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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> What is Your Thought Process?
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 05/20/2007 09:13:05 AM · #1
Before doing a shoot, what are the processes you go through before making the decision to press the shutter? Have you ever thought about it? I ask this question, as I have come to realize that after over 25 years, I forget that I am holding a camera when shooting and only become cognizant of the fact when I put it down...

Ben

//www.olaphoto.com/zoom/benjamin-kanarek.php

Message edited by author 2007-05-26 16:44:11.
 05/20/2007 09:15:54 AM · #2
Background, lighting, ISO, aperture for DOF, focus, alignment in shot, posture, breathing.
 05/20/2007 09:20:04 AM · #3
Originally posted by Delta_6:
Background, lighting, ISO, aperture for DOF, focus, alignment in shot, posture, breathing.


What about the "Theme" of the shoot? The briefing? The Story Board?
 05/20/2007 09:22:15 AM · #4
Originally posted by benjikan:
I have come to realize that after over 25 years, I forget that I am holding a camera when shooting and only become cognizant of the fact when I put it down...

What exactly do you mean by this? Just curious.
I think this is why I can take 25-50 shots for a challenge entry. I'll take the first few, review them, decide what I don't like, change it, retake a few more, review, decide, change and retake. Again and again.
 05/20/2007 09:25:16 AM · #5

05/20/2007 09:25:33 AM · #6
Originally posted by bdenny:
Originally posted by benjikan:
I have come to realize that after over 25 years, I forget that I am holding a camera when shooting and only become cognizant of the fact when I put it down...

What exactly do you mean by this? Just curious.
I think this is why I can take 25-50 shots for a challenge entry. I'll take the first few, review them, decide what I don't like, change it, retake a few more, review, decide, change and retake. Again and again.


The best photos in my opinion are those that are from the heart, the natural intuition. Technique is only the vehicle for realizing the vision..a means to the end and not even near the top of the priority ladder.

Message edited by author 2007-05-20 09:26:25.
 05/20/2007 09:27:16 AM · #7
candids? or one-offs?
 05/20/2007 09:27:59 AM · #8
If technique dominates in the process of creating the image, the result will often be devoid of any personality and although technically well executed, it will lack that "soul" that makes a good photo a classic image...

Message edited by author 2007-05-20 09:29:33.
 05/20/2007 09:29:46 AM · #9
Originally posted by benjikan:
Originally posted by Delta_6:
Background, lighting, ISO, aperture for DOF, focus, alignment in shot, posture, breathing.


What about the "Theme" of the shoot? The briefing? The Story Board?


I am just a plinker but when I went to the V8 Supercars here I knew which areas I wanted to be in and what car I wanted to focus on and where on the track that car would be when I pressed the button. Also at the Avon Descent last year I had a particular shot in mind and busted my butt to get it.
 05/20/2007 09:30:49 AM · #10
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:


and?....Let's hear your insight on the subject. It will be edifying I'm sure..
 05/20/2007 09:32:15 AM · #11
Originally posted by benjikan:
Originally posted by Delta_6:
Background, lighting, ISO, aperture for DOF, focus, alignment in shot, posture, breathing.


What about the "Theme" of the shoot? The briefing? The Story Board?


Heh, I think people start on one or the other first. They either get the story/theme/creativity first, or they get the technicals first. Depends on your style of thought. It's kind of like kids. If you have a very physically active toddler, they may not learn to speak as quickly. If you have a toddler that talks their head off, they may not walk/run/jump with as much agility. (Barring the super-human bebe's) It seems people usually go about grown-up things in the same fashion.

I am the technical dork, and my wife is the creative. I learned all the technicals and I am learning to let my creativity take over sometimes. My wife is all creativity, and just learns the technicals as she goes. Both ways work.
 05/20/2007 09:32:24 AM · #12
*waits patiently*
 05/20/2007 09:34:20 AM · #13
*runs for cover*
 05/20/2007 09:47:09 AM · #14
Originally posted by wavelength:
Originally posted by benjikan:
Originally posted by Delta_6:
Background, lighting, ISO, aperture for DOF, focus, alignment in shot, posture, breathing.


