I am not intending to start a debate here, since every person has his own approach to photography, or even to life. Modern DSLRs have sophisticated metering, a list of features that runs into hundreds of pages and a whole lot of other things which make them out-think humans (it seems) and yet the internet is flooded with 20,000 bad photos for every good one.
The OP asked for 'advanced training' and I replied with what I felt 'advanced training' is about. It has helped my photography far, far more than anything else. Two years ago, I reached a point where I realised that simply switching metering modes and turning the dial left and right to bring the meter to the centre was not what was getting me closer to my vision. Rest is a personal choice.
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Originally Posted by nilanjanray With recent DSLRs - that have sophisticated metering, and have instant feedback mechanism: |
You may have an instant feedback mechanism but what is the point of seeing the image on screen if you don't know what is good and what is bad? What is 'properly exposed' and what is not? A histogram is not enough to show you a 'properly exposed' picture if your wish is to have a brightly lit face taking up 20% of the screen and a black background taking up the balance 80% of the screen, since it will show you massive underexposure in this case.
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1. Why do you need to shoot in manual, unless there is a specific reason to do so? I shoot wildlife in manual mode + auto-iso, but there is a specific reason to do so - instant control over shutter speed (static vs moving creature).
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The very fact that you use manual mode + auto iso means that you have a certain understanding of how the camera works to arrive at that mode as your preferred choice. Unless, you have reached there by trial-and-error or heresay.
To me, aperture priority, shutter priority and program modes are extensions of the manual modes. I shoot manual (a personal preference) but without complete understanding of the exposure triangle you can't shoot in any of the above modes.
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2. Why do you need to invest time in learning sunny 16, zone systems etc.? Why not shoot extensively with your camera, understand its quirks (e.g. regarding metering, focusing etc.) and compensate for it in the field?
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What are the 'quirks' in a camera? How do you 'compensate for a quirk in the field' without understanding how the camera works?
The sunny 16 rules or the zone system are not complex concepts that takes years of learning. That is a misconception. The Sunny 16 explains to you how metering works and the concepts of 'doubles' and 'halves' in exposure, while zone teaches you to grapple with contrasts in lighting and understanding tonality of a picture. You can shoot with working meters and get good exposure but when you are faced with a scene with huge amount of contrast, how do you shoot? Where do you meter? Obviously, matrix / evaluative metering doesn't work if you want to shoot a person's face against a background with blinding snow, sun and dark rocks? On an overcast day, do you meter for the sunny sky, the clouds or the dark scenery below? The zone and Sunny 16 only help you with these situations. Even a 15-stop DR won't help you if you don't spot meter at the right place.
Of course, one can always wait for a 'shoot a dark complexioned Indian face against snow with grey clouds and rocks' mode to come in cameras (unless its already there).
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My personal opinion - we tend to make photography too complex. Too much information can be overwhelming |
To make things work for you, you need to understand how they work, at least to some level. To get good results, some amount of rigour is necessary. The OP wants 'advanced training', he might as well invest some time and effort. A weekend of reading is more than enough. Rest is practice, as you rightly recommended. Even an 'advanced' course in DSLR will take him that kind of involvement.
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Originally Posted by nilanjanray I get that you shoot film and so need to shoot differently, but why should DSLR shooters invest so much time learning technical stuff from another age? Might as well invest that time on practicing + course correction, mastering the gear one has, improving composition and post processing skills. |
Composition is not only about placement of objects within the frame. If you understand how lenses 'shorten', 'widen' or 'compress' or 'expand' perspective, you can compose better. If you want to show a small boy standing against the backdrop of a huge mountain, which lens do you use to make the boy look smaller and mountain bigger or vice versa? Assuming if you move back and forth too much you will fall over a cliff, how will you control perspective (and, therefore, composition) without changing your position? These are things the so-called 'technical concepts' clarify much faster than months of practice.
I shoot film because I have two lovely cameras and lenses lying with me and film and a great developing studio is still available. I mentioned this because a little bit of understanding of certain concepts make me confident with cameras without working meters in all conditions. 90% of my shooting is still digital. I shot with my digital cameras for almost a week without looking at the meter, and I realised it can be done so I do it. It need not apply for the OP, so I called it a 'by-product'.
Excuse me if this is an excessively long post, but perhaps my previous post was excessively short, so it seems the point never got across!