The Thought Processes in Capturing the Image

What is your thought Process (Originally Posted at DP Challenge)

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...

When I started in 1980, I didn't have discernment a vocabulary or even a notion of which questions to ask, as these concepts didn't exist in my paradigm. As time went on, I learned how to be discerning and with this capacity I could make statements with more finesse and elegance, elegance being in the scientific domain i.e. "(of a scientific theory or solution to a problem) pleasingly ingenious and simple : the grand unified theory is compact and elegant in mathematical terms."

I specifically remember the day or the epiphany when after putting down the camera to take a break that I realized that I was not aware of holding the camera throughout the whole process and that vehicle was meaningless to the intended outcome other than it being an interface. That is all it is really. A physical interface able to capture a limited amount of information on a two dimensional plain.

With this notion well ensconced in my mind set, I felt empowered to do anything I so desired without having to be encumbered by the "Technique"..I would often freak out my assistants when popping the flash and squinting my eyes to increase the contrast or augment the perceptible differences between the shadows and highlights, I would say for example f11 at 100 iso...I would generally be right on or within a third of a stop. Why? After over a million shutter releases and flash pops, you can get the results easily with such a small variation of about seven to eight stops. Once the technique is mastered, you can really fly and be intuitive. Thinking about the shot renders a different result than intuiting an image. Both can be striking, but I believe the one that will become a classic will be the one that captured a universal truth.

Ben

Personally, right now----I don't have a clue. I'm going through some growing pains, and I find myself going blank at the moment the viewfinder hits my eye. Therefore, I'm taking a break from shooting until I get it worked out.

Ben,

Never really thought about it, I've been an amateur since 1980 when I bought my first SLR (Canon AE1), before that it was a Kodak Instamatic which I used to get some good results from including motor sport :lol:

In those days the price of film prevented me from experimenting like I do with digital. It made me think more about the photo I wanted before even putting the camera up to the eye so the composition and the technical aspects were pretty much sorted before the camera was brought to the eye. That's not to say that I always got what I wanted and left some work to do in the darkroom to improve it. (Just like the digital age really).

Today, I will still use the same method of composing before taking the lens cap off, and will scout the location for the best position, even though with Digital I could just click away. Don't think I ever got to the point of getting within a 1/3 of a stop but will always have either the F setting or the speed I wanted to use in my head. I do some night photos and I can within a few seconds work out what the best time is, but their always at ISO 100 and F8 or higher normally f22.

So I guess my method in high level terms

1. scout the location (normally landscapes or seascapes for me), this equates to positioning of still life components.
2. Think about the result I want to capture
3. Work out the techy bits to meet 2.
4. bring the camera to the eye and compose in viewfinder
5. check the settings
6. recompose for the last time
7. CLICK

Roger