he is recommending the action.  I don’t particularly care for the advice, but his reason for giving it is valid.  The stopstealingphotos.tumbler.com blog says the original article came out in 2011.  My Rebel is older than that, and it has Live View.  Besides shooting with the camera on the ground, or held over your head, shooting into the sun is a great application for Live View (don’t know what Nikon calls it, but I bet they have a similar function that lets you flip the mirror and view the scene on the rear screen).  Live View shows you what your photo is going to look like and you don’t have your lens funnelling the energy from our big ball of fire into your shooting eye.  I don’t use Live View very often because it runs your battery down much faster than using an optical viewfinder, but there are times when it is the best way.   Other parts of the blogs are talking about multiple test shots in auto mode and noting the settings, then reworking the shot using manual mode and a large aperture, this is another place Live View could be used to dial in the desired settings and see the result immediately, before the shutter release is depressed.

 

She doesn’t seem to mention it, he suggests using an ND filter to get the shutter speed below 1/8000th!  Nice, but my Rebel only goes to 1/4000th!  Makes you wonder who they are writing for!

 

They are both talking about f/22 for landscape shots to maximize DOF.   In Mr. Donnell’s piece there is a sample photo which looks like it is taken with a longer focal length and has another camera in the foreground only a few feet from the camera taking the photo.  There is no useful explanation of what is going on, or that if you removed the camera being photographed an aperture of f/5.6 would suffice.  Ms. Star’s discussion does not have the photo and depending on the focal length, her description of trees in the foreground and a log cabin on a cliff in the distance could be done with f/4!

Before, I said I didn’t see anything that was a surprise.  I have to take that back!  In her blog, she says:

When shooting a single person, I prefer shooting wide open … but when I first started, someone suggested a simple rule of thumb:  if you’re shooting more than one person, make sure your aperture is at least the same numbers there are people in the photo.

Well, that’s some rule of thumb!  Most of my lenses only stop down to f/22, one only stops down to f/16!  My macro lens stops down to f/32.  What do you do when shooting a wedding with 50, or 100, or 150 people?  I have never heard that rule before, and think it is not too helpful.

 

Most books and blogs have been covering the same stuff for a long time.  I think the authors must be paid by the word.  They fill everything out with lots of nice prose, but seldom provide complete details and a good understanding of what and why.  There is definitely evidence that Ms. Star copied ideas and some text from Mr. O’Donnell’s blog.  It’s also clear she has added some text of her own.  As most of what I have read has been covered by many previous authors, I’m still not sure there is anything to get excited about in the “She copied someone else’s blogs” allegation.