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Basics to achieve great photographs


@Tom Mann: As Fate would have it, F8's my Dad. I do place more emphasis on fast glass, but family get togethers have always been Civil, no wars. Daddy has sadly passed on, but it's probably just as well--sensors have gotten so small that being there is often enough. Cell phones these days have depth of field to spare.

If you want to see a great Photoshopped in sky (from long before Photoshop existed), do a google search on "The Great Wave Sete." To this day people still wonder about his method.
 
Tom Mann said:
Hi f/2 - A big welcome to PSG!
One question to you, tho: Your dad doesn't happen to be the famous Mr. F8bethere, does he, LOL. :bustagut:
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f2bthere said:
..... As Fate would have it, F8's my Dad. I do place more emphasis on fast glass, but family get togethers have always been Civil, no wars. Daddy has sadly passed on, but it's probably just as well--sensors have gotten so small that being there is often enough. Cell phones these days have depth of field to spare.
Click to expand...


And welcome to the forum, @f2bthere.... Great to have you aboard.


A bit of OT here as I'm lost in translation.......

F8BETHERE ..... Did you and Tom Mann meant the photojournalist saying - "F8 Be There" which meant to set the Camera aperture at F8 and be there to take the shot...?

I never did quite understand that concept. What's so special with the F8 setting? Is it considered passé nowadays..... :cheesygrin: ?
 
f2bthere said:
@Tom Mann: As Fate would have it, F8's my Dad. I do place more emphasis on fast glass, but family get togethers have always been Civil, no wars. Daddy has sadly passed on, but it's probably just as well--sensors have gotten so small that being there is often enough. Cell phones these days have depth of field to spare.

If you want to see a great Photoshopped in sky (from long before Photoshop existed), do a google search on "The Great Wave Sete." To this day people still wonder about his method.
Click to expand...
LOL on part 1, and that's a great example of pre-photoshop photoshopping that you provided.

Thanks.

Tom M
 
dv8_fx said:
...Did you and @Tom Mann meant the photojournalist saying - "F8 Be There" which meant to set the Camera aperture at F8 and be there to take the shot...? I never did quite understand that concept. What's so special with the F8 setting? Is it considered passé nowadays?
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Hi Vee - You wouldn't believe how much has been written about the meaning and current relevance of this statement. IMHO, these three links provides a nice overview:
http://www.shutterphoto.net/article/f8-and-be-there-what-we-can-learn-from-weegees-philosophy/ and
https://frankwinters.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/f8-and-be-there-the-photographers-middle-way/
http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/f8-and-be-there.html

IMHO, it's in the same league as suggestions (often called, "rules of photography") such as:
- - - Get the decisive moment.
- - - Use the rule of thirds.
- - - Get in closer than feels comfortable to you
- - - Shoot during the Golden Hour.

They are just suggestions - certainly not absolute rules. Whether you follow any of them depends on the shooting situation, your ability, equipment and positioning, your job / priorities / intent / etc.. So, for example, a landscape photographer is likely to think that f/8 is a bit wide to get the depth of field he really wants. Similarly, if Weejee usually shot nighttime news without using those enormous #5 flash bulbs and a pan reflector, but faster lenses had been available, f2bethere would almost certainly have to pick a new screen name, LOL.

Similarly, I doubt Weejee would have made that statement if he was an artsy-fartsy hipster / yindie amateur street photographer, not a working stiff paid to come back every day with clear, sharp, well exposed pictures that could go in the newspaper.

Personally, since I do a lot of event work with modern equipment, I usually operate with a slightly more nuanced version of "f8-and-be-there". For a given shooting situation, if I can, I'll typically set a middle-of-the-road aperature and shutter speed (ie, on "M" manual mode), set my flash power to about -1/3rd of a stop, and turn auto-ISO on. For example, realize that middle-of-the-road settings for old farts (ie, slow moving) standing around in near circular groups (ie, need larger DoF) with cocktails in hand (ie, the situation isn't likely to change fast and I can get in close), in a room with white ceilings (ie, easy to bounce flash) will be very, very different for dancers in a nightclub or at a night football game. I'll take a few shots with middle-of-the-road settings, and then if the situation that I am shooting is going to continue, then I may tweak my original values as I see fit, but I'll always get some sort of reasonable shot before the situation evolves or breaks up. If I move from one area to another, I'll usually revert my settings to the middle-of-the-road settings I had started with.

This approach is not exactly f/8 and be there, but it's kinda the modern version of it.

Cheers,

Tom M
 
Most modern cameras that most people use have smaller sensors (phones being the most common camera and the smallest sensor) and the smaller the sensor, the shorter the lens for any given field of view. This means that for a given aperture you get much greater depth of field (more is in focus). So you probably don't need f8, depending on what you are using. Weegee used a Speed Graphic, so he was presumably using 4"x5" film. Even a full frame camera sensor is 24mmx36mm (not even 1"x2").
 
With cameras of the day, setting the lens at f8 would mean most stuff would be in focus and the combination of film and flash bulb could adequately get the picture. At f64 (an even bigger number), everything is pretty much in focus. F8 was a "good enough" compromise.

Translation: as the f number gets bigger, more stuff in your picture will be in focus. As the f number gets smaller, less stuff in your picture will be in focus.

In a similar manner, as cameras sensors get smaller, more stuff will be in focus. Film cameras were almost all big or very big. Digital cameras are small or very small. Or, in phones, tiny.

So, if on a bigger camera, you need F8 or "F a number bigger than 8" to have enough in focus, when the sensor gets smaller, you can use a smaller f number and still have enough in focus.
 
Whoa thanks for the advice f2bthere and Tom Mann!

I'm familiar with the idea of taking two shots and combinding the effect, using Photoshop to add exposure to certain areas and the whole flash/background combo. But how exactly does density filters work if I may ask?

I loved the old pictues you showned, and the whole about The Great Wave Sete! It's amazing to see how much they were able to capture before better cameras and editing softwares like Photoshop. Now those guys were REALLY creative!

Totally lost in translation about the whole F8 conversation though. Yikes! Haha
 
What Tom said :)

Neutral gradient filters are like sunglasses that are darker on the top and lighter on the bottom. The better the quality, the less likely they are to affect color (that is, to be truly "neutral") and the less likely they are to affect picture quality.

Having said that, you can get a comprehensive set from companies like Neewer on Amazon for under $20 which will give you an opportunity to learn how they work. If they are fine, just use them. If not, you can get a better quality filter and you will know what you need.

Here is an example:

http://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Comple...sr=8-4&keywords=neewer+neutral+density+filter

This is a Cokin P type filter. A plastic ring screws into your lens and supports the plastic frame, which holds the rectangular filters, which you can slide up and down to align with the horizon (or whatever you wish to darken).

Search around for similar and read reviews.
 
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