“There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative,” he said. “Oops! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.” Henri CartierBresson

The most important thing is the subject.

From a guy that loves both digital as well as film, there is a way to think about shooting images with any kind of camera. The most important thing to address with either film or digital is your subject. And that means being ready for what happens in front of the lens.

Getting ready to shoot

In the days of film it was relatively easy to prepare for shooting your subjects. With any good, but simple film camera such as a Leica or a Nikon F, you simply insert film, advance film, remove lens cap, set aperture and shutter, focus, compose and shoot, advance the film and focus, compose and shoot.

The thought process is simplified so that you can concentrate on your subject.

With simplicity, you are free to capture that decisive moment…and great images are captured!

Of course with film, there is a waiting period and some work to process the film and make prints or scan it in to the computer, but at least the shot is in the can.

What you do afterward with the image depends on the success of the capture. If you really know your camera and your subject you should be confident in your success. The most important part of the process, the capture, is done.

With digital you need to charge and insert battery, insert card, remove lens cap, set aperture or shutter to manual or auto, select auto focus or manual focus, set color temperature or white balance, decide to use image stabilization or no stabilization, use live view or EVF, decide on focus method, guess depth of field. What aperture is best? Flash settings? OMG? File format Jpeg or RAW? What size? P, Av, Tv, Sv, TAv, M or B? Fill or no fill? ISO? Aperture? Shutter speed? Dynamic range? Lens correction? What program setting? HDR capture? Bracketing? How many stops or EV’s? Movie? Both? Live view? Electronic level? Color space? EV steps? Sensitivity? AE Lock and AF Lock? One push bracketing? Bracketing order? WB and flash? And so on…

And so on…

Way too many decisions! …OMG!!!

Moment lost…goodbye great image.

OR, you can put it all on Automatic and let the camera do it all.

And for the most part, you can say goodbye to getting that great image. You were not in control.

My point is really about using any type of camera – film or digital. If you are constantly fussing around with the controls and thinking about what to set on the camera, you will be less likely to capture that decisive moment.

Photography is about seeing and interpretation. The camera controls are tools for defining the subject being photographed. They are tools that when used well, can make or break your image capture.

The best way to use any camera is by thinking ahead. Always be prepared for the kind of subject you are trying to capture. Anticipate your subject. Concentrate on the now. Know that your camera is always ready for the anticipated subject. Make appropriate decisions about lighting and aperture, ISO and WB as you begin to realize that there is a shooting situation at hand. Most good photographers have always have their equipment set to the most likely settings for a given situation.

Prepare the camera before you encounter your subject. Do everything possible to be ready ahead of time. See the whole image. Look at your subject. Study it. Compose your picture. Watch for that moment when everything comes together and shoot!

Don’t let the huge number of digital choices get the best of you. Instead, use them for creative advantage. Always prepare ahead of time for the kind of subject you are searching for. Anticipate what you can long before going out. It will pay off when you see a good subject.

I realize that there are many decisions that need to be made for film as well. I am not out to trash digital. I happen to be an expert in digital imaging. I am an expert because I love the technology. I teach it. I practice it. I write about it. But there are some things that photographers need to pay attention to when they shoot with any photographic medium.

The most important thing in photography is the subject. Be ready! Be in the moment!

NOTICE of Copyright: THIS POSTING AS WELL AS ALL PHOTOGRAPHS, GALLERY IMAGES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS ARE COPYRIGHT © JOHN NEEL AND ARE NOT TO BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT FROM THE WRITER, THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND/OR lensgarden.com. THE IDEAS EXPRESSED ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND THE AUTHOR.