Auto mode - is it?

[NorthernFocus]

...a light meter balances exposures to the 18% (or 12%) grey scale value...
....(or perhaps "good enough") exposure at least 95% of the time.

I see you carefully wound your way around use of the word "average" lest, like myself, you find the ire of our fellow forum members turned against you, perhaps even suggesting that a part of your anatomy typically found dwelling in the equatorial region of the body has perched itself upon your shoulders displacing your brain and taking command.

[Mike Buckley]

A rather controversial statement I have been avoiding is that turning off the Auto features is only meant for those whom are eager at aiming to reach higher goals in photography.

I don't consider that statement to be controversial but I do consider it to be incorrect. I would agree to the statement if the last phrase was changed to the following: aiming to reach different goals in photography than can otherwise be achieved.

[jcuknz]

There are two situations when I used P mode ... the first was when I bought my original digital camera which only had a trigger and means to download the images. Second was when I got my latest camera ... covered with knobs and levers ... and I used P mode until I worked out what some of them could do for me.

With my second digital I had to fool the automatics to get the results I wanted and I found that the tricks I learnt then serve me well today in that it is easier and quicker to make a small adjustment while using half trigger than messing with taking full control in M ... which isn't really full control just aperture and shutter ... another semi-auto mode
I would echo Manfred's comment 'good enough for editing purposes' [or something like that]

I gave up manually focusing when I changed to digital, but the crux of that question is how precise the camera is in being able to work off the small area one chooses to be the focus point, which my previous and current camera enables me to ... so instead of twisting a control I select the point and know the automatics will focus on it ... the point of automatics ... less physical work for us humans.

I have been a fan of automatics, as long as I understand what they can do for me, ever since I got my first AE camera back in the late fifties/early sixties. But I have yet to have funds for a Volvo , just a '94 Suzuki Escudo.

[tomdinning]

Tom,

No sarcasm or any ulterior motive.

After 50 years of teaching photography, a few of your students must be highly regarded Pros today. I have a yarning to see what you have taught them. Can you please refer me to the websites of some of them?


.

Funny you should ask, Andre. At the end of my career as an educator I often wonder what influence I had over people. I've never done a search for web sites. It's not always possible to remember names and many of them would have different names. Occasionally I bump into ex students. They still have an interest in photography but most have gone down different paths to make a living. There are a few who use their photographic skills in their job. The list that I am aware of includes an orthopedic surgeon, a couple of doctors, two or three news reporters, a radio journalist, medical photographers for hospitals, artists, a writer, a hell of a lot of parents, teachers, small business owners, a couple of drug dealers, a murderer and a cop. Oh, did I mention a banana grower in Coffs Harbour and a basketball player from the 90's. there are also a couple of thousand who probably just take pictures for the fun of it just like you and I. Every one of them gets equal status on my report card.
My advice to my students as always been to get a real job so they can earn enough money to follow their passion. It's what I did and I can honestly say it has been an absolute pleasure. Getting a teaching degree and diversifying was a wise move, enforced even more wisely by my parents. In the words of my Old Man "over my dead body" comes to mind as well as "not ****ing likely" while my dear sweet mother rolled on the floor laughing at the idea I might make a living taking pictures.

[Mike Buckley]

GREAT story, Tom!

[Manfred M]

I see you carefully wound your way around use of the word "average" lest, like myself, you find the ire of our fellow forum members turned against you, perhaps even suggesting that a part of your anatomy typically found dwelling in the equatorial region of the body has perched itself upon your shoulders displacing your brain and taking command.

I took care in my reply for the very reason you suggest. The problem with some site members is that they are far more concerned with being technically correct than answering in a context that most useful to the average reader. Saying that the meter readings conform to ISO 2720:1974 is probably the technically correct answer, but it does not score very highly in being particularly useful.

Words like “typical” or “average” are more meaningful to the average photographer than some of the more technically correct responses.

[AB26]

aiming to reach different goals in photography than can otherwise be achieved.

Thanks Mike,

Agreed! That is hitting the nail where it is supposed to be hit.

[AB26]

I have been a fan of automatics, as long as I understand what they can do for me,

True, so very true!

[AB26]

My advice to my students as always been to get a real job so they can earn enough money to follow their passion.

Apparently, the grandmother of Ernie Els asked Ernie's father Neels, many years ago, when Ernie was going to stop playing golf and get a job.

The doll should probably look more like this:



Thanks Tom

[Inkanyezi]

Apparently, the grandmother of Ernie Els asked Ernie's father Neels, many years ago, when Ernie was going to stop playing golf and get a job.

The doll should probably look more like this:



Thanks Tom

I think it rather clearly illustrates my earlier comment on strobe and white balance.

Also, I have still not worked out whether compensating for what is supposed to become dark in the image, as when treating the medium after the zone system, would be a bad thing. Many people tell me that I lose lots of image information that way, but I really don't see the point in having loads of data in the low key image. To eliminate the highlights that I don't want bright, I would have to adjust the curve to a lower level anyway.

Looking at your two earlier doll images, it strikes me that the white balance set with AWB is very bluish, which puzzles me a bit, but maybe it makes sense, considering that my camera sets itself to some tungsten variety in very low light and to daylight when it's bright.

So then it comes back to me, that I want to unserstand what the automatic setting will do, and I cannot. I do understand automatic exposure, and I can handle it, but I don't understand AWB and I cannot handle it, because when it sets WB to the outback, I need the RAW file to adjust it, so shooting jpeg would be out of the question, while with the presets I will be a lot closer and can tweak even a jpeg into a white balance that I think is right.

And I think the data bits lost won't matter, because I won't use those deep shadows but make them pitch black. After all, I'll only make an image, I am not going to duplicate reality.