What do you say to yourself while preparing a shot?

B

Bob Warner

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Edit My Images
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I have been taking photos for many years and have done pretty well. However, I forget to do things. Not that I don't know about them, I just forget to ask myself certain questions.

When you get to an area and plan to take photos, what are the questions you ask yourself?

What should White balance be set on?
What should ISO be set on?
Remember to look for things growing out of heads.
Anyone in the background mooning me?

Stuff like that. I get some interesting shots sometimes because I forget to ask myself questions.

Please share your pre-shot questions you ask yourself.
 
Am I about to clip anything

or....

Have I been too slow and has my subject just mooched off.
 
Well there is the obvious - "Have I left my camera on some random setting from the last shot I took" but otherwise I think:

- where is my best vantage point
- what is in my background
- what settings do I need for this shot
- is it worth me taking this shot (sometimes it just isn't going to work)
- what is the situation with the light

Or sometimes I get carried away and start shooting without too much thought - which never really works out so well :D
 
Daysleeper40 said:
Well there is the obvious - "Have I left my camera on some random setting from the last shot I took" but otherwise I think:

- where is my best vantage point
- what is in my background
- what settings do I need for this shot
- is it worth me taking this shot (sometimes it just isn't going to work)
- what is the situation with the light

Or sometimes I get carried away and start shooting without too much thought - which never really works out so well :D
Click to expand...

I like these....(y)

Especially # 4, which I was guilty of when I first started.

One thing I ask myself and it's linked to #4, is "Will this photograph add to what's already out there"......
 
I always make sure that before I set out with my camera, I set it to a fairly neutral settings like 1/250s, f/8, iso200, 5000K WB, and then take a shot out of my window and check the shot.

This basically confirms that the camera is working OK, and also I'm less likely to do something silly like shoot at iso3200 all day :crying:

At least with digital you can take a variety of shots of the same subject, and perhaps try a couple of different exposure settings as well as changing the angle of view or composition.
 
For a photoshoot:

What do I want in the frame?
What do I not want in the frame?
What am I trying to say?
Which mood?

I generally don't find a need to think about any technical details such as iso, etc as the above questions usually answers that automatically. Think about the image you want and dial in settings accordingly.

For a random walkabout I don't really think about anything; just let inspiration guide.
 
I don't usually think much beyond whether I like what I see in that frame. If so, take it. Then I think did I get what I intended. If not, take it again. If so, move on.
 
Tobacco - check
Papers - check
Lighter - check
Hip flask - check
 
At the moment I am still on a biglearning curve so its trying to remember what i have read on here for a given senario.
Like last week I tried to take some birds in flight and went out this week armed with the info I got as feed back from peeps on here.

So my questions today where.

Is the camera set to what I need to it to be
Took a pic what is the histogram telling me
Ok birds come on fly ha ha.

spike
 
Why didn't I bring my sodding camera?
 
Mostly I ignore white balance, leave it on auto and correct it in lightroom.

I always try to check shutter speed compared to focal length. If it's too low up the ISO or open the aperture, or if it's ridiculously fast check the ISO.

Otherwise I normally find myself looking for some foreground interest - obviously depends on the type of shot though

maninsuitcase said:
At the moment it seems to be "1/10th....and I am already at ISO800. Arse"
Click to expand...

I know that feeling ;)
 
Yeah WB can be tweaked afterwards or you may find yourself wasting time taking multiple different WB shots, shooting film there was no white balance, a digital extra in photography.
 
'Be safe, stay sharp, make good decisions!' Lugging a 17-55mm Nikkor that looks like a proton pack on my back helps pull it off.
 
Camera... Check
Tripod... Check
Good light... Check
Great subject... Check
Battery... Check
SD card...
SD card...
SD CARD!? ... I give up...





That's normally what happens... :D
 
Why am I looking at a black screen?....B*****D Lens Cap!
 
Depends on the camera I suppose. With the DSLR I pretty much do the same as Adrian in reply 7 as far a settings are concerned. With the Film SLR settings are pretty much a given as far as ISO etc, if there's already film in the camera, otherwise it's "What Film do I have with me, and which one will suit todays conditions best". With the pinhole camera, it's just a case of "shall I shoot colour or B&W, if B&W, what contrast filter will I use - red orange or yellow.

