Ever since digital photography entered our lives, it has become very easy and cheap to press the shutter release. It’s so nice – coming home with loads of pictures, keeping the good ones and deleting the bad ones. All of a sudden, we don’t have to calculate the number of remaining pictures on our film or the number of film packages in our bag.
What we need is a huge memory card, extra batteries, and we can click our finger blue.
That’s so nice… - or is it?
Let us imagine a huge and prestigious exhibition presenting the works of 20 photographers, and we are among those 20 selected. Each photographer can exhibit only two pictures, what should we choose? From the hundreds and thousands of pictures we took, it will be extremely difficult to select the two that will tell the world who we are and what we feel.
The reason for this is that we usually “click”, and do not “take pictures”. It looks the same – practically the same act – we aim and click the shutter release, but is the result the same?
Alternatively, we are participants in a nice photography forum, and frequently upload new pictures to this forum. What should we upload? When browsing through our huge libraries, which store loads of digital pictures, we cannot find something we want to show.
Our great trip to Scandinavia, which produced 1,500 pictures, has barely three pictures that are not too embarrassing to show in public.
Why?
Because what we did was to click and not shoot pictures. If we were to shoot pictures, the results would be entirely different. I will immediately show you what I mean. The enthusiasm, impatience, the easiness with which we can produce pictures in the digital world – sent us rolling down the slippery slope of clicking! We came home with a huge amount of pictures – most of which are worthless.
We all fall into this trap – amateurs and professionals alike – because of the unbearable easiness of clicking.
We tell ourselves – I am sure to find some good pictures because I clicked every scene from a number of angles, but usually this does not happen. The picture that is constructed the best usually comes out blurry, and the best picture will usually be overexposed.
Is it actually possible to return with a high-quality large yield from a shooting series? Sure. Instead of coming home with 1,500 pictures we might come back with just 500, but each has its value. Isn’t it worthwhile?
Why 500? Because of time constraints. It takes a fraction of a second to click. To shoot a picture takes a tiny bit longer. That is all the difference.
The examples I will show later on were all taken in 2002, on a trip to Switzerland, and the camera that I had was the Sony 707. I presented these pictures specifically because the camera I used is, in fact, a P&S camera with the least number of degrees of freedom for controlling the picture.
In spite of the large zoom range, which is equal to 38-190mm, the lens does not behave as a 38-190mm lens, but more as a 10-50mm, regarding the depth of field. It is a hard task to create a situation of differentiated focus with this camera, as one can do with a 190mm lens, aperture 2, since it is not a 190mm lens but actually only a 50mm because of the tiny sensor.
Anyhow, one can still produce good pictures with this camera if one makes an effort to do so.
The following are the examples.
While wondering around the streets of Zurich, looking for a certain tram, I noticed an interesting man standing at the tram station. The violin, the red shoes, the foreign facial expression, made my finger click on the camera:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/200sec F Number: 4 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 23.5mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:24 10:25:21 Color Space: 65535

 

However, a short glimpse at the screen made me realize the mistakes that I had made (one of the great advantages of digital photography). I recomposed, went closer (by zooming) and waited for an event. I obtained something completely different:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/200sec F Number: 4 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 43.6mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:24 10:25:32 Color Space: 65535

While wondering the streets elsewhere, I found a dog with a sad face, searching for its master. Without thinking too much, I clicked:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/125sec F Number: 2.8 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 48.5mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:24 16:37:17 Color Space: 65535

A glimpse at the screen showed me how hasty I had been. I recomposed, narrowed the disturbing left side and waited for the dog to turn his head to the street. Then I clicked again:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/125sec F Number: 3.2 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 48.5mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:24 16:37:22 Color Space: 65535

While walking along the boulevard beside the Limmat River, my eyes caught the “infinity” of this boulevard. I clicked:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/160sec F Number: 4 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 9.7mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:24 17:49:44 Color Space: 65535

The screen showed me what I had missed. I was not being lazy, so I kneeled and took a second picture. I saw the shadow of the bench leading the eye to infinity and added the crumbled leaf to spice up the picture:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/100sec F Number: 4 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 9.7mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:24 17:50:07 Color Space: 65535

While continuing to walk on the same boulevard, I noticed a rowboat with a rower. I lifted the camera to my eye because of the strong contrast and the interesting background. I took a short series of pictures, of which the last was of poor quality:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/500sec F Number: 5.6 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 48.5mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:24 18:00:19 Color Space: 65535

The penultimate picture was well constructed. The red boat on the right and the white sailboat on the left nicely frame the scene. And also the oarsman rowed….

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/500sec F Number: 5.6 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 48.5mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:24 18:00:12 Color Space: 65535

I carried on my trip and came to a small town called Baden. The red rooftops immersed in green and the red fortress in the background caught my eye so I clicked:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/200sec F Number: 4 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 9.7mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:25 11:56:10 Color Space: 65535

A brief glimpse at the screen showed me that I had been overly enthusiastic, and that I had missed the proportions in the presentation. Not being lazy, I turned the camera to the portrait position and took a second picture. I left out the fortress but gained the green car, which gives proportion and adequate weight to the size of the houses:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/160sec F Number: 4 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 9.7mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:25 11:55:18 Color Space: 65535

The next station on my trip was a beautiful town named Zug over the lake of Zurich. It is so beautiful there that I simply lost my senses and clicked everything I saw:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/500sec F Number: 5.6 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 19.5mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:26 11:27:07 Color Space: 65535

A short glimpse at the result made me take that picture again – this time without cutting off the small bridge and its shadow – at a wider angle which includes more of this beautiful town – and also without cutting out what floats on the water at the horizon on the right:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/500sec F Number: 5.6 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 13.1mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:26 11:27:19 Color Space: 65535

In conclusion, here is a planned overview of the beautiful Zurich from one of the bridges over the Limmat River:

Model: CYBERSHOT Exposure Time: 1/500sec F Number: 4 Max Aperture Value: 2.0625 Focal Length: 9.7mm Exposure Program: Normal program Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 100 Metering Mode: Pattern Flash: Flash did not fire Date Taken: 2002:05:24 10:09:41 Color Space: 65535

We should always remember – there is no wisdom in clicking. Taking a picture is an entirely different story. If we dedicate more time and thought on how to construct the frame, we might not end up being embarrassed to show our pictures in an exhibition or upload them to the forum.
Digital photography has great potential in-store, so let’s eat and not gobble up!