I am thinking about designing myself a printable photo log sheet where I can put contact strip images together with the shooting information from the camera in order to have an easy way of comparing my shots. I thought this would help me learn more about my camera and what the setting variations can help me achieve. I wonder whether such a log sheet already exists or whether any of you have done something similar?
It’s probably a case of the more you know, the less you realise you know - or something like that! I never was any good at quotes.
Shooting my dogs, I find the rapid release button a great ai, so inevitably I shoot far more frames than I need. Thank heavens it doesn’t cost to process!!!
Now here is an interesting thread on the topic of digital and whether it is killing photography
http://photocamel.com/forum/photography-talk/125603-digital-killing-photography-6.html#post1207007
I didn’t take it as a negative comment at all! My trouble is that I am a perfectionist, a retired teacher and living a hectic life! If I wasn’t organised, I’d never achieve anything!!! I remember a comment made during my first college course - too many years ago now for comfort! It was the Photography unit of the course. My tutor told me that he would probably choose my work for a job, not because it was better than others, but because my organisation was! Never forgot that.
It’s a start! As I learn, I suspect it will get simplified.
Well I found a couple of examples doing a Google search after posting this. Neither (There were only two!) did what I was trying to achieve. Here is what I have come up with so far. Comments and suggestions welcome.
The plan is to print off contact style images before any editing, stick them onto the page and gather data from the information provided by ViewNX2. I have already realised that when carrying out these experiments, I should only change ONE item at a time! The first trial run I did so many that it was impossible to see what change had achieved which result. Steep learning curve this!
Hopefully I will then be able to build a learning log, together with reading notes and articles collected that I can annotate and use to plan my next shooting expedition… Well that’s the theory! We’ll see…
Now I’m off to experiment with aperture and focus points…
I use the Nikon ViewNX2 for uploading. This gives full details of all the settings, but it is not easy to see side by side results. So what I want to do is to have thumbnail images plus the exposure details on paper for ease of comparison. I have juat found a couple of examples via a Google search, but neither really do what I want to do.
For processing/ editing I tend to use a combination depending on what I want to do. The Nikon Software is quite good, has more options of one shoots RAW. My basic editing software is paint.net, a free download whichseems to offer most of the paid software tools.