Hung Up On Numbers
With a background in science, numbers were always on my mind. Everything had to be measured, categorized, organized, tallied, and accounted for.
I have found, after nearly 15 years of teaching, that my students get hung up on numbers as well. It’s extremely easy to do and I fault no one for it…guilty myself. Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO…they’re all important and can make or break a composition or exposure. However, there are times, where the numbers have to come second…or can even be ignored. WHAT?!? You must be crazy!
Hear me out. I often see folks who know how to use their cameras but are learning a new technique like night photography or long exposures, and they walk over to me, hold their camera in their hands looking at the LCD, and say “So what should my settings be?” My response…I have no idea….you’re aiming the camera at the ground.
You may have just uttered a giggle but it happens more often than you think. It’s human nature, figure out the numbers, then do the rest. With photography, it’s exactly the opposite. Figure out the subject matter, the composition, lens choice, how to make the best use of the available light, decide what I want my photo to say, and THEN come up with some numbers to get the job done right. Do you concern yourself with the numbers when you’re using your mobile phone? Probably not. You’re concerned about capturing that moment and all you’re paying attention to is the composition and the light. At least I hope you’re still paying attention to those things when using your little point and shoot that you always have with you that just happens to take calls.
Whelk on a log at Botany Bay at Sunset
You may think this is weird, but I say the same thing about photo editing. Those sliders in Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw are fantastic…but you can ignore the numbers. When teaching post processing, folks want to set their image to the same highlight, shadow, texture, clarity, vibrance level that mine is at despite the fact that they’re looking at a different image, on a different screen, taken from a different camera with different limitations. My numbers will not be the same as your numbers. Instead, look at those sliders as a “do I want more…or do I want less” of whatever adjustment you’re on. If one image looks terrible sharpened to +25, the next one may look dull unless you sharpen it to +75. Use your eyes to judge. Make a test print if necessary, but don’t rely on just the number. Every image is different and needs to be treated as such and unless you’re needing a specific kelvin temperature for white balance, most of those numbers don’t mean anything.
I admit, it’s our fault as instructors that everyone is so concerned with the numbers. When you watch a YouTube video, what do the presenters say? “I’m going to go +10 on clarity, -20 on blacks, etc…” Guilty of it myself. It’s natural when essentially talking to ourselves out loud in a video to mention the numbers as we make adjustments. In the future, I’m going to try to point out the actual numbers less, and just concentrate on the sliders as a “more sharpening is needed here, or less texture will help smooth this area nicely" and try not to mention the numbers.
If ya catch me doing it after today…I’ll knock $5 off your next photo walk or give you a free photo texture of your choice! ;)
