Get It Right In-Camera

I come from the old school of the film days which disciplined me to get my exposure right in camera. We could not afford to get it wrong in-camera. Correctly exposed and properly composed images every time. Well, we’ve all messed things up from time to time!

Things have changed quite dramatically since we started to insert a CF or a SD card in the back of the camera instead of a roll of film. Photographers in general have become lazy, not thinking before clicking the shutter! I’ve heard this phrase a million times now:

‘ I’m shooting RAW, I can go 2 stops over or under in Photoshop ‘

Why oh why oh why!!! Why can’t one get the exposure right before clicking the shutter. If you enjoy sitting in front of a computer all day long then be my guest. The thing is, many photographers don’t cost the time in front of the computer. Just because its their own time, it seems to me that it doesn’t matter how much one spends on a computer. Time is money. If you employed someone to do your editing, you’ll have to pay him or her, right?

I shoot in Manual mode. Its my old habit and even though the metering in the new camera bodies is very good, I’m not going to let a computer decide my exposure for me. I have an image in my mind before I click the shutter, the camera does not know what I’ve got in mind. I know how much light goes through my lens. You may say I’m being a control freak, well yeah. I save tons and tons of time as my exposures, right across the board are consistent when I download them. I don’t need to tweak each and every image. I colour correct one image from a batch and then batch process the lot. My workflow is pretty simple and straight forward, I only use Aperture and hardly ever have the need to go into Photoshop.

I’m not trying to say that shooting in Manual is the right way or the only way to get the exposure right in camera. I know a lot of very good photographers who shoot in Aperture / Shutter priority mode, their exposures are consistent due to the fact that they see the light and make a judgment on how much light they need and then click the shutter by using a variety of options on the camera body i.e spot metering, locking the exposure and re-composing etc.

At a recent seminar, I was talking about how many images I shoot at a wedding (which is around 600-700 and the couple get to see around 250). I shoot alone so don’t have a 2nd shooter. One of the guys in the room disagreed and I asked him why. He said that there is no way in the world I can tell a ‘full’ story of the day with so few images, I asked him how many he shot at a wedding and if he was willing to share how much was his average package price. He said he shot about 3,000 images, that’s right, three thousand images and he his average price is between £1200 – £1400. I asked him how long it takes him to edit & process the wedding, 8 days, he said. Do you think he is going to make a profit on this wedding at this price ? I think not. Machine gunning a wedding or a portrait shoot is not the way to photograph, you need to photograph like a sniper, wait…aim…click.

Now I’m not saying that what he is doing is wrong. Each to their own. All I wanted to do is put my point across of value your time. Selling at a low price can be very profitable if you have the right work flow and the business model in place. In fact, some of my most profitable products are the low priced ones.

To conclude, I truly believe that creating an image ‘correctly’ within the camera and not on the computer will save you tons and tons of time. Its simple and easy. All I do is set my aperture and just change the shutter speed if I need to before I click.