Photographers notebook?

[LouiseTopp]

Hi do any of you know or can you recommend a photographers notebook that I can write notes in, setting like ISO etc from?

I'm looking for one I can take on field trips with me?

Many thanks.

[Mike Buckley]

The only settings that I can think of off the top of my head that would be helpful to note in an organized fashion would be settings for situations:

• that are highly specialized, such as settings for making photos of star trails or shutter speeds that stop the action or ensure the motion blur of various subjects;
• that I encounter so infrequently that I have forgotten the ideal settings; or
• both of the above.

As an example of the second item shown above, I rarely use my flash for photographing people (mostly because I don't often photograph people). So, I printed the standard camera and flash settings used in those situations and laminated the piece of paper so it would hold up well in inclement weather and last longer than if it was not laminated. That card is always stored in the case that holds my flash unit. You could do something similar and store it in your camera bag.

[rpcrowe]

I tried a system of making notes when I was shooting film on several occasions and found that I could not get my brain wrapped around that system well enough to consistently record accurate information.

We are shooting in the wonderful world of digital photography in which mundane information like lens, camera, ISO, f/stop, shutter speed is recorded for us and kept as EXIF data.

There are times in which I need to keep notes: types of aircraft, names of subjects and other information about my images. I will use either a small lined notebook and pen or record the data with a tiny voice recorder. I have to admit that I am not exceptionally good doing this. I think that my lack of note taking ability while shooting has to do with my total inability to walk and chew gum at the same time

I wish that my cameras (5D Mark II and 7D) had an audio record capability which would keep information with my image. My ancient Olympus C5050Z 1995 vintage camera had this capability and some other cameras like a few of the Canon 1D models have the capability.

I would certainly prefer adding the voice record capability and subtracting the Print From Camera capability...

I will occasionally use the video record capability (in lowest quality mode) to record information like asking a model to state her name and email address - so I will have a record ofwhom I am shooting...

[Inkanyezi]

I guess you are using a digital camera these days, and the images themselves keep notes for you. Every picture has metadata, often called Exif, which is a standard for metadata. Those metadata can be read with your image processing and display programs, and for images on the web, there are also tools for reading them. One of those tools is a plugin for Firefox, Alan Raskin's Exif viewer. There are many more.

So by and large, we need not make notes, even if we want to compare or make statistics on exposure data such as f-stops, focal length, ISO or shutter speed. There are even programs to dig up those statistics from our images.

And as mentioned, many cameras have the ability to record messages to the images taken - all of mine can do it.

[Mike Buckley]

There are times in which I need to keep notes: types of aircraft, names of subjects and other information about my images.

When I have that need, I usually take a photo of a sign in a museum, a page of a guide book, a detail of a map, or I quickly write the information on a piece of paper and then photograph it.

[Shadowman]

Hi do any of you know or can you recommend a photographers notebook that I can write notes in, setting like ISO etc from?

I'm looking for one I can take on field trips with me?

Many thanks.

Are you referring to something like what is shown in link?

http://analogbook.com/?v=7516fd43adaa

[Saorsa]

I tried a system of making notes when I was shooting film on several occasions and found that I could not get my brain wrapped around that system well enough to consistently record accurate information.

We are shooting in the wonderful world of digital photography in which mundane information like lens, camera, ISO, f/stop, shutter speed is recorded for us and kept as EXIF data.

There are times in which I need to keep notes: types of aircraft, names of subjects and other information about my images. I will use either a small lined notebook and pen or record the data with a tiny voice recorder.

I wish that my cameras (5D Mark II and 7D) had an audio record capability which would keep information with my image. My ancient Olympus C5050Z 1995 vintage camera had this capability and some other cameras like a few of the Canon 1D models have the capability.

I would certainly prefer adding the voice record capability and subtracting the Print From Camera capability...

The digital age also provides us with a lot of assistance in those areas too. I also like taking pictures of aircraft and find that just entering the registration number into the search box will bring up a number of sites dedicated to aircraft that will tell you more than you might want to know.

For example, I didn't recognize this aircraft on a trip to England so I took a long shot, cropped to read the registration,m typed 'G-ADIA aircraft' into google and discovered it was a 1935 DeHavilland Tiger Moth.

[Steaphany]

I personally use 3x5 index cards. One card per roll of film, each of the 9 exposures, shooting 6x8's with my Mamiya RB67 ProSD, recorded on a line. They are small, the stack of unused cards takes little space, and I hold the cards until I have completed my negative scans.

With digital, by Sigma SD14 handles everything for me.

[DanK]

When I need more than the camera will record, I just stick a simple small spiral-bound notebook in my pocket or camera bag, like this.

[Manfred M]

Louise - as the others have, I just use the xmp viewer that comes as part of my image editor package to see this data. The camera has nicely recorded all this critical information for you. This is how the one that comes with Photoshop / Adobe Camera Raw shows you everything you might want to know:



The camera and lens I used, shooting mode, metering mode, ISO, shutter speed, focal length and aperture setting are all there for your viewing.


I'll also photograph the place (something filmmakers refer to as the "establishing shot" and is seen at the beginning of every scene in a movie) I'm at and any relevant signage throughout the places.

Establishing shot of the Badami Caves, India





Sign at the Badami Cave 1





If you still want to use a notebook, go to your local stationary supplier and see if they carry something called a "surveyor's notebook". This is a pocket size notebook that land surveyors use to take their notes and the main advantages are that these books are small enough AND use waterproof paper. In the old days, using pencil to write in them was mandatory (40 years ago), as pencil doesn't smear when wet, but technology has improved and waterproof pens and fine tipped markers are used everywhere.

[LouiseTopp]

Are you referring to something like what is shown in link?

http://analogbook.com/?v=7516fd43adaa

Something like that

[loosecanon]

exif information for camera settings, GPS unit for location, photograph labels, street names, etc, use a small stereo voice recorder to record guides or additional information such as flash settings.

Back home use lightroom to add information to image sidecar files

Problem with notebooks is they become a two handed operation.

stereo voice recorder enables the ear to pick out faint sounds from background.