The Beginners Questions Area

Two words that you cannot say to your old buddy on an airplane… Hi Jack !

This is a great thread for our second week here,
it kinda reminds me of being back in high school. lol

Okay guys, I'm gonna fes-up… I have absolutely no idea what this thread is about (I only read half of it)…
or the history from dpreview that’s been cited, but I really like the photo of the guitar-girl in the field.

I’m not taking sides.

100% spot on 🙂

This is an extract from the op explaining what this thread is about. The last sentence summarises the purpose of this thread.

You know what GB i was going to post that image up the other day just to get your attention, you hate that image. but did we have some great discussions over it 😜 i only picked up the old zx1 today and took some picks with it and it went straight back in the cupboard . I will tell you this though, i wont be buying another FF camera for at least 10 years ,love the a74. but given the past cameras all the cameras i chose had little to do with image quality but more that they could stream live hdmi out for my studio work. then came DOF and now AF and the a74 is at the top of the list for all my main studio work.

you need to learn comprehension. a poster said that hard light and contrast produces crap light for images. i posted images that provided evidence thats incorrect.
then someone else says you cant shoot in hash midday sunlight. so i post another image proving that comment wrong. then another posts you need to shoot at golden hour ,so i post another image showing that just golden hour light doesn't have to be soft light. you seem to have a problem with all my responses. 😂🤣

I agree. I was wondering what happened to those experts at DPReview's Science and Technology forum.
They became beginners again when migrating here!

Seriously spoken DPRevived needs a new section for articles about photography.

I think original posts by Michael Fryd and DannoB in threads listed here: dprevived.com/t/answers-to-common-questions/1089/ were typical article stuff and should been published as articles with some enlightening pictures.
After reading a article people could discuss about it at the forum.

It can do and so that statement was totally correct.

You posted an image that in your opinion showed that was incorrect.

And in some situations depending on the goal the photographer has that will be totally correct.

Depending on the goal of the photographer that statement is totally correct.

As I said before, if you are happy with your photos then all well and good. Just continue doing what works best for you. But hijacking other people's thread with photos that have nothing at all to do with the original post come across as a desperate attempt to seek some sort of recognition because you seem to be scared of posting your images in your own threads for critique.

I received an email with that photo attached.
I don't see that as a good example of a golden hour photo.
When the correct black point is set in that image, the subject and foreground have much more 'punch' than the low contrast, slightly washed out look they have now.

I found those photos today GB the AF on the canon was woeful ,out of 10 images taken i dont think 1 was in focus under those conditions. i wont post them again that was 11 years ago let the comparison rest. but can say this though the keepers were from the little olympus that was a no brainer.

So, back to the original post........I think the reason that the Beginner's forum had the activity that it did at DPR was because DPR was a monster at SEO. That would draw fresh blood from all corners of the world. The beginners forum here, well, almost everybody here is an experienced photographer from years on DPR and in real life. That's a recipe for......not many beginners. Maybe someday this place will get better SEO traction and new people will come here, but given we don't have product reviews etc, I would expect the Beginner's forum here to be pretty slow for a pretty long while.

Whomever is in charge of approving new accounts, do NOT let Phototeach2 in here for any reason....LOL!

Do you mean exposure or appropriate exposure 😁

OK, now let’s get serious and on topic…

This is a forum and not a university.

Personally I would have welcomed a discourse that would acknowledge that the common understanding of the word exposure is appropriate exposure, maybe with a note that the scientific definition of exposure has a different meaning, but is not relevant for the average camera operator, and especially a beginner.

Instead we’re throwing around with jargon, and part of the discussion is pedantry leading to unnecessary confusion. Just slightly related bites of knowledge are added without context which makes topics even more incomprehensible and hard to grasp. All of this isn’t helpful, and certainly not a great place for beginners.

I think the thread about the exposure triangle being misleading causes more confusion than the illustration itself.

A scientific research paper is a much better place for pedantry than a forum. I would argue that a beginner is interested in the end result (great photo), and not in photons that reach some electronic component that is connected to other components that do some stuff. This is neither an electronic engineering, nor a computer science forum.

This thread is going way off topic and round in circles now. In any case your suggestion doesn't really mean anything unless you define the meaning of exposure and appropriate exposure. The appropriate exposure can be very different for sooc jpegs to the appropriate exposure if shooting raw.

For me, the appropriate exposure is the optimal exposure**.

Maybe for some it might be but for many it is very clear.

* exposure - amount of light striking the sensor per unit area while the shutter is open
** optimal exposure - the maximum exposure* within dof and motion blur requirements without clipping important highlights.
*** under exposed - more exposure* could have been added with the DOF and blur constraints still being met without clipping important highlights.

Maybe for many it might be but for some it is very clear.

Booooo! Hi Mr. Pedantic Jack. Welcome to another thread.

No problem :-)

So what does "appropriate exposure" mean when you use it sentences?

Exactly what it says! Most English speakers would have no problem understanding the sentence "I grabbed my camera, set the appropriate exposure and took the shot."

It doesn't have a technical meaning, if that is what you are looking for.

Ok......but if a beginner then mentioned that using Program Shift in P mode gave them different settings that gave them the image lightness they wanted and asked you how to then set the appropriate exposure for the scene, how would you explain it to them?