I dropped out of the School of Journalism at the University of Tennessee during
my junior year (in the early sixties) to take a job as a television news
photographer, a career that lasted a little less than seven years, ending when
a helicopter crash in a godforsaken southeast Asian country put a fairly
serious hitch in my gitalong.
For those too young to remember, this was back in the time when television was
almost totally black and white, video tape machines were the size of
refrigerators, and ?film at 11? really meant just that: 16mm DuPont 931A, a
black and white reversal film, ASA 160, shot most often with a Bell & Howell
70HR, spring-driven, bulletproof camera with a three-lens turret. Some used
different lenses, but my standard set was a 10mm f/1.8 Angenieux, a 25mm f/0.95
Angenieux, and a 50mm f/1.4 Cooke, the equivalent in 35mm terms of 20, 50 and
100mm lenses. There was absolutely nothing automatic about these cameras and
focusing and exposure were set by educated guess, and we all got to be quite
accurate at that. To this day, I can eyeball any distance up to 30 feet and
not be off more than a foot.
To sum this up before it gets too long, I consider myself fairly adept at the
point and shoot game, so let me impart a tip or two between pauses to stroke my
long, gray beard. This all assumes shooting out of doors or in other good
light and without a flash.
1. Use the fastest film that will give the kind of result you feel comfortable
with. When shooting color, use negative film because it is more forgiving of
exposure errors. I don?t like anything faster than 400.
2. Preset the lens for the distance you?ll most likely be shooting.
3. Determine the proper exposure, then set the camera to manual at that
exposure. For sudden changes in lighting -- a backlit shot, for instance --
it?s much easier to open the lens a couple of stops with the left hand, which
you are suppoosedly focusing with anyway, than is to diddle with the exposure
compensation dial or try to take spot readings. When shooting quickly, forget
you even have spot reading capability. You are smarter than the camera, so act
like it.
4. Practice with the camera/lens combination until you can adjust the focus
and f-stop without having to think about which direction does what.
5. Use the shortest focal length lens that will give the image size you want.
You may have to work closer, but the increased depth of field is a real
advantage.
6. Use a motor drive or a winder.
7. Shoot, shoot, shoot, and keep shooting. Film is cheap.
8. Be fearless.
Walt
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"They who would exchange freedom for a little safety deserve neither."
Benjamin Franklin
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