What about the "Theme" of the shoot? The briefing? The Story Board?


Heh, I think people start on one or the other first. They either get the story/theme/creativity first, or they get the technicals first. Depends on your style of thought. It's kind of like kids. If you have a very physically active toddler, they may not learn to speak as quickly. If you have a toddler that talks their head off, they may not walk/run/jump with as much agility. (Barring the super-human bebe's) It seems people usually go about grown-up things in the same fashion.

I am the technical dork, and my wife is the creative. I learned all the technicals and I am learning to let my creativity take over sometimes. My wife is all creativity, and just learns the technicals as she goes. Both ways work.


That is wonderful. As long as what you are doing is a reflection of your perspective of reality, what ever works, works. Integrity is the word I would use most often in expressing the essence of artistic expression.

Message edited by author 2007-05-20 09:47:59.
 05/20/2007 09:48:52 AM · #15
Originally posted by bdenny:
candids? or one-offs?


In any situation..
 05/20/2007 10:34:00 AM · #16
Originally posted by benjikan:
If technique dominates in the process of creating the image, the result will often be devoid of any personality and although technically well executed, it will lack that "soul" that makes a good photo a classic image...


Yes, this is the dynamic I spoke of earlier. I'm learning to be more creative from my wife. And she is learning to be more creative from me.

I can see the same pattern in my other creative outlets, my poetry always had some sort of order in the chaos, I have to wonder if that's why it really got to some people. Unfortunately, I tied my poetry early on to my depressive nature, and when I left that behind it's hard for me to dissociate the two in my head. If ever I try to write anymore, I usually go to some morbid maundering place in my head.

My love for drawing early on also gravitated toward the technical and I fell in love with drafting for a time. Clean, spartan, flowing architecture speaks to me on a level I don't really understand. Geometric and negative extraction architecture I could stare at for days, though Frank Lloyd Wright is my favorite, especially with Falling Water, the Guggenheim (NY), and somewhat the Ennis house. I think most architects are creative technicals, with the exception of some of the new greats like Frank Ghery.
 05/20/2007 10:38:16 AM · #17
When I am serious about a shoot, and I have a specific idea, I think about it for a couple days in my head.

when I get all the ideas I want, then I draw out how I want it.

I include the light, the blocking, the lens I will use, any props, blah,blah.

I take this idea from the industry I am involved with.

Actually, I take a lot of ideas from that industry.







ALL of these images, I actually went through my little process before executing.

Since I am a competitive person, and am on a team through DPL, most of my imagery will be don this way.

I already have done some reshoots for the shapes 3 challenge. Just wasn't getting what I wanted, plus a lot of dirt got on my subject.

05/20/2007 10:49:00 AM · #18
Originally posted by wavelength:
Originally posted by benjikan:
If technique dominates in the process of creating the image, the result will often be devoid of any personality and although technically well executed, it will lack that "soul" that makes a good photo a classic image...


Yes, this is the dynamic I spoke of earlier. I'm learning to be more creative from my wife. And she is learning to be more creative from me.

I can see the same pattern in my other creative outlets, my poetry always had some sort of order in the chaos, I have to wonder if that's why it really got to some people. Unfortunately, I tied my poetry early on to my depressive nature, and when I left that behind it's hard for me to dissociate the two in my head. If ever I try to write anymore, I usually go to some morbid maundering place in my head.

My love for drawing early on also gravitated toward the technical and I fell in love with drafting for a time. Clean, spartan, flowing architecture speaks to me on a level I don't really understand. Geometric and negative extraction architecture I could stare at for days, though Frank Lloyd Wright is my favorite, especially with Falling Water, the Guggenheim (NY), and somewhat the Ennis house. I think most architects are creative technicals, with the exception of some of the new greats like Frank Ghery.


