what's the reason to ask "what settings you used?" ?

[gymak90]

I think it is useful, especially for beginners. Rather than having the photographer, in this case, a beginner, to keep trying various settings, why not give him some foundation?

In short, you allow the beginner to copy. Of course lighting conditions will be different, but most of the time, it will be roughly similar, so the photographer learns to manipulate from the settings told to him.

For techniques like panning. You can have someone who tries and fails all the time. Why not let the person know the settings, e.g. 1/15s ISO200 etc.. So the person has some idea on achieving a good panned shot?

If someone asks for the setup, say for a pic of an aircraft taken during an airshow, it will be useful to let others know of your focal length used in ur pic. Then others will know what lens they should get.

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

thanks to everyone who has replied to my post with your honest and helpful feedback. When I initially posted, I thought that maybe I was alone with this sentiment, but I guess a number of you feel the same.

My main gripe is that someone almost always one of the 3 questions
1) what settings you used?
2) what lens you used?
3) what setup you used?

in response to someone posting up a photo (landscape, portraiture, etc)
The above 3 questions are simply too vague. To me, it shows a lack of effort to delve deeper in order to better benefit from the respondant.

Even if those experts wanna share their knowledge... they see such a question, also no mood to answer I think...

Something like "how did you manage to capture the fireworks so clearly at night? Did you use a very long exposure? If so, did you have to use any other accessories to stabilise the camera?" maybe shows more willingness to learn... i dunno... just rambling my thoughts off...

 

[Leong23]

Actually i really don't really know my setting, after i spend thousands of dollars on my gears, i expect it to float in the air and composed the picture, set the best setting, what i need to do is just press the shutter.

 

[calebk]

Actually i really don't really know my setting, after i spend thousands of dollars on my gears, i expect it to float in the air and composed the picture, set the best setting, what i need to do is just press the shutter.

ORLY? You have the D3? The one that takes WOW photos?

 

[Daedalus Trent]

ORLY? You have the D3? The one that takes WOW photos?

OMG! a D3 owner! a true photographer who mastered the art of WOW

:bigeyes:

 

[night86mare]

ORLY? You have the D3? The one that takes WOW photos?

i thought it was the canon mark d3 that does that? or the pentax k20d? :bsmilie::bsmilie:

 

[clioboy]

sometimes it is like a fellow golfer who asked me with club i just used and where i was aiming for..;p

i in the mood, tell him..not the mood cover the club head with my hand and snort at him:bsmilie:

hahah..just joking..of cos i will tell :bsmilie:

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

hahaha you very kind.
I would have said "I used a 5-wood, choked down 1 inch, swung 93% and hit a slight fade about 10m left-to-right"
then watch his blur expression

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

Actually i really don't really know my setting, after i spend thousands of dollars on my gears, i expect it to float in the air and composed the picture, set the best setting, what i need to do is just press the shutter.

hahaha... WOW... ok thanks for that input.
So the standard answer should be "Get a D3 or 1DsMkIII, then no need to think. Just set to auto and get the WOW... shots" ?

 

[calebk]

hahaha... WOW... ok thanks for that input.
So the standard answer should be "Get a D3 or 1DsMkIII, then no need to think. Just set to auto and get the WOW... shots" ?

Ask entropy_h. He knows best. :bsmilie:

 

[Dream Merchant]

If I really want to help someone, I'll tell them, "The best settings is 'Borrow a book on basics of light and basic digital photography' from the library".

If not, then there's ONLY ONE possible answer that all of you have been keeping from this forum:

The Professional mode: 'P'

:bsmilie:

 

[Evilmerlin]

Asking about the settings is more for having basic grounding. As a beginner, you see an amazing photograph and you wonder how it was captured. While knowing the settings might not give you the exact same photo (how boring would that be!), it does give you a baseline to work from.

 

[ortega]

the poster of the question should add to their question a "why you choose to use that particular setting"

 

[Daedalus Trent]

well,personally, I think it is useful, mostly :think:

For instance, while shooting the NDP preview, my friend asked me what my setting were for shooting the Black Knights. I told him 1/500-1/1000s was fast enough to freeze the actions...and he cranked his shutterspeed down from 1/3000s This can be applied to future air performances since the aircraft don't usually fly fast while in formation.

Hence, I think asking such questions are useful....for photography-literate shooters

However, if someone were to ask me for my setting during NDP...shutterspeed ,ISO ,F-stop,how the image was optimized.... and Copied the exact setting for say, the RSAF open house this month...then complained that his photo were terrible, then its pretty reasonable to say asking for settings is pointless, for photography-illiterate ppl :cry:


Just my 2 sen :think:

 

[Lost Dog]

Nothing wrong with asking the settings, you're just interpreting too much.. asking the settings is just for baseline and comparison. it's obvious it does not give the same results. but at least the newbie has an idea at to what settings to start with and adjust from there. I do ask that once in a while coz i'm a newbie. nothing wrong with asking compared to someone who never asks but does not get results for fear of being called a newbie. A pretender to know it all perhaps.

By the way, everybody went through the process of asking to shorten the learning curve of this hobby.

my opinion only, no harm intended.

 

[entropy_h]

Buy the Nikon D3 or Canon 1DsMkIII. Don't waste time. Confirm your pictures will go WOW.

Remember, Confucius once said: it's all about the gear, it's not about the guy behind the camera.

 

[entropy_h]

i thought it was the canon mark d3 that does that? or the pentax k20d? :bsmilie::bsmilie:

Ok lah, in your case, you can tell people to buy the Pentax K20D so that one can take pictures which make people go WOW.

 

[swhyge]

May I ask all those who share the same logic as TS: Have you asked such similar questions before?


Now that we can remove the triangular sign from our car, we start calling the L drivers kayu?

 

[lennyl]

Now that we can remove the triangular sign from our car, we start calling the L drivers kayu?

That's all too human. Those of us who has been through National Service should know that very well. Suffer through your 3 months as a recruit. Then look down on new recruits and give them hell.

 

[mckenzy]

Humans will always be curious. They ask. That's how some people learn.

It also boils down to personality.

An introvert would scour a magazine finding images he/she likes and take note of 'settings'...
So would a lurker in CS. Nothing wrong with that, thats how they learn.

The extrovert on the other hand will bug everyone around him to give him/her the answers to the 'settings', just in a more vocal manner. Also nothing wrong with that, there will be those who will answer such questions in such a manner as well.

I think forums are an in-between.

The introvert will post the question, and wait for the answer...

The extrovert will post and reply the post 5 minutes later asking, "why is nobody replying my question?(!)"

We have to bear in mind that everyone learns differently and at different speeds... some pick it up in an instant, some take a little longer to digest... some just don't get it(but lets not talk about my dad) ;p

times also change, people want easy answers to questions, Digital has created that atmosphere...