Gold Mist
Hey folks I have been starting to work on some images from a Fall trip to Yellowstone and thought this might spur some discussion. This image was taken at dawn and during the wait for sunrise a fog bank rolled in. I thought the moment was less than ideal but fired off the camera to see what happens.
So the question is
How many of you will just fire away in the hopes of something good happening vs. having a vision and if the moment does not come to realization you do not take the image. What I am trying to say is do you let the moment control the capture or do you need to be in control of as many elements as possible before you hit the shutter.
Thought this might be something that might draw some conversation.
Image is from Fisherman's Bridge. This is the area were Yellowstone Lake drains into the Yellowstone River.
Dan
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So the question is
How many of you will just fire away in the hopes of something good happening vs. having a vision and if the moment does not come to realization you do not take the image. What I am trying to say is do you let the moment control the capture or do you need to be in control of as many elements as possible before you hit the shutter.
Thought this might be something that might draw some conversation.
Image is from Fisherman's Bridge. This is the area were Yellowstone Lake drains into the Yellowstone River.
Dan
posted by dan in marin at 4:49 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
This picture is beautiful and very pleasant to look at.
This is a great discussion topic! Thanks for starting it. I'll post some thoughts soon, but why don't you get the ball rolling, Dan.
Tell us more about your own approach with regard to your questions here, and also whether or not you think this image was successful based on your approach.
--Warren
Amazing ! nice mist scene of sunrise at Yellowstone view, excellent shot...:-)
Lena,
The answer to your questions really depend on what kind of photography one is doing, whether it be street, portrait, landscape,fine art, or whatever.
For me, I lean towards "the moment controls the capture" most of the time. However, I don't believe in just snapping away in hopes of capturing something good. So there are many factors that help in capturing a moment. Some of these factors include your personal vision, experience, timing, and familiarity with the equipment. All these factors come into play, and if everything is working together well, they come together in an almost subconscious level. In other words, once a moment that you want is seen, photography should happen quickly and without too much thinking. I usually have an idea of my finished image while I'm taking the shots, and I arrive at that initially envisioned image at post-processing time, using PP to finalize the vision.
There are times when I may want as much control as possible before I snap the shutter, such as when I have a specific location, lighting, and look that I want in a portrait session. But my most enjoyable method is to let the moment come to me, and then making the best of that moment, adapting to the lighting and available composition as well as possible, and also using whatever equipment is at hand (because you can't predict what equipment is best for any given moment).
I would love to hear from everyone else on this subject.
--WT
So for me. I would have to say when on the street in an urban environment I tend to be more spontaneous than when I am in a landscape. I probably should practice scouting a good streetscape and then waiting for people to accentuate the scene, but generally I walk and try to catch what is immediately before me. I do try to catch light and shadows, but it is less contrived than my landscape work which tends to be more controlled.
In the image above I arrived before dawn with the hopes of getting a pink/orange sunrise on the river in the foreground. I actually captured what I called the blue mist prior to the sun rising and the fog rolling in, and will post that later. I was disappointed as the fog grew thicker and "ruined" my plans, but when the light and our scene of my planned landscapes don't come to fruition, I usually will still see what I can come up with. In this case I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at the individual images on my laptop that night and thought the image might have some promise.
In general, I find planning a image and carefully constructing the shot (in this case actually three stitched into a pano)to be rewarding for several reasons. The first is to develop a vision, the second is to see if your technical understanding of the dynamics of the scene can be interpreted into your vision and then the final - can you bring the image to reality during PP.
That is not say that some of my most favorite images and prints have not been done within 10 seconds of conception, and pressing the shutter.
The beauty of photography for me is that your art can be achieved in both a spontaneous and very controlled manner.
There's a certain pattern that has emerged with photographers of note like Josef Koudelka and Lee Friedlander. Both these photographers are best known for their work in urban or densely packed human pictures taken in their youth. However over time as they have gotten older they have tended to move away from urban stuff and evolved towards landscapes.
I forget who, but one of them said that this was because as they got older, their bodies begin to wear out. They aren't as agile as they needed to be in order to sneak up on spontaneous moments happening around them. And so they find themselves shooting landscapes, which almost by definition require the photographer to slow down and focus on the several different aspects that are in his/her control.
Also, the vastness of landscape often forces photographers to use equipment that requires them to take charge - such as large format cameras.
I guess what I'm getting at is that there are seasons in lives and we tend to want to do a certain kind of work at a certain point in time. Just the way HCB gave up photographing in the later years.
Tree-hands spinning the crystal ball... Very cool fireball. I really like those shadowy shapes and reflections.
With a vision, you go out hoping that something good happens. Vision is the reason you go out hoping something good happens. I think we need both. Not all who wander are lost.
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