How many photos do you take?
 

After reading various threads it seems many people take lots of photographs of the same thing (eg someone said they took 12 pictures of the Mirage volcano in Las Vegas).<BR><BR>Personally, I take one or two maximum of anything at the risk of boring myself and others when the piccies are on view.<BR><BR>Do people take a lot of pictures of one thing so they can hopefully get the perfect picture with one (the shotgun approach) or is there another reason? I am not criticizing this appoach, just interested.

Depends on whether it's film or digital. I've had a digital camera for close to three years. And I find myself taking maybe 2-3 times as many pictures as with film. Digital does exact a time commitment in processing. But I find I'm more careful about what I keep. Also, by putting them in online albums, my friends and family can view them (or not) at their leisure. And, indeed, download copies if they wish.

I once had a photographer tell me to take 3 pictures. One where you think the light settings etc. are perfect, one slightly overexposed and one slightly underexposed. No. I don't always do this....LOL

CF: what that photographer told you to do was called &quot;Bracketing&quot;. It's not so necessary unless your lighting conditions are very tricky. With print film it is even less necessary, because print film is very forgiving and can be &quot;pushed&quot; a stop or two over or under exposed, so you can get good prints even if your exposure was a little off. (If you ever get prints that are a little too light or too dark from one of those run-of-the-mill one-hour places, do go back and ask that those images be re-printed darker or lighter).<BR><BR>Slide film is less forgiving than print film - you need your exposure to be right on. Bracketing is more important there.<BR><BR>Here's a trick to measure best possible exposure if you have a zoom lens and use &quot;manual&quot; mode: before taking you photo, zoom in on the part of the picture you care most about. If you are taking a picture of a person and scenery in the background, zoom on the face and set your exposure there. Then zoom out and take the picture you want. Otherwise, your light meter will just average the light in the whole frame and may not expose what you care about.<BR><BR>Andrew<BR>

I take a picture or two of most things I really want to remember. I rarely bore other people with my photos -- and firmly believe most people REALLY don't care, even when they feign interest. The photos are a &quot;memory&quot; booster for my own use only. <BR><BR>I have watched many people stand at a great spot and take picture after picture then finally walk away. I'm never sure how they judge the pictures they took against the real thing, since many of them never saw &quot;the real thing&quot; except through a camera lens. I sometimes think people are missing the true experience by focusing (pardon the pun) so much on taking pictures of it.<BR><BR>Don't get me wrong. I suppose if you are really into photography and have a lot of time in front of the Grand Canyon, then it might make sense waiting hours and taking dozens or pictures for the really great shot when the light is just right. But that's certainly not my thing. I'd rather be taking it in myself.

Patrick,<BR><BR>The key is that a good photographer DOES &quot;focus&quot; on what he's seeing. <BR><BR>Just as an interest in geology, history, or architecture can give one a greater appreciation for what is being seen, photography can also provide a context for better understanding the subject.<BR><BR>Your mention of the Grand Canyon is a great example. For me, the GC was totally overwhelming until I began to think about how to capture those amazing colors with a camera. That's when I really began to notice the details; all those side canyons, buttes, pinnacles, shadows, highlights ...

Maybe the person taking 12 pics of The Mirage is a camera clutz like me. I took two rolls of film to my daughter's gymnastics team practice yesterday ... and ended up with 7 decent pictures ;^)

Thanks, drsawyers, for an excellent posting about how a photographer experiences a scene, his/her thought processes and his/her later and continuing appreciation of what he/she has seen.

I agree with you dr.sawyers and Howard as it applies to true &quot;photographers&quot; who are really &quot;artists&quot; -- as I gave the example in my last paragraph. But the other comments referred more to the typical tourist who simply goes wild taking hundreds of pictures -- not really treating it as an art form at all, just seeing how many pictures of a famous landmark he can get.<BR><BR>I also always love watching those video taping fanatics who never drop the camera from their face at an entire destination.

Patrick, your comment about photographers as &quot;true artists&quot; struck a empathic chord with me. While certainly not a professional, I take my photography very serious. A few years on our first trip to Italy, I experienced one of those great moments in life when, while framing a scene in my viewfinder, I realized that I was creating a picture just as an artist does when he paints. As a serious photography, that was a great moment for me!

And to add agreement to what you and drsawyers are saying: I have oftenmentioned that in Santorini, Greece I never understand the big deal about the sunset from OIA as opposed to from Fira. We saw the sunset and took pictures from Oia, but then sat on our terrace in Fira and took sunset pictures the next night. From Fira there is a an outline of the outer ring of the caldera which appears black against the sunset adding an incredible extra dimension to the scene (and to the photograph) than you can get from Oia where the sun sets out over the open sea -- must less interesting in my opinion. I suppose it was taking the photographs which made me even more aware of the advantage of that Fira view over the Oia view.

To the original poster Dave:<BR>A lot of good advice and perspective has been given. <BR>If you want to take one or two pictures of something, then get the most out of those pictures. <BR><BR>Walk around the site you want a picture of and look for interesting angles, shadows. Don't just stand in front of something and click.<BR><BR>The best time for pictures are sunrise and sunset. If you can discipline yourself, time it and go visit the thing you want the picture of during sunrise or sunset, or about an hour before sunset when the sun is nice and low on the horizon. Taking a picture at &quot;high noon&quot; is the worst possible light. Way too harsh.<BR><BR>Just these two points will get you off to a great start on good pictures, not just boring vacation pictures. Of course, beyond that, there is a lifetime of learning.