what's your shooting process?

elven

Pure noseyness, I suppose...

Seriously though, just wondering how anyone else actually approaches a subject. What catches your eye, is it a shape, a texture, a composition, the way the light is falling on something? How do you work it - choose a lens/focal length, decide what you want in/out of focus, framing? Do you get excited and work quickly and feverishly or do you relax and potter about, taking your time building up to just one shot? Do you try to think consciously about how the final image will look, or do you work on intuition? How quickly do you move from one subject to the next? Are you concerned with just the visuals, or are you thinking about a story, what you're trying to put across in the frame - if you do try to tell a story, are you conscious of how you translate that into technical decisions?

I'm just interested to see what similarities or differences we may have in technique, and if it relates to the type of subject we shoot, or if it's more than that.

I suppose I should maybe get the ball rolling...



I spotted this through the leaves of a really pale coloured plant, and I was drawn to the colour of the leaf, the swirls on the shells, and the fact that it was a group of three. I like groups of three things... anyway I tried to take a couple of shots in situ (the 100mm macro is pretty much my default lens so I didn't have to think too hard about that) but it wasn't working because there was too much going on. So, I cheated a bit and lifted the leaf onto the stone beside me because I thought the colour would stand out really well against the dark grey. I took a few shots much closer in, at a wide aperture, from lower down so that one shell was in focus at a time, then i stopped down a bit to get more DoF, working the angles to get that repetition of the swirlyness from one shell to the next. But I wasn't happy with what I was seeing through the viewfinder so I pulled back to get the whole lot in, it still didn't seem to work because, well, I dunno actually just something was 'meh' about the composition - so I got up and shot straight down to get the whole lot in, the shape of the leaf, and the three snails as well. Then I put them and their leaf back in the shelter of the bush where I found them

In post processing I considered cropping to a square, but it seemed to oversimplify it - I liked the extra space and used a bit of darkening round the edges to emphasise the subject, I also used a multiply layer I think - could have been soft light - to enhance the intensity of the colours but keep it sombre at the same time. I suppose it all comes down to it being based mostly on simple geometric shapes, and colour, and that's why this approach worked best for me.

Anyone else care to share? Doesn't have to be a particular example like that, just any general inclinations?

nilhg

Three main scenarios for me really

The totally opportunistic: the odd day I will be going off in the van or the tractor and I bring the camera with me in the hope of getting a decent shot. Usually a waste of time because invariably I will have the wrong lens or be stuck in traffic or unable to stop in time. (I was sorry I didn't have it this evening though, a buzzard spent about an hour hanging about the field I was in).

The family outing: enough said, stressful for all concerned.

The odd day I get away for an hour by myself: Last Sunday morning for example , I went down the local woods to look for some autumn colour only to find there was very little yet. I found some leaves I thought might be worth trying in macro and headed back to the car to get my tripod only to remember I hadn't brought it. So I spent an hour taking some shaky hand held macros of berries and leaves in the dim woods.
Nice to get out for an hour on your own though

440Hz

Nice droplet in the first one cilldara... really like the colours in the 3rd. The 'imperfections' really add to it!

Roen

Av and go walking

elven

Is that like 'f8 and be there'?

Roen

Not quite sure what 'and be there' means, but I do actually just stick it on Av and head off, no process as such (although you could argue that that in itself is a process).
Anything more is effort. And that's to be frowned upon. If it doesn't come automatically then I take nothing at all.

440Hz

I dont think I have any method to my madness. Sometimes I just dont shoot until I feel inspired. Other times I just randomly head off, like today. Havent taken any shots in ages really, despite that yummy new lens. But today I wanted a photo of a yellow rose, just cos I was thinking about someone that reminded me of yellow roses. Headed off to the park for a 'personal shot' you know the ones you take with the intention of never doing much with them? When I came home and looked at the shots I was happy with a few. Purely random really.

elven

Well, i wasn't necessarily getting at a conscious process - i had to stop and think about how i actually approach it because when you put it all down it looks so precise and meditated but when i'm doing it, it's all intuitive and I'm not consciously thinking it. If I start to try too hard it all goes away to crap... sounds like that might be the case with others too judging by what you say.