I understand as my studies were in Architecture in Ottawa, Canada at Carleton University..The melding of technique and artisitic expression..What an ideal balance.

Message edited by author 2007-05-20 10:49:49.
 05/20/2007 10:58:17 AM · #19
Originally posted by benjikan:
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:


and?....Let's hear your insight on the subject. It will be edifying I'm sure..


Me? I doubt my lack of planning skills will be very insightful to anyone. I'm just reading along to see what everyone else is doing.
 05/20/2007 11:16:53 AM · #20
What sort of shoot? I consider my hikes to be shoots. My though process is that I hit the trail and stop for anything that makes me think "Ooh pretty!" That's about it.
 05/20/2007 11:21:57 AM · #21
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:
Originally posted by benjikan:
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:


and?....Let's hear your insight on the subject. It will be edifying I'm sure..


Me? I doubt my lack of planning skills will be very insightful to anyone. I'm just reading along to see what everyone else is doing.


Besides, he can't talk now, got his mouth full of popcorn!!
 05/20/2007 11:35:50 AM · #22
Originally posted by benjikan:

I understand as my studies were in Architecture in Ottawa, Canada at Carleton University..The melding of technique and artisitic expression..What an ideal balance.


good old "Last Chance U" .. you'll find a few alumni here ..
 05/20/2007 11:49:04 AM · #23
I try to keep my camera settings in some kind of mode that will let me shot a candid with 0 seconds warning if I have to. But barrings candids, what I try to make myself do every time is put my camera on 10 second timer and when I'm going to take the shot, start the timer. I then use the 10 seconds to keep looking through the viewfinder to *really* see what I'm taking a picture of. More often than not, I stop the timer, recompose, and start again. It prevents me from using my digital camera to shot a million pictures that all suck and instead only take a few that are really good. It kinda works...
 05/20/2007 12:02:02 PM · #24
If I like it- I shoot it!
 05/20/2007 04:19:55 PM · #25
Originally posted by benjikan:
Before doing a shoot, what are the processes you go through before making the decision to press the shutter? Have you ever thought about it?...


I have and continue to think about this a great deal. It's an interesting question.

Most of us shoot more images in a lifetime than Ford made cars, but how many of those are true documents of a conscious interaction between the parts that make up an experience? For my part, the percentage is not even a round number, but a fraction of one. Yet it is significant enough to constitute a realization from which there appears to be no retreat or reprieve - depending on how you choose to look at it.

I am convinced that any remarkable photograph is the result of converting a linear process into a single instant of which all the parts are in sync, if then we are open to that possibility and lucky enough to stem our egos for as long as it takes to bat an eye or two.

It follows that in order to accomplish this, an empty mind should be preferable to one distracted by thoughts external to that moment. A familiar camera, a good idea of what settings to use, to be able to apply those settings decisively and smoothly and to just know enough about life and photography to integrate this knowledge effectively into ever-changing situations could prove extremely useful.

I often find myself looking through the viewfinder (or through some shape I've made with my thumb and fingers) only to help me visualize something indicative of how, where and what to take a picture of or how to to approach it. I've had to find out that the intent to simply document a subject is quite naive when the subject is something that reveals itself only for a fraction of a second and, more often than not, metaphorically. The dimensions and its perspective consequences, too, usually remain a mystery as long as I think about them. Sense, altogether, appears to come with an acceptance of a multitude of possibilities and go with defining and isolating a singular view, way or force (if you're philosophically inclined).

How then can we know when to press the shutter button? And although I have been there for brief moments at a time, I have the damndest time to answer this question in an intelligible way. The best I can do (and I swear I'm not trying to be coy or something) is to discourage anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about here from pressing that button altogether. Keep your finger on it, be ready, but don't do anything.

Eventually -and yes I have more faith in this than money or skill- something will tell you what to do and how to do it and when to do it. It's a bit like many things all saying the same.

Message edited by author 2007-05-20 16:23:46.
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