my method
Several people have asked me recently "how do you get pictures like that?" or "What lens do you use?" or the like. I usually answer in my most serious voice: "Magic."
The truth is, I have a certain technique that I use that I've developed over the years (almost ten years doing photography, now). I've spent a lot of time studying light. I've read every book of technique I could get my hands on. But the true technique is not found in a book; it is what happens when everything action is completely unpremeditated; there is no camera, there is no lens, no thoughts of exposure or aperture; there is only the picture.
Of course, to achieve this Zen state, there's a lot of practice and fumbling and mistakes. The best photographers are humble, generous sorts, because everyone has, at least once, dropped some piece of equipment worth more than their car. I'm kind of a klutz. I dropped a lens last saturday (and no, that won't date this little essay, because I do stupid shit often and still make good pictures). It is always looking through the viewfinder. I forget everything else in the whole world.
To get there is a matter of a lot of practice. I used to shoot with an all manual leica, and it was the simplest most perfect camera ever. If I could just stick a sensor behind that thing that would spit out raw files, I would be obscenely happy. Leica, unfortunately f'ed up their digital camera so bad I found it almost unusable. I really have to be digital for two reasons: Time and money.
So, that out of the way, there are some technical things that I do differently, at least somewhat. I always shoot with a fairly large aperture and high ISO. I own three different 50mm f/1.2 lenses, for different cameras (I have owned in the past a total of nine or ten lenses in 50mm focal length, not counting zooms or lenses in the similar 40mm length). I used to always meter with an incident light meter, set a manual exposure, and roll through a scene; now I use aperture priority because my camera has a meter inside. It works most of the time.
I use manual focus a lot; enough that I have a dedicated manual lens. with af there is a tendency to not move the camera around; the focus points are where some designgeneer put them, and not where you want them.
I can't say much more that I do, really; I play around a lot with composition and angle. Find interesting things to photograph. People are the most interesting to me. All of them. that's all.
The truth is, I have a certain technique that I use that I've developed over the years (almost ten years doing photography, now). I've spent a lot of time studying light. I've read every book of technique I could get my hands on. But the true technique is not found in a book; it is what happens when everything action is completely unpremeditated; there is no camera, there is no lens, no thoughts of exposure or aperture; there is only the picture.
Of course, to achieve this Zen state, there's a lot of practice and fumbling and mistakes. The best photographers are humble, generous sorts, because everyone has, at least once, dropped some piece of equipment worth more than their car. I'm kind of a klutz. I dropped a lens last saturday (and no, that won't date this little essay, because I do stupid shit often and still make good pictures). It is always looking through the viewfinder. I forget everything else in the whole world.
To get there is a matter of a lot of practice. I used to shoot with an all manual leica, and it was the simplest most perfect camera ever. If I could just stick a sensor behind that thing that would spit out raw files, I would be obscenely happy. Leica, unfortunately f'ed up their digital camera so bad I found it almost unusable. I really have to be digital for two reasons: Time and money.
So, that out of the way, there are some technical things that I do differently, at least somewhat. I always shoot with a fairly large aperture and high ISO. I own three different 50mm f/1.2 lenses, for different cameras (I have owned in the past a total of nine or ten lenses in 50mm focal length, not counting zooms or lenses in the similar 40mm length). I used to always meter with an incident light meter, set a manual exposure, and roll through a scene; now I use aperture priority because my camera has a meter inside. It works most of the time.
I use manual focus a lot; enough that I have a dedicated manual lens. with af there is a tendency to not move the camera around; the focus points are where some designgeneer put them, and not where you want them.
I can't say much more that I do, really; I play around a lot with composition and angle. Find interesting things to photograph. People are the most interesting to me. All of them. that's all.
posted by matt at
1:03 AM
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