I still remember that morning like it happened yesterday
even though it was quite a few years ago already
I was by calm and misty Trillium Lake
with a beautiful Mt Hood as the backdrop
it was the perfect place to be for sunrise
Luna was there too
she enjoyed it very much, but for different reasons
she was not paying much attention to the landscape
anyway, I remember the beauty of the landscape and the beauty of the atmosphere
but I also remember what the only other photographer there asked me:
what's your aperture?
I didn't know what to say
because, you see, when I take photos I usually have no idea what my settings are
and maybe they didn't either
perhaps they were just trying to have a conversation
and that was their way to break the ice
but there is a certain tendency in photography to put the emphasis on camera settings
even in situations when they don't even matter
which by the way, it's most of the time
that's why I don't really know what to make of a photograph with the settings next to it
because photography is not a recipe
those values tell me very little about the photograph
what do you see when I tell you f/1.4, 1/40th of a second, ISO 1250?
what about f/1.4, 1/40th of a second, but ISO 200?
or what about f/1.4, 1/3200th of a second, ISO 100?
those were the settings I used...
should I say, the camera used, to make these three images
they were made with very similar settings
from the exact same spot
and still, they are so different from each other
again, photography is not a recipe
and the settings are not the ingredients
I guess the main reason why I don't like talking about camera settings
is because they make photography sound like it's an exact science
when it's not, not at all
it's quite the opposite
the settings are not a formula that we can use to
make images like the ones we like from other photographers
in fact, camera settings can be counterproductive
because they might make us focus on the wrong things
they also make photography... or they aspire to make photography feel safe, certain
leaving no room for experimentation or accidents
now, I'm not saying that settings don't matter at all
but they can get on the way, we worry too much before pressing the shutter
there are so many things to think about:
is everything in focus?
is this shutter speed enough to freeze the action?
is this ISO going to add too much noise?
we overthink the process, and in the meanwhile we don't even know what we are trying to capture
or why
we pay more attention to the camera that to what's in front of us
or even worse, the scene just fades away
gone forever, tired of waiting for us
because we took too long
we forget about what really matters:
what we are trying to capture and why
if anything, when we are taking pictures we should shut off our brain
and shoot from the gut, from the heart instead
letting what we feel guide us
when we make photography simple, when we let ourselves play with the medium
we get rewarded
if there's something that we should think a little bit it about when we're shooting
is the composition
is this the right angle for the subject?
does it portray what I want to show about them?
is the background clean enough?
or does it add enough context?
what about the edges of the frame?
when you're shooting, keep moving, keep trying different angles
and press the shutter whenever it feels right
it is very important to not worry about making good images
we have to let ourselves take bad photographs
they're not failures
we learn from every shot we take
we learn about photography, about the subject, about our camera, about ourselves
I once read that photography is not about taking good pictures
but about not showing the bad ones
I can... I can agree with that
perhaps, even bad is not the right word
perhaps, there are no bad photos
just not as meaningful photos, images that don't speak to us
so we have to experiment more
we have to play with the elements that do matter
the light, the weather conditions, the time of the year, the time of the day
when we think of photography in terms of camera settings,
we are narrowing the type of images we are going to make
we limit our otherwise limitless possibilities
we become "serious" photographers
which, in photography as an art, is not necessarily a good thing
that's why I love using an automatic mode on my digital camera
because this way, I can focus on what really matters
and yes, sometimes the settings are not the "right" ones for the scene I'm photographing
and I might end up taking photographs I would have
never taken otherwise if I was in total control of the settings
I have an example here, because this image always comes to mind when I talk about this
it's this one of a frozen Multnomah Falls
somehow, the camera chose a very slow shutter speed
and I took this unintentional ICM photograph
it still is my favorite from that day
or this one that I took from inside the car just a few days ago
from here, from this spot
it was a rainy day, and the water drops on the window of the car
created this absolutely imperfect photo
that I absolutely love
as you can see, only the branch in the very middle is in focus
what were the settings?
I don't know
who cares?
what matters is that I believe that that image captures the essence of that moment
a beautiful landscape, but a rainy and windy day
when it was hard to even look at the fjord for more than a few seconds
you could only get a glimpse before the wind and the rain started getting in your eyes
and I think this image conveys that feeling much better
than a perfect image with the perfect settings would ever have
again, I'm not saying that shooting at f/1.4 is the same as shooting at f/11
because it's not
but the specific aperture of a specific photograph tells us very little
because we don't know the distance to the subject, to the foreground, to the background
in the same way, shutter speed matters too, sometimes
but knowing the shutter speed used in a photo tells us very little
because we don't know how fast the subject was moving
even in long exposures, that's the kind of photography that I love doing
we don't know how fast the clouds were moving, or how choppy the water was
I'm always changing the exposure time in my long exposures based on all of those factors
if you don't have that information, just the settings are pretty much useless
so instead of on settings, we'd be better off by focusing on what we want to achieve and why
on the composition that will capture the essence of the scene
a tack sharp dull image will feel even duller
an imperfect but full of meaning and emotion photograph will always work
my advice is to pay less attention to the dials on the camera
and pay more attention to the landscapes, to the subject, whatever we have in front of us
all right, that's all
thank you so much for watching, see you in the next one!