Another extreme one - grainy, dark, cloudy, and the colors are quite unusual. But it does catch that dramatic moment, doesn't it? I was working with the telezoom at its boundaries between photography and painting here. Widest aperture and underexposure for letting only that light stripe in the horizon be "real" while the rest might have been just a fantasy.
Thanks a lot for the nice comment Annemette - oops sorry, I meant of course Bacteriomette! ;-)
It was a very photogenic storm, so I was lucky too. Despite the strong wing and the rain the cloud layer was torn at that place over the mountain and one could see the end of the storm approaching.
When I started with photography I was rarely taking any notes. I was just shooting here and there expecting to "know" what I did out of the blue. But soon I noticed that this was not very helpful since many good shots were ununderstandable to me later on, and also since for many bad shots I couldn't say what I did wrong. It was just searching for black cats in dark rooms, you know. So I had to take some thick books about photography, read them and work out the examples. At this point I started learning about the technical things and so I started taking notes which I keep together with the films. Thanks heavens the old good T70 with which I started and the T90 which I mainly use now will always display all technical parameters - even in program modes. And this not in the sense of some general and simply useless information like "portrait mode" or "auto red eyes correction" or similar, but rather the exact aperture, exposure time, light metering, corrections and the like.
To my shame I have to admit that in many cases even now I "forget" to take notes - but I pay for my lazyness being quite frustrated to have some very good (or also very bad) shot and not to know what I did right (or also wrong). You know, looking at some great scene or pattern or object - you just want to keep on shooting with your jaws hanging down and that special enthousiasm that comes over you. But after that, well, one just sits there and has some shots which are ununderstandable, so it's very unlikely to improve this way.
This is why I say, good friends out there, let's love photography like young students sitting at the very first lecture and writing down just about everything. Not for making it to pure science but for having some kind of photographical diary that reminds us of our ways and tells us what/how/why. This makes it to a very contemplative study which opens one's eyes for the "special".
As always, decoupling from matters and observing them in quietness is the best way to embrace them with dedication.
I went too far here, didn't I? But the question about taking notes is a very fruitable one.
Dear Nick Fascinating intense mood in this photo with the strong light floating in the sky as an island surrounded by darkness. Have a nice weekend Annemette Ps. How do you in general remember your settings? Do you write them down?
Thank you very much, Maryanne! I wish I could remember more about my settings etc. This photo is very old and I don't have taken any other notes on how I shoot it.
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