|
|
      
|
Shooting ABC’s Text and photos Working a full time job during the week leaves little time to get out and do much photography. I find myself anxiously anticipating the weekends where I’m able to get away and pursue my passion looking for new photographic opportunities. As the weekend approaches I invariably find myself rushing through the evenings prior to departing frantically gathering up camera equipment, film, strobes and every other accessory I can’t live without. I almost always neglect to just pick up the camera and reacquaint myself with it and check its settings. I find myself getting so entangled in the logistics of getting to my destination and making sure I get there with everything that when I first pick up the camera it doesn’t have that feeling of being a natural extension of my body. More importantly, I may not have thought to check all the settings that can be easily changed on  most
35mm SLR’s. With today’s modern SLR’s having main command dials, sub
command dials, auto focus toggles and multiple metering modes, it’s very easy
to inadvertently change one or more of these settings without ever knowing it.
Is exposure compensation dialed in? Is the dynamic auto-focus turned on? Is the
exposure set to matrix mode? I’ve found that when I’m out in the field
things tend to happen very quickly and unexpectedly and I’ll admit that I’ve
been bitten more than once by failing to check these settings. If you want to
put a damper on a day’s shooting, imagine the feeling that would come over you
if after spending the morning getting killer bald eagle landings shots when
someone points out that you don’t have the dynamic auto-focus turned on. My
mind immediately began racing through what if scenarios. Did it just
happen? Did I do while changing film? Has it been like that all morning? Are any
of these going to come out??
After the eagle incident, I began thinking about a way to develop a routine to help me remember to check all the camera settings thoroughly before getting out into the field. I then remembered that during my general aviation flight training I had learned the importance of using checklists and simple memory aids. They are used to prompt you to do specific tasks in orderly manure without really having to think about them. I know, you’re asking yourself what does this have to does this have to do with photography? Well with today’s modern SLR’s having main command dials, sub command dials, auto focus toggles and multiple metering modes so it’s very easy to inadvertently change one or more of these settings without knowing about it. To help aid in ensuring that I check these settings from time to time I came up with a memory aid that you my also find useful. I felt that for these checks to be effective they would have to be easy to remember so going way back to my preschool days I came up with an ABC check. I’ll normally like to do this check after thoroughly cleaning the camera at night or anytime it has been handled by someone other than myself. A uto-focus mode – manual/single/continuous/dynamic/ ectBattery level – fully charged Composition - +/- is set to zero Dx – Iso setting is correctly set Exposure mode - aperture-priority/shutter-priority /manual Film frame number – check to make sure you’re not on the 35 frame of a 36-frame roll of film This checklist goes over the major settings to make certain that they have not been changed, or if they have, they can be reset to their desired setting. It’s simple, quick and can be modified to suit your particular camera. Another check I like to make in addition to the ABC check is a FACT check. It deals with the settings most often changed in the field and can be done by simply looking through the viewfinder of most SLR cameras. F ilm frame number – If I’m close to the end of a roll I’ll rewind it and load in a fresh oneAperture – I like to reset it to f5.6 so I know where it is as a starting point. Composition +/- is set to zero. Since I shoot almost exclusively slides this is very critical for me. Time – Shutter speed, Just a sanity check to see if it agrees with the aperture selected. Out in the field, I like to go through both of these checks before placing the camera back in its bag. After working with a subject, no matter how short or long, you’ll find that you these settings will be changed. By taking just a few seconds and running through these check lists before zipping up the camera bag you’ve greatly increased your odds of being ready for the next photo op. If an action op presents itself I want to know I’m prepared and not fumbling around trying to set the exposure compensation blowing a once in a lifetime image. Hopeful this will give you some insight on developing a routine for yourself to be ready for any situations. Simple memory aids like these can help you to achieve the consistent results in your photography that we all strive to achieve. Oh yea, the eagle shots came out great. Good Shooting! |
|