As far as composing the shots, I spend time looking around, working out angles etc. before even raising the camera to my eye. Mostly I shoot landscape-ey stuff, so I'll be working from a tripod, and I don't really want to be faffing around adjusting the 'pod too much, so I'll try and get the working height and location sorted first. Then adjust the tripod to suit, whack the camera on, and start setting up the camera. By and large, I'll be working at the lowest ISO I can get away with,shooting RAW, aperture f8-f11, then meter for sky and ground to see if I need to use ND filters. Filters attached if needed, I'll re-compose, meter for the overall shot, and set camera to auto bracket +- 1 stop. Attach the cable release, press the button and chimp at the results. Adjust Accordingly, and hope that the shots look better on the big screen at home than they do on the back of the camera. The film camera is much the same, apart from maybe pushing the aperture up to maybe another stop tighter, bracketing being maybe in 1/3 and 2/3 stops for E6 film and of course the lack of chimping.

The Pinhole camera is refreshingly simple in comparison. Put the camera on the tripod, point it in the direction of the view. Check the light with an ancient hand-held lightmeter. Add 2 stops for the red filter if needed, 1.5 for the orange, or 1 stop for the yellow, then refer to my time conversion table as the lightmeter doesn't have a aperture setting for f135 :LOL: Then simply remove the lens cap, press the shutter cable release button and count off the exposure time in elephants... Sometimes on B&W film i'll miss out the metering stage altogether and just look around and think "todays about 10 elephants on 125iso film" Sometimes it even works out okay :LOL:
 
White balance is always on auto, ISO is generally at 400. P mode allows me to scroll through a selection of shutter speeds/apertures to get the effect I'm after. Using an SLR means that a forgotten lens cap is blatantly obvious as soon as the camera gets to the eye (and they rarely get forgotten since step 1 after fitting to the camera is turning the hood round, at which point the cap comes off and goes in the shirt pocket - don't lose many caps, either!)

I try to spot and remove anything too distracting from the frame (litter, leaves etc) but often just leave things as nature put them then clone them out in PS if they're too distracting! There are times when it's just not possible to dispose of things that you would rather not have in frame.
 
turn camera on.....


I very rarely turn my camera off, the amount of times I come to use my camera and pray there is power in it is almost daily. thank god for the auto sleep and the wonderful battery on the 1dmk2.

the exception is when I'm out an about.
the amount of great shots I believe to have missed at the zoo for example when I press the shutter and nothing happens, I must just play with the power switch whilst waiting for the animals to wake up
 
Hope that I'm not the only 1 with a camera here :confused:

Thank god there's another one over there... Phew
 
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"Where the f*** did the eye-cup go?!"

Seriously, I had a wander around London with Morgan (kiteninja) yesterday, and the bloody eye-cup kept falling off. At one point, it actually bounced down an escalator on the tube, and an awesome dude caught it and waited at the bottom for me. Some faith in humanity restored right there!


Normally, my questions are dependant what I'm shooting, if it's the usual beach sports, it's a little checklist of "wide aperture, servo AF, not too crazy ISO... memory card in, away we go!"
 
the biggest culprit for me i think is taking a load of landscape shots and then realising it's still set to 'small jpeg' instead of RAW... that's a real bummer.

ISO, shutter and F really don't come into it if you're shooting manual... or they shouldn't do anyway!

i suppose the beauty of digital is that you can go and take shots from every possible angle and then view later which looks best. Sometimes though, i feel like i'm cheating somehow by just clicking away rather than spending time composing and thinking about the shot.
 
-Is there going to be acceptable detail in at least the part of the image which I want to capture.
-Is the perspective right, or is anything going to be cut off.
-Are there any distractions and if so will they distract from the subject.

-Check settings and if in the rain, is the front of the lens clear?
-IS IT LEVEL. My one pet hate is wonky horizons.

Think about it, check exposure, shoot ONCE. Job done. I occasionally crop and slightly boost the colours in post, but most of the time once the shutter button goes, that's it. I also keep 90+ % of what I take every time, because I take care before I press the shutter.
 
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I knew i should have went on to be a nuclear scientist it would have been a damn sight easier and better paid......
 
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