XtremeCamera

The worst thing to happen to the photography industry is the camera makers’ decision to add so many preset modes to their mid-range and high-end dSLRS. These presets make people lazy, allows them to simply set their camera to Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, etc. without having to think about anything else. In the words of Eric Cartman, “This is Wrong. Wrong!”

If you have any interest in becoming a better photographer there is one thing you can do right now and that’s take your camera off any preset. If you don’t you’re simply taking snapshots. Sure, some of them might come out really well, great even, but to the extent that you had anything to do with it coming out well amounts to little more than knowing something about composition. How much pride can you take in a great photograph when the only input you had was to make sure the image was anchored in “The Rule Of Thirds”?

Aperture and shutter speed are must-learn things to know in photography. There is no getting around it, without a solid knowledge with how light reacts and how to control it you’re never going to get far enough along to be anything more than a hobbyist.

No wait; there is nothing wrong with being a hobbyist. I’m a Physics hobbyist, but regardless of the hobbyist status I spend a good 10 hours a week studying college text books in physics and reading the latest books from people like Brian Greene and others. In other words, hobbyists, true hobbyists, continue to learn more and more about their hobby. And no, I’m not saying you need to spend 10 hours a week studying photography.

What I am saying is that when it comes time to show your work to other, knowledgeable photographers, you need to be ready to explain your aperture choices or shutter speed decisions. The “I have no idea it was on Shutter Priority” doesn’t cut it. Sure, you won’t get these questions when you show your work to people who have no interest in photography, they’ll all say “Great!” or “I love it” and will never see the problem, or success, you had with aperture or shutter speed.

I don’t want to toot my own horn, but the first thing I suggest you do is read the article I wrote and posted here called “The Scales Of Photographic Justice” which, I hear, has helped several people understand what Aperture settings do and what they mean. Then, once you absorb that information take a day or two and put your camera on Manual and go shoot. Play around with bracketing your photos, which means taking 3 shots of the same image using different aperture settings, one up and one down from the first shot. Load these images into your computer and take a long hard look at how the differences in aperture settings change your depth of field, your range of focus.

It is vital that you know apertures and what they can do. The only way to learn how to swim is to take off those arm floats and swim. The same thing applies to learning how to control your depth of focus, take the camera off Auto and swim. Even if you sink you learn. You won’t sink forever though, in a matter of a couple of days you’ll have a Eureka moment and once you get it you’ll never forget it.

Julia will be announcing the first chat room based class on aperture and shutter speed so I urge those of you that are interested in mastering the tools of photography to do the things I mention above and begin writing down your questions for the first class.

To become really good at what you do, no matter what it is you want to do, is to learn as much as you can. When camera makers continue to improve their preset metering they are doing so to sell more cameras, not to make you a better photographer. Remember that, it will serve you well.
So, head over to the article and read it. Take your camera out for a spin without the training wheels, and take the results, load them into your private galleries (create a photo album for these, name it something like “My Aperture Study” or whatever) and upload them all using the multi-photo uploader.

(We have lots of features you are not using, so start using them! Make some photo albums, organize the ones you have here now, build some galleries!)

Then, if you want, send a message to the Admins and let them know where the photos are. We’ll take a look and let you know what we think. Or simply save them until the class begins and then we can all take a look at the same time.

Our goal is to make you a great photographer, and that begins with knowing the basics. The basics start with Aperture. Without it you’re not going anywhere.

John Manzione