[rollei_list] Re: Lightmeters and Estimated Photography

On Friday, April 29, 2005, at 08:01  PM, Marc James Small wrote:

> [...] in the end, any photographer who cannot properly evaluate a 
> sunlit scene and determine the exposure from his own head needs to 
> rethink the process. Using another camera to determine the exposure is 
> less a confession of weakness: it is an acknowledgement of a failure 
> to comprehend the mixture of light and subject which allows us to take 
> pictures. An undue reliance on a lightmeter indicates a failure of 
> understanding.

I wouldn't put it QUITE that strongly, Marc. I am personally very good 
at guesstimating all sorts of things - how much salt or spices to put 
in a dish I am cooking, for example. I am almost always right in my 
guesstimation. I am also good at guesstimating distances and sizes. I 
once made a specialised 20-tooth wrench for a 10-speed bike I was 
repairing, when the tool needed to open the rear wheel up had to be 
exactly that, and I had no access to bike tools. I made the tool 
entirely by eye, without using ANY measuring instruments whatsoever, 
except a steel ruler to measure the diameter of the tool. I have often 
made hexagonal nuts exactly hexagonal using just a file, a vise, and my 
unaided eyes to judge that each of the six sides of the nut was exactly 
the same length. It's just a talent I have, like my ability to pick up 
languages. It's not something special which I have had to work at.

But I understand others may not be so good at guesstimation. That is 
not to say that they are bad photographers. They just don't have the 
same talent.

There are lots of things at which I have NO talent. For example, I have 
no talent at business. That doesn't make me incapable of balancing my 
books or calculating my taxes, however. I just have to work hard at it, 
and use all the tools at my disposal. And even then I HATE it every 
second. I just don't have THAT kind of talent.

Cheers.
















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