Muineach

hmm when I head out for photo's I generally don't have a plan or anything going through my head, that's what I like, having nothing in my head. I'll be dawdling along, then notice something and think "hmm interesting", then I may adjust settings or find a better angle.

When I'm in a field and see the trees along a hedge I make a mental image in my head and try to find where the best spot would be to take a certain type of shot, then I head off to that spot. I know that sounds odd, but I don't think I've ever been considered as normal :rolleyes:
I prefer wildlife shots myself, I like getting as close as possible to fox's, badgers etc., sometime I may have set up a bird feeder to try and capture a bird in flight but I prefer to go without a tripod and shoot from the hip.

Actually I think I've enjoyed learning more about the animals than the photo's, it's nice to walk into a field and start to see the patterns in the tracks and working out what's leaving them etc., plus you then get to the "good" spots for taking the photo's by knowing the animals "pattern" of behaviour. Yes I know, I have to get out more

I think differently for macro's, most of the time I may be working and thinking ohh a shot like x would be interesting, by interesting I mean interesting to "make" it, like the man made electricity set i did (flickr),
for these shots I had a visual in my head for each of them, but of course nothing ever works out the same

ThOnda

Av for me too.

Just walking, looking around, watching people, imagining picutres (is that called previsualisation?), pressing the trigger (after adjusting Av and EV) and waiting what's on the film.

It is good, when you have time to think and play with some idea or subject. I love doing it. But in street and documentary photography, I just have to look around and be ready to push the trigger. Av preset to 8 and ready to increase or decrease.

PixelTrawler

I don't even have a process yet:D

My approach is still to push every button on the camera to see what it does:p

Although since I bought the SLR i've found doing mundane stuff like driving home from work I'm thinking more about how places would photograph, different views you catch a glimpse of.

I'm starting to look at light in a different way (if thats not a stranges statement, reading it back it is).

I've found some mornings I head to an area I want to take pictures of but I have no firm idea of exactly what I want when I get there.

I tend to stroll around and just be inspired by what I see.

jlang

See something worth shooting.

Point, Shoot.

Chimp.

Fix whatever setting I had forgotton to correct from the last time.

Repeat. etc.

Then...

Download.

Wait anywhere from two weeks to six months. If subject was human regularly apologise that I've been too busy to look at the pictures.

Look at pictures and run about 20% through Picasa, 5% through Photoshop.

At the moment it's the delay phase that causes the most concern - once I fix that, I'll worry more about the actual shooting process.

Eirebear

One thing i dont do in general is think.. as with everything i do in life, if i think about it too much, i dont do it, or dont like it. Manage to talk myself out of it etc etc.
Spur of the moment for me...i know what i want/need and i set out to get it by hook or by crook.

Muineach

Eirebear wrote:

One thing i dont do in general is think.. as with everything i do in life, if i think about it too much, i dont do it, or dont like it. Manage to talk myself out of it etc etc.

I know what you mean, when I look at what I shot for the day say it was a tree, the first 1-3 shots I like, the next 5-6 of it I don't like, it's as if my brain kicks in and makes a mess of a shot, over analysis I think.

ThOnda

The first one is always the best one. Talking only about photography now...

Borderfox

See the shot, take the shot. sorry if its simple.

Calina

The means depends on the end, I think. When I am doing sports stuff, I stand on the beach and hope for the best, occasionally I'll have had a chat with someone before hand to say "If you're feeling so inclined, I'd like this, or that or something else".

If I am doing flowers, I tend to spend a lot of time framing stuff, seeing if it works through the viewfinder. I sort of feel I've lost my way a little with landscape stuff since I started back at the sports photography in a big way though...so I'm starting to look at other people's work in the area of landscape and travel stuff to see if I can get that working again for me. It may be having gone digital - I've not done so much landscape stuff since I did that.