Technical and creative.

More often than not when I go into photo shooting mode. I mean in my head, not necessarily a mode set on my camera. I don't have a totally clear vision. A guide or rough idea of what the objectives are but overall nothing set in stone. If you're a reader of my ramblings this will jog a memory perhaps? So how do photographers with this mindset get anything done? Well, to my mind it's on a duo level. Firstly the setup. For example a still life photograph. A scene in the studio, the object, the background; the background is always important for me. Whether it be a gel from flash onto gray paper, a material or black due to light falling off. Then the object itself. Arranging it in a way that not only looks right but also works with the light and shadows. Don't forget photography isn't only about photographing it also about not photographing. I call this the shadows. And the master of this is the light, the photographer controls the light. As we build up a project several elements start coming together. Imagine this. Camera on the tripod locked off at an arbitrary distance to give a starting point as regards focus and depth of field. The object set to be photographed, the single light placed in a position as to illuminate. The only light is flash. Any ambient light in the room has no effect due to camera settings and the use of light fall off. So let's look at camera settings. It's almost always the same in studio camera settings. Lowest native iso, fastest flash synchronization speed or sync speed and aperture to give under exposure at around two stops. I do like three stops or more. Summing up in my studio this will amount to iso 100, 200/1 sec, f8. All pretty nice other factors are in play also such as background distance from object field of view, focal length and the position of lights but this is a great place to start.  

What have we been up to so far? Camera settings to give a dark frame without flash, it's also locked off on a tripod. The light is in a position to give a desired illumination. In a single light setup most all backgrounds will be dark or black. Just my preference. Okay, let's have a look at composition. This is the creative aspect as opposed to technical. Of course this is purely a creative decision, no right or wrong. Keep shooting, move the light, check exposure with a light meter. Oh, by the way this can only be shot in manual mode. Complete control to the photographer. Change exposure, don't always rely on meter reading, use what looks right because it generally will be right. Change composition, shoot with the camera off the tripod. Freestyle it as I call it. This is the part I enjoy the most. With the technicalities sorted the camera can move anywhere giving different degrees of shadows, highlights and fields of view. All in all the whole process is about having fun enjoying the creative experience to produce an image that hits home just one out of many you really like. After the raw file can be edited, darks, highlights adjusted not to mention the myriad other possible tweaks. Now we have a finished photograph of a personal creation. So what happens next? That's another story! Perhaps make a print in the darkroom. What's that I said? A print, yes a silver gelatin print from a digital image. It can be done at home in a darkroom. Maybe talk about this process later. ???? 
